Notre Dame hits Wall Street: Freeman, Carr, Moore Kick Off NYC Media Blitz

Notre Dame football's biggest names traded South Bend for the concrete canyons of Manhattan this week, launching a whirlwind New York media tour that opened in the most on-brand way possible for a program synonymous with tradition: ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

Head coach Marcus Freeman was joined on the trading floor by quarterback CJ Carr, cornerback Leonard Moore, linebacker Drayk Bowen and safety Adon Shuler for the closing bell ceremony, where the group used the moment to remind the Big Apple who was in town with a "Let's Go Irish" chant that got much of the floor chanting along, with a Notre Dame banner draped behind them as a backdrop. It capped a day that had already included stops on ESPN doing a variety of interviews before the group made its way to the Exchange.

The quartet's trip to New York was no accident. Notre Dame announced that quarterback CJ Carr, linebacker Drayk Bowen, safety Adon Shuler and cornerback Leonard Moore would represent the program on its annual media tour around the city's major outlets, with appearances lined up on shows like ESPN's SportsCenter and NFL Network's Good Morning Football. As one Notre Dame outlet noted, the group also doubles as a strong hint at this year's leadership structure — Bowen and Shuler return as captains from 2025, while Carr and Moore, both just second-year players last season, were too young to hold the title but easily could have.

Carr, the presumptive Heisman frontrunner, got the first big spotlight moment, sitting down with Rich Eisen to walk through his path to South Bend — including the story of his father initially hiding Michigan's offer letter from him, and how it was former offensive coordinator Tommy Rees who recruited him hardest and showed him the most love, a pull that, combined with Marcus Freeman's own recruiting effort, ultimately landed Carr with the Irish over his grandfather Lloyd Carr's alma mater. Carr also used the sit-down to frame the mindset for the upcoming season, discussing how Notre Dame plans to keep using the disappointing end to 2025 as motivation heading into 2026.

The tour continued into Friday morning, when Freeman and Moore stopped by the Today Show. Asked about the "Here Come the Irish" refrain that blares over the loudspeaker as Notre Dame takes the field — now also the title of the program's in-house Peacock series — Freeman kept it simple: "It was there before I got there. As you take the field, they play over the loudspeaker 'Here Come the Irish.' We take the field, so I think it's pretty simple to make that the title of the show."

Freeman was also asked what it's been like having a camera crew shadow the program for that same series, and admitted the adjustment took some time. "Yeah, it took some convincing to think about all the cameras, the mics and the distractions. We really started to implement it last spring. It was a good trial run and it became like they were a part of the team, you didn't notice they were there. They feel like they were part of the staff and I think everybody kind of dropped their guards and it just became natural," he said.

The New York swing comes on the heels of a spring in which Moore made headlines of his own, telling reporters in South Bend that Notre Dame was on something of a "revenge tour" after last year's College Football Playoff snub. Moore said the defensive backs took a lot of the blame following Notre Dame's loss to Miami, in which Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck completed 20 of 30 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns without an interception, and didn't sugarcoat how Freeman responded. "He told us we was weak, we was soft," Moore said, "all that type of stuff. It's serious to him, too. That's something he's not used to seeing from us."

Freeman, for his part, waved off any notion that revenge is the operative word internally, preaching focus on the present instead. "We spend too much time daydreaming about Miami, we're going to lose to Wisconsin," he said, referencing Notre Dame's Sept. 6 season opener. "You've got to focus on the task right at hand. That's no different than saying, can we go back to the national championship? If we want to focus on the national championship, we're going to lose the opportunity we have right here. It's my job to make sure I'm directing the focus where it needs to be."

With the bell-ringing and morning show circuit behind them, the group's New York run is expected to continue over the next several days, with more national appearances on tap as Notre Dame — with a Heisman-caliber quarterback, an All-American cornerback and a coach determined to keep the noise pointed forward rather than backward — begins building the case for a 2026 season with, in Freeman's words, no doubt left to leave.

Four-Star Chicago Linebacker Roman Igwebuike Commits to Notre Dame

Notre Dame football landed one of its most important remaining targets in the 2027 recruiting class on Saturday when four-star linebacker Roman Igwebuike, a standout at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago, announced his commitment to the Fighting Irish on the CBS Sports College Football YouTube channel.

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Igwebuike chose Marcus Freeman's program over a finalist group that included Clemson, Indiana, Missouri and Tennessee, capping a recruitment that also drew serious interest from Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan, Georgia and dozens of other blue bloods. He becomes Notre Dame's 22nd commitment in the 2027 cycle and the lone linebacker in a class already ranked No. 2 nationally.

Explaining his decision, Igwebuike pointed to the culture Freeman has built in South Bend as much as anything else. "Just the culture and the program!" Igwebuike said of his commitment to Notre Dame. "Also playing for a ex-linebacker as my head coach is a big deal to me. The community and off-the-field success told me it was right. The way they take care of their players and their networking is unmatched."

A recruitment that had to be rebuilt from scratch

Igwebuike's path to South Bend was anything but a straight line, and the shift didn't happen until relatively late in the process. Notre Dame's original offer came last October while he was on campus for the Boise State game, but the relationship never gained real traction under then-linebackers coach Max Bullough, who departed the program after the 2025 season and had made little meaningful push for the Chicago native during his tenure. For a prospect fielding calls from nearly every major program in the country, Notre Dame was, for a time, an afterthought rather than a priority.

That changed in January 2026, when the Irish hired Brian Jean-Mary — previously Michigan's linebackers coach — to run the position room. Jean-Mary made Igwebuike a target from his very first weeks on staff, and paired with Freeman's own credibility as a former college linebacker, Notre Dame walked back into the recruitment with a fundamentally different pitch than the one it had offered six months earlier.

Igwebuike took five official visits over a roughly six-week stretch: Indiana in May, Clemson at the end of May, Missouri in early June, Notre Dame on June 12, and Tennessee on June 19. The June 12 trip to South Bend proved to be the turning point. It was during that visit that Igwebuike and the new staff had the direct conversations needed to clear up exactly where he stood — addressing head-on the uneven communication of the previous regime and making clear that, under Jean-Mary and Freeman, he wasn't just a name on a board but the room's top target. Notre Dame had already hosted him once before, in April during jersey scrimmage weekend, but the official visit in June was where the Chicago native said he found clarity on where he wanted to play his college football.

The production behind the profile

Igwebuike's MaxPreps career profile tells the story of a player who has started for Mount Carmel every year of high school and grown into the role. He debuted as a freshman outside linebacker in 2023 at 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, helping the Caravan to a 13-1 record and a No. 2 state ranking. As a sophomore in 2024, still 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, he moved into the middle linebacker spot and helped Mount Carmel to an 11-3 finish and a No. 3 state ranking.

The breakout came as a junior in 2025, when Igwebuike — now up to 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds — anchored the middle of a Mount Carmel defense that went a perfect 14-0 and won the Illinois Class 8A state championship. He finished the season with 115 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, seven sacks, 17 quarterback pressures, three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, two interceptions and three pass breakups, production that earned him first-team all-conference honors in the Chicago Catholic League Blue and helped push him into four-star territory nationally.

What it means for the class

The commitment fills a real hole on Notre Dame's board — it's the program's first linebacker pledge in the 2027 cycle since previous commit Amarri Irvin flipped to Virginia Tech — and gives Jean-Mary his first signature win since taking over the room. It also carries symbolic weight for a staff intent on tightening its grip on Chicago recruiting: Igwebuike joins defensive lineman David Folorunsho as the second Illinois pledge in the class, keeping two of the Chicago Catholic League's best defenders committed close to home.

With Igwebuike now in the fold, Notre Dame will look to hold his commitment through a long runway to signing day — a stretch during which programs like Clemson and Tennessee, both of whom hosted him for official visits, are unlikely to fully step away. But after a recruitment that needed a full coaching change to get back on track, the Irish have their answer at linebacker, and a Chicago pipeline that's showing real signs of life.

