Notre Dame opened fall camp on Friday and continued its preparations for the 2022 season with another practice on Saturday. The media was in attendance for Friday’s full workout and the first 5 sessions of Saturday’s practice (neither in pads) to give us some insight into the early workings of Marcus Freeman’s first football squad in South Bend.

Here are the top stories to cover following the first 2 workouts:

Buchner Hasn’t Won the Job

Not yet, at least. That’s to be expected after only a couple practices. During the open Friday workout the offense did a ton of red zone work and both quarterbacks looked sharp with Buchner primarily playing with the first-team offense. Some media thought Pyne played better. The only other full practice the media will get to see is on August 19th and that will be the only real glimpse in pads of the quarterback play. Will the starter already be named before then anyway?

Diggs Could Be Ready for Ohio State

The sophomore running back was limited and in a red jersey, but not as limited as people thought he’d be. After Friday’s practice, coach Freeman mentioned the handful of players who are out long-term and won’t be ready for Ohio State. Diggs was not included in those comments. His full return could be a huge boost.

Estime Looks Ready

Coming in at a svelte 229 pounds, Estime is a little slimmer but still put together extremely well. His footwork and agility continue to get really positive reviews. Estime didn’t make the upcoming top 25 players from our 18 Stripes writers ballots. However, he could be an easy bet to overachieve based on expectations.

Davis Nearing Full Health

Notre Dame’s leading returning receiver was in uniform in a red jersey. His reps were limited but like Diggs he was not mentioned as someone who won’t be ready for September. Freeman even went into more detail and said Avery Davis is full-go but they will be careful with him. That’s a smart decision.

Thomas in a Bigger Role

The offense was shuffling between receivers liberally but the lineup that came out first in team session was the aforementioned Davis aligned with Lorenzo Styles and Jayden Thomas as the big receiver. Veteran Braden Lenzy rotated in quite a lot, too. Thomas offers an intriguing option out wide. He’s not ideal height (6-1 1/2) but continues to flash a ton of physicality.

Merriweather’s Athleticism is Clear

I’m not sure how much we can expect so early in someone’s career. After this weekend it seems obvious that rising sophomore Deion Colzie is much more in the mold of a big, physical receiver who isn’t going to wow the crowd with speed. True freshman Tobias Merriweather is 13 pounds lighter but is visibly agile and quick for his size. As he gains experience he’s going to be tough to keep off the field.

Patterson to Left Guard

As anticipated throughout the media this off-season, captain Jarrett Patterson has moved from center to left guard with Zeke Correll moving into the starting lineup at center. That bumped Andrew Kristofic out of the starting lineup, although I will note he was working at right guard and I’d bet that’s in anticipation of any injury woes popping back up for Josh Lugg.

Wagner Need Size

Aamil Wagner was one of my favorite recruits from the 2022 class. We even gave him a higher grade than classmate Billy Schrauth. Still, if size is any indication don’t expect Wagner on the field any time soon. At just 267 pounds on a 6-6 frame Wagner is going to have to put in a full year with the Matt Balis strength program to get anywhere close to playing weight and is assured a redshirt for 2022.

Tanona Medically Retired

Sad news as incoming freshman offensive lineman Joey Tanona is medically retiring. He was in a dangerous car accident this off-season and has not been able to overcome concussion issues. It’s his plan to stay and graduate from Notre Dame. Best of luck to him in his recovery.

Cross is Quick

Early on this August it looks like the defense is going to stick with the under-sized Howard Cross at nose guard despite his 276-pound frame not being very nose guard-ish. The flip side to that is Cross continues to be a handful for offensive linemen to handle and is constantly disrupting plays behind the line of scrimmage.

Smith Should Hold His Own

Harvard transfer Chris Smith is not in the mold of Howard Cross. Both are on the shorter side (sounds like Smith may be generously listed at over 6-1 although maybe it’s deceptive) but Smith is a much heftier 310 pounds. I’m not sure they are expecting or even brought him in to the program to be a playmaker. Physically, there’s early hope that he will hold up really well at the point of attack, though.

Botelho Back to Vyper

Now up to 250 pounds, Jordan Botelho is still listed at linebacker but practiced almost exclusively with the Vyper’s on the defensive line. At that size, I don’t know how successful Botelho will ever be at Rover. We’ll see if he continues to be in a no-man’s land for his position or if he begins a season with steady reps as a pass-rushing lineman.

Bertrand Staying at Will

As is usual this early in camp there was a decent amount of movement among the linebackers, especially some of the veterans. One of the interesting moves was seeing JD Bertrand taking a lot of reps at Will linebacker where he played last year after an off-season expecting a full-time move to Mike linebacker. We’d expect Bertrand to still play mostly at Mike, although that may depend on the health and development of some other players.

Liufau Maybe Not 100%

On the Irish Illustrated fall camp preview podcast they seemed to pull back on the reins of Marist Liufau being a big playmaker on defense after spending all year acting like he was going to be the next star at Will linebacker. I can assure you our upcoming 18 Stripes player rankings will not be shy about our Liufau expectations. However, his reps were limited on Friday and with Bertrand featuring so much at Will in practice it’s possible this could be much more of a shared role than expected. It’s also possible that Prince Kollie isn’t ready to be a legit backup and those reps could mostly go to Bertrand.

Sneed Added Size

Notre Dame’s top recruit for the 2022 class came to campus under 200 pounds back in the spring and is now no longer under-sized. Jaylen Sneed opens up fall camp at a heftier 215 pounds and is now right near the ideal size for a Rover in this defense. That bumps him up from someone not likely to see the field much to fighting for some backup reps.

Mickey the Real Deal

Building off an impressive spring, true freshman Jaden Mickey continues to be squarely in the mix for a lot of playing time at field corner and nickel corner. He’s not particular big at 5-11 1/2 and 176 pounds but he’s bringing a lot of confidence to the team with Freeman mentioning the Californian is one of the team’s vocal leaders.

Brown the Early Leader

Notre Dame is expected to cycle through a lot of bodies at safety to find the right starting pair. After this weekend, the early leaders appear to be Brandon Joseph and DJ Brown. That could be deference to the most veteran safety on the roster, however, Brown was credited with one of the most impressive performances of the open Friday practice.