I posted this article in the third week of August last year but unlike 2025, we still have 20 days until Notre Dame kicks off the new season against Wisconsin inside Lambeau Field. That’s also a Sunday night kickoff once again for the Irish, don’t forget to plan your week 1 festivities accordingly. Anyway, we’ve had a decent amount of information coming out of fall camp although plenty of things can change before the season actually arrives next month.

With such a long way to go until the opener consider this is basically “where things stand” with a few weeks to go.

Injury Report

OUT: OL Charles Jagusah, OL Peter Jones, OL Matty Augustine, DL Chris Burgess, DL Tiki Hola, LB Ko’o Kia, CB Chaz Smith

DOUBTFUL: WR Quincy Porter, WR Brayden Robinson, S Nick Reddish

PROBABLE: OL Ashton Craig, LB Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, CB Dallas Golden

Last year, I moved to this NFL-style injury report for this article and things can change in the lead up to Wisconsin. However, no one in the ‘out’ category is expected to dress and play against the Badgers, that much seems clear.

There were whispers that Porter’s patellar injury was more serious than we knew back when he joined the Irish, and while he’s making progress, it’s hard to believe he’ll be ready for the first few games of the season. Robinson has been coming off a knee injury and from accounts by the media with his movements and participation, he may be healthy for the opener. Reddish might be someone to think about more in the second month of the season coming off shoulder surgery in the spring.

Craig and KVA for sure seem like they are pretty much healthy and/or limiting their full participation as a matter of caution so that they are ready for Wisconsin. That’s why I’ve treated today’s depth chart as if they will be fully healthy. Golden was shut down late in the spring with a lower back strain and recently missed practice. He was back on Sunday with a shoulder brace on which is something worth monitoring for the near future.

QUARTERBACK

While we have zero controversy about the status of CJ Carr as the undisputed no. 1 quarterback on the depth chart and in our hearts, fall camp has thrown a wrench in the battle for the backup role. Previously, I had mentioned reclassifying and non-early enrolled Teddy Jarrard faced an uphill battle to become the backup but redshirt freshman Blake Hebert missing some time recently for personal reasons certainly opens that door a little more.

Lots of eyes have been on the young Jarrard this camp. 

That’s a tough blow for Hebert who really need every single rep to distance himself from the others given his small edge in experience coming into camp, although he was back with the team on Sunday’s media viewing portion.

It may be too rash to remove Hebert from the backup battle, but it’s seems clear that the race between all 3 players is going to be very tight now. Do we entertain the idea that Hebert AND Grubbs would transfer at the end of the year if Jarrard wins the backup job?

RUNNING BACK

It’s been a good camp so far at running back where Aneyas Williams seems to have solidified himself as the top running back with Nolan James a distant 1B option. Elsewhere, Kedren Young looks to be coming back nicely from his knee injury while true freshman Jonaz Walton recently received some incredible praise from running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider.

It’ll be interesting to see how they break up the carries in games. Mike Denbrock has been insistent that this will be a run-first offense, although you can stretch that definition a million different ways. The tailbacks averaged just under 30 carries per game in 2025, there’s no way that number goes up in 2026, right??

Williams has become one of the team leaders and looks to be the clear starter at running back. 

It does seem like Javian Osborne is trailing the other guys on the depth chart. Osborne missed the spring with a wrist injury and it looks like classmate Walton is going to be fighting for some reps in 2026. There weren’t many carries for anyone outside of Love and Price last year (Aneyas only had 24!) so we’ll see how they juggle as many as 4 guys making a case for the field.

WIDE RECEIVER

I’ve seen some really high praise for this receiving corps and I just want to push back a little bit as we head towards the season. Porter is still injured and everyone else outside of Faison and Greathouse has a combined 26 career receptions. This group is very much unproven.

With Carr at the helm, I’m eager to see this group continue to develop though. Faison is Faison and his level has been very good. If a healthy Greathouse is back, and can stay back, that’s another dimension for the offense. I’m curious if Mylan Graham is a potential star in the making–during the spring it felt like maybe he was trending in that direction although the accolades in August haven’t quite matched that level.

At least early in fall camp, they were really rotating a lot of receivers through the different teams. That seems like a good sign. Unless something happens, we have to assume that Micah Gilbert will be the main guy at boundary to start the season. Faison, Greathouse, Graham, and Gilbert appear to be the top 4, but who will slot in as the 5th, 6th, and 7th options?

This has felt like a make or break camp for Cam Williams and there have been some encouraging signs. Bubba Frazier has also impressed enough where he’ll be tough to keep off the field, especially in a special teams role. Devin Fitzgerald had a big spring and should be in the mix, too. I’ve named 7 receivers already and that doesn’t include lacrosse extraordinary Matt Jeffery who had 26 snaps on offense last year and is a tremendous athlete. Heck, Bettis ran out with the first-team to open practice recently and I’m not even sure if he’s even close to the two-deep.

TIGHT END

They brought Cooper Flanagan back ever so briefly last year and then rested him for 2025 as he returned from an Achilles injury. It’s important to remember he was playing quite a bit back in 2024 and has now been the most consistent first team tight end this fall camp. Still, there probably aren’t many Irish fans who think Flanagan is going to lock down nearly all first-team reps for 2026.

Ty Washington and James Flanigan should be used quite a bit, too. I’m curious to see the status of Jack Larsen–still with 3 years of eligibility remaining–but who is someone we rarely hear about these days. Preston Fryzel missed a little time early in camp but has made his way back, yet it’s his classmate Ian Premer who everyone wants to see. It feels like Flanigan and Premer are the most gifted of the players at this position but I’m not sure 2026 is the season where either make a huge impact.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Sadly, injuries have a way of figuring out things at places like offensive line and the Augustine foot surgery provides us a clearer glimpse of what is going to happen up front to start the season for the Irish. Left tackle (Black), left guard (Knapp), and right tackle (Lambert) seem completely locked in at their positions. That leaves us with the questions about who is starting at center and right guard. Reading the tea leaves it does really seem like the coaching staff are trying to convince themselves that Otting can handle center so that Craig can play right guard.

