Advancing to the Sugar Bowl to face Georgia is a great accomplishment (especially being able to hilariously make Indiana's head coach Curt Cignetti look ridiculous about his claim that his team's ability was able to beat Top 25 sides and beat them senseless), but it came at a cost as Notre Dame lost defensive lineman Rylie Mills for the rest of the season. Mills is the type of caliber player that is hard to replace and cannot afford to lose as he's dynamic on the line causing problems for opposing offensive lines, so head coach Marcus Freeman and defensive coordinator Al Golden are going to have to come up with a game plan to solve how to still be an elite defense without him. The Irish were just getting healthier when this injury occurred, but a loss like Mills is almost devastating to any defense especially considering he contributed 7.5 sacks this season.
Now that Mills is out for the season, the question is can Notre Dame withstand another major blow to their defense if they want to go deep in the playoffs or even win a national championship? The defensive line has been decimated by injuries to key players all season long as they lost Boubacar Traore and Jordan Botelho for the rest of the 2024 campaign and even Howard Cross for a good chunk, but the motto has always been the next man up. Even losing offensive linemen Charles Jagusah and Ashton Craig and star cornerback Benjamin Morrison were major losses too. While some fans and pundits had expressed concern about losing key players like those mentioned, it didn't seem to be a problem as the depth has shown to be to be there. But, if the injuries keep piling up like this, then can the Irish be able to overcome an injury like this with their depth?
How do they replace Mills? In the last game against Indiana, Bryce Young stepped up in a big way and Gabriel Rubio contributed with two tackles of his own. Donovan Hinish would most likely have to step up into a bigger role as well as getting more supportive roles from Junior Tuihalamaka and more reps from Joshua Burnham. Getting those five guys to produce at a high level is almost going to be needed especially against the likes of Georgia who have lethal weapons at running back. That being said, the rotational system will still be needed, but asking those five to produce at a high level while doing the rotational system is a lot to ask for, so it's more than likely they'll need some help. That will probably mean the linebackers will play more of a role up front and in blitz situations thus causing there to be more defensive backs used. Losing Mills certainly is showing to be a ripple effect throughout the entire defense, but it also might be a blessing in disguise as it could show what the depth is like. Just imagine linebackers Jack Kiser and Jaiden Ausberry playing supportive roles up on the line to help out the defensive linemen and then having Jaylen Sneed and Drayk Bowen playing back in a zone like set up or in support of the defensive backs. It could also have the defensive backs in a normal two cornerbacks (Christian Gray and Leonard Moore) and two safeties (Xavier Watts and Adon Shuler) set up/zone, but it could also mean one or two more of the backs (Ron Heard, Jordan Clark, Luke Talich, Kennedy Urlacher, Max Hurleman, and Ben Minich) coming in as a nickel or dime when needed or during most of the plays. Then, the other question could be what type of defense would Notre Dame play whether it's a 3-4 or 4-3 set up, man-to-man coverage, zone, or some sort of hybrid scheme. It probably depends on what Georgia's strengths on offense are and having to game plan around that, but if it wasn't for Mills' injury, things might be easier to be ready for.
It's not easy to figure out and losing a player at the magnitude of Mills' caliber on defense makes things a lot harder. The only ones who have the answers to the question posed earlier is the coaching staff. The hope is that after losing Mills the same thing keeps happening just like it was when Morrison, Botelho, and Traore went down. If that's the case, then there is nothing to worry about. That being said, Georgia is a very good team and with as much fire power they have, this might be the most difficult side the Irish have faced and possibly their depth won't be enough to stop the Bulldogs.
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