Four Irish Earn Spots on Sporting News Preseason All-America Teams

Notre Dame landed four players on Sporting News' 2026 Preseason All-America teams, with cornerback Leonard Moore and safety Brauntae Johnson earning first-team honors and linebacker Drayk Bowen and offensive lineman Anthonie Knapp landing on the second team.

The honors reflect more than individual talent. Notre Dame's defense allowed 17.6 points per game across the full 2025 season, 11th nationally, but was dramatically better down the stretch, holding its final nine opponents to just 14.1 points per game and never allowing a single team to reach 30 points in that span. That late-season form is exactly the kind of defensive foundation the sport's two most recent champions were built on, and it's why the return of Moore, Johnson and Bowen matters so much for Notre Dame's 2026 outlook. Behind them, Knapp and an offensive line that helped power one of the most efficient rushing attacks in the country give the Irish a rare combination heading into the fall: a proven, veteran identity on both sides of the ball.

Leonard Moore

Moore enters the season coming off a unanimous All-American 2025 campaign. He started 10 games and led Notre Dame with five interceptions, tied for the seventh-most in the country, while adding 31.0 total tackles, a forced fumble and seven pass breakups.

His advanced metrics backed up the tape. Moore posted a 91.8 PFF grade and a 92.5 coverage grade, both of which led the nation, and he allowed just a 45.9 passer rating to opposing quarterbacks when targeted. He has already been named to the Walter Camp Preseason First Team All-America team this summer.

The Round Rock, Texas, native had his signature performance against Boise State last October, forcing three turnovers, two interceptions and a forced fumble, for his first career multi-interception game. He also added six solo tackles in that game and was named the Walter Camp FBS Defensive Player of the Week and the Jim Thorpe Award Defensive Back of the Week for his performance.

Why he matters for a title run: Notre Dame finished as the first team left out of the 12-team playoff field in 2025, despite a defense that closed the season allowing just 14.1 points per game over its final nine opponents. Moore, the nation's top-graded coverage corner, is the single biggest reason opposing offenses couldn't find a way to attack the perimeter during that stretch. A shutdown corner who erases half the field lets a defensive coordinator get more aggressive everywhere else, and every recent national champion has needed a defensive back or edge piece capable of exactly that kind of one-on-one dominance.

Brauntae Johnson

Johnson played in all 10 games available to him last season with eight starts, finishing fourth on the team with 48.0 total tackles and recording four interceptions, the second-most on the roster behind Moore.

His breakout moment came against Pittsburgh last November, when he returned an interception 49 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, his first career pick-six. He also logged his first career half-sack in that game and was named the Walter Camp National FBS Defensive Player of the Week and the Shaun Alexander Freshman Player of the Week. The Fort Wayne, Indiana, native closed out his season with FWAA Freshman All-America honors.

Why he matters for a title run: Johnson gives Notre Dame a rare luxury, a second high-level takeaway threat on the back end alongside Moore, and the tandem combined for nine of the team's interceptions in 2025. Both of the recent 12-team playoff champions won largely on the strength of defenses that created a steady stream of possessions for their offense, and Johnson's ability to turn coverage reps into points, as he showed against Pittsburgh, is the kind of explosive-play upside that turns a good defense into a championship one.

Drayk Bowen

A team captain last season, Bowen started all 12 games and led Notre Dame with 67 total tackles, 33 solo and 34 assisted, while adding three and a half sacks and four pass breakups.

The St. John, Indiana, product turned in a career night at Boston College last November, recording 14 tackles, all of them solo. It was the most tackles by a Notre Dame defender since Alohi Gilman's 18 against Clemson in the 2018 College Football Playoff semifinal, and it stood as the most by any player in the country at that point in the season.

Why he matters for a title run: As a captain and the team's leading tackler, Bowen is the piece that ties the whole defense together, the player calling checks and setting the front against the run so that Moore and Johnson can play aggressively on the back end. The stinginess Notre Dame's defense showed down the stretch, holding nine straight opponents under 30 points, started up front and at linebacker, and a defense that controls the run without needing extra bodies in the box is exactly what allowed Ohio State and Indiana to play ahead of schedule and dictate tempo in their own championship runs. Bowen returning as a captain and every-down presence gives Notre Dame that same identity heading into 2026.

Anthonie Knapp

Knapp has started all 29 games he's played in his Notre Dame career across the past two seasons, including all 12 games at left tackle in 2025. He was named to the 2026 Walter Camp Preseason All-America First Team this June and was added to the Outland Trophy Watch List earlier this week.

Knapp and the rest of the offensive line helped power a Notre Dame rushing attack that averaged 5.69 yards per carry, tied for the third-best mark in the FBS and the second-highest yards-per-carry average in a single season in program history. The Irish offense ranked sixth among Power Four programs at 203.4 rushing yards per game while allowing just 1.00 sacks per game, the eighth-lowest total in the country.

Why he matters for a title run: Both Ohio State's 2024 title team and Indiana's 2025 title team were built on a two-back rushing attack that let their quarterbacks play with an advantage, and Notre Dame's blocking up front, with Knapp protecting the blind side, is precisely what turned that same formula into the second-most efficient rushing season in program history in 2025. A left tackle who has started every game he's played for two straight seasons brings the kind of continuity and protection that both keeps a young quarterback upright and gives a two-back rotation room to work, the same foundation the last two national champions used to win it all.