Notre Dame opened up fall camp on Thursday, August 6th in South Bend with expectations plenty high and perhaps rising even further as the country learns more about this edition of the Fighting Irish. Although it’s just shorts and helmets, this is always a fun time of year as we inch closer to actual football games. We don’t expect the media to have a lot of access to practice this month, per Marcus Freeman’s typical approach, so we’ll take what we can after day one.
First, the injury room was updated earlier this week as Freeman met with the media. Previously listed with injuries, all of the following have opened camp fully healthy:
RB Aneyas Williams
RB Kedren Young
RB Javian Osborne
WR Jerome Bettis Jr.
OL Tyler Merrill
DL Jason Onye
DL Gordy Sulfsted
LB Drayk Bowen
LB Madden Faraimo
LB Ja’Kobe Clapper
CB Khary Adams
CB Dallas Golden
S Joey O’Brien
Opening in camp in what they’re calling “modified activity” includes WR Quincy Porter (patella), WR Brayden Robinson (knee), OL Ashton Craig (knee), LB Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa (knee), and S Nick Reddish (shoulder). Also, WR Elijah Burress (hamstring) was a new injury from this list.
Fully out to start camp included OL Charles Jagusah (humerus), OL Peter Jones (pectoral), DL Chris Burgess (Tibia), DL Tiki Hola (knee), and LB Ko’o Kia (shoulder). Jones has been particularly snake-bitten with injuries throughout his career. Burgess and Kia are new injuries previously unknown.
QUARTERBACK
No surprise here as seniority determined the depth chart at quarterback with CJ Carr running the first team and Blake Hebert handling the backup duties. Behind them, Noah Grubbs and Teddy Jarrard picked up the scraps. Based on some leading questions in Freeman’s presser there’s a building expectation that Jarrard could wind up the backup within a couple months, but I think it’s important to note that kind of jump, for a reclassified recruit no less, would be incredibly difficult.
Carr taking snaps from under center was duly noted by those in attendance.
RUNNING BACK
Aneyas Williams and Nolan James opened up as the top running backs, although it looks like they rotated the depth chart liberally and everyone was getting plenty of reps across the 1st and 2nd team. I continue to believe this will be a fun group to watch this season, especially if they can be decently successful moving the chains in short-yardage and breaking off enough explosive plays. Big if’s, perhaps!
We know these practices in shorts typically flatter the guys who can catch the ball really well, but Williams and James really seem to be very versatile weapons and Carr is going to get them involved through the air a lot, I think.
WIDE RECEIVER
A small surprise as Ohio State transfer Mylan Graham did not open up fall camp with the 1st team, although these early practices tend to favor returning veterans before things get shaken up more based on playmaking ability. Instead, a fully healthy Jaden Greathouse worked in the slot with Jordan Faison (field) and Micah Gilbert (boundary).
According to reports, Cam Williams was getting a ton of work at multiple spots. The lines continue to be blurred between the traditional receiver positions and 2026 looks to be a continuation of that trend.
The spring saw true freshmen Devin Fitzgerald and Bubba Frazier make a name for themselves and after the opening workout of fall camp it was the latter who was picking up plenty of rave reviews while working with the top two units. Fitzgerald may be further away than we think which is surprising given the apparent window of opportunity at the boundary.
TIGHT END
More of the same from spring as Cooper Flanagan remains the top tight end with Ty Washington and Jack Larsen rotating in the group with James Flanigan. We’ll wait to see if there’s any more information on the development of Ian Premer who has been rumored to be an extremely advanced freshman. It’s been tough to get info in these practices under Freeman and tight end especially has become a black hole of information.
OFFENSIVE LINE
With Ashton Craig not participating during the contact periods, the first-team offensive line picked up where it left off in the spring with Will Black (LT), Anthonie Knapp (LG), Joe Otting (C), Sullivan Absher (RG), and Guerby Lambert (RT). Interestingly, it appears the coaching staff are highly interested in working Craig out at guard with Denbrock mentioning this after the practice. That would seem to indicate to me that Craig and Otting are sitting in a better spot for a starting gig than Absher.
The second unit included Styles Prescod (LT), Cam Herron (LG), Chris Terek (C), Matty Augustine (RG), and Owen Strebig (RT). I believe in the past Herron had been working at center and Terek at guard, respectively. So that is a different look. It’s reported that they both were cross-training at their previous positions as well.
The lines are so deep that there are 7(!!) other healthy offensive linemen participating in practice and we’ll likely never learn much about their progress this camp.
DEFENSIVE LINE
Once in the transfer portal this off-season, Armel Mukam opened up fall camp working with the first team along with Pitt transfer Francis Brewu on the interior and Boubacar Traore and Bryce Young on the edges. A bit of a curious decision regarding Mukam, I would’ve guessed based on seniority and experience it would’ve been Jason Onye working with the first team.
