One year ago, Adon Shuler was a highly touted freshman safety who played sparingly and contributed primarily on special teams, recording six tackles across the entire 2023 season. He surpassed that total during Saturday night’s 49-14 win over Army alone, leading the Irish with a career-best eight tackles in a continuation of a breakout sophomore season that’s seen him transform into one of Notre Dame’s top defensive players while looking the part of a battle-tested veteran, rather than a first-year starter.
Lining up alongside graduate student Xavier Watts to form one of the nation’s most dangerous playmaking safety tandems, Shuler trails only Watts on the Irish with three interceptions — one of which he returned for a touchdown against Georgia Tech — to go along with three pass breakups, a fumble recovery and 35 tackles.
To say he’s exceeded all expectations by stepping seamlessly into a typically veteran-laden Irish defense without a hitch and helping to propel that unit to an even higher level would be an understatement. That is, he’s exceeded all expectations from fans and media, those who would typically expect an inexperienced underclassmen stepping into a crucial role for the first time to face some growing pains coming out of the gates. Everyone within the Irish program could see Shuler’s breakout coming from a mile away based on his work on the practice field and in the film room. It was only a matter of getting a chance to show what he could do on the big stage, and this year, he’s taken that chance and ran with it.
“I think just mastering the playbook and trying to go from being what’s considered a ‘young guy’ to a vet in a hurry. He does that by his study habits and he’s shown off the field that he’s just a hundred percent bought in. All he cares about every day is just getting better and he’s taking notes constantly,” Irish special teams coordinator and assistant defensive backs coach Marty Biagi said during fall camp about Shuler’s. “It’s awesome to watch. He’s growing up really fast.”
For most programs, having just a single young player rise to the occasion as well as Shuler has would be a win. But he’s far from alone in doing so for the Irish, as there are similar underclassmen success stories up and down Notre Dame’s defense. Linebacker Drayk Bowen is second on the team in tackles after receiving limited playing time last fall while Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and Jaiden Ausberry have been steady contributors to the linebacker core. Boubacar Traore and Bryce Young have wreaked havoc on the defensive line all season and Christian Gray and Leonard Moore have locked down opponents’ top receivers as part of one of the nation’s best pass defenses.
Some of these players, like Shuler, entered the fall expecting to take on larger roles, while others have been thrust into action due to injuries to established starters like junior cornerback Benjamin Morrison and graduate student defensive linemen Howard Cross III and Jordan Botelho. But regardless of the circumstances, these young players have by and large excelled in their expanded roles, and it’s paid dividends for an Irish defense that ranks second nationally in points allowed.
With clear holes to fill in the Irish secondary entering the season, Shuler grabbed firm control of the starting safety spot after excelling during spring practice.
“I’m really comfortable now. Each practice, I feel like I’m getting way more comfortable just practicing, playing. I feel like I’m getting one percent better every day and I’m just taking that into meeting rooms and on the field,” Shuler said during the spring. “It’s really exciting getting the opportunity [to play] in this spring more than I did last year, so just really taking the opportunity [and making the most of it].”
He didn’t waste any time showing Irish fans exactly why he’d earned that opportunity. In Notre Dame’s season-opener against Texas A&M, Shuler recorded the first interception of his career to help the Irish come away with a huge road victory. Postgame, he passed the credit for his standout performance off to Notre Dame’s coaching staff and his teammates in the secondary.
“Our coaches have put us in this position at practice every day,” Shuler said about the defense’s ability to step up in high-leverage situations against the Aggies. “So just go out there, execute, do your job and let things come to you … [Playing as part of an elite secondary] is amazing, it’s a blessing, they push me every day. It’s kind of cool not to be the face [of the unit] so just making a name for myself is kind of my goal.”
He's done exactly that over the last three months as the Irish secondary has helped guide Notre Dame to nine consecutive victories and into College Football Playoff contention despite the season-ending injury to likely first-round NFL Draft pick Morrison. Playing next to reigning national defensive player Watts, Shuler appears to be following in his footsteps as someone who can be counted on to constantly seek the ball and make big plays when it matters most. His pick-six against Georgia Tech essentially sealed the victory, and he recovered a fumble the following week against Navy. After securing his third interception of the season and returning it for 46 yards and a near-touchdown, he noted Watts’ near-impeccable playmaking and instincts as a skill he aims to emulate.
“Getting the ball,” Shuler said with a laugh when asked after the Virginia game what lessons he’s tried to take most from Watts’ game. “He’s just really good at getting the ball and kind of always being in the right spot. If you watch film, X [Watts] is always in the right spot, so kind of getting that from him and kind of seeing what he sees pre-snap and post-snap.”
Shuler spoke about the next-man-up mentality that has made the Irish secondary such a dominant unit this season.
“I would say the standard that we get held to. There’s no drop-off, no matter who’s on the field,” Shuler said regarding what has led to Notre Dame’s success in pass defense, where the Irish lead the nation in passing yards allowed at fewer than 140 yards per game. “I would just say the trust in the coaching staff. No matter what the call is, we know we just have to plant our feet and play the call, believe in ourselves and believe in what the coaches have taught us.”
With all that being said, Notre Dame’s dominant win over Army was business as usual, with Shuler and the Irish defense causing fits for another opposing offense.
“That was just the mindset all week: be disciplined,” Shuler said postgame about how the Irish were able to stifle the Black Knights for most of the night. “Play with great effort, I feel like our effort was the reason why we’re able to play the way we do, and just listen to our coaches and trust in their process.”
After leading the team in tackles, Shuler was asked about what has led to his steady emergence from first-time starter into a true star and centerpiece of the defense heading into the closing weeks of the season.
“I would say for me it’s just being consistent every week,” Shuler said. “I just want to keep building consistent weeks and having great teammates like Xavier Watts, that motivates me to just continue to be great.”
Shuler’s season to date seems to underline how the Irish’s young defenders have managed to find so much success this year. Notre Dame certainly isn’t lacking for veteran talent, as players ranging from Watts to graduate student linebacker Jack Kiser to graduate student defensive lineman Rylie Mills have excelled throughout the season.
But defensive coordinator Al Golden hasn’t hesitated to show trust in his younger players by giving them opportunities to take on key roles, and a combination of strong recruiting, outstanding coaching and invaluable mentorship from more experienced teammates has allowed players like Shuler, Bowen and Moore — among others — to thrive in their new roles and transform what would already have been a good defense into a truly elite one.
In years past, Notre Dame has struggled to match the tremendous top-to-bottom depth and talent of programs like Alabama and Clemson, who eliminated the Irish in their two previous College Football Playoff appearances. But this season, they have an abundance of defensive players who have the ability to contribute in a major way from day one and have been given the opportunity and the all-important coaching and mentorship to do so.
It’s easy to look down the road and picture just how good the Irish defense could be when the current freshman and sophomores have reached their full potential and are supplemented by two new classes of talented, hungry underclassmen.
Luckily, though, we don’t have to wait that long. Shuler and company — with the support of their teammates and coaches — have shown that they are ready to contribute right now, and by now, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone to see Notre Dame’s freshmen and sophomores making game-changing plays down the stretch as the Irish make their final push toward the postseason.
“I feel like it’s the relationship we have with our coaches and as players,” Shuler said about how Notre Dame’s defense — which has surrendered just 11.6 points per game this season — has seen all the pieces come together just right to be able to consistently play at an extremely high level behind a combination of multi-year starting lineup mainstays and fresh faces beginning to establish themselves as rising stars. “Our coaches come with the game plan on Monday, we listen and we learn it, and then together, we solve problems.”
