Notre Dame Football

Javontae Jean-Baptiste Ready to Lead Notre Dame in Sun Bowl

By Matt Freeman

December 22, 2023

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Javontae Jean-Baptiste didn’t have the stress of figuring out his future plans following the regular season as 2023 was his final collegiate season.

The only decision that needed to be made was if he was going to play one more game.

Jean-Baptiste will not only play in next week’s Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl, but he’ll be a captain for Notre Dame as he looks to end a six-year college career on a strong note.

“For me, it was all about putting my best foot forward and leaving no stone unturned,” Jean-Baptiste stated. “I don’t want to say there was anything I didn’t do or wish I should have done. That was it. It led me to make sure I did everything I could in my time in college.”

Notre Dame had several other players decide to opt out of the Sun Bowl, but the New York native didn’t let their decisions sway him one way or another.

“Mine was independent,” explained Jean-Baptiste. “You can look at it as guys opting out, but everyone has their own reasons. I can’t look at someone and say, ‘Well, he’s opting out so I’m opting out.’ No. Everyone has their own individual thing and their own basis for them that’s very important to them and what’s going to go on and transpire with them.”

Now, Jean-Baptiste wasn’t going to be a first-round NFL Draft pick in the spring, but it’d be hard to top his last outing as he recorded three tackles, 1.5 sacks and returned a blocked field goal 60 yards for a touchdown.

In fact, it seemed almost like a fitting end to a player’s college career, yet Jean-Baptiste wanted to ride with one of the best defenses in the nation one final time.

“What made the defense so good is that everyone did their job,” said Jean-Baptiste. “No one ever got too greedy. If their assignment was this gap they stayed in this gap and let the person whose gap that ball was going through make the play. Sometimes in defenses, a lot of people get greedy and not understand the assignments and everything. Stuff can go wrong.

“With us, you’ve seen it throughout the workouts and everything. You know and love and trust your brother. When you get on the field, you look to your right and left and are like, all right, I can play my hardest for this set of guys because I know they’re going to do their job.”

The Sun Bowl will also be one final time for him to put good film out there for the next level. In 2023, Jean-Baptiste tallied 47 tackles and four sacks, which were career-highs.

Jean-Baptiste’s decision to grad transfer to Notre Dame seemed to pay off as Al Washington helped his game grow, which included in the run game where he wasn’t able to fully show what he could do at Ohio State.

“I feel like I didn’t have to come back to prove anything to anybody,” Jean-Baptiste said. “I just wanted to showcase who I was, truly. What they thought before, that’s on them. What they think after I came here, that’s on them. I just feel like I came back to college to give it my all. I feel like I’ve pretty much done that.”

The trip to El Paso will also be a chance for Jean-Baptiste to set a tone for the younger guys, including defensive end Boubacar Traore, who has embraced soaking in knowledge from the Irish veterans.

“I think Boubacar has a high ceiling,” Jean-Baptiste explained. “Him being a freshman and how he moves, he’s a great athlete. When I get the chance when he has his reps or we’re in one-on-ones, just trying to coach him and tweak him on certain things and just make sure everything is right for him. As I do that, he’s been progressively improving. Coach Wash has also been helping him. I think he has a high ceiling.”