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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team now has six practices under its belt during the spring practice season, and there are some
updates, notes, and thoughts we need to talk about.
INJURIES
The number of injuries that Notre Dame reported before the start of the spring period was a big story. The list was long, and the list had a lot of notable names. On Wednesday, Freeman offered up two more to go on the list.
- DT Jason Onye broke his hand and had surgery. Said Freeman, “He just had a small fracture in his hand, and we put a pin in it. I don’t know how long he — I don’t know if that keeps him out for spring, but it’s nothing that we’re overly concerned about.”
- S Nick Reddish has a torn shoulder labrum and will have surgery on Thursday. The hope is to have Reddish back for fall camp.
I also wanted to note that Freeman was asked about WR Jaden Greathouse this spring. Greathouse missed considerable time last season with a hamstring issue, and has been gradually improving his physical health.
“Oh yeah. When he’s out there, man, you know why Jaden Greathouse has been a huge playmaker for our program. And we just gotta continue to be smart with his return to play. We can’t just go from 0 to 100, and we all know that, and he knows that. He wants to be out there every play, but we’ve gotta be smart with his progression back. He is just a playmaker, explosive, smart, tough, he’s really, really good.”
OFFENSIVE LINE
Normally, the first five to come out as the offensive line starters in the spring, are who are likely to be the starters in the fall. There are two significant injuries to Charles Jagusah and Ashton Craig, but their replacements with the starters right now in Joe Otting and Sullivan Absher.
The First Five
- LT Will Black
- LG Anthonie Knapp
- OC Joe Otting
- RG Sullivan Absher
- RT Guerby Lambert
Will Black has been someone that has consistently impressed everyone that watches him, and Marcus Freeman is no exception.
“He’s doing a good job. He’s a big body. Will had a lot of hype coming into this program. He got here in June, and like any freshman had a bumpy road that first year. And his career will be bumpy.”
“But it’s extremely high as you look at his ceiling. But he’s doing a really good job at the left tackle position going against really good players. He’s going to improve because he has to block Bryce Young and Boubacar Traore and some of those really good players every single day, that’s going to make him the best version of himself or he’s going to get embarrassed.”
“I’ve been really pleased what he’s done through these first six practices.”
Again, regardless of the already sustained injuries and their timelines, Notre Dame seems pretty confident in what they have across the line right now. Freeman even made mention of Matty Augustine who has played both inside and outside, and might be a better version of what Josh Lugg was some years back as a utility lineman (at least for this season).
“We’ve been pretty consistent with the 1s and the 2s. Will and you have Knapp at the guard. Otter right now at center, Guerby at right tackle and Sully at right guard. I say that because each group has done some really good things but there’s consistency in the groups.”
“You’re not playing musical chairs within the groups. We’re moving some guys, like Matty Augustine, playing a little tackle and a little guard with the 2s just so he can be ready to play either position. I’ve seen a lot of improvement. A lot of really god communication. Being able to recognize what you see is so important.”
“To be able to recall things that you see and what coaches are telling you, that gives you an opportunity to have success when you play offense line, and that’s in the run and the pass game. There’s tells all over the place but if you don’t communicate than you’re not going to be able to execute. I’m seeing a really good job of the guys communicating, executing, and protecting CJ really well.”
QUARTERBACK
CJ Carr is still the starter — full stop.
Seriously though, the Irish need this to be a productive spring to work toward finding which quarterback will backup Carr this season. Noah Grubbs and Blake Hebert certainly have the upper hand over incoming freshman, Teddy Jarrard who will enroll this June after reclassifying as a senior this past winter. Still… the battle for QB2 is much different than the battles for QB1. It will likely go deep into fall camp, but Freeman seems mindful of the differences already.
“Everybody’s journey is different. And where CJ Carr is on his journey to reaching his full potential is different than Blake and it’s different than Noah. And so, CJ’s at a point, right, on the bumpy road that he can try maybe a couple different things. Blake and Noah know they’re not on that level.“
“They’re on their own journey and they’re on their level. But I think the problem happens when you start comparing where you’re at to where he’s at. Well, if he’s doing it, I’m gonna try it. Don’t compare your journey to his. You need to get master what you have right in front of you. And if you get to a point when you do that, then maybe you can try to start doing some of those things.”
“Yeah, you can tell some of the positives and the negatives that each player does. But to make decisions on roles, no, six practices isn’t enough. But what I’ve seen in those two quarterbacks is really the highest of highs and then some of the lowest of lows. They have made some plays and decisions, you go, wow, okay.”
