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Newsstand: ESPN chooses a 'sleeper player' for Notre Dame football in 2025

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•07/03/25•

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Bryce Young
Notre Dame defensive end Bryce Young. (Mike Miller/Blue & Gold)

This week, ESPN named one “sleeper player” for every team in the outlet’s post-spring top 25. The worldwide leader came up with sophomore defensive end Bryce Young as Notre Dame’s.

A sleeper player is someone who’s under the radar but could provide a big impact in 2025. This was ESPN’s reasoning for picking Young:

“With Rylie Mills and Howard Cross III leaving for the NFL, the Fighting Irish are looking for another player who can rush the quarterback,” Mark Schlabach wrote. “The answer might be sophomore Bryce Young, who certainly looks the part at 6 feet, 7 inches and 273 pounds. Last season, he played in all 16 games and had 23 tackles with a team-high three blocked kicks. Young has the right potential too. His father, Bryant Young, was an All-American at Notre Dame and a Pro Football Hall of Famer after a standout career with the 49ers. His mother, Kristin, ran track and field for the Fighting Irish.”

Young has gained 13 pounds since the start of the spring semester, bringing him up to 273 on the Irish’s current roster listing. He’s widely talked about in South Bend circles and among Notre Dame fans far and wide, but college football fans at large could certainly be more in-tune with his name by the end of the 2025 season.

Young was a solid choice on ESPN’s part for this assignment, especially considering the Irish are rolling out a left/right defensive end system that’ll lend itself to more chances to succeed for every ND pass rusher.

Notre Dame tweets of the day

There could be another Julius Jones doing big things in South Bend soon.

Notre Dame: Nationwide.

The Irish are represented on overseas big stages, too.

Fighting Irish quote of the day

“Getting an offer from any school is great, but with it being Notre Dame — even besides it being a school I liked growing up and my father played there — it’s at the top of the list.”

— Julius Jones Jr. on his recruitment from the Fighting Irish

Blue & Gold headlines of the day

• Notre Dame features two top-rated players in EA Sports College Football 26
• After Ellis McGaskin, five more Southern recruits Notre Dame could sway in 2027
• Notre Dame football 2025 opponent preview: Syracuse

• Coach’s take: Why four-star LB Ellis McGaskin is built differently and headed for Notre Dame
• ‘He’s a stud’: Why Jerome Bettis is high on Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love

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