There’s a Notre Dame storyline that not enough people are talking about following the Irish blowout road victory against Pitt
A Notre Dame defensive storyline got lost during the blowout victory over the Pitt Panthers.
Over the last several weeks, we have seen Notre Dame redshirt freshman safety Tae Johnson begin to make more and more big plays as the game has slowed down for him. He took his game to an even higher level against the Pitt Panthers on Saturday. The 6-2, 195-pound defender was an integral part of a stellar performance from the Fighting Irish defense.
During the team’s 37 to 15 road victory against the ranked Panthers, Chris Ash’s defensive unit was suffocating. Johnson provided a huge boost early in the game with a first quarter interception, which was his fourth on the season so far. The Indiana native was able to return it 49 yards for a touchdown, which really killed a lot of the early momentum for quarterback Mason Heintschel and the Pitt offense.
On the day, Johnson recorded five total tackles and that interception, as well as a tackle for loss. He also had another near interception early in the third quarter. Johnson was consistently around the football and ready to make big plays. This was the most confident we have seen No. 9 in the blue and gold so far.
As good as Johnson was during the game, you could make the argument that fellow starting safety Adon Shuler was even better. Heading into the 2025 college football season, most expected the redshirt sophomore captain to be one of the stars for this Irish defense. After a slow start to the year, the New Jersey star has been stellar the last few weeks. He turned in his best performance of the season against the Panthers as well.
During the game, Shuler recorded two total tackles, a tackle for loss, one sack, a pass breakup, and he also returned an interception for two points on a conversion attempt. Whenever the Notre Dame defense needed a play, it always felt like it was one of those safeties that were making it. This was a dominant overall performance by the duo.
Next great Notre Dame safety duo
We have seen some great Notre Dame safety tandems in the past, including the 2019 season that featured Alohi Gilman and Jalen Elliot, and also had some Kyle Hamilton sprinkled in. Last year’s group was also excellent with former Irish All-American Xavier Watts and Shuler. This was viewed as maybe a bit more of a rotational situation heading into the season, but that was until Johnson proceeded to break out.
With the ascension of Johnson, this looks like the next great Irish safety pairing. The best part is that each has at least two years of eligibility remaining after the 2025 season. If Shuler keeps laying like this, there is a good chance that he could have an intriguing 2026 NFL Draft decision to make, but the odds are that he will return for another season in 2026. If he does, this could be considered the best safety duo in college football entering next season. The best part is that both Johnson’s and Shuler’s play styles are very different, part of what makes them such a unique pairing.
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