As Wisconsin quarterback Colton Joseph dropped back to pass late in Notre Dame’s season opener at Lambeau Field, he was under heavy pressure.
Instead of an edge rusher getting to Joseph first, it was defensive tackle Francis Brewu who got home for his first sack in a gold helmet.
“We're late in the game,” said Brewu. “So I kind of line up a little bit wider. I get in my pass rush stance, which is just kind of a thinner base, and I explode with a bigger first step off the ball. He didn't really set hard to me, so I felt like I had the edge.
“I started in power. I powered him. I kind of one-armed, long-armed him, and he didn't have a good base, so I ripped off of him and reached to get to the quarterback, and I got a little bit of him up top and he fell over.”
Through the first three weeks of the 2026 season, Brewu’s sack remains his favorite play he’s had as a member of the Fighting Irish.
“I would say that sack against Wisconsin that first time, because on that drive I got to quarterback a couple times,” said Brewu. “That first time I got to quarterback late in the game, it's just every D lineman wants sacks, especially defensive tackles, and sacks are hard to come by. You can beat a whole lineman all day, but something else happens. He throws the ball away or something and you won't get there. So to get in that sack, I submitted myself into this team and kind of proved myself. I'm going to continue to prove myself and continue to show what I can do. I feel like that was the start of it.”
While Brewu’s favorite play comes from the first time he stepped on the field for the blue and gold, that doesn’t mean that he hasn’t been productive since then.
Through three games, the Irish defense is one of six teams allowing less than 2 yards per rush.
Brewu attributes the Irish’s defensive success against the run to the way they practice each week.
“Just coming out and practicing hard every day,” said Brewu. “Practice real hard against a really good offensive line every day. Whether that being our ones and twos and that being our scout team. Our scout team comes out and hits us hard every day. So we don't have a choice. So when we go out to game day, it's just normal for us.”
Brewu is not the only new addition on the defensive line who has aided in the Irish’s success at the line of scrimmage.
Tionne Gray also transferred to Notre Dame from Oregon this offseason to bolster the interior defensive line for the Irish.
Standing at 6’5 and weighing 320 pounds, Gray adds a nice complement to Brewu’s 6’1, 285-pound stature.
“I think we're a great one-two punch,” said Brewu. “He got his size and I got what I'm good at. I think we both do our own things that are really good, but they complement each other. We may be a little different with our playing style, but it's a one-two punch. We complement each other, and all of the D-line complements each other, every single one of us.”
Brewu and Gray were not the only two additions that the Irish made to the defensive line this offseason.
In fact, Brewu wasn’t the only former Pitt Panther to join the defensive line room as Charlie Partridge joined the Irish staff as the new defensive line coach.
Partridge began coaching at Pitt in 2003 and remained with the program in various roles until 2007.
In 2017, he returned to Pitt before moving on to the NFL in 2024. During that time, Partridge began to recruit Brewu while he was a high schooler in Ohio.
Now, Partridge and Brewu have the opportunity to work together at Notre Dame.
“I'm excited to work with him,” said Partridge. “I'm excited now, finally coaching him, almost like it was fate.”
Since January, Partridge and Brewu have been working hard on improving Brewu’s pass rushing ability.
“Yeah, he's helped me improve tremendously,” said Brewu. “Pass rush was a thing I really wanted to focus on this year. I really wanted to get my pressure numbers up, you know. Sack numbers come, but pressure numbers really show, and win percentage really shows how many times you're beating offensive linemen. You can beat offensive linemen, and, you know, a quarterback will throw it. So our main focus this year is, you know, getting my pressure number up and win percentage up, and Coach Partridge helps me do that in every single way”
However, not everything in Brewu’s game comes from what he’s been taught; some of it is just part of who he is.
“You saw a combination of strength and quickness,” said Partridge. “In my opinion, it's always a sliding scale in terms of size compared with quickness and strength. While he is on the shorter side of your prototypical D-tackle, he makes up for that with his strength and his ability to move.”
Even though Brewu is smaller for a defensive tackle, that doesn’t mean he can’t prove people wrong, like when he got that first sack against Wisconsin.
“I'm a big guy who lives on proving myself and proving people wrong,” said Brewu. “So being able to make some plays in that game and show people who I was, you know, maybe some people didn't, you know, fully see or didn't fully know what I could do or, you know, stuff like that. So having a game like that and being able to get to the quarterback so I can really prove myself and if there's anyone down and prove them wrong, that's all, you know, that's how I motivate myself. So it was amazing. This team always took me in before that. Now, I mean, they treat me the same.”
Through three games, Francis Brewu has already started proving people wrong. With nine games left, he will have plenty more opportunities to prove people wrong.
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