The official depth chart should be coming out soon as the 2023 Notre Dame football season begins soon and the Irish make preparations for an overseas battle against Navy. Today, we will take a look at the expected depth chart as well as other areas of focus and intrigue throughout the roster.

As usual, it’s been a somewhat predictable set of practices as the depth chart begins to take shape but in some areas we have seen some incredible movement.

INJURY REPORT

I’ll go with the NFL style report and list players as follows:

OUT: WR KK Smith, TE, Kevin Bauman, DE Aiden Gobaira

DOUBTFUL: N/A

PROBABLE: RB Jadarian Price, TE Eli Raridon, NG Devan Houstan, CB Chance Tucker

Smith has been the only player consistently out during fall camp after undergoing shoulder surgery. However, he was recently joined by Aiden Gobaira who has suffered a torn ACL last week. Additionally, Kevin Bauman has been trying to bounce back from his second major knee surgery and you have to feel for him as he now has a partially torn ACL and will miss all of the 2023 season.

We haven’t heard much from Houstan during practices as he is buried deep on the depth chart, but with the shoulder surgery he’s probably not 100% healthy. Still, we haven’t heard of any lingering issues.

Price has been battling back from his Achilles injury and is probably in a situation where he could play in a limited role, he’ll probably dress, but I doubt we see him against Navy. The same goes for Eli Raridon and his knee surgery. Most believe he’s close to coming back strong but probably isn’t quite there yet. Lastly, Chance Tucker has been seen on the sidelines recently with a sore Achilles but is working his way back.

Bauman has been beset by injuries throughout his career. 

Others, including starting corner Cam Hart (shoulder), corner Christian Gray (knee), nickel Thomas Harper (shoulder), safety Adon Shuler (shoulder), and safety Ben Minich (thumb) have been cleared since fall camp began after coming off surgeries this off-season.

It should be noted that redshirt freshman (and nominally the backup Mike) linebacker Nolan Ziegler left the team during camp to attend to a personal matter back home. He has since returned to campus but has not been practicing.

POSITIONAL BATTLES

Offensive Guard

This is my 16th season covering the Irish and I don’t think there’s ever been a situation on the offensive line that has been so curious and frankly not made a ton of sense. We came into camp with Billy Schrauth and Andrew Kristofic as the favorites–some might say the heavy favorites–to win these jobs and it appears neither will be starting when the Irish open up against Navy.

Instead, Rocco Spindler has continued to develop and looks poised to start at right guard while the lowly-rated redshirt sophomore Pat Coogan has been taking nearly all of the 1st-team reps at left guard in recent media viewings.

Wide Receiver

It’ll be Jayden Thomas and then who? There hasn’t been a bunch of shuffling around of positions or intense battles rearranging the pecking order during fall camp. Chris Tyree and Jaden Greathouse have been entrenched in the slot while preferred walk-on Jordan Faison has turned plenty of heads. More on these players below.

Not that fans weren’t already worried but by all accounts Notre Dame is heading into 2023 with concerns about the consistency and playmaking ability for both Tobias Merriweather and Deion Colzie. Granted, the media aren’t watching a ton of live scrimmaging but in the stuff they have seen neither of these players are giving much to write about. Still, Merriweather seems to be the starting field-side receiver so he must be doing something right.

Running Back

With Audric Estime the unquestioned starter and Gi’Bran Payne solidifying a backup role we are just waiting to see what the rest of the depth chart looks like when the games begin. True freshman Jeremiyah Love has impressed with the way he’s put together and Price is probably going to be a larger factor later in the season as he works his way back to full health. To start September, we think graduate transfer Devyn Ford picks up the remaining morsels as 3rd-team back.

Tight End

It was believed that Mitchell Evans would probably cruise to the no. 1 tight end role during August. That hasn’t not happened, but Holden Staes is making a move and a healthier Raridon is also pushing for more reps. This will be an interesting position to watch unfold as the season progresses.

Edge

Nothing groundbreaking has happened this August on either side of the defensive line although it’s still worth a mention as these are new starters. Jordan Botelho is the main guy at Vyper and it seems Josh Burnham has inched ahead of Junior Tuihalamaka, the latter who was dinged up for a while this month. On the other side, we can probably call it a 1A and 1B situation between grad transfer Javontae Jean-Baptiste and NaNa Osafo-Mensah. Who will provide reps behind them with Gobaira out? Early in the season, we’ll probably see Tyson Ford helping out and getting in some cross-training.

Nickel/Dime

Graduate transfer Thomas Harper has locked down the starting nickel role and is being backed up by Clarence Lewis. This has been one of the most steady aspects to the roster during fall practices. By the look of things, defensive coordinator Al Golden is continuing the exotic blitz packages and we are seeing more 3 safety looks, while using a defensive back (especially DJ Brown) closer to the line of scrimmage as a pass-rushing threat.

Safety

Both Xavier Watts and DJ Brown appear to be the primary starters at safety with Ramon Henderson and Antonio Carter being on the field quite a bit, too. This looks pretty cut and dry for now.

Special Teams

The media feels like the picture has been pretty clear at most of the special teams positions. Spencer Shrader (field goals, kickoffs), Bryce McFerson (punter), Michael Vinson (long-snapper), and Dylan Devezin (holder) will get the nod at their respective positions.