Marcus Freeman Named to 2026 Dodd Trophy Watch List

Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman has been named to the 2026 Dick Corbett Dodd Trophy Watch List, the award's selection committee announced. It marks the second consecutive year Freeman has landed on the list, having won the honor outright in 2024.

The Dodd Trophy recognizes the head coach of a team that combines success on the field with a commitment to scholarship, leadership and integrity — the three pillars that defined the coaching philosophy of the award's namesake, legendary Georgia Tech coach Bobby Dodd. Freeman is one of four coaches on this year's watch list who have previously won the award, joining Indiana's Curt Cignetti (2025), Willie Fritz (2022) and Kirk Ferentz (2015).

Freeman enters his fifth season at the helm of the Fighting Irish with a 43-12 overall record, including a 5-2 mark in postseason play. Notre Dame has posted three consecutive seasons of at least 10 wins under his leadership, and his 43 victories are the most by any head coach through his first four seasons in program history.

A résumé already full of hardware

Freeman's nomination continues what has become a well-stocked trophy case built almost entirely on the strength of his 2024 campaign, when he led Notre Dame to a program-best 14-2 record, a 13-game winning streak and a berth in the CFP National Championship Game — a 34-23 loss to Ohio State that still marked the program's highest final AP ranking (No. 2) since 1993. That season alone netted Freeman a sweep of the sport's top individual coaching honors: the 2024 Dodd Trophy, the Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year Award, the George Munger College Coach of the Year Award, the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches' College Coach of the Year honor, the Ted Ginn Sr. Coach of the Year Award from the National Alliance of African American Athletes, and recognition as honorary head coach of the 2024 AFCA Allstate Good Works Team.

The path to that peak wasn't linear. Freeman's first season in 2022 began with him becoming the first Notre Dame head coach to open a career with three losses, before the Irish rattled off nine wins in their next eleven games — highlighted by a 35-14 upset of No. 4 Clemson — to finish 9-4 and cap the year with a Gator Bowl win over South Carolina. Year two brought a reversal of fortune: Notre Dame opened 2023 with four straight wins and finished 10-3, punctuated by a 48-20 rout of Heisman winner Caleb Williams and USC. His third season delivered another gut-check moment, a stunning home loss to Northern Illinois as heavy favorites, but Freeman steadied the program to reel off ten straight wins and reach the College Football Playoff, a run that included victories over Indiana, Georgia and Penn State before the national title game appearance.

Individually, Freeman has now collected six major national coach of the year honors in just four seasons on the sideline, all stemming from that 2024 season, and has been a semifinalist or watch-list honoree in the years since as Notre Dame has sustained its success — including a combined 26-4 record over the past two seasons, a stretch that also drew interest from multiple NFL teams during the offseason.

Players thriving under his watch

Freeman's coaching accolades have been matched by what his players have accomplished. He coached 2025 Heisman Trophy finalist running back Jeremiyah Love, who also became Notre Dame's first-ever Doak Walker Award winner as the nation's top running back. Love was joined by junior cornerback Leonard Moore as a unanimous All-American in 2025, making Notre Dame one of just three programs nationally to produce multiple unanimous All-Americans that season. A year earlier, safety Xavier Watts earned consensus All-America honors for the second time in his career, making him just the second Irish player since 1993 to be a two-time consensus honoree. Freeman has also developed breakout freshmen, including safety Tae Johnson, who earned FWAA Freshman All-America recognition.

Team success by the numbers

The 2025 Fighting Irish were among the nation's best across the board, finishing second in scoring offense (41.8 points per game), fourth in interceptions (21), fourth in turnover margin (+1.08), fifth in net punting (43.32), eighth in yards per pass completion (14.11), eighth in sacks allowed per game (1.00), ninth in blocked punts (2) and ninth in passing efficiency defense (108.80).

The Dodd Trophy winner is typically announced later in the season after the watch list is trimmed down through the fall. Freeman's inclusion adds another line to an already crowded résumé, and reinforces Notre Dame's standing as a program built for sustained contention as it heads into the 2026 season.

Notre Dame's Greatest Games Since 2000

When Fox Sports' Joel Klatt ranked his top college football games since 2000, he put the 2005 Notre Dame–USC "Bush Push" game at No. 1 — and it's easy to see why the topic sparked a real "I remember watching it" reaction. That game alone is a masterclass in what makes a great football game: constant lead changes, a Heisman winner, a bitter rivalry, and an all-time controversial finish. But it's far from the only Notre Dame game from the last 25 years that belongs in the conversation. Here's a look at some of the games that define the Irish's modern era.

The Heartbreak: USC, 2005 — "The Bush Push"

This is the one that still stings, and the one that still gets brought up on podcasts two decades later. Unranked, four-and-one Notre Dame — in year one under Charlie Weis — hosted a USC team riding a 27-game win streak with two Heisman winners in the backfield. The lead changed hands throughout, with the Irish up 31-28 in the final minutes. USC drove into range, appeared to be stopped short of the goal line as time expired, and then Reggie Bush shoved quarterback Matt Leinart into the end zone on the game's final play — a shove that wasn't a penalty under the rules at the time. USC escaped 34-31. It remains one of the most replayed, most argued-about finishes in the sport's history, and it's the game most associated with Notre Dame in any "greatest games" conversation since 2000.

The Statement Win: Oklahoma, 2012

Notre Dame's 2012 season is remembered for the eventual national title game loss to Alabama, but the game that actually made that season feel real was a road win over Oklahoma. It was widely seen as the moment that vaulted the Irish from "surprising and undefeated" to legitimate national title contender — the win that made the rest of the country start taking Brian Kelly's team seriously. Notre Dame ran the table the rest of the regular season on the strength of that statement.

The Signature Upset: No. 1 Clemson, 2020

If Bush Push is Notre Dame's most famous loss of the era, the 2020 double-overtime win over top-ranked Clemson is arguably its most famous modern win. With Trevor Lawrence out due to COVID-19 and freshman D.J. Uiagalelei starting in his place, Notre Dame jumped out early, survived a furious Clemson rally that forced overtime, and then rode three touchdown runs from Kyren Williams — including the eventual game-winner — to a 47-40 victory. It ended Clemson's 36-game regular-season winning streak and gave Notre Dame its first win over an AP No. 1 team since 1993. Fans stormed the field in the middle of a pandemic; it was, by most accounts, the loudest Notre Dame Stadium had been in over a decade.

The Blowout Statement: USC, 2017

Not every great game has to come down to the final play. Notre Dame's 49-14 demolition of USC in 2017 stands out simply because of how rare it is for both programs to be ranked in the top 15 at the same time, as they were that October — the first time that had happened since the 2006 meeting. The Irish took control early and never let up, and it remains one of the most convincing wins of the rivalry's modern stretch.

The Road Classic: LSU, 2014 Music City Bowl

Notre Dame limped into this game on a four-game losing streak with Brian Kelly's job security being questioned nationally, a seven-point underdog against an LSU team with Leonard Fournette in the backfield. Instead, the Irish took the opening drive down the field for a touchdown and held on for a 31-28 win that's remembered less for the stakes and more for simply being an excellent, hard-fought football game at a moment the program badly needed one.

The Defensive Grind: Stanford, 2012

Before the Oklahoma win vaulted Notre Dame into title contention, the Irish had to get through Stanford — and they did it in overtime, 20-13, with a goal-line stand that's become one of the most replayed defensive sequences of the Kelly era. It wasn't flashy. It was Notre Dame playing exactly the kind of physical, run-the-ball, control-the-clock football that had, for years, been Stanford's own signature — and beating the Cardinal at their own game.

Why These Games Still Matter

What ties all of these together isn't just the final score — it's that each one reflects something bigger about where the program stood at that moment. Bush Push was Notre Dame announcing it was ready to compete with the sport's best again under a new coach. Oklahoma and Stanford in 2012 were the turning point that took the Irish to a national title game. LSU in 2014 was survival. Clemson in 2020 was proof the program could still win the biggest possible regular-season game against a genuine blueblood.

Twenty-five years in, it says something about Notre Dame's place in the sport that a Fox Sports analyst's list of the best games since 2000 — a list covering hundreds of games across every conference — still runs straight through South Bend.

