Year One: 5-7, And A Star Is Found

Reporter: Coach, you finished No. 1 in the country in pass defense but gave up more rushing yards than almost anyone else. Was that the plan?

Graves: That's exactly the plan. We don't have the bodies up front yet to win on early downs against everybody we play. So we made a bet: lock down the air, make teams earn every yard on the ground the hard way, and bend before we break. You saw it work more than it didn't.

Reporter: This roster doesn't have the name recognition some of your conference opponents do. How do you compete?

Graves: We're not out-recruiting anybody here. We're going to out-work them. [points toward the wall] That's not a slogan, that's the whole plan written down. Mark Fiaseu didn't walk in here a blue-chip guy. Nobody circled him on anybody's board but ours. A year later he's the best player on this roster. That's the formula. Find the guys everybody else passed on, and get more out of them than their rating ever promised.

Reporter: What does year two look like?

Graves: Same identity, better execution. We're not changing who we are because of a 5-7 record. We're going to run the ball, we're going to make you throw it against us, and we're going to keep finding players nobody else wanted. Ask me again next year.

Fiaseu is this program's first real star. 265 carries for 1,647 yards, plus 52 catches for 428 more, for 19 total touchdowns — the 2nd-most rushing yards in the entire NCAA that season. He won National Offensive Player of the Week three separate times (Weeks 5, 12, and 13), capping his run with a 414-yard, 5-touchdown all-purpose explosion in Week 12. He finished the year 2nd Team All-American and 1st Team All-Conference, then heard his name called in the NFL Draft. Fiaseu is the one who proved this program could produce a star at all.

The departures were modest for a first season: Corey Grant transferred to Kansas, and Jamari Golden's departure was rescinded (he stayed). Two of the season's headline names went to the NFL Draft — Fiaseu and cornerback Brennon Fonua, both riding 2025 All-Conference honors into the league.

Notre Dame beat Texas Tech 34-31 for the national title, capping a bracket that saw Indiana knock out Alabama in Round 1 and Miami take down Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl. Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) won the Heisman Trophy behind a run that also carried Indiana deep into the playoff field. Mike Uremovich (Ball St., 9-4) won the Best HC Award — a non-champion winning the sport's top coaching honor.

This is the headline class of the offseason so far. Headlined by three 4-stars — Jordan Molinich (HB, national position rank 28th), Christopher Shelton (CB, rank 13th), and Matt Brown (ATH) — plus a loaded transfer haul that included Christian Thatcher (Utah), Devin Sanchez (Oklahoma St.), and DJ Hill-Smith (New Mexico St.). Ranked 59th nationally at signing, on a program that had just finished 5-7.

Reporter: Three four-stars in your first full class. Walk me through the ones you actually fought for.

Graves: Jordan Molinich, Christopher Shelton, Matt Brown. Those three were circled on our board before we'd even finished the last season. Molinich we chased hardest — a back with his vision doesn't fall to a program like ours very often, and we didn't sleep on it. Shelton we liked as a true corner from day one, not a project. Brown's the one that'll take longest to show, but the traits are there.

Reporter: Any names in this class nobody outside the building is talking about?

Graves: Damien Rand. Two-star defensive end, nobody's fourth or fifth option even. We think he turns into a real pass rusher once he adds weight to that frame. And on the portal side, Devin Sanchez came in with zero stars attached to his name and I'd bet on him starting a defensive back spot for us before this is over. Film doesn't care what the rankings said.

Reporter: Any recruits that got away this cycle?

Graves: One that still stings — Zayden Walker, a five-star linebacker we were in on, ended up at Notre Dame. That's a loss you don't get back. Closer to home, we lost Ryan Allen, a corner out of Louisiana, to UCF. Any time a kid from this state picks somebody else, that one's personal.

Reporter: You're also losing production off this roster. How do you think about the guys walking out the door?

Graves: It was a light year for us, honestly, compared to what's coming down the road. Corey Grant transferred out to Kansas, and that one's on us as much as it is on him. Jamari Golden almost left and we got him back, and I'm glad we did. Losing Fiaseu and Brennon Fonua to the draft doesn't sting the same way — that's two guys earning the next step after everything they gave this program. You don't get to keep them forever. You just make sure the next ones are ready.

5-7 doesn't look like much on paper, but this season did exactly what a Year One needs to do: it found a star (Fiaseu), it revealed a real defensive identity (elite pass coverage, porous run defense), and it landed a headline recruiting class. The record was modest. Everything it set up was not.