J.D. Bertrand

J.D. Bertrand played his high school football at Blessed Trinity High School and helped them to back-to-back Georgia Class AAAA State Championships in his junior and senior seasons in 2017 and 2018. During his senior season, he registered 83 tackles, 13.0 TFL, 4.0 sacks and one interception. He earned a 4-star recruit rating from ESPN and 247sports while having a 3-star rating from Rivals.com. He was the 26th ranked outside linebacker nationally and the 40th ranked player in Georgia by ESPN. He had many offers from several power 5 schools and chose Notre Dame as his college football destination. In his freshman year, Bertrand appeared in 4 games playing exclusively on special teams for the Irish. His sophomore year was his first season of action on the defensive side as he played in 11 games tallying 7 tackles, 5 of them solo. JD’s breakout year would be his junior year in 2021 where he started in all of Notre Dame’s 13 games and was the team leader in tackles, recording an impressive total of 102, 65 of which were solo. He also had 7 TFL, 1.5 sacks, and a forced fumble. In his senior season in 2022, Bertrand was named a team captain for the first time and started in 12 of the team’s 13 games, totaling 82 tackles, 45 solo, added 8.5 TFLs, and two sacks. Bertrand decided to return for his fifth season this year at Notre Dame and in 12 games he collected 76 tackles, 7.5 TFL, and 2.5 sacks.