Shields Family Hall: How Notre Dame's New Football Home Reshapes the Program — On the Field and Off

When Notre Dame broke ground on the Jack and Kathy Shields Family Hall in the spring of 2024, it wasn't just another shovel-in-the-dirt photo op. It was a statement. Set to open this fall on Courtney Lane, the 150,000-square-foot facility represents a nearly 50% increase in football-dedicated space over the current Guglielmino Athletics Complex — and it arrives at a moment when facilities have become one of the clearest battlegrounds in college football's arms race.

What's Actually Inside

Shields Hall isn't just bigger locker rooms and shinier weight equipment. According to the university, the building will house advanced training and sports medicine facilities, an equipment room built around body-scanning and fabrication technology, and — maybe most notably — an on-site player nutrition area designed to let the program prepare meals directly rather than trucking them in from elsewhere on campus, as has been the case for years.

That last piece matters more than it might sound. Notre Dame athletic officials have talked about wanting the nutrition space to "foster community between teams and model healthy eating," which points to a broader philosophy: this building isn't just about building bigger, faster players. It's about building an environment players actually want to spend time in.

The project is being funded by a group of former Irish players led by ex-linebacker Jack Shields, along with fellow former players Pat Eilers and Dave Butler. That detail carries its own weight — it's not corporate money or a naming-rights deal with an outside company. It's alumni who played the game reinvesting in the infrastructure of the program that shaped them.

The On-Field Case: Closing the Facilities Gap

For years, Notre Dame's brass — including former AD Jack Swarbrick and head coach Marcus Freeman — have insisted facilities weren't the reason the program hadn't broken through to a national title. But "not the reason we're losing" and "not worth fixing" are two different things, and the athletic department has clearly decided this is a lever worth pulling.

Consider the timeline: the $400 million Crossroads renovation of Notre Dame Stadium in 2018, the Irish Athletics Center indoor practice facility in 2020, and now Shields Hall. That's a decade-plus of continuous, deliberate investment. Athletic director Pete Bevacqua has framed it directly — the goal is putting Notre Dame's infrastructure "on par with the big-hitting programs across the country, and then some."

Notably, Notre Dame officials reportedly toured Clemson's football facility before playing the Tigers, a small but telling detail — measuring yourself against the programs you're trying to beat, then building past them.

The Recruiting Angle

This is where a building starts to translate into actual roster talent. All-American cornerback Ben Morrison put it plainly at the groundbreaking ceremony: recruits notice. He spoke about how the Irish Athletics Center influenced his own decision to come to Notre Dame, closing his remarks with a simple line — facilities do matter.

That's not just a player being polite for the cameras. In modern recruiting, five-star prospects and their families are touring multiple campuses, often within days of each other, and physical impressions matter — the weight room, the nutrition setup, the sense that a program is investing in you specifically for the next four or five years. A tired, cramped, hand-me-down facility sends one message. A brand-new, purpose-built space with body-scanning tech and an in-house culinary operation sends another. Shields Hall gives Notre Dame's coaching staff a tangible, walkable answer to the "why here" question that comes up on every visit.

The Part Worth Watching: Notre Dame's Unusual Campus Culture

Here's where Notre Dame's situation is genuinely different from most of its Power Four peers, and it's worth sitting with for a second.

At a lot of major programs, football players increasingly operate in something close to a separate ecosystem — their own dorms, their own dining, their own daily orbit that barely intersects with the broader student body. Notre Dame has historically resisted that model. Its student-athletes live in the dorm system, eat in the dining halls, sit in the same classrooms, and are woven into campus life in a way that's become something of a point of pride for the university — part of the broader "student-athlete" identity Notre Dame likes to sell as central to its brand.

Shields Hall, by design, pulls more of a player's day-to-day life — training, meals, recovery, treatment — onto a self-contained football campus. That's the right move competitively. It's also a structural shift away from the integration that's long made Notre Dame's culture distinct.

None of this means Notre Dame is abandoning that identity overnight. But it's a dynamic worth monitoring as the building comes online this fall: as football life becomes more self-contained and professionalized, does the historic closeness between athletes and the broader student body hold, or does it quietly start to erode? Programs that have gone further down this road elsewhere have sometimes found that the more insulated an athletic operation becomes, the harder it gets to maintain that everyday connection to campus life — even when no one intends for that to happen.

For a program that has long branded itself as different from the professionalized model of college football, that tension between building a championship-level operation and preserving what makes Notre Dame Notre Dame is one of the more interesting subplots to watch once the doors open.

Bottom Line

Shields Hall is a clear, tangible investment in on-field performance and a legitimate recruiting weapon — the kind of facility that shows up in a highlight reel during an official visit and closes the gap with programs Notre Dame is chasing. But its bigger, quieter story might be about the second-order effects: what happens to Notre Dame's uniquely integrated culture as the football program becomes more self-contained. Worth watching once the building opens its doors this fall.

‘28 4-star qb trey tagliaferri decommits

Notre Dame thought it had solved its quarterback puzzle for the 2028 class. Instead, the Irish are right back where they started — and the way it unraveled has raised real questions about how the staff handled the position this cycle.

A Commitment That Barely Lasted a Week

Trey Tagliaferri, a four-star quarterback out of Bergen Catholic in Oradell, New Jersey, visited South Bend on June 21 and silently committed to Notre Dame that weekend. He made it public on June 25, telling reporters the visit had sealed the deal. "Great people, a great place and a place that seems like really a family and all together," he said of the program at the time.

Six days later, on July 1, Tagliaferri reversed course and announced his decommitment. It's one of the shortest-lived pledges in recent Notre Dame recruiting history, and it left head coach Marcus Freeman, quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli and the offensive staff needing to regroup at the sport's most important position.

Tagliaferri is no afterthought of a recruit. In 11 games during his first year as a starter, he completed 131 of 211 passes (62 percent) for 2,215 yards with 29 touchdowns against just three interceptions, adding a rushing score as well. He picked up All-State third-team and All-Bergen County first-team honors and enters his junior year rated anywhere from a three-star, No. 19 quarterback on 247Sports to a four-star, top-15 passer on the 247Sports Composite and Rivals industry rankings — a consensus top-20 quarterback nationally with 34 offers to his name.

The Oklahoma Connection

The most telling detail in this saga is who benefited from it. Almost immediately after Tagliaferri walked back his Notre Dame commitment, Rivals' prediction model shot to a 93.3 percent likelihood he ends up at Oklahoma, as Steve Wiltfong of On3/Rivals logged crystal ball picks sending him to Norman. Sooner Illustrated reported that Oklahoma "had quite a bit to do" with the flip, having pushed hard for Tagliaferri even while he was technically committed to the Irish.

That tracks with reporting on how this recruitment actually developed. Tagliaferri has been fond of Oklahoma for a long time, and the Sooners likely would have been the favorite from the jump had they pursued him earlier. Before Notre Dame entered the picture, there was real doubt about whether Oklahoma even viewed Tagliaferri as a lock at the position. Once he was off the board with the Irish, though, Oklahoma suddenly got serious — and once he was back on the market, the Sooners moved fast.

It's a pattern college football has seen before: a recruit uses a competing commitment to force a program's hand, then leverages that offer to get the outcome he wanted from his actual top choice all along. Whether or not that was the calculated intent here, the optics line up. Tagliaferri picked Notre Dame over Oklahoma and Penn State when he committed on Father's Day weekend — and then, less than a week later, all signs point to Oklahoma anyway.

Odd Timing From the Start

Beyond the flip itself, the timeline raises questions about Notre Dame's approach at quarterback this cycle. When Tagliaferri committed, the Irish still had active offers out to two other 2028 passers: Kingston Preyear, the No. 44 overall prospect and a top-five quarterback nationally who had visited South Bend and left with strong impressions of the program, and Lukas Prock, a Hun School (Princeton, N.J.) product with 39 offers who threw for over 4,300 yards as a sophomore.

