Notre Dame's defense looks to be just as dominant in 2025 thanks to this one player...

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00:00The Notre Dame Fighting Irish should again have a dominant defense in 2025.

00:04Everybody knows the headliners, but let's talk about an X-Factor player

00:08that could take the Fighting Irish to the next level.

00:14Ryan Roberts from A to Z Sports breaking down everything Notre Dame football.

00:17Folks, we're going to blink our eyes and the 2025 college football season will be upon us.

00:22A lot of expectations, obviously, on this Notre Dame team in the 2025 version

00:26under head coach Marcus Freeman, and a big reason for that is the consistency

00:31that we have seen on the defensive side of the football.

00:34There's obviously some questions going from Al Golden to Chris Ashe as defense coordinator,

00:38but there is a ton of talent to work with.

00:41And you all know the headliners in the group.

00:43You know Leonard Moore, you know Adan Shuler, you know Drake Bowen, you know the big names.

00:49But I think this defense, a little bit different than last year, which was really buoyed by stars,

00:54the Xavier Wattses, the Riley Mills, those types of players, the Benjamin Morrison before his injury

01:00this last year, they were a star-studded group who had great depth players around them,

01:05great rotational players around them.

01:07This is going to be a not as star-heavy group, but is going to be maybe more impactful

01:13from a player 1 to player 11 on a consistent basis.

01:17So I want to talk about a player that I think has a chance to be a transcendent player

01:22and take this team to the next level. And that, for me, is sophomore linebacker Kingston Villiamo Assa.

01:286'3", 235 pounds. We got a glimpse of him, a lot of glimpses in 2024.

01:3437 total tackles, three tackles for loss, had a sack, had an interception,

01:39but did deal with some injuries down the stretch of the season right before the playoffs,

01:43which I think limited his overall impact.

01:45But I feel like he's become a little bit of a lost person in the shuffle

01:49to a lot of just kind of Notre Dame talk this time of year,

01:52because you know about Drake Bowen, Jay Nosberry, who was very productive

01:55in a snap-to-snap perspective last year, and Jalen Sneed has been a linebacker

01:59that people have talked about a whole lot taking that next step forward.

02:01But we're forgetting about the borderline five-star recruits

02:06in the 2024 recruiting class in Kingston Villiamo Assa.

02:10As I mentioned, he's a bigger body linebacker, could play Mike, could play Will.

02:14We also saw him last year rush off the edge a ton,

02:17and with the injuries that we have seen on the edge,

02:20and obviously Jordan Patello is going to miss a chunk of the first portion of the season.

02:24Boubacar Traore is coming back, an expected back, but he's still coming off an injury.

02:28Like, that room has been a little bit shaken by injuries over the last several months,

02:33and I would love to see if they are thinking about, hey, how do we supplement that loss?

02:38Kingston Villiamo Assa is a player that can do that,

02:41while also being an impactful player on the second level.

02:44Rangy can play in coverage, can blitz.

02:46He's an incredibly instinctive young football player.

02:49I would bet my money that he will take a huge jump in 2025,

02:54and I would not be shocked if he is at least among the leading tacklers on this team,

02:59if not the leading tackler potentially.

03:01If he is as good as I think he is, I think he could potentially take that spot next

03:06to Drake Bowen as far as being the high-volume getter at the position.

03:10We're going to see, obviously, a rotation,

03:12but if he is a guy that's getting more snaps, a lot more snaps,

03:16than what he did last season, I think that he has a chance to be a budding star in 2025.

03:21Folks, put in the comments, who's your pick?

03:23First and foremost, what do you think about my Kingston Villiamo Assa pick

03:26for the defensive side of the football?

03:27Now, put in the player that you believe will be an X-factor.

03:32Maybe not the big name or the national name that people are talking about this time of year,

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