Notre Dame wrapped up the 93rd edition of the Blue-Gold Game during a rainy Saturday afternoon in South Bend. For the record books, the Gold team won the exhibition 24-0 led by a strong early performance from Wake Forest quarterback transfer Sam Hartman. Here are several notes from the Irish spring game as we get ready to enter the dark off-season months of May, June, and July.

If Sam Hartman had a difficult spring adjusting to Notre Dame’s offense it didn’t look like it on Saturday. Instead, Hartman was dealing smoothly and efficiently going 13 of 16 for 189 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus a 1-yard touchdown run. All of that production on just 4 series before Hartman took a seat for the rest of the day.

Conversely, if this was a big spring for Tyler Buchner’s development it didn’t really show during the Blue-Gold Game. Buchner looked uncomfortable, a bit skittish in the pocket, with several off-target throws. He would finish 8 of 18 for just 44 yards with an interception while being a non-factor in the run game (he wore a red jersey). Buchner also threw an ill-advised cross-field pass that was nearly a pick six for true freshman linebacker Jaiden Ausberry, moments before actually throwing his lone interception of the day.

It’s been a few hours since the spring game ended and I’m already sick of the complaints about the quarterback situation for 2024. This Blue-Gold Game should be a jolt of confidence that Notre Dame could do some big things in 2023 but too often in college football it’s so much about the long-term future.

The Gold offensive line of Alt (LT, later replaced by Carmody), Murphy (LG), Correll (C), Spindler (RG), and Wagner (RT) looked like the better side while the Blue offensive line of Baker (LT), Schrauth (LG, later replaced by Coogan), Craig (C), Kristofic (RG), and Fisher (RT) didn’t seem to gel well at all. Although, a huge function of this was Hartman’s quick decision making and overall smartness. Once Angeli came in at quarterback the blocking didn’t look nearly as neat.

I read that Schrauth exited the game with an injury, but has that been confirmed anywhere?

There wasn’t much going in the running game. Gi’Bran Payne rumbled for a 30-yard gain on the 4th play of the day but both teams would combine for just 53 yards. With sacks removed, there were a more palatable 104 yards on the ground.

Speaking of sacks, neither Steve Angeli or Kenny Minchey looked even close to comfortable enough in the pocket. Both of them delayed throwing passes, got flushed out of the pocket, and generally held on to the ball far too long. They’d combine to go 10 of 19 for 79 yards. Minchey’s first snap he bobbled, and then weakly threw a screen that took forever to get to Rico Flores. The moment looked a little too big for Minchey, while Angeli did settle down a little bit.

Jayden Thomas should’ve been the clubhouse leader to be the no. 1 receiver on this team and his spring game backed up that fact. He put up 71 yards on 4 catches, including a gorgeous deep ball grab for 46 yards from Hartman. He really looks so smooth and athletic for a bigger receiver, with plenty of wiggle as evidenced on his touchdown catch.

In case you missed it, Jaden Greathouse was our highest rated offensive skill player from the 2023 recruiting class, the 2nd best recruit in the entire class, and he flashed why he might be a household name this season. Targeted early and often from Hartman and then Angeli (13 times combined), Greathouse finished with 11 receptions for 118 yards. He made most of his work in the middle of the field where he was nearly impossible to cover while also making some very tough catches.

The receivers on the Blue team seemed pretty frustrated. Colzie, Merriweather, Estime, and Flores combined for 12 targets and just 6 catches for 20 yards. New slot receiver Chris Tyree tied for the 2nd most targets (6) for the game and had 2 receptions for 14 yards. I’m really skeptical that he’ll be a steady presence catching passes but they seemed determined to make it happen.

Without Mitchell Evans a lot wasn’t expected from the tight end group. But, Holden Staes and Davis Sherwood both caught a couple passes and the only balls thrown their way. Sherwood especially made the toughest catch of the game over the middle on a pass from Hartman.

I thought the defensive line looked really stout and disruptive. The Gold defense in particular made some plays up front with 7 out of their 8 tackles for loss coming from linemen.

Greathouse got some podium time after his spring game performance. 

The game started with a pop pass from Hartman to Payne that went for roughly -13 yards but a horse collar penalty from NaNa Osafo-Mensah negated the tackle.

This may have been a spring game one-off but I saw some snaps with Ziegler and Zinter as inside linebackers with Liuafu outside. Ziegler led the game with 10 tackles while also picking up a sack. Zinter picked up 2 tackles for loss. On the Gold team, JD Bertrand must not have played a ton because he didn’t make the scoresheet.

The Jaden Mickey interception was a nice play on the ball, jumping back into the receiver to make the catch. Xavier Watts also picked off a pass from walk-on Devin Devezin to end the game on another nice jumping grab.

Benjamin Morrison chased down Matt Salerno on a reverse for a loss of 8 yards and looked like he was shot out of a cannon doing so.

The 13-yard touchdown pass from Hartman to Salerno doesn’t look like much in the boxscore but it is the type of accurate throw in the red zone that Hartman looks very comfortable making and is exciting for the 2023 offense.

Bryce McFerson looked pretty good at punter, uncorking a 52-yard punt in the 1st half.

I noticed Flores, Greathouse, and Mickey returning punts during the spring game. This will be one of the important jobs up for grabs during August camp.

In general, I thought the tackling overall was quite strong from the defense. As mentioned, the run game didn’t do much and there weren’t many examples of receivers making someone miss for a bunch of extra yards.

Hey, the 2023 edition of The Shirt was unveiled on Friday:

By my count, this is the 13th shirt to be green in school history. It’s pretty solid overall (I haven’t actively disliked any since 2013) but does have a very similar vibe to the 2021 Shirt. It was a weird choice to have Tommy Rees on the back, but perhaps the planning was done a long time ago!

Deland McCullough on the hot seat? His Blue team mustered only 56 yards on 44 plays.

According to my math, the offense averaged 8.89 yards per play while Hartman was in at quarterback. Just a tick under 70% of offense in the game, for both sides, came on Hartman’s 4 series on the field.

Zak Yoakam was cool, calm, and collected on his 28-yard field goal–the only attempt of the game.

There was some discussion this past week about Freeman preferring to drop the actual game format and basically hold an open practice in the stadium to close out spring. For a place like Notre Dame, it would be a pretty big break with tradition (we’re almost to 100 spring games!) but in a lot of ways I think it would be more enjoyable, at least for the hardcore fans. Would it play that well for Peacock? Probably not that much. After Saturday’s Blue-Gold Game, Freeman was asked about scrimmaging another team and this is something I’ve always been interested in college football doing. Freeman’s answer:

”Would I like to play another opponent? Absolutely. Absolutely. The chance to play another team. It would still be similar to a spring game. You’re not going to show everything, and you’re not going to want to get the guys you’re counting on that have experienced injured.

“You’re still probably going to hold back a couple guys. But I think to play another opponent would be pretty cool. Logistics on that, that’s for Ron Powlus and Jack Swarbrick to figure it out. But it would be different, but it’s no different than almost like an NFL preseason game.”