The Irish staff reportedly made a deliberate call to lock in Tagliaferri rather than wait on Preyear, who had opted to keep his recruitment open a bit longer. Notre Dame has typically preferred to secure its quarterback target well ahead of schedule — the program has made a habit of getting its 2028-caliber signal-callers on board early, mirroring how it wrapped up commitments from Champ Monds and Teddy Jarrard in advance of their own cycles. Taking the more "available" quarterback in Tagliaferri, rather than continuing to build with a higher-ranked target like Preyear who still had Notre Dame near the top of his list, is now looking like a curious decision in hindsight — the staff prioritized getting a name in the class over letting a stronger recruitment play out.

It's also not the first time Notre Dame has been burned by uncertainty at the position. The program's experience with Deuce Knight in the 2025 cycle reportedly shaped this year's approach, pushing the staff toward wanting a "safer," lower-maintenance commitment. Instead, Tagliaferri turned into the exact kind of instability the staff was trying to avoid.

Where Does That Leave Notre Dame?

The Preyear outcome is a complicating factor for any plan to simply pivot back to him. Around the same time Tagliaferri was reversing course, Preyear announced he had trimmed his list to three finalists — Alabama, Florida and Vanderbilt — with a commitment date set for July 10. Notre Dame did not make the cut. Preyear had, in fact, been a silent Notre Dame commit earlier in the process, but his father reportedly encouraged him to slow down and gather more information before locking anything in, and that pause ultimately steered him toward an SEC-only finalist list. In other words, the quarterback many assumed would be Notre Dame's fallback option has already moved on, and it looks like a straight three-team race in his home region from here.

That leaves Prock as the more realistic in-house target still on the board, along with whatever new names the staff evaluates over the rest of the summer. Notre Dame does have other quarterbacks already ticketed for the program in future classes — Blake Hebert, Noah Grubbs, Teddy Jarrard and Champ Monds are all part of the pipeline — which takes some of the sting out of an empty spot in the 2028 class for now. But after landing and then immediately losing its presumptive 2028 quarterback, and watching its other top target trim Notre Dame off her list days later, the Irish staff is facing a real choice: continue chasing Prock and whichever late-emerging names surface, or take a step back entirely and re-evaluate the board at the position before committing to anyone else this cycle.

Given how quickly Tagliaferri's commitment came together and how quickly it fell apart, patience may be the more valuable asset than speed the next time around.

‘28 5-star edge darreion prescott has notre dame in top 8

Illinois has been producing it’s fair share national-level defensive line prospects lately, and Darieon Prescott of Bolingbrook (Ill.) Bolingbrook is another one of those impressive recruits that the Irish staff has focused on. The 2028 edge rusher has built one of the most impressive recruitments in the country over the past year, and this week he took the next major step by trimming his list down to a top eight — with Notre Dame firmly in the mix after a string of standout visits to South Bend.

The 6-foot-5, 220 pounder tallied 65 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, 5 sacks, 8 pass breakups, 26 quarterback pressures, 3 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, and 2 blocked kicks for the Bolingbrook Raiders. That kind of all-around production — stopping the run, rushing the passer, and even affecting special teams — is a big reason he was named to the MaxPreps Freshman All-America team as a first-year player and has continued to climb recruiting boards ever since.

Notre Dame Visits

Notre Dame’s recruitment of Prescott picked up serious steam this spring. He was originally slated to spend a weekend visiting Texas A&M and Nebraska before swinging back through South Bend later in April, but he shifted those plans to get back to Notre Dame earlier than scheduled. He told Irish Breakdown he wanted to see the Irish practice again, soak in the program’s culture, and reconnect with the staff — a sign of just how much South Bend had already grabbed his attention.

That trip included extended one-on-one time with head coach Marcus Freeman, who left a lasting impression on Prescott both as a coach and as a person, as well as a personal sit-down with first-year defensive line coach Charlie Partridge. Prescott said watching Partridge coach the edge group in practice — and then talking through technique and expectations with him afterward — was one of the most important parts of the visit. He left calling Notre Dame “a great place”, while noting he was already planning to return to campus for the Blue-Gold spring game and potentially again over the summer.

Prescott followed through on that plan. He was back on campus in South Bend two weeks ago, just ahead of Notre Dame’s final official visit weekend of the month, giving the staff one more extended look with him and his family ahead of the start of Bolingbrook’s summer prep for the season. Combined with his earlier trips, it marked at least his third documented visit to campus in a matter of months — a pace few other schools on his list have matched, and one that helped push the Irish into his final eight less than two weeks later.

“I always enjoy my time at Notre Dame,” Prescott said. “They always make me feel like a priority and show and we’ve been talking about getting back there over the summer, and my schedule allowed it to happen.

“I got a chance to build relationships,” Prescott continued. “I spent time with the coaches and the conversation with Coach P (Charlie Partridge) was really good. We talked about more than football, and I got to hear more about his plans for me in the scheme.”

The Top 8

Those visits have paid off for the Fighting Irish as Prescott announced his top eight schools on social media, and Notre Dame made the cut alongside a loaded group of blue bloods:

Notre Dame, Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon, Texas, Texas A&M and Miami

For a staff working to keep one of the state’s best players close to home, being included in that final group is a significant win — especially with the DL coaching relationship Prescott has already built with Partridge and Freeman.

“All of the schools are great programs,” Prescott shared. “Notre Dame was always a high contender in my top schools early on and that hasn’t changed. I have great respect for Coach Freeman and Coach P, and our talks let me know that they know what it takes to make it. The people there are always amazing and I can see myself playing football and going to school there.”

What’s Next

Prescott is still just entering his junior year, which means there’s plenty of recruitment left to play out — including a likely return trip to Notre Dame in the fall for a game day visit. Notre Dame has a leg up in this now 8-team race to the finish and the staff led by Charlie Partridge seem committed to going above and beyond to show Prescott how they feel about his fit with the Fighting Irish.

Where He Ranks:

Prescott’s ranking varies slightly by service, but he’s a consensus five-star-caliber talent across the industry:

247Sports

• Composite: No. 18 nationally, No. 5 among edge rushers, No. 1 in Illinois (.9930 rating)

• 247Sports individual rankings: No. 7 nationally, No. 3 among edges, No. 2 in Illinois

ESPN

• 85 grade, No. 34 nationally, No. 7 among edge defenders, No. 2 in Illinois

On3 / Rivals

• On3 Industry ranking: 94.80 rating, No. 18 overall, No. 5 at his position, No. 1 in the state

• Rivals: 93 rating, No. 24 overall, No. 5 among edges, No. 2 in Illinois

Whichever service you look at, the theme is the same — Prescott is regarded as a top-25 national prospect and one of the two or three best pure edge rushers in the 2028 class, with a legitimate case as the top overall recruit in Illinois.

Three Irish Named to Walter Camp Preseason All-America Team

Notre Dame will head into the 2026 season with three players already carrying preseason All-America recognition. Offensive lineman Anthonie Knapp, safety Leonard Moore and defensive back Kyngston Viliamu-Asa were all tabbed for the Walter Camp Preseason All-America Team, the organization announced Tuesday from New Haven, Connecticut. Knapp and Moore were tapped for the first team, while Viliamu-Asa landed on the second team.

Founded in 1889, Walter Camp fields the oldest All-America team in college football and remains one of the five organizations whose selections factor into a player's consensus and unanimous All-America status. With three honorees on this year's list, Notre Dame is one of only six programs nationally to place at least that many players on the preseason team — an early signal of how much talent is returning to South Bend this fall.

Anthonie Knapp

Knapp picks up his first Walter Camp preseason nod after starting along Notre Dame's offensive line in 27 games across the last two seasons. He was a driving force behind a rushing attack that ranked among the most efficient in the country a year ago, with the Irish averaging 5.7 yards per carry — tied for third-best in the FBS. Notre Dame topped 200 rushing yards per game and averaged 7.3 yards per play behind Knapp's work up front, underscoring just how much the ground game leaned on his group.

