Notre Dame DT Jason Onye applies for sixth year of eligibility

Notre Dame defensive tackle Jason Onye broke out in the second half of the 2025 season. He’s hoping that was not his last impression in a blue-and-gold uniform.

Onye has submitted a waiver for a sixth season of eligibility, according to a team spokesperson. The Irish “don’t expect an answer soon,” per the spokesperson, but there is still hope Onye can come back for a sixth season of college football — something he said in October that he wants to do.

“If they want me to, yeah, I would,” Onye said. “I would love to be here. I love the guys here. I love the young guys coming in, the old guys who are going to be here still. I would love to be here. This place is like a second home to me.”

The grounds on which Onye is seeking a waiver have not been publicized. He redshirted as a freshman in 2021 and only played one game in 2022, having not cracked the depth chart yet. He played a full season in 2023, but in 2024, he left the team after five games for mental health reasons.

Amid speculation that Onye’s mental health absence would be the end of his Notre Dame career, he returned to the team in the spring and impressed the coaching staff enough throughout the offseason to start Week 1.

A redshirt senior in 2025, Onye was quiet in Games 1-6 but exploded in Games 7-12. He totaled only 2 quarterback pressures in Notre Dame’s first six games, but he had 14 in the last six. The North Providence, R.I. product finished the year with 26 tackles and 1.5 sacks, and he did so as a locked-in starter.

Onye was benched after a poor performance at Miami in Week 1, but he was re-elevated to the starting lineup against Boise State in Week 6 and never looked back.

“We were all excited to go down to Miami,” Onye said. “Didn’t end up how we wanted to. Watched the film. Didn’t feel like I played the way I wanted to. It was a confidence thing. Whatever you want to call it. Next few weeks, eh? I was playing, but was I really playing to where I wanted to play? Not so much.

“Boise State, NC State, I played pretty well. It was OK. I wasn’t getting the production that I wanted to get. What I think that I could get, kind of leaving some plays on the board.”

Onye’s best performance came the next week against USC, when he produced a career-high 87.6 PFF defense grade — including an 83.7 mark against the run. Two weeks later (after a bye week) at Boston College, he totaled a career-high 5 quarterback pressures.

No Power Four defensive tackle had a better PFF defense grade from Weeks 8-14 than Onye, who came in at 86.6.

“That first series I did at USC, I think I had a tackle for no gain, and then I feel like I had a pressure or something.” Onye said. “And then going to the sideline and being like, ‘Oh, wow.’ I’m not going to say they’re not good, but I’m playing pretty well. I’m playing pretty well.”

Onye’s return would be a massive boost to a Notre Dame team that will need defensive tackle help in 2025. With Jared Dawson, Gabriel Rubio and potentially Onye out of eligibility, Donovan Hinish and Elijah Hughes would be the only regular contributors set to return at the position.

With Onye’s waiver expected to take a while to be granted or denied, the Irish likely have to approach portal season as if he will not return and treat it as a bonus if he does. As it stands right now, defensive tackle is Notre Dame’s biggest need in the transfer portal.

That’s probably still the case even if Onye comes back, but after the way he finished 2025, the Irish would love to see what he can do in 2026.