Brian Kelly outlines next step in progression for Jordan Botelho

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly likes what he’s seeing from his sophomore edge Jordan Botelho. The Honolulu native has seen his role increase as the season’s progressed and there’s more in store down the stretch.

“He’s playing the vyper position which, when we talked about this earlier, it was a very competitive situation,” Kelly said on Monday. “Where we see him really ascending is in the pass-rushing situations, in third-down situations in particular. First-step quickness. I think that’s where you’ll see him continue to progress. You’ll see him more in our third-down packages.”

In four games, the 6-foot-2, 245-pound edge has five tackles for Brian Kelly’s defense. Botelho’s first two career sacks have come in the last two games – one versus UNC and one versus Navy.

Coming out of high school, Botelho was an On3 Consensus four-star prospect, ranked No. 140 in the nation.

Leading the Fighting Irish with eight sacks this season is first-team edge Isaiah Foskey. The Notre Dame defense ranks 60th in the country in yards allowed per game and 41st in points allowed. Foskey is seventh in the nation in sacks.

Brian Kelly updates status of Kyle Hamilton

Notre Dame has been without Kyle Hamilton for the last two weeks due to a knee injury. Coach Brian Kelly addressed his availability at his press conference on Monday, but didn’t share many details.

Hamilton suffered the injury in the Fighting Irish’s 31-16 win over USC Oct. 23 and hasn’t played since. The highly touted NFL prospect is working his way back, but Kelly said he didn’t know enough to give a full status update for this week’s game against Virginia.

“We do not have all the information on Hamilton yet,” Kelly said in his weekly press conference on Monday. “That’s going to take most of the day. The MRI is complete but we have other doctors that will take a look at it. The family wants to get, obviously, completed information, as does Kyle, before any decisions are made. I think we’ll have a better understanding of what his status is probably later today.”

Hamilton is a big part of Notre Dame’s defense, leading the team with three interceptions and four pass break-ups. He’s considered one of the top prospects for the 2022 NFL Draft, and Pro Football Focus projected him to go No. 4 overall in its latest NFL Mock Draft.

After Hamilton’s injury, Notre Dame allowed 34 points to Sam Howell and North Carolina before shutting down Navy’s triple-option offense. But Virginia lies ahead this week, led by quarterback Brennan Armstrong. Losing Hamilton would be huge against Armstrong, who’s second in the nation with 395.2 passing yards per game.