Leonard Moore

Moore returns to the first team for a second consecutive year after a breakout, unanimous All-American campaign. In 10 starts, he paced the Irish with five interceptions — tied for seventh-most nationally — while adding 31.0 total tackles, a forced fumble and seven pass breakups. His signature moment came against Boise State last October, when he came away with three takeaways (two interceptions and a forced fumble) to go with six solo tackles, a performance that earned him both Walter Camp FBS Defensive Player of the Week and Jim Thorpe Award Defensive Back of the Week honors. Moore was also named to the Lott Impact Trophy Watch List last month.

Kyngston Viliamu-Asa

Viliamu-Asa earns his first career preseason All-America honor after a productive sophomore season that saw him appear in 11 games, including two starts, before a late-season injury ended his year early. The Inland Empire, California, native still finished fourth on the team with 48.0 total tackles, adding 7.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, an interception, two pass breakups and five quarterback hurries. Like Moore, he was named to the Lott Impact Trophy Watch List in May.

With this trio already drawing national recognition before a snap of the 2026 season, Notre Dame's offensive and defensive fronts look poised to anchor another competitive campaign under Marcus Freeman.

notre dame offers 2028 rb xander edwards

Notre Dame has officially extended an offer to 2028 running back Xander Edwards, with Marcus Freeman and his staff picking up the legacy recruit over the weekend. The offer continues a trend that has defined the Freeman era — Notre Dame football has continuously prioritized both Fighting Irish legacies and NFL sons, with players like Bryce Young, Devin Fitzgerald, Kaydon Finley, James Flanigan, Jerome Bettis Jr. and Elijah Burress all landing with the Irish as recruits in recent years. Betting on genetics has been a constant under this staff.

But this offer is about much more than bloodlines. Xander Edwards is the seventh-rated running back in the 2028 cycle according to the 247Sports composite ratings, and Notre Dame is undeniably a top destination for running backs right now. With Notre Dame running backs coach Je'Juan Seider being notably patient and selective with his offers in this cycle, the decision to extend one to Edwards says everything about how highly the staff views his fit in South Bend's backfield of the future.

The Legacy Connection

Edwards is the son of former Notre Dame great Marc Edwards, who rushed for 1,591 yards and 27 touchdowns in four seasons from 1993 to 1996. The elder Edwards also played nine seasons in the NFL, including for the 2001 Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. Inheriting his father's elite size and physical mentality, Xander has spent his early high school career carving out his own legacy in the talent-rich state of Florida.

The Production Backs Up Every Bit of the Hype

Edwards was already a notable performer for the Bolles School as just a freshman two years ago — in 12 games, he rushed for 558 yards and eight touchdowns, an average of 7.2 yards per carry, while adding 46 receiving yards on four catches.

It was his sophomore season that turned him into a national name. As the featured back for Bolles School in 2025, Edwards exploded for 2,629 yards and 44 touchdowns on just 265 carries — an average of just under 10 yards per carry — while also hauling in 17 receptions for 211 yards through the air. That includes a game against Baldwin where he scored his eighth rushing touchdown of the night, a feat that, per NFHS record books, would make him the first Florida high school football player ever to accomplish.

Per MaxPreps, Edwards has piled up 3,187 career rushing yards on a 9.3 yards-per-carry average, ranking him among the national stat leaders at the position.

The Size-Speed Profile Notre Dame Covets

At a listed 6-2, 220 pounds, Edwards carries the kind of frame that immediately stands out at the high school level — and the testing numbers back up that he's not just a big back, but an explosive one. Edwards has been clocked with a 4.80 in the 40-yard dash, a 4.65 shuttle and a 28.5-inch vertical — numbers that reflect legitimate speed and explosiveness for a back already pushing 220 pounds as a sophomore.

That combination of breakaway speed and bruising, between-the-tackles size is exactly what makes Edwards such an intriguing complement to the other running backs already on Notre Dame's 2028 board. Acely Brown and Zaiden Jernigan each bring their own distinct skill sets to the position, and Edwards' size-speed profile would round out a backfield class with real positional diversity — a power-and-burst combination back who can both punish defenses inside and outrun them to the second level, pairing alongside backs with different stylistic strengths to give Notre Dame's offensive staff multiple ways to attack a defense out of the same personnel grouping.

A Crowded, High-Profile Recruitment

More than 35 teams have offered Edwards, including Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Indiana, Miami, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio State, Penn State, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Wisconsin, among many others. Miami has reportedly been at the top of his recruitment following a Legends Camp experience, and On3's industry prediction data currently shows Florida and USF among the schools drawing the most buzz, with Notre Dame now squarely entering that conversation following the offer.

The Rankings Across the Industry

Edwards' rapid rise on the recruiting trail is reflected across every major service. On the 247Sports Composite, Edwards is rated a four-star prospect — the No. 117 overall player in the country, the No. 7 running back nationally, and the No. 17 player in the state of Florida for the 2028 class. He is rated a four-star and top-150 overall prospect by every major recruiting platform. On3 has him as the No. 141 player nationally and the No. 8 running back in the class, with a composite-style rating of .9532 placing him at No. 117 nationally and No. 7 at his position — essentially mirroring the 247Sports numbers. ESPN's recruiting database lists Edwards similarly among the class's premier running back talents.

The Bottom Line

It's by no means a guarantee that Notre Dame ends up landing Edwards after this offer, but the fit is hard to ignore. Notre Dame isn't perfect when it comes to recruiting sons of former Fighting Irish players, but it lands those commitments a lot more often than it misses.

With Je'Juan Seider's patient approach finally yielding an offer to one of the most explosive backs in the 2028 class, and with Edwards' size-speed combination offering a natural complement to fellow 2028 targets Acely Brown and Zaiden Jernigan, Notre Dame's running back room of the future is starting to take shape — and a legacy name with elite production and a frame built for the position is now squarely in the mix to be a part of it.

Loren Landow wins nsca award after transforming Notre Dame

Notre Dame Trematerra Family Director of Football Performance Loren Landow has been named the recipient of the 2026 National Strength and Conditioning Association Impact Award, the organization announced Friday morning — a national honor that arrives at a moment when the transformation he has overseen in South Bend has become impossible to ignore.

Awarded since 1997, the NSCA Impact Award recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions that have impacted a segment of the overall strength and conditioning field. For Landow, the recognition caps a career of elite-level athlete development — but it also shines a national spotlight on exactly what has changed inside Notre Dame's program since he walked through the door in January of 2024.

"I'm deeply honored to receive the NSCA Impact Award," Landow said. "Any impact I've made throughout my career is a reflection of the incredible athletes, coaches, mentors, and colleagues who have trusted me, challenged me, and inspired me. I've been fortunate enough to surround myself with so many outstanding people, and this recognition is as much a testament to them as it is to my own contributions. I'm truly grateful for the opportunity to serve this profession and the recognition of this award."

The Results Since January 2024 Tell the Story

The most direct and undeniable evidence of Landow's impact at Notre Dame is the record. Since his arrival in January of 2024, Notre Dame has compiled an outstanding 24-4 overall record, including an appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship game — a level of sustained success that represents one of the best two-year stretches in modern Notre Dame football history.

That kind of record is never the product of one single factor, but the timing is impossible to overlook. Landow's hire marked a fundamental shift in how Notre Dame approaches the physical development, conditioning and durability of its roster — and the results on the field followed almost immediately. A program that has long preached a line-of-scrimmage, physically dominant identity under Marcus Freeman finally had the performance infrastructure to match that vision, and the transformation has shown up everywhere from health and availability to fourth-quarter execution to the program's ability to compete physically with the most talented rosters in the country.

What Changed Inside the Program

Landow's career-long specialty has always been bridging the gap between collegiate development and professional-level performance training — and that is precisely the standard he imported to Notre Dame's strength and conditioning operation. His résumé prior to South Bend includes preparing countless NFL Draft prospects for the Combine and Pro Days, the most scrutinized athletic evaluation events in professional sports, along with coaching more than 70 NFL All-Pro players and more than 25 first-round selections over the course of his career.

Before Notre Dame, Landow served as head strength and conditioning coach for the Denver Broncos from 2018 to 2023, working daily with professional athletes whose bodies and performance windows are their livelihood. He also owns and directs Landow Performance in Centennial, Colorado, where he has trained thousands of athletes across the NFL, NHL, MLB, UFC and WNBA, in addition to Olympic medalists and world record holders.

That is the standard of training, programming and athlete management that Landow brought to South Bend in January 2024 — and the strides have been visible across every dimension of the program since.

Durability and availability have been a hallmark of Notre Dame's roster over the past two seasons in a way that was not always the case previously. A program that wants to compete deep into the College Football Playoff every year needs its best players on the field in November, December and January — not just September — and the conditioning and injury-prevention programming Landow has implemented has been a critical factor in keeping Notre Dame's roster healthier and more available through the most physically demanding stretches of the season.

Physical dominance in the trenches has become a defining characteristic of Notre Dame football under Freeman, and the strength gains, explosiveness training and functional power development that Landow's program emphasizes are foundational to that identity. The offensive and defensive line improvements that have become a central storyline of Notre Dame's roster construction are inseparable from the physical preparation infrastructure that supports them every single day in the weight room.

Speed and explosiveness across the roster — the kind of timed, measurable athletic development that NFL teams scout for at the Combine — has become a more pronounced trait of Notre Dame's roster since Landow's arrival, a direct reflection of his background preparing draft prospects for the exact testing metrics that NFL evaluators prioritize.

A professional-caliber culture of training has taken hold inside Notre Dame's program, with players now operating under the same developmental philosophy and competitive standards that Landow used to prepare All-Pro players and Olympic medalists. That cultural shift — treating every Notre Dame player with the individualized attention and rigor of a professional athlete — has elevated the baseline expectation for what it means to be physically prepared as a Fighting Irish football player.

A National Award That Reflects a Program-Wide Transformation

The NSCA's recognition of Landow is a credit to an entire career of elite athlete development — but for Notre Dame fans, it also serves as external validation of something the program has felt internally since the moment he arrived. The Fighting Irish are stronger, faster, more durable and more physically dominant than they were before January 2024, and the 24-4 record with a national championship game appearance is the clearest possible evidence of what that transformation has produced on the field.

Marcus Freeman's vision for a line-driven, physically imposing Notre Dame program required a strength and conditioning infrastructure capable of delivering on that vision at the highest level. Landow has done exactly that — and the NSCA Impact Award is national recognition of a strength program transformation that Notre Dame has been experiencing in real time for the past two years.

five-Star Edge Abraham Sesay Commits to Notre Dame

Charlie Partridge has done it again — and this time, the commitment that landed in South Bend is one that will reverberate across the entire 2027 recruiting landscape.

Abraham Sesay, the five-star edge rusher from Exton, Pa./Downingtown East, has committed to Notre Dame, choosing the Fighting Irish over a finalist group that included LSU, Penn State and Florida State. The 6-foot-4½, 225-pound pass rusher is ranked the No. 27 overall player and No. 6 edge rusher in the class according to the Rivals Industry Ranking — and joins a Notre Dame defensive line class that is rapidly becoming one of the most celebrated position-group recruiting hauls the program has assembled in decades.

The commitment came just two days after Sesay's official visit concluded — a weekend so comprehensive, so genuine and so convincing that the decision required no further deliberation. Notre Dame showed Sesay exactly who they are, exactly what they are building and exactly why South Bend is the right place for a five-star edge rusher with his combination of physical tools, competitive character and academic standards.

The answer was clear. Sesay committed. And Notre Dame's defensive line future just got significantly more dangerous.

The Production

Before the recruiting rankings, before the official visits and before the national attention that comes with being one of the most coveted pass rushers in the 2027 class, Abraham Sesay earned every bit of his recruiting profile the old-fashioned way — by dominating on the field against some of the best competition Pennsylvania high school football provides.

As a junior at Downingtown East, Sesay produced 13 sacks and over 80 tackles — numbers that transformed his recruitment from a regional conversation into a national one almost overnight. After a stretch of campus trips and a near-finalized board, Sesay had narrowed his list to five schools following his breakout junior season, with programs from every major conference competing for his signature.

The production tells only part of the story. Sesay is a multi-sport athlete who also participates in track and field and basketball — a detail that matters enormously in the evaluation of an edge rusher because it speaks directly to the natural athleticism, body control and competitive temperament that translates most powerfully to the pass rush position at the college level. A 6-5 edge rusher who runs track and plays basketball is not just a football player who happens to be tall. He is an elite athlete who plays football — and that distinction changes everything about the ceiling projection.

Sesay earned first-team all-state honors at defensive end for his junior season efforts, along with first-team all-league and county recognition at both defensive end and tight end — a dual recognition that reflects both his defensive dominance and the kind of versatile athleticism that elite college programs covet at the edge position.

The film

Pull up Abraham Sesay's film and the first thing that registers — before the statistics, before the recruiting ranking and before the offer list — is the physical profile. At 6-5 and 225 pounds with a frame that projects to carry significantly more weight as he develops under Notre Dame's strength and conditioning program, Sesay is built like the kind of edge rusher that keeps offensive coordinators awake at night.

Sesay has plus length with arms over 33 inches along with 10.25-inch hands — measurements that give him the kind of natural leverage advantage that most edge rushers spend years in a college weight room trying to manufacture. That length is not a passive attribute on Sesay's frame. It is an active weapon — the kind that allows him to keep offensive tackles at arm's length, disrupt their punch timing and win the initial engagement before blockers can establish their sets.

He explodes out of his stance with impressive burst, quickly threatening the edge and forcing offensive tackles into uncomfortable positions. His combination of size and speed allows him to win with raw athleticism, often beating blockers before they can properly set their feet.

Sesay shoots out of both a two and three-point stance with little wasted motion as he builds speed and cuts down escape paths for both quarterbacks and running backs. He efficiently redirects with his agility and play recognition. That ability to operate effectively from multiple stances gives Notre Dame's defensive staff the flexibility to deploy him in a variety of alignments without asking him to sacrifice his effectiveness — a versatility that elite edge rushers bring to defensive fronts and that makes the entire unit more difficult to scheme against.

Sesay tends to win with speed on the corner but can also play through contact, and further mass will only help improve his block destruction. He is already finding success on stunts and should offer some value as a situational interior rusher, especially as he adds weight.

Perhaps the most exciting physical element of Sesay's profile is what happens when his speed meets power at the point of contact. Sesay is a twitchy, fluid mover who looks to have the movement patterns suited for bending around the edge. He is loose and flexible in his lower body, flashes good first step quickness and easily converts speed to power — punching above his weight from a power perspective and capable of walking offensive tackles back to the quarterback with his bull rush.

A speed-to-power conversion at 6-5 with 33-inch arms is one of the most dangerous combinations an offensive tackle can face — and Sesay already does it naturally, before years of Notre Dame strength development have had the chance to add functional mass and power to a frame that is still growing into its full potential.

The Visit That Made Everything Official

Sesay arrived on campus for his official visit with a clear purpose — to use the weekend as a direct comparison tool against every other school at the top of his list. By the time the visit concluded, the comparison had produced a decisive and unambiguous answer.

The current players made the first impression. Bryce Young, Ebenezer Ewetade and Rodney Dunham — three of Notre Dame's most impactful defensive line contributors — spent significant time with Sesay during the visit, walking him through what it actually looks like to be a defensive lineman in Notre Dame's program. They showed him the culture of the room, the standard the program demands and what a player with his talent can become under Partridge's coaching. The message was direct — Sesay would be a great addition to the defensive line room and to the Fighting Irish program. Coming from players already living the experience, that message landed with an authenticity that no coaching staff pitch can replicate.

Partridge sees Sesay similarly to current star Boubacar Traore — playing off the edge and doing what No. 5 has done and what No. 5 is going to do. For a prospect evaluating his developmental path at the college level, hearing a position coach articulate a specific, vision-driven comparison to one of the program's most productive pass rushers is exactly the kind of concrete development promise that transforms interest into commitment.

The fellow official visitors added another compelling dimension to the weekend. Sesay raved about the other recruits on campus — describing them as amazing people whose character and quality immediately reflected the standard Notre Dame maintains in the kinds of individuals it recruits and wants in the program. Seeing the caliber of person that Notre Dame attracts reinforced that the commitment he was considering was about more than football — it was about the teammates, the community and the environment he would be surrounded by for four years.

The new facility tour gave Sesay a tangible look at the investment Notre Dame is making in its football future. The renderings of the finished product showed him not just where the program is right now but where it is going — the financial commitment, the administrative support and the vision of what Notre Dame football's infrastructure will look like throughout his college career. Seeing that investment communicated something that words alone never fully deliver — Notre Dame is serious about competing at the absolute highest level for a very long time.

And then there was Marcus Freeman — present not for the scheduled moments where head coaches traditionally appear, make their pitch and move on, but for the entire visit. Sesay specifically highlighted the combination of great education and resources, along with amazing football development, as central to his decision — and Marcus Freeman's genuine care for the program as a key factor in his choice. Freeman put in the work to get to know every family on campus personally — a level of head coach investment that Sesay specifically noticed and specifically valued because it is not the standard at every program he visited.

Charlie Partridge Closes Another Elite Pass Rusher

The Sesay commitment is the latest and perhaps most significant testament to what Charlie Partridge has built at Notre Dame in a remarkably short time. Notre Dame beat out Duke, Florida State and LSU for Sesay, with Partridge serving as a key piece whose long-time reputation for defensive line development gave Sesay the confidence that his path to elite college pass rusher ran through South Bend.

Partridge did not just win this recruitment with a facilities tour or a depth chart presentation. He won it with a relationship — built through multiple visits, genuine football dialogue and the kind of specific, vision-driven development promise that only coaches who truly understand the position at the highest level can make credibly. The extended conversations Sesay had with Partridge during the official visit proved just how strong the relationship between coach and prospect had become — and that relationship is now the foundation upon which Sesay's Notre Dame career will be built.

An impressive Defensive Line Class

Sesay's commitment pushes Notre Dame one step closer to their best overall defensive line recruiting haul in decades. He joins David Folorunsho — the No. 9 overall player and No. 2 defensive lineman nationally according to Rivals — as the second five-star defensive line commit in Notre Dame's 2027 class. Sesay will also join edge rushers Aidan O'Neil and Jackson Vaughn in what is becoming a loaded edge class, with all three commits embracing the competition that the room will demand.

Three edge rushers with legitimate pass rush credentials, complemented by Folorunsho's interior dominance — the defensive line class Notre Dame is assembling in 2027 reflects exactly the kind of trench-first, talent-driven recruiting philosophy that Marcus Freeman has preached since his first day as head coach.

Sesay becomes the 19th overall commitment in Notre Dame's 2027 recruiting class — and arguably the most impactful defensive addition yet in a class that keeps growing in both size and quality.

The Bottom Line

Abraham Sesay produced 13 sacks and over 80 tackles as a junior at Downingtown East. He earned first-team all-state, all-league and all-county honors on both sides of the ball. He brings a 6-5 frame with 33-inch arms, an explosive first step, elite speed-to-power conversion and a relentless motor that makes him a havoc-creator on every passing down. He is a five-star prospect, the second-ranked edge rusher in the 2027 class according to Rivals, and the No. 3 player in the state of Pennsylvania.

He chose Notre Dame over LSU, Penn State and Florida State — because of Charlie Partridge's development vision, because of what current players showed him the room can become, because of Marcus Freeman's genuine personal investment in every family on campus and because of what Notre Dame offers on and off the field that no other program on his list could fully match.

As Sesay himself said about Notre Dame — it is the combination of great education and football, the Notre Dame brand, the long history, the tradition and the great moral values. That is a great place to be able to play.

Abraham Sesay is a Fighting Irish. Charlie Partridge is building something historic in Notre Dame's defensive line room.

And the 2027 class just got its most explosive pass rusher yet.

Notre Dame's 2026 Offensive Line Has the Makings of Joe Rudolph's Best Unit Yet

Marcus Freeman's vision for Notre Dame football has always started in the same place. Before the skill positions, before the quarterback, before the coordinators and the scheme and the recruiting rankings — it starts in the trenches. It starts with the offensive line setting a physical tone that makes everything else the Fighting Irish want to do on offense not just possible but inevitable.

That vision has been building toward something in South Bend. The recruiting has been elite. The talent in the room has been undeniable. And now, entering 2026, the pieces are finally aligned in a way that makes the question not whether Notre Dame's offensive line can be great — but whether this specific group, with this specific configuration, in this specific season, can be the best offensive line Joe Rudolph has assembled since arriving at Notre Dame in 2023.

The answer depends significantly on two players — Will Black and Guerby Lambert, a pair of bookend tackles with tremendous upside whose development in 2026 could define not just this season but the entire trajectory of Rudolph's Notre Dame tenure. If Black and Lambert fulfill the expectations that their physical profiles and recruiting pedigrees have always suggested were coming, this offensive line has the talent, the experience and the positional construction to be a genuinely dominant unit — the kind that powers a rushing attack, protects an elite quarterback and gives an offensive coordinator with Mike Denbrock's résumé everything he needs to operate at the highest level.

Everything starts up front. In 2026, Notre Dame's offensive line has the chance to prove that the vision and the reality are finally the same thing.

Experience

The foundation of Notre Dame's 2026 offensive line case is a combination that championship units are built on — experienced interior players providing stability and continuity alongside new starting tackles with the kind of upside that changes what a unit can become at its ceiling.

Anthonie Knapp returns with two years of starting experience, now settled into the left guard position where his power, anchor and starting-caliber development project most powerfully. Ashton Craig — healthy and back from the injury that kept him out of spring practice — anchors the unit at center, the position most responsible for the communication and cohesion that separates good offensive lines from great ones. Sullivan Absher brings redshirt junior experience and genuine competitive hunger to right guard, a player who has waited for exactly this starting opportunity and arrives with the kind of chip-on-the-shoulder energy that produces the best seasons of college careers.

The experienced interior trio of Knapp, Craig and Absher gives Notre Dame's offensive line a proven, battle-tested core that first-year starting tackles can build around rather than carry. That structural advantage is enormous — because it means Black and Lambert do not have to be immediately dominant in order for the unit to function at a high level. They need to develop, grow and improve as the season progresses while the interior handles the communication load and sets the physical tone that the entire unit runs through.

That is the exact formula that produces breakthrough offensive line seasons — proven interior stability giving young, high-ceiling tackles the space to develop without the unit's effectiveness depending entirely on their immediate mastery of the position.

starting LT Will Black

The most consequential individual decision in Notre Dame's 2026 offensive line construction is Will Black's installation as the starting left tackle — and everything about Black's physical profile suggests it is exactly the right decision at exactly the right time.

Black arrived at Notre Dame as a five-star recruit whose combination of length, athleticism and raw pass protection tools projected to the blindside tackle position from the moment he stepped on campus. The left tackle spot is where his ceiling is highest, where his physical tools are most naturally expressed and where his development under Rudolph's coaching has always been pointed. Putting him there in 2026 — committing to the position, committing to the growing pains that come with first-year starting experience and committing to the long-term development arc that makes the short-term challenges worthwhile — is the kind of coaching conviction that separates programs building for championships from programs managing for comfort.

The growing pains will come. First-year starting left tackles in the Power Four face a learning curve against elite edge rushers that even the most talented players cannot fully avoid. Black will have moments in 2026 where that curve is visible — moments where an elite pass rusher wins a rep, where a coverage sack happens because the protection broke down outside and where the raw tools have not yet been fully refined into finished technique.

But the ceiling at the end of that developmental process is what makes every one of those moments worth the investment. A Will Black who has navigated a full season of left tackle starting experience against Power Four competition — processing different pass rush moves, learning to handle speed-to-power combinations and building the confidence that only comes from sustained starting-level repetitions — is the kind of blindside tackle that makes Notre Dame's offensive line genuinely elite for two or three more years beyond 2026.

The investment begins now. The return on that investment will define what Notre Dame's offensive line becomes.

Starting Rt Guerby Lambert

If Black's story in 2026 is about a talented young player stepping into the most demanding position on the offensive line for the first time, Lambert's story is about a proven, elite-recruited player finally getting to play where his ceiling has always been highest.

Lambert is a five-star recruit who arrived at Notre Dame with the physical tools — the length, the athleticism, the power and the frame — of an elite college right tackle. The right tackle position is where Lambert's profile projects most naturally, and 2026 represents the first time in his Notre Dame career that he steps into that role as the full-time, unambiguous starting right tackle without positional questions complicating his preparation or his identity within the unit.

That clarity matters more than it might initially appear. A five-star tackle who knows exactly where he is playing, who his running mate is at right guard and what his specific assignments and responsibilities are within the unit's blocking scheme is a significantly more effective player than one navigating positional uncertainty on top of the normal competitive demands of Power Four starting experience. Lambert enters 2026 with that clarity for the first time — and the results of a full season at right tackle in his natural position could be exactly what his recruiting profile always suggested was coming.

Together, Black on the left and Lambert on the right give Notre Dame something the offensive line has not had since Joe Alt and Blake Fisher anchored the 2023 unit — a pair of bookend tackles whose individual ceilings, if realized, make the entire offensive line a different and more dangerous entity than the sum of its experienced interior parts.

Alt and Fisher are starting in the NFL right now. The standard has been set. Black and Lambert have the talent to approach it. Whether they do in 2026 is the central question of Joe Rudolph's defining season.

Fueling the Rush — Two Seasons of Production That Demand Protection

The case for Notre Dame's offensive line dominance in 2026 is not built on projection alone. It is built on a foundation of sustained rushing production over the past two seasons that reflects a ground game operating at a high level even when the offensive line's performance has been inconsistent — and that should produce even more explosive results when the line reaches the potential that the 2026 configuration makes possible.

Over the past two seasons, Notre Dame has established itself as one of the most consistent rushing offenses in the country, grounding its attack in a zone-blocking scheme that rewards intelligence, footwork and the ability to move defenders off the line of scrimmage. The production has been there even through the injury disruptions and positional uncertainty that have complicated Rudolph's previous two seasons — which means the floor of what this rushing attack can do is already established at a high level.

Now pair that established rushing foundation with the most positionally sound offensive line configuration Rudolph has built since 2023 — and add the most dynamic running back room Notre Dame has had in recent memory.

Aneyas Williams enters 2026 as the featured back in a backfield that has been reloaded with genuine talent after the departure of Jeremiyah Love to the NFL. Williams brings a quickness, burst and space-creation ability that makes him a natural fit for the zone-blocking concepts Notre Dame runs — a runner who understands how to set up blocks, identify cutback lanes and accelerate through holes before defenders can close them. His ability to threaten defenses horizontally as well as vertically gives the ground game a dimension that forces defensive coordinators to honor the perimeter before crashing the interior — creating the kind of pre-snap conflict that makes Notre Dame's inside zone and power concepts more effective than they would be against a purely downhill running threat.

The offensive line's job is to create the environment where Williams's natural abilities can be fully expressed. With Black and Lambert protecting the edges, Knapp and Absher controlling the interior gaps and Craig directing the unit's communication from the center position, the blocking structure that Williams runs behind in 2026 has the potential to be the most effective the Irish have fielded in years.

When an offensive line dominates up front and a dynamic back like Williams is running behind it, rushing attacks do not just produce yards — they produce explosive plays, favorable down-and-distance situations and the kind of physical momentum that changes the entire complexion of a football game. Notre Dame's rushing attack has the ingredients for exactly that kind of production in 2026.

Protecting CJ Carr — The Most Important Assignment on the Roster

As important as the ground game is to Notre Dame's offensive identity, the offensive line's most critical assignment in 2026 is the one that directly determines whether the Irish passing offense reaches its enormous potential — protecting CJ Carr.

Carr enters his second season as Notre Dame's starter with the full benefit of a year of starting experience behind him, a deepened understanding of the offense and the weapons around him upgraded on every level. The wide receiver room is better. The tight end group is more experienced. The running back room gives him a genuine dual-threat dimension to work with in the passing game. The continuity of returning offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and the same system Carr operated in throughout 2025 gives him a pre-snap processing advantage that second-year starters with returning coordinators enjoy in ways that are difficult to quantify but impossible to miss in the way they play.

But none of those advantages mean anything if Carr is running for his life on every passing down. The difference between a good quarterback and a great quarterback — between a solid season and a Heisman Trophy season — is almost always a function of how much time the offensive line gives him to go through progressions, identify coverage rotations and deliver the football to the right place with the timing and accuracy that his skill set demands.

Clean pockets do not just protect quarterbacks. They elevate them. When a quarterback can step into his throws, trust that his blindside is protected and operate through his full progression without the pressure of an unblocked defender bearing down on him, the entire passing game functions at a higher level. Routes develop more fully. Timing throws hit their windows. Check-downs become available when the primary read is covered. The entire mental processing load that second-year quarterbacks are still refining becomes more manageable when the physical environment the offensive line creates allows that processing to happen without the distortion of pressure.

Black and Lambert protecting Carr's edges in 2026 — if they perform at the level their talent suggests they can — give Notre Dame's quarterback an environment where his Heisman candidacy can develop naturally and fully. That is the assignment. Everything else the offensive line accomplishes in 2026 runs through whether they can consistently give CJ Carr the clean pocket he needs to maximize the talent surrounding him.

Mike Denbrock's Blueprint — Why Second-Year Quarterbacks Thrive Under His System

The offensive line's assignment in 2026 does not exist in isolation — it exists within the context of an offensive system designed by coordinator Mike Denbrock whose track record with second-year starting quarterbacks is one of the most compelling and relevant data points in Notre Dame's 2026 offensive preview.

Denbrock's résumé with second-year quarterbacks traces directly to the most celebrated quarterback performance in recent college football history. At LSU in 2023, Denbrock was the offensive coordinator for Jayden Daniels's Heisman Trophy season — a campaign in which Daniels, operating in his second year within a system that had been built around his strengths, produced one of the most statistically dominant quarterback performances the sport has ever seen. Daniels threw for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns while rushing for 1,134 yards and 10 more scores — numbers that earned him the Heisman Trophy and announced him as the most complete offensive player in college football.

The pattern that produced Daniels's Heisman season is directly applicable to what Carr and Notre Dame are building toward in 2026. A quarterback who has a full season of starting experience in the system. An offensive coordinator who has had a full offseason to study that quarterback's strengths, identify the plays and concepts that maximize his skill set and build a game plan philosophy that puts him in positions to succeed. A supporting cast that is upgraded from the previous season. And an offensive line assignment that is clearer, more positionally sound and more capable of providing protection than the one that existed in the quarterback's first year as a starter.

Denbrock has done this before. He has taken a second-year starting quarterback, built a system around his specific strengths and produced the kind of Heisman-caliber performance that changes careers. The offensive line's role in that process — keeping Carr clean, controlling the line of scrimmage in the run game and giving Denbrock's system the physical foundation it needs to operate at its ceiling — is the most direct and consequential contribution the unit can make to Notre Dame's 2026 championship aspirations.

If the offensive line delivers, Denbrock has everything he needs. If Denbrock has everything he needs, Carr has everything he needs. And if Carr has everything he needs — with the receiver room, the running back room and the system surrounding him in 2026 — the ceiling of what Notre Dame's offense can produce is genuinely limitless.

The Best Offensive Line of the Rudolph Era?

Stack all of it together — the experienced interior anchored by Knapp, Craig and Absher, the bookend tackle upside of Black and Lambert, the rushing production foundation that the past two seasons have established, the dynamic running back room led by Williams and the Denbrock-Carr connection that mirrors the blueprint that produced a Heisman Trophy at LSU — and the case for Notre Dame's 2026 offensive line being the best unit Rudolph has assembled at Notre Dame becomes genuinely