Notre Dame is set to take open up practice this Friday, March 20th to kick off the next edition of Irish spring football. With no post-season, it’ll be 111 days since the team finished up the 2025 campaign at Stanford. There should be plenty of eyes watching and ears listening to Notre Dame during this session of spring prep as the team is expected to open up 2026 as a legit National Championship contender and possibly a top 3 pre-season ranking. Will enough information get out to satiate the desires of fans and reporters?

A reminder that the annual Blue-Gold Game will take place on Saturday, April 25th at 2:00 PM ET and be televised only on Peacock. I repeat, only on Peacock! I believe that setup has been in place for the last several spring games if my memory is correct.

The sky may not be this blue on April 25th.

We’ll have a spring game preview in due time, but first let’s take a look at where the program stands coming off a bitter end to the 2025 season.

Practice Schedule

As per recent tradition under Marcus Freeman, knowledge about the Notre Dame practice schedule is limited to a blood oath society who are entrusted to not leak the dates of the Fighting Irish workouts. We are not privy to such closely guarded secrets. This process led to a grand total of one spring practice report for our website last year. Isn’t that fun!?

You’ll get nothing and like it!

What we do know is that Marcus Freeman will meet with the media this Wednesday which should sustain us with content for at least a little while. If things are like they have been in the past, the opening practice in shorts will be fully open to the media. Wow!

Also, team doctor Rob Hunt should be meeting with the media this week to provide updates on any injured Irish players.

New Faces

Get ready to scroll!

Once upon a time, this humble blog would be highlighting a handful of new faces coming into the program for the spring. By my count, we have 30(!!) players set to make their Notre Dame practice debut this month. THIRTY.

QB Noah Grubbs – Freshman
RB Javian Osborne – Freshman
RB Jonaz Walton – Freshman
WR Dylan Faison – Freshman
WR Bubba Frazier – Freshman
WR Kaydon Finley – Freshman
WR Devin Fitzgerald – Freshman
WR Brayden Robinson – Freshman
WR Mylan Graham – Redshirt Sophomore
WR Quincy Porter – Redshirt Freshman
TE Preston Fryzel – Freshman
OL Sullivan Garvin – Freshman
OL Tyler Merrill – Freshman
OL Grayson McKeogh – Freshman
OL Charlie Thom – Freshman
DE Ebenezer Ewetade – Freshman
DE Rodney Dunham – Freshman
DE Keon Keeley – Redshirt Junior
DT Francis Brewu – Redshirt Sophomore
DT Tionne Gray – Redshirt Sophomore
LB Ja’Kobe Clapper – Freshman
LB Thomas Davis, Jr. – Freshman
CB Khary Adams – Freshman
CB Chaz Smith – Freshman
CB Ayden Pouncey – Freshman
CB Nick Reddish – Freshman
CB Jayden Sanders – Sophomore
S Joey O’Brien – Freshman
K Spencer Porath – Junior
P Jasper Scaife – Freshman

It could be nothing, or it could be something. Perhaps a clerical error. But, recruited safeties Ayden Pouncey and Nick Reddish are listed at corner for the Irish on the official roster. Or, maybe they were recruited at corner by the Irish and I missed it. Either way, they are 172 pounds and 184 pounds respectively so corner makes a lot more sense right now. When Pouncey met with the media earlier this winter he mentioned working at boundary corner but they’ve been moving him “all over the place” to get him work.

Reddish committing to the Irish 8 months ago.

We have a total of 7 players on the team not here for spring, including:

QB Teddy Jarrard – Freshman
TE Ian Premer – Freshman
OL Ben Nichols – Freshman
OL Gregory Patrick – Freshman
CB D.J. McKinney – 5th-Year Senior
K Micah Drescher – Freshman

In case you missed it (and you probably didn’t) Notre Dame was able to get quarterback Teddy Jarrard to reclassify for 2026 but he won’t arrive until the summer. Four other freshmen are doing the crazy thing of finishing up high school on a normal timeline. Weirdos.

We’re assuming McKinney was close to graduating at Colorado and is wrapping up his degree this spring. He’s not currently listed on the 2026-27 roster so that would make sense.

Injuries

We’ll wait for updates from Rob Hunt this week but so far no new injuries have leaked out. It’s a tight ship being run in South Bend these days, or maybe there are no new injuries. Perhaps its both.

