3 biggest storylines for Notre Dame football this spring

2. A reloading defense

At Notre Dame, the goal is to reload and not rebuild. Marcus Freeman and Al Golden are hoping that takes place this season after losing guys like Cam Hart, JD Bertrand, DJ Brown, Thomas Harper, Marist Liufau, and Javontae Jean-Baptiste. The defense will need to reload.

How did the Irish address these departures? Oh, just by byinging in a five-star defensive lineman, top-50 linebacker, edge rusher RJ Oben from Duke, cornerback Rod Heard from Northwestern, and safety Jordan Clark from Arizona State.

While these guys won't automatically upgrade each of the positions they're coming to help out, they will add needed depth and talent.

There's still plenty of talent returning like former five-star Jaylen Sneed and Drayk Bowen at linebacker and Jaden Mickey and Benjamin Morrison at the cornerback spots. The rest of the defense looks like it's shaping up nicely and it'll be interesting to see what the depth looks like this spring with the new pieces in place.

Will it live up to the high bar set by the 2023 defense?