Chris Tyree looks to be the favorite as the punt returner (despite not having experience at this position during his career) while he may not be taking kick returns (despite having a lot of experience at this position) as Devyn Ford and Jeremiyah Love are still in the mix to win this job.

FALL PRACTICE SURPRISES

WR Rico Flores – The true freshman progressed enough in the spring to the point where he would probably see the field in 2023. Now, Flores has taken another step and is being mentioned alongside Jaden Greathouse as the newcomers who could have a big impact.

WR Chris Tyree – I will admit I am in ‘show me’ mode with Tyree. At times it’s felt like the bar has been really low for him in practice reports (“he catches the ball really well!”) and I have a hard time seeing his weaknesses being overcome at receiver. I thought he’d be a gadget+ type of senior but he is repping often with the 1st-team in the slot and must have improved significantly.

Do you believe the Tyree hype at receiver? 

WR Jordan Faison – This past recruiting cycle the Irish picked up the 5’10” 182-pounder as a dual-sport athlete pegged as a more important signing to the lacrosse team (he was the #46 overall recruit in the nation according to Inside Lacrosse). However, football is up first and Faison has proven to be extremely quick, slippery, and explosive. We may end up seeing him on the field at some point in his career.

TE Holden Staes – Throughout fall practices Staes has been rotating in with the 1st-team offense and his stock has shot up from a pass catching perspective. Even if he doesn’t play as many snaps as Evans, it appears Staes is now the heavy favorite to lead the tight ends in receptions this year.

OG Pat Coogan – We can’t underestimate this surge from Coogan who wasn’t even discussed as much of an option during spring practice. The redshirt sophomore has come out of nowhere and has his eyes set on starting against Navy–although I’d be lying if I didn’t think that it’ll still be Billy Schrauth when the offense takes the field in Dublin.

OG Rocco Spindler – As far as we can tell, there hasn’t been much of a competition lately at right guard and Spindler has taken control of things. Finally, the recruitniks who have wanted him on the field will have their way!

DE Boubacar Traore – I certainly thought Traore would be more of a developmental project at strong-side end based on his high school profile. Instead, he’s come to fall practice at 237 pounds and 6’4″ with a pass-rushing ability that surprised a ton of people. Can he work his way into the rotation this season? That might be too much to ask but we think he is the long-term pass-rushing solution for Notre Dame.

DE Brenan Vernon – There were concerns about Vernon as he tumbled down the national rankings this past cycle and appeared to put on quite a bit of weight. Then he slimmed down for all-star season and came to August practices at nearly 6’5″ and a svelte 259 pounds. He’s in a similar boat to classmate Traore–not real close to playing but an exciting prospect who should be a future starter.

DT Gabriel Rubio – Clearly, Rubio continues to harness the power of the old-school facemask and it’s allowing him to increase his abilities even more. He did some nice things in 2022 as a redshirt freshman and was someone we talked about previously who needed to make a leap on the defensive line. It looks like it’s happening.

Rubio’s facemask. 

LB Jaiden Ausberry – I’m including Ausberry because as a recruit I thought he needed a lot of weight and wasn’t ready to make any noise as a freshman. Well, he may not see defensive snaps but he’s impressed with his athleticism and he’s already up to 224 pounds. He’s been involved in many special teams work and could very well play all season with those units.

CB Christian Gray – The true freshman Gray had a very good spring before minor knee surgery shut him down for the Blue-Gold Game. He’s returned this August and isn’t backing down from a competitive cornerbacks room. In fact, Gray may see significant backup snaps on the boundary when Cam Hart needs a rest and Clarence Lewis may be in at nickel.

S Luke Talich – Here’s another preferred walk-on who caught plenty of attention early in fall camp. Since then, the hype has died down a bit but Talich’s nearly 6’4″ and 200 pound frame has plenty of people excited for the future. Notre Dame sits at 83 scholarships right now and may be awarding those to Talich and the aforementioned Faison.

NOTES

Sam Hartman, Joe Alt, JD Bertrand, and Cam Hart were named the captains for the 2023 season.

Back in the spring it seemed like Liufau was definitely taking a back seat to Kiser who was shifting over to take more reps at Will. During August, it has looked a lot more like last season where Liufau is playing at Will, Kiser may still be helping out but is also at Rover or not on the field at all. I think we’ll still see plenty of Bertrand/Liufau together in certain packages.

The curious case of Michael Carmody. No one has really been reporting on the redshirt junior who I kind of thought would’ve transferred already and just isn’t really in the mix during practices.

The reporting on Steve Angeli has been positive to really positive at times. It’ll be interesting to see his development and the reporting once Hartman leaves town and the backup quarterback boost is no longer being applied.

It sounds like Jaylen Sneed will be used as a pass rushing missile this year and has been excelling in this role. Although, his coverage duties and overall understanding of assignments still isn’t quite there yet. It’s crazy to think he’s only a redshirt freshman, with his hype he feels much older.

I’m sure people will say “no way!” but Billy Schrauth not winning a guard job puts him on transfer watch for me.

Here’s a black and white depth chart for those so inclined: