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Former Louisville defensive tackle Jared Dawson appreciates how Notre Dame's coaching staff treats its players.
Jeff Douglas, Inside ND Sports
Jared Dawson wasn’t thinking about Notre Dame as a potential transfer destination before, during or immediately after Louisville’s 31-24 loss to the Irish in South Bend on Sept. 28 of last year.
The thought of transferring out of Louisville didn’t even occur to Dawson until after a dislocated elbow suffered in a 38-35 loss at Stanford on Nov. 16 cut his fifth season short.
“I’m all-in on the team I’m on until the end,” Dawson said. “Once I got hurt Week 10, I was just thinking about what my best options would be for my last year. I just felt like a new change of scenery after five years at Louisville would be the best option for me.”
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Because Dawson played during the 2020 season, he qualified for an extra year of eligibility due to the NCAA’s COVID-19 response. Dawson also redshirted in 2021, which allowed him to be eligible for sixth season of college football in 2025.
Dawson entered the transfer portal on Dec. 14 and felt Notre Dame was the best place for him to make one more run at this level. His commitment to the Irish became public on Jan. 11.
“Just the coaches and the environment,” Dawson said of what drew him to Notre Dame. “I’ve been in college for five years, different coaching staff, strength coaches. I’ve never met a coaching staff like this that really, really cares and talks to their players and tries to make them better at this type of level and pushes them to be great people. Not just people on the field, but actually good people outside.”
Notre Dame’s staff had to juggle a College Football Playoff run while recruiting players like Dawson in the portal. The messages Dawson received and the relationships he formed with those at Notre Dame resonated with him. It helped that head coach Marcus Freeman was clearly invested in bringing Dawson on board.
“He was one of the ones recruiting me the whole time,” Dawson said. “We were talking a lot, and it wasn’t even mostly about what I could come here and do, but just what I can get from this. I can get football stuff. There’s also a bunch of connections I can get outside for later on in life. There’s just so much here, and I just wanna be a part of it.”
Notre Dame was familiar with Dawson because Louisville was on the schedule each of the past two seasons. Dawson didn’t play against the Irish in 2023, but he recorded four tackles in the 2024 matchup in South Bend. Defensive line coach Al Washington wasn’t paying attention to Dawson that day, but he eventually saw what Dawson did against ND’s offensive line.
“He's explosive, powerful,” Washington said. “He's a disrupter. So, that was the thing that I liked about his game. And he plays with a motor and an edge. Those are the things that I think he showed in a game against us, because our line is arguably the best. I think the way we play — and I'm being sincere — like I think we played at a high level, because our O-line every day played at a high level.”
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Dawson finished last season with 19 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss, including 4.0 sacks. He played 294 defensive snaps in 10 games last season, per Pro Football Focus, which is roughly the same total as Notre Dame defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio last season. PFF liked how Dawson played last season, which resulted in an 80.9 defensive grade. That’s nine points better than Rylie Mills, whose 71.8 was ND’s best grade among interior defensive linemen.
This spring Dawson has appreciated how Notre Dame’s aggressive schemes are reflected on the defensive line. He’s working with Washington to take his game to another level.
“I feel like he can make a complete difference,” Dawson said of Washington. “I have all my talents and stuff already, but he can break me down back to basically like a freshman and just build me back up fundamentally so I can be able to use whatever I have abilities-wise to the maximum.”
It’s not just about what Washington is teaching the 6-foot-1, 300-pound Dawson. But it’s about how Washington teaches it that could end up paying dividends for both parties.
“I love how he coaches,” Dawson said. “I love how involved he is, and how he brings you in and treats you like family. He’ll call you every day, multiple times today, just bring you in, meeting one-on-one. And just really wanted me to get better, and that’s something I haven’t really felt before.”
The feeling of playing in Notre Dame Stadium won’t be new for Dawson. The crowd for Saturday’s Blue-Gold Game (2 p.m. EDT on Peacock) won’t quite resemble the one he experienced last fall, but he can expect a similar atmosphere come September.
“Some people might find that intimidating,” Dawson said, “but I always just feel like they’re cheering for me. Even though I was on the other team, I kind of like to use it. And that was one of my favorite games of the season, just because of the environment.”
The composure Notre Dame showed in that game, which began with the Irish building a 21-7 lead after a 7-0 deficit and holding off a Louisville comeback effort, impressed Dawson. That was long before Notre Dame made its run to the national championship game, which ended in a 34-23 loss to Ohio State.
Dawson knows his new teammates will use that loss as motivation. He was able to attend the game with his fellow incoming transfers and early enrolled freshmen to be part of it. He wants to help them get beyond that while showing his own potential.
“I’m just looking to prove that I’m the best in the country, and I’m trying to prove that we can be the best team,” Dawson said. “I know I wasn’t here last year, but even just being at the national championship game that one time, I just felt like these were already my teammates on the field before I even knew them. I just want to push them and get them to push me.”
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