In football, there is an old adage when a player gets injured: Next Man In.

Notre Dame’s defensive line has lived that mantra this season & has managed to not see a drop off in productivity despite losing countless starters across the line.

First it was starting vyper (defensive rush end) Jordan Botelho that was lost for the season. Then it was his replacement, Boubacar Traore that suffered a season ending injury. Gabe Rubio was out for the 1st half of the season before returning to the mix. Josh Burnham missed a few games then was back. Reserve defensive tackle Jason Onye has been out for personal reasons. Now 6th year senior Howard Cross will miss Saturday’s game against Virginia after hurting his ankle against Florida State.

Captain Rylie Mills has been the one constant for the Irish defensive line and has played his best football in recent weeks on the inside. RJ Oben has started a lot at defensive end although he has not performed anywhere to the level many expected when he transferred in from Duke. Burnham is now starting at vyper and Donovan Hinish will start at defensive tackle alongside Mills this week in place of Cross.

“It’s just a credit to our work,” Hinish said this week. “Every single guy goes out there and works as hard as they can every single day. No one is going out there and just going through the motions. Someone is going to be there to pick them up. No matter who you are and what your status is, there is always going to be someone else on the D-Line to pick you up. I think that’s where we excel as a unit. We are always next man up and always ready to go.”

Hinish says you have to learn multiple positions in case you are needed in multiple positions and that’s what has allowed the unit to not miss a beat.

A lot of the credit goes to defensive line coach Al Washington who has his unit ready to go each game regardless of the players who are available.

“There’s not really a discussion upstairs or downstairs about ‘so and so’ is not playing, it’s just who is up and what do we have to do and Coach Wash does a great job,” says Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden. “The players understand this is part of the game—attrition is part of the game. Yes it’s been unfortunate. We feel badly for those that have endured an injury but at the end of the day, this game waits for no one. We are on a clock. We have guys moving around a bit, playing a little bit more or a different position. But there is only one standard here and that is the standard we are measured against. They understand that. Wash does a great job with them. Now we have to respond against a team that really knows how to run the football well in Virginia.”

The Irish were expected to be deep on the defensive line this year and thankfully they have been. They’ve also had younger players step up into bigger roles sooner than expected like freshman defensive end Bryce Young, who has played really well with his opportunity–which came because of others going down.

“It’s known across the board that the standard is the standard–whether you are the starter or you are the backup, you are not going to get a drop off,” says Young. “I think that’s a credit to the way Coach holds up to the standard.”

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said Thursday Rubio could see time at either defensive tackle position against Virginia behind Mills and Hinish. Armel Mukam and Sean Sevilano will be the next guys in at defensive tackle.