“That’s really, really good. And then make some decisions where you go, ‘OK, we’ve got a ways to go.’ What we have to do is continue to have more of these (raises hands above head) and less of these (lowers hands), right? And now that means we’re being more consistent.”
“We’ve got to continue to get consistency out of those two younger guys. But I’ve been really pleased at the highs in what they’ve been able to show every person in our program that they can do. We just got to be consistent and eliminate some of the lows.”
The Fighting Irish
It sounds like the battle for QB2 is particularly interesting with CJ Carr getting himself in the middle of some “scuffles” at practice. While I am definitely cracking a joke there, it’s something Marcus Freeman is thinking about.
“Yeah, there’s times where CJ has been the one, Adon, some of the older guys that have been the ones that say, hey, enough’s enough, guys, come on, we gotta go, we got to practice. They can read my body language a lot of times, if I’m getting to that point where I feel like we’re wasting time, but we do have a rule that don’t touch the red jersey. And CJ Carr, the quarterback’s in a red jerseys.
“Now, they shouldn’t be trying to touch the other players either. But I don’t ever want to see our quarterback in a scuffle, right? It hasn’t happened, let’s make sure it doesn’t happen. Now, CJ can probably get some fights started, especially with his mouth, you know? But he’s going to stay out of them.”
Freeman has developed a real culture of competition at Notre Dame. Part of the deal is that things get intense, and in a violent sport like football, that intensity can absolutely boil over into some physical altercations. Freeman spoke at great length about these scuffles and almost refused to call them fights.
“Yeah, there’s plenty of go-to guys, but I don’t really have to do that. These dudes are competitive. And I don’t want them to lose that competitive spirit. If we don’t have scuffles or tussles, I don’t know if I’m gonna find the word…”
“Yes. Then we’re probably not as competitive as I aspire to have our team to be. But we do have a simple rule. Two guys fighting is the max, and we’re not gonna have full teammate melees. So two guys are fighting, they’re fighting, everybody else’s job is to break them up. And we have to be proactive about that in terms of showing them and teaching them. And our guys do an unbelievable job at pulling guys apart. So then you’re not wasting time. We got so much work to do, we can’t waste two minutes breaking up a fight.“
“What are we doing? Everybody else break them up, put the ball down and go. And so, there are some consequences if we do waste too much time. I’m gonna get some time back somehow some way. But again, you want that.”
“Now, here’s the other side of things, right? And I don’t know how many of you guys have brothers. But I say this all the time, me and my brother, when we would fight, it’s just like brothers, we fight. But there’s a line you don’t cross, right? When you’re fighting your brother, if you love them, some people might think I’m crazy, but you just don’t cross a certain line where, I mean, everybody’s line might be a little bit different. But that’s ours.”
“If you two guys are fighting don’t cross the line and don’t take it off the field. It can’t be personal. It’s just, OK, you went too hard, I thought you went to hard. I’m mad, I threw a punch or whatever, let’s break it up and let’s go. But non-negotiable is to carry everything off the field. And if I hear about that, then we have a bigger issue. Our captains and our leaders gotta make sure we stop it or I ultimately do.”
Something, Something… Defense
I keep telling people that Notre Dame’s defense isn’t being talked about enough, and the 2026 unit could be generational when it’s all said and done. The biggest unknown for the defense coming into spring was along the defensive line where Notre Dame not only has a new coach in Charlie Partridge, but also a handful of transfers as well. So how’s that going?
“There’s a whole list of guys that have done a really good job of affecting the passer and it’s not just the end position. It’s not just Bryce and Keon. Rodney’s doing a really good job. But even the inside, understanding rush lanes. Understanding how to play off each other is so important.”
“When you see some negative plays against any defense, but our defense last year when the quarterback scrambles, its understanding rush lanes, and how to work with each other and balance the rush. They’ve really done a good job getting internal pressure on the quarterback and getting pressure on the edges.”
“Again, I couldn’t speak more highly of coach Partridge. His reputation proceeds him. But what he brings as a teacher, what he brings as a person, and what he brings as a recruiter I’ve been extremely pleased and pleased with the room. The connection that room has and they’re playing very well.”
One of the great things about having a competent pass rush is about how much it helps the secondary in coverage. Notre Dame’s secondary is going to be elite this year, and this clip of Mark Zachery shows how aggressive the young guys are.
Some Wide Receiver Skill
I’ll close this out with a couple of clips you’ve likely already seen. Mylan Graham is having a really good spring, and he torched his man here for a nice catch of a downfield ball from CJ Carr.
Everyone made a big deal about Devin Fitzgerald taking his legendary father’s jersey number — but this catch is what’s actually a big deal.
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