Notre Dame training camp and how they are overcoming the injury of Defensive Tackle Gabe Rubio

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame's defensive line is expected to be a force to be reckoned with once again this season, while the D-Line did lose Defensive Tackle Gabe Rubio to a broken foot, Coach Al Washington feels the Irish will be ok.

"Gabe will be back, but yeah, how we respond is next man up, and we don't flinch, you know? And that's no disrespect to Gabe. Gabe would say the same thing. I think the mark of a good unit is that you know, you step up, because the season this game is you never know when your last play is. So, if I'm behind, Gabe, I'm coming to practice every day with the mindset that it could be me," states Washington. 

Grad student Riley Mills is a veteran leader on this D-Line and Bruce Feldman of the Athletic lists him as one of his 'freak athletes" of college football this season. 

Mills, a defensive tackle, had two-point-five sacks and two fumble recoveries to go with 47 tackles. He has slimmed down to 295 pounds, has a 32-inch vertical, and he can bench press 445 pounds.

"When I came back, the biggest thing I told Coach Freeman and Coach Wash (Washington) and Coach Gold (Golden) was, look, I don't want to come back and be the same player I was last year. And I knew I had things I wanted to work on, regardless of if I left or if I stayed. So, you know, it's just a really big appreciation to coach Lando. You know, the biggest thing that we worked on was, how do I get, you know, my weight down? But how do I keep that same strength and really improve my mobility," stated Mills.

Mills continues, "So that's been, you know, I come in probably every day, you know, for about an hour and a half, and do mobility with him. You know, in the weight room, he's always adjusting things for me to get better on my, you know, mobility in that aspect and, you know, but he's also someone who he's like, look, I want you to get faster, I want you to get stronger. So just to have someone that's on the same page has been great. And, you know, he's been around some of the best there's been. So I've just been super grateful to have someone like that in my corner."

Howard Cross the third's name has been added to the preseason watchlist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year, last season Cross had 66 total tackles with seven tackles for loss and two sacks.

But Cross says he is not getting distracted by any preseason accolades, because it's just that, the preseason, with none of that mattering until they actually take the field.