Marcus Freeman did remark this week during a radio appearance that Irish running back Aneyas Williams will be limited this spring but did not expound on the reason why. As you may recall, Williams dealt with an elbow injury for pretty much the entirety of the 2025 season.

RB Aneyas Williams (elbow?)
RB Kedren Young (knee)
OL Charles Jagusah (arm)
OL Ashton Craig (knee)
OL Peter Jones (ankle)
LB Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa (knee)
LB Drayk Bowen (hip)

Kedren Young is likely not fully healthy yet and there’s been virtually no news on the infamous arm injury to Jagusah. He’ll be 8 months clear from the initial injury although reports of a setback and new surgery could keep him out for spring.

Peter Jones has dealt with several injuries in his career and could be recovered for the spring. Neither KVA or Bowen are expected to dress for spring, especially the former.

Jaden Greathouse (thigh) missed time last year and should be good to go now.

Brandon Logan underwent shoulder surgery during his freshman season but the elite baseball prospect has been playing with the Irish on the diamond this spring so he’s healthy again.

Spring Storylines

10 topics for Irish football this spring…

#1 Coaching Continuity on Defense

This spring will be the exact opposite of last year on defense from a coaching perspective. Heading into 2025, the Irish welcomed back the core of its assistants but were breaking in new defensive coordinator Chris Ash. That transition did not go well, at least early in the season.

Notre Dame hopes things go better in 2026 as a trio of new assistants join the program behind Ash’s second season in South Bend.

Aaron Henry meeting with the media this winter.

Charlie Partridge (defensive line), Brian Jean-Mary (linebackers), and Aaron Henry (defensive backs) get straight to work this spring, and while we’re unlikely to see or hear much from their roles this spring, they will be new staff worth keeping an eye on for small scheme and positional changes.

#2 Hebert vs. Grubbs (before Jarrad)

CJ Carr is going to be living comfortably this spring after going through a hectic 2025 that saw him splitting spring reps with Steve Angeli and Kenny Minchey, then going through an intense fall camp against the latter teammate. I’m sure Carr will want to develop more connection with some of the younger receivers and the incoming transfers from Ohio State. Beyond that, I’m not sure there will be a lot to do for him this far away from the season.

Teddy Jarrard reclassified but doesn’t arrive until the summer. That means it’s likely do or die time for rising redshirt freshman Blake Hebert. He simply cannot go into the summer third string and hope to play football for the Irish.

Noah Grubbs will have just as much pressure, too. He can’t be too excited about Jarrard arriving a year early in the same class but this spring period could still give Grubbs a huge leg up going into 2026. He’ll definitely want to become the primary backup by mid-August and solidify that position.

#3 No More Love (and Price)

The rest of the country is going to want to know what Notre Dame has in store to follow up the Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price era, so I expect this to be one of the top national storylines driving coverage of the Irish this spring. I expect one player to have a great spring and get a feature on ESPN.

Williams should have a major role in 2026.

Aneyas Williams should open things up as the no. 1 guy (if he’s able to practice) although Nolan James will be a name to watch early on in camp. Can Kedren Young recover enough from his injury to get into the mix? We also have a pair of true freshmen on campus in Jonaz Walton and Javian Osborne with enough runway to put themselves into position for playing time in 2026. If Williams is truly sitting out large swaths of spring we might be hearing a ton about these young freshmen.

#4 Crowded at Wideout

I’m perhaps naively expecting chaos at wide receiver this spring. Fourteen players (of the traditional scholarship variety) will take the field jockeying for reps and I’m not sure anyone is really safe with a starting role right now except Jordan Faison.

We’ll be looking at Jaden Greathouse acclimating himself back into the offense after missing most of 2025. Both Ohio State transfers Quincy Porter and Mylan Graham surely want to make a big impression right away. Micah Gilbert, Cam Williams, and Elijah Burress all need to practice well or risk falling down the depth chart, plus we have all 5(!) freshmen receivers already on campus.

Even if we assume the freshmen won’t do a whole lot, I expect wideout to be very spicy this spring. The team really needs to put urgency on developing passing game weapons for CJ Carr.

#5 Tight End U Legacy

Ty Washington returns from a backup role last year but it remains to be seen if he’s a no. 1 type of starting tight end. In the conservative nature of spring ball he’s probably running out with the 1st team to kick things off though.

Cooper Flanagan should be chomping at the bit to get back into action after his Achilles injury. If there’s an early guy who becomes no. 1 tight end it might be him. Or, maybe rising redshirt freshman James Flanigan makes a jump that is expected. We also have freshman Preston Fryzel who was a big recruiting target and crucially is on campus before even bigger recruiting target Ian Premer arrives this spring.

