​One of the key ingredients on any title contending team is a top-level defensive end. Indiana in 2025, Ohio State in 2024, Michigan in 2023 and Georgia in back to back seasons in 2022 and 2021 had impactful edge players who were difference makers in the regular season and the post season. Notre Dame has a player who’s on the verge of breaking out onto the national stage. Senior defensive end Boubacar Traore is in a prime position for a massive breakout in 2026. After coming back from an injury, the Massachusetts native led the team in pressures (31), sacks (6.5) and tackles for a loss (10.0) in 2025. Now, he’s in position, under the new tutelage of Charlie Partridge to have a massive breakout this fall. “He’s been great,” Traore raved about his new defensive line coach. “He’s a great coach. Very sound and technical in everything he coaches and teaches. So I mean, just being able to take notes from him, him coming from the NFL and just him showing me clips of guys that he’s coached has really helped me improve my game.”Traore is going to be a vital cog in a defensive line that has a lot of expectations heading into the season. This unit was grossly underrated last year and ended the regular season as the No. 1 defensive line in the country in total pressures according to PFF. By all accounts, this is going to be an elite unit and Traore is extremely high on their potential this season. “We got a lot of guys,” Traore shared. “We have depth everywhere. Everybody’s been playing at a high level since fall camp started. Even from the spring, just now that the season’s coming up, everybody’s starting to do what they’re being coached to do. Not saying that they weren’t before, but I’m just saying the season’s coming up, so everybody’s been super excited and then we’ve just been focused on playing as one, playing as one unit and that’s just what we’ve been doing. We’re just going to continue to play our brand of football. Violent, fast, physical.”Like his counterpart Bryce Young on the opposite side of the defensive line, Traore has been getting the work in this offseason against two potentially elite offensive tackles in Will Black and Guerby Lambert. Traore might not face a better offensive tackle duo until they reach the post season, and the same could be said for Notre Dame’s right and left tackles on offense. “I mean, they’re getting better every day,” the senior defensive end said of the two talented tackles. “I mean, it’s clear to me. We talk about every rep together and what they see and what I see from them. So I mean, just having those conversations allows us to grow as a unit. So they’ve been getting really good.”According to ESPN’s Bill Connelly, the Irish return the most production of any team in the country and the defensive side of the ball carries a lot of that weight. There’s at least one experienced, impact starter returning for Chris Ash’s defense and Traore is one of the clear-cut front runners. If Notre Dame is going to a