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Notre Dame Football

Official | Notre Dame Officially Names Al Washington DL Coach

January 14, 2022
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Mike Elston is headed back to Michigan and Notre Dame wasted little time filling the role as Al Washington has been named the next defensive line coach and run game coordinator for the Fighting Irish. 

“I have seen firsthand how talented Al Washington is as a coach,” said head coach Marcus Freeman. “He is a great teacher and developer of his players on the field, but is just as impressive in how he goes about building great men off the field. On top of that, he is a passionate recruiter whose work in that area is going to help us compete for a national title.”

Washington, who played defensive line at Boston College, spent the last three seasons at Ohio State, where he served as the linebackers coach.  It’s also a big win for Notre Dame and Freeman as Georgia and Florida also wanted Washington in SEC Country. 

The 14th-year coaching veteran was let go by Ryan Day earlier this month as the Buckeyes brought in new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, who also coaches linebackers. 

Washington, a native of Columbus (Ohio), developed Baron Browning, Malik Harrison and Pete Werner into first three-round NFL Draft picks during his time with the Buckeyes. 

Prior to his time at Ohio State, Washington coached a year at Michigan, where he developed All-American Devin Bush, who was a Top 10 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. 

Freeman and Washington coached together at Cincinnati in 2017. It was Freeman's first year as defensive coordinator for the Bearcats and the last year Washington coached defensive line. 

On the recruiting trail, Washington is electric. Washington recruited 2022 five-star linebackers CJ Hicks and Sonny Styles along with four-star linebackers Gabe Powers, Cody Simon and Reid Carrico. He also helped tag-team five-star defensive end Jack Sawyer and five-star running back TreVeyon Henderson. 

The Al Washington File
Playing Career

Boston College: 2002-2005

Coaching Career
2007 - Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute (DL) 
2008 - NC State (GA)
2009-10 - Slippery Rock (DL)
2011 - Elon (LB)
2012 - Boston College (Asst. Special Teams/DL)
2013-15 - Boston College (RB)
2016 - Boston College (ST/DL)
2017 - Cincinnati (DL)
2018 - Michigan (LB)
2019-21 - Ohio State (LB)

 
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