For as much anticipation and hype as this line is getting for 2026, it’s funny to me that we could possibly see 5 new starters at their respective positions!

Check out the transition to eligibility by year instead of class and/or redshirts.

In this scenario of a lineup, Absher would be a quality backup guard and there’s still the flexibility to move Craig back to center. With the Augustine injury, things are a little murky at tackle if there are further injuries. Styles Prescod has a journeyman feel to him, would they trust him to start at tackle over moving Knapp back again?

Here’s what is crazy about the Roster Era of college football–there are TWENTY offensive linemen on Notre Dame’s roster (not including walk-ons, there are 2 more of those) and depth still seems a little sketchy. It’s just so hard to get offensive linemen quality reps in practice and have younger players ready quickly for the demands at this level.

DEFENSIVE END

Not a ton to talk about at this position where Traore, Keeley, Young, and Thomas remain the top 4 players and we haven’t seen much talk about other players with the exception of true freshman Rodney Dunham. This has to be the top 5 heading into the opener and the players who will take 95% of the non-garbage snaps early in the season.

Another true freshman Ebenezer Ewetade seems to have drawn the attention of a few in the media and is probably closer to playing than anyone else among the backups. Gordy Sulfsted now weighs 280 pounds and I’m not sure about his future on the edge. Joe Reiff is another player from the 2025 class who may be getting passed up, I’m not sure. Dominik Hulak was probably the most athletic of that 2025 class but this doesn’t look like a position where he’ll be seeing the field in 2026.

DEFENSIVE TACKLE

One of the biggest pieces of news from fall camp so far has to be Armel Mukam making a move and potentially becoming one of the best tackles on the team. He’s working with Onye, Brewu, and Hughes to form a very solid two deep. I’m really, really high on Brewu and think he’ll be a standout on the defense. I’m probably not as high on the others compared to most and I want to see what kind of level they’ll bring in 2026.

Mukam has been one of the stars of fall camp, can he carry it into the season?

I haven’t heard as much about Oregon transfer Tionne Gray this camp, although I’m assuming he’ll be in the mix to some degree. There’s been enough talk about Sean Sevillano that he may have taken a step forward with a more lean body compared to last year.

There are still a lot more bodies as depth pieces. Elijah Golden was a big-time recruit and would be talk of the town in some Irish recruiting classes. Cole Mullins has been a gritty player punching above his weight for a long time. Dixon brings really good size but might still be a situational short-yardage gap filler.

LINEBACKER

This unit was too loaded to have anything real interesting happen during camp, especially with KVA running around and seemingly pretty close to full health. We have 5 players (Bowen, Sneed, KVA, Ausberry, Faraimo) who should see the vast majority of snaps with a huge drop off to the players below them.

The immediate future here is very fun, although the long-term future is really murky. The Kia brothers have yet to make much of an impact and the younger one is now injured. Rezac is coming into year 3 with 17 snaps on his resume, although he’s been a fixture on coverage teams. A pair of freshmen on campus could be interesting players down the road–it seems like the media were impressed more with Thomas Davis, Jr. so far during fall camp.

CORNERBACK

The travels of Michigan transfer Jayden Sanders has been one of the highlights for recent media coverage. During the spring, Sanders was backing up Leonard Moore at boundary corner but opened up fall camp working with the 1st team opposite Moore at field corner. Sanders spent some time during the spring working at nickel and in the most recent media viewings during the fall had been moved back to nickel again behind Christian Gray. This looks like a true depth piece for Notre Dame as Sanders has the versatility to play at several positions even if he’s not an official starter in game one. I’m sure he’ll play a lot.

Sanders may not start but he’s likely playing a lot.

Where things left off recently was Moore in the boundary, Gray at nickel, and Colorado transfer DJ McKinney working at field corner. Mark Zackery played an astonishing 307 snaps last year as a true freshman, worked a ton with the first team during spring, has a really promising career, but may be taking a bit of a backseat in 2026. The staff seems super high on McKinney.

When Reddish and Golden come back healthy it’s a plethora of options–a strong group of 7 players for 3 spots. I haven’t even discussed any of the true freshmen like Khary Adams, who the fine folks at EA Sports, have rated an 82 for 2026–5th highest among all freshmen in the country.

SAFETY

We mentioned this in an old roster update article that the departure of 4 safeties from the depth seemed to mean the staff were awfully high on incoming 5-star Joey O’Brien because he’d have every opportunity to jump into the two-deep as a freshman. If that was part of the plan, it seems to be going accordingly.

Ethan Long had 23 snaps last year from the returning non-regulars at safety and Brandon Logan has been a dual sport athlete with the baseball team. Maybe O’Brien doesn’t grab the 4th safety spot to start the season but you have to think he’ll finish the season with more snaps than Long or Logan.

SPECIAL TEAMS

News early out of camp was that the punting and kicking competitions looked good and dead after just a few attempts. Australian punter Jasper Scaife picked up rave reviews but we know things can often go much differently when the lights get really bright inside a full stadium. Purdue transfer Spencer Porath wasn’t expected to be seriously challenged for the field kicking duties, either. We saw Erik Schmidt perform so poorly last year that I wonder if freshman Micah Drescher beats him out for the backup duties.

I’d expect Jordan Faison to keep his punt return job while several players are auditioning for the kick return role I feel like that will be a spot where they are going to utilize freshman Bubba Frazier’s speed.