Working with the 2nd team, Keeley–Onye–Gray–Thomas are an interesting group. I get the sense that reporters are saying it without saying it that Keeley isn’t an explosive athlete for his size while Thomas forever remains a bit under-sized. As I mentioned in my fall camp preview, figuring out the depth chart on the edge and developing players remains a high priority.
LINEBACKER
Not much to report for the linebackers without tackling. KVA was out there getting some work during the non-contact periods. Otherwise, it was a healthy dose of Drayk Bowen, Jaylen Sneed, Jaiden Ausberry, and Madden Faraimo. That’s quite the top 4 guys without even considering KVA, a potential All-American.
SECONDARY
First things first…who was playing at nickel? It was Christian Gray and Dallas Golden. Newcomer DJ McKinney from Colorado (making his practice debut with the Irish and someone who could potentially get time in the slot) was with the 2nd-team as a field corner.
As expected, Leonard Moore was the starting corner with Michigan transfer CJ Sanders (a bit of a surprise) running with the first-team. The 2nd-team saw Mark Zackery complete the trio.
It’s early days but if the first practice is any indication, true freshman Joey O’Brien has the inside line to be the fourth safety behind Tae Johnson, Adon Shuler, and Luke Talich.
SPECIAL TEAMS
It’s not very typical when the media is in full agreement about what they witnessed but that seems to be the case when it comes to Notre Dame’s field goal kicking and punting. Maybe it’s bias from last year, but Erik Schmidt doesn’t appear to have shaken off a poor freshman season and was not looking like a good option now for kicker or punter.
The media saw enough to claim Purdue transfer Spencer Porath should be the starter in a month while there needs to be more seen from freshman Micah Drescher.
Aussie punter Jasper Scaife received incredibly rave reviews–he looks way, way ahead of schedule adjusting to the American game and has a BIG leg.
Catching punts during practice included: Jordan Faison, Jaden Greathouse, Dallas Golden, Mylan Graham and Aneyas Williams. No one is going to unseat Faison, I don’t believe.
Notes
- You’ll notice the SoFi advertising patches are included on the practice jerseys.
- Additional players who stood out to media members heretofore not mentioned in this article yet: WR Matt Jeffery, WR Jerome Bettis Jr., RB Kedren Young, and OL Matty Augustine.
- Notre Dame updated their football website recently. I also noticed a handful of new players on the roster including sophomore running back Kurt Smith, senior running back Matt Williams, sophomore tight end Kaleb Johnson, freshman tight end Austin Ratigan, sophomore safety Patrick Downs, and sophomore safety Chase Young.
- We have some time but it doesn’t appear right now that Ohio State transfer Quincy Porter is going to be ready to play when the season begins in Green Bay. He’s participating in practice but still not making any hard cuts and was seen taking it a bit gingerly at times.
JMO, but I think we are experiencing some group think at a couple positions.
#1. It seems Teddy Jarrard , with very little evidence is the groups favorite. I think the 3 are a lot closer in talent than is being reported. The talk of any of the 3 possesing a much stronger arm than the others is BS, IMO. Hebert only has a chance because he is the best runner is the groups reporting. He is the best runner but he is not a running QB. I think his being in the system for a year longer is a bigger advantage than the group implies. Even Grubbs extra semester in the system is an advantage for him over Jarrard. I don’t see #2 out of camp losing his job during the season being very likely, without injury or catastrophe occurring. I am basing my opinion on very little observed evidence, much like the group.
#2. Ian Premer beating out upper class TEs. The kid may be a super talent but, the veteran guys are talented too. So Premer jumping them is a tough ask. He’s coming out of a HS season where he looked to be playing against very inferior talent compared to him. CFB is a bigger jump for him, because of it. If ND is going to 2TEs in passing situations then I think that means the WR group has disappointed. Let’s hope that’s not the case. I don’t think Premer can be the #2 guy yet in blocking situations. I don’t see him winning the #1 job, so how does he get on the field very often ? Let’s not forget that there is another TE in the freshman class that will have a say at the position down the road too.
What I dislike most about this “group think” is the media unrealistically building up our hopes in the talent of these young players, so much so, that they look to be failures when they don’t reach the lofty heights proposed so quickly if ever. Need we go down the list of players this has happened to in the past? FWIW, I won’t be upset if a month or two or three down the road I get a bunch of “told you so’s”.
Yes, seems like there’s a lot of reverse engineering going on with Jarrard. He’s not an eye-popping talent on the surface (IMO) and the only way to promote him over the others is to denigrate Grubbs and Hebert.
I think O’Malley mentioned Premer is on all the special teams and was calling the signals for the punt team (if I remember correctly) which indicates a lot of trust for someone in his first practice. That tight end group will probably all see lots of snaps.
I think with the excitement of the football season, and the prognosticators prognosticating, we tend to try to pick out the next great player at ND. Last year, for a few weeks, everyone was saying Minchey would be starting ahead of Carr. I just take it as part of the preseason, there will be some over estimation, things will be blown out of proportion, other things will surprise. It is all part of the energy headed into the season.