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Jacksonville Jaguars select Notre Dame linebacker Jack Kiser in fourth round of 2025 NFL Draft

IMG_7504by:Jack Soble•04/26/25•

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Notre Dame linebacker Jack Kiser (24). (Mike Miller, Blue & Gold)

Notre Dame’s all-time record holder for most games played in program history, Jack Kiser, has completed the unlikely journey from Royal Center, Ind. to the NFL.

The Jacksonville Jaguars selected Kiser in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, making him the No. 107 overall pick. From a town in northern Indiana with a population of 797, Kiser played 70 games in six seasons at Notre Dame before reaching the next level.

In those 70 games, Kiser totaled 272 tackles (166 solo), including 17 for loss. He set career highs in all three categories in 2024, with 90, 55 and 5, respectively. Kiser also picked up 6 sacks, intercepted 4 passes and forced 6 fumbles throughout his Notre Dame career.

As a captain in 2024, Kiser helped lead the Irish to wins in the Sugar and Orange Bowls en route to the national championship game.

“I think when you look at the six years I’ve been here, what I remember is the people,” a choked-up Kiser said after Notre Dame lost to Ohio State in the title game. “From when I was a small underclassman just trying to learn the ways, looking at a Drew White, Bo Bauer, to being a guy running with my boys in JD [Bertrand] and Marist [Liufau], and then this year coming back and feeling like I had a chip on my shoulder and getting to meet amazing guys like Riley [Leonard] coming in and just kind of going on the journey we went on.

Kiser’s decision to come back and start at Will linebacker helped fuel Notre Dame’s College Football Playoff run. Throughout the 2025 season, he only missed 5 tackles, good for a top-10 missed tackle rate among qualified linebackers at 4.6 percent.

“To have Coach [Marcus] Freeman — yeah, it’s about the people,” Kiser said. “It’s the people that’s made this place different. It just shows where this program is heading. The people in this building are the best, absolute best.”

During the pre-draft process, Kiser raised his stock with his performances at the Senior Bowl and NFL Scouting Combine. In Mobile, Ala. — where he arrived just over a week after the national championship game — Kiser excelled in coverage, which was the one knock on his college tape..

He won the National Team’s Linebacker of the Week award for his work in practice, and later at the Combine, he did well in positional drills despite not undergoing athletic testing.

When he returned to Notre Dame for his sixth and final season, Kiser needed to prove to teams he could handle a full-time starting role. He played 641 snaps, blowing by his previous career high of 398. Kiser has also been a special teams staple throughout his time with the Irish, which is huge for a backup linebacker in the NFL.

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