Notre Dame opened up spring practice on Thursday, March 7th to an assembled crowd of reporters, friends, and associated staff. The players were in shorts and helmets with no tackling but that will not deter the hype from growing, as per allowed in section 7.4-24 of the Off-season College Football Fandom Manual™.

Since the school is now on break the Irish won’t return for their 2nd practice until Monday, March 18th. That’s a long time to stew over this one practice session. Here are a bunch of updates from South Bend as we have a sneaking suspicion* this will be the year Notre Dame finally grabs that National Championship.

*I’m in a good mood and spring brings hope, it won’t last forever! Or will it??

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Junior corner Benjamin Morrison–surely starting his final campaign with Notre Dame before the NFL comes calling–laid claim to the most impressive player on the field, punctuated by a stunning one-handed interception. We know he’s excellent so it’s not a big deal although it’s further assurance of his talent, especially given the plaudits to the receivers from the practice.

While there wasn’t a ton of running around, new grad transfer quarterback Riley Leonard looked healthy with no lingering effects from off-season ankle surgery. His strong arm was duly noted.

There were positive marks across the board for all of the quarterbacks, and why wouldn’t there be in this first opening practice and a very controlled environment without physicality? New freshman quarterback CJ Carr looks noticeably thicker and his fluid throwing motion sticks out from the bunch. Angeli looked good too, and it’s worth noting head coach Marcus Freeman said there is a quarterback battle going on. Whether he truly means it, well…

The top freshman of the day had to go to receiver Micah Gilbert, criminally underrated by the recruiting services and ready to make ’em pay. If we use this snapshot from one practice (silly though it may be) Gilbert is going to be a factor in 2024.

The first unit receivers lined up with Jayden Thomas outside, Jaden Greathouse in the slot, and FIU transfer Kris Mitchell in the prime “X” position. Notre Dame isn’t easing into the schedule this fall and I bet these will be the 3 receivers they trot out on to the field first in College Station in late August. There’s quite a bit of Mitchell being “built different” and bringing an extra dynamic to the receiving corps that is desperately needed.

Slot receiver Jordan Faison was in attendance but didn’t mix things up as he’s currently an integral part of the defending National Champion lacrosse team. Based off Freeman’s comments, we’re probably only going to see Faison sparingly this spring. Heck, the Blue-Gold Game starts right after the lacrosse team’s penultimate regular season game. I’m sure Faison will at least walk over to the stadium and hang out on the sideline for a good time.

The starting offensive line was in fact the same as we left things off in the Sun Bowl with Charles Jagusah (LT), Pat Coogan (LG), Ashton Craig (C), Billy Schrauth (RG), and Tosh Baker (RT).

Good news for Rocco Spindler who appeared healthy and working throughout the practice. Although, the day 1 starter at right guard last year worked with the 2nd unit along side Sullivan Absher (LT), Sam Pendleton (LG), Joe Otting (C), and Aamil Wagner (RT).

We thought it was a bit curious that former Penn State grad transfer Devyn Ford returned to Notre Dame for a 5th season after no carries over the final 7 regular season games. However, he’s been moved to safety and was also getting some reps at nickel during Thursday’s practice. After the workout, Freeman explained they love Ford’s play on special teams and want to work on improving his tackling.

There are going to be some interesting decisions coming up in the defensive backfield. I did not submit a real amazing grade for Arizona State transfer Jordan Clark (the 2024 recruiting grades are coming soon, I promise!) and he was slowed on Thursday while dealing with some quad soreness. I was pretty surprised to see Freeman mention that Clark is the no. 1 nickel for the spring. I didn’t think he was the “plug in as a starter” type of transfer to be honest.

Therefore at nickel on Thursday, the veteran Clarence Lewis was joined with Micah Bell (with help from Ford as mentioned above) as the top two favorites. I like Bell’s athletic profile a lot at nickel. I am a bit staggered that Clark has slid right into that top spot before a single practice and I wonder if it’ll last. Especially considering Jaden Mickey or Christian Gray could or maybe should also get in the mix, too.

Moving back to safety, the Irish put former preferred walk-on Luke Talich on scholarship.

On Thursday, it was Talich behind Adon Shuler playing opposite of All-American star Xavier Watts. We’ll see if those guys get pushed down the depth chart once Northwestern grad transfer Rod Heard joins the team. Heard and Clemson transfer wideout Beaux Collins were present at practice on Thursday and are currently living in South Bend while they finish up their degrees at their former schools. Hooray, online learning!

We found out about new injuries to young defensive linemen as Armel Mukam and Loghan Thomas both had labrum surgery and will miss spring practice. The defensive line is super deep so not the worst situation in the world but sad news for those particular players. Thomas (205 lbs.) really need to work on his strength and size so this could be a considerable set back for him.

Joining them on the out-for-spring are previously known injuries to tight ends Mitchell Evans and Kevin Bauman, plus defensive end Aiden Gobaira.

Freeman did say that defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio will be off the roster for the spring but he expects him back this summer. As reported late last year, Brendan Vernon was moving to defensive tackle and that looks official now. That helps building some depth without Rubio.

Duke grad transfer RJ Oben opened up spring practice as the starter at strong-side defensive end, as expected given his experience. I was curious to see if Josh Burnham was going to stay at this position after a bowl-season switch and it appears that way with the redshirt sophomore running with the 2nd team.

Who is the backup Will linebacker for 2024? On our 18S depth chart we have redshirt freshman Preston Zinter, and with all apologies to him, that was basically by default. On Thursday, the first unit rolled out with Jaylen Sneed (Rover), Jack Kiser (Will), and Drayk Bowen (Mike) but when the 2nd unit came out Jaiden Ausberry was the Rover, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa was the Mike but they were switching both Kiser and Bowen as the Will before trying a ton of different combinations (like Sneed and Ausberry at Will).

We got a “KVA is going to play” comment from Freeman after 1 spring practice. Scratch it off the spring bingo card.

With Bowen nominally on the baseball team right now (he’s played in 2 games with 0 official at-bats as of this writing) Freeman intimated that we’ll see the rising sophomore focusing on football this spring. I would think so, he’s on track to start! He also hurt his ankle late in the practice but it’s not considered serious.

No doubt, Faison will remain the punt returner for 2024. He was watching while Greathouse, Mickey, Payne and Price got reps. Marshall transfer Jayden Harrison was reportedly looking very, very quick and should win the kick return job.

I just realized Notre Dame used backup walk-on quarterback Dylan Devezin as the holder for the first 4 games of 2023 then switched to punter Bryce McFerson for the rest of the season. According to the beat media, it was junior walk-on long-snapper Rino Monteforte taking 1st reps as the holder on Thursday. We’re assuming Monteforte will also be replacing long-time long-snapper Michael Vinson. For now, Devezin is working at running back because there are zero reps to be had with Leonard, Angeli, Minchey, and Carr at quarterback.

Notre Dame special teams coordinator Marty Biagi is helping out with the safeties after Chris O’Leary willingly left for a job with Jim Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers.

Chad Bowden has been promoted to the general manager role for Notre Dame. Irish staffer Dre Brown is now the head of high school recruiting.

Three players I’d pick as stock up after 1 practice based on athleticism in shorts and pure vibes: receiver Jayden Harrison, linebacker Jaiden Ausberry, defensive tackle Donovan Hinish.