#6 Knapp Inside (or Not)

Once a mystifying undersized true freshman at left tackle, Anthonie Knapp is suddenly a junior and until otherwise we know differently, still a tackle. He’ll be one of only 2 (Guerby Lambert, right guard) players who are healthy this spring and were 2025 opening day starters. Offensive line coach Joe Rudolph has shown a penchant to mix things up during practice but will he really move Knapp after 2 years on the edge?

Message boards have wanted Knapp at guard since 2024.

There will be plenty of options and line combinations to choose from this spring. Even with injuries accounted for there should be more than 3 full lines of players in uniform.

I’m focused on a few names:

Will Black – The big potential redshirt freshman could win any job with the exception of maybe center. There’s some scuttlebutt he could be the new left tackle.

Sullivan Absher – There’s a scenario where he’s immediately among the core players with Knapp and Lambert. Or maybe he’s going to get surpassed this spring?

Styles Prescod – Occasionally on the cusp of playing time, but he’s never really walked through that door. Prescod is a veteran who could finally have his name called.

#7 Young D-Linemen

Notre Dame will have 12 defensive linemen for spring coming into their third, fourth, or fifth season of college football. The vast majority of that group are prepared to play important roles this year and of course we’ll be keen to see how new transfers Francis Brewu, Tionne Gray, and Keon Keeley look in their first practices at their new homes.

But, this line is going deep.

Five redshirt freshmen are coming up, led by Christopher Burgess who is expected to make some noise on the interior after adding size throughout 2025. All of the true freshmen are also getting ready which includes several elite recruits, none more blue-chip than edge rusher Rodney Dunham, the nation’s no. 7 overall prospect in the Composite. This could be a really fun spring further down the depth chart.

#8 Linebacker Reps Available

This should be a huge spring to watch the leadership of Jaylen Sneed and Jaiden Ausberry grow at positions where there’s already a captain. They are both highly experienced and will be able to lead the linebackers this spring by default.

Faraimo may be a Dude.

The door is open for true sophomore Madden Faraimo to have a big spring. He played effectively two full games worth of snaps last year and I’ll be curious if he’s on an accelerated growth plan at Mike linebacker during these set of practices.

Both Kia brothers can make some noise, as could the often forgotten Teddy Rezac heading into his 3rd year with the team, Plus, both freshmen linebackers, too–I expect this to be a somewhat fun spring for the linebacker group in terms of news.

#9 Who’s the Nickel?

We don’t really have any positional mysteries or super wide open jobs with maybe the exception of nickelback. Two new transfers are in the mix, but only one of them is here for the spring. There’s been talk that Christian Gray is set to get a hard look at nickel. If that is true it makes me think neither of the rising sophomores in Dallas Golden or Mark Zackery are gaining interest in the role from the staff–and I’d be shocked if a true freshman was on his way to winning the job.

From what little we’ll see and hear, I’m most interested to see the established pecking order at nickel this spring.

#10 Deck Clearing at Safety

I can’t help but notice the depth chart at safety looks awfully enticing for a certain Mr. Joey O’Brien to come in and be engaged as a 5-star freshman. Four players are gone from last year’s roster, including 3 who transferred out, and the aforementioned Logan has been splitting his time with the baseball team.

The top 3 choices at safety seem established (Shuler, Johnson, Talich) but would anyone be surprised to see O’Brien pushing for two deep reps as soon as possible this spring? Ethan Long may have something to say about that, we’ll see.

Special Teams Bonus Chat

If “that guys looks good in shorts!” is the best we may get for a couple weeks this spring I don’t expect much headway on special teams reporting. We’ll just lay it out:

With freshman kicker Micah Drescher not arrived yet we’ll have a 1-on-1 battle between the much maligned Erik Schmidt and presumptive job-stealer Spencer Porath transferring over from Purdue.

Faison brings stability to special teams.

Notre Dame dipped back into the Aussie punter game, this time Jasper Scaife arrives with 4 years of eligibility. Will he be unopposed? Schmidt can punt as well, but I wonder if trying to split his duties ultimately ruins his chances at either job.

Someone would have to blow the doors off practice during live bullets to unseat Jordan Faison from the punt returner job. Kick returner is the exact opposite and looks to be wide, wide, wide open. That job battle might go deep into fall camp.