Predicting Notre Dame Football’s Depth Chart for the 2026 Season

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Welcome to day one of the 2026 Notre Dame Football season. I’m sure you can make an argument that it started much earlier, but I’m not — it’s today.

Notre Dame has a ton of talent coming back in 2026, and is bringing in 36 new players via recruiting and the transfer portal (which is ranked #2 by the 247 Team Rankings). It’s a roster good enough to win a national championship, so let’s project the two-deep on the offensive and defensive side of the ball which I think takes the field in the season opener against Wisconsin.

A quick note before we do this… despite the likelihood of a player being on the official Notre Dame depth chart at multiple positions, I applied a rule here that a player can only be listed once. Also… this is pre-spring, so please remember this will be a fluid thing (just taking a stab at it in January).

OFFENSE​

QB	RB	WR	WR	WR	LT	LG	C	RG	RT	TE
CJ Carr	Aneyas Williams	Quincy Porter	Jordan Faison	Jaden Greathouse	Anthonie Knapp	Charles Jagusah	Ashton Craig	Guerby Lambert	Will Black	Cooper Flanagan
Noah Grubbs	Javian Osbourne	Micah Gilbert	Elijah Burress	Mylan Graham	Styles Prescod	Chris Terek	Joe Otting	Sullivan Absher	Matty Augustine	Ty Washington

A few quick explanations:

• The #2 QB spot is completely up for grabs, but I think Grubbs will eventually get the nod.
• Kind of the same thing for RB2 as QB2.
• Mylan Graham and Cam Williams were kind of a toss up for me.
• The offensive line is tough, but I will say that any current projection that doesn’t have Anthonie Knapp starting at LT (which would be his 3rd year starting at LT) feels wrong.

DEFENSE​

CB	NICKEL	BOUNDARY	VYPER	DT	DT	DE	MIKE	WILL	FIELD	CB
Leonard Moore	DJ McKinney	Adon Shuler	Boubacar Traore	Jason Onye	Francis Brewu	Bryce Young	Drayk Bowen	Jayden Sneed	Tae Johnson	Christian Gray
Jayden Sanders	Dallas Golden	Luke Talich	Keon Keeley	Tionne Gray	Elijah Hughes	Loghan Thomas	Madden Faraimo	Jaiden Ausberry	Ethan Long	Mark Zachery

A few quick explanations:

• While I personally think Dallas Golden will likely back up Leonard Moore, my own rule and the fact that I think he sees more time coming in as a nickel, is why he’s where he’s at and Jayden Sanders is where he’s at.
• I’m still confident Jason Onye gets the NCAA waiver.
• There’s no KVA on here because I’m not sure he’s back from injury for week one.
• Christian Gray is going to be a starting cornerback — so quit hating on Christian Gray.

And that pretty much covers it.

Obviously depth charts go more than two-deep, but this is a clean way to look at it (for now). A HUGE thing to keep in mind is that of the 36 new players this season, only four won’t be participating in spring football (QB Teddy Jarrard, OL Ben Nichols, OL Gregory Patrick, and TE Ian Premer).

Player/Class	Freshmen	Sophomore	Junior	Senior	Graduate
Quarterback	Noah Grubbs, Teddy Jarrard	Blake Hebert	C.J. Carr	–	`
Running Back	Javian Osborne, Jonaz Walton	Nolan James	Aneyas Williams, Kedren Young	–	–
Tight End	Preston Fryzel, Ian Premer	James Flanigan	Jack Larsen	Cooper Flanagan	Ty Washington
Wide Receiver	Dylan Faison, Bubba Frazier, Kaydon Finley, Devin Fitzgerald, Brayden Robinson	Elijah Burress, Jerome Bettis Jr., Quincy Porter	Cam Williams, Micah Gilbert, Logan Saldate, Mylan Graham	Jaden Greathouse, Jordan Faison	–
Center	–	Cameron Herron	–	Joe Otting	Ashton Craig
Guard	Sullivan Garvin, Tyler Merrill, Gregory Patrick	–	–	Chris Terek, Sullivan Absher, Devan Houstan	–
Tackle	Ben Nichols, Grayson McKeogh, Charlie Thom	Will Black, Owen Strebig, Matty Augustine	Peter Jones, Anthonie Knapp, Styles Prescod, Guerby Lambert	Charles Jagusah	–
Defensive Tackle	Tiki Hola, Elijah Golden	Christopher Burgess, Davion Dixon, Gordy Sulfsted	Cole Mullins, Sean Sevillano, Francis Brewu, Tionne Gray	Brenan Vernon, Armel Mukam	Elijah Hughes, Jason Onye
Defensive End	Ebenezer Ewetade, Rodney Dunham	Dominik Hulak, Joseph Reiff	Bryce Young, Loghan Thomas, Keon Keeley	Boubacar Traore	–
Linebacker	Thomas Davis Jr., Kobe Clapper	Madden Faraimo, Ko’o Kia,	Teddy Rezac, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Kahanu Kia	Drayk Bowen, Jaiden Ausberry	Jaylen Sneed
Safety	Ayden Pouncey, Joey O’Brien, Nick Reddish	Ethan Long, Brandon Logan	Brauntae Johnson	Adon Shuler, Luke Talich	–
Cornerback	Chaston Smith, Khary Adams	Dallas Golden, Mark Zachery, Jayden Sanders	Leonard Moore	Christian Gray	DJ McKinney
Specialists	Jasper Scaife	Erik Schmidt	Spencer Porath	–	–
Totals	29/105 (29)	52/105 (23)	77/105 (25)	93/105 (16)	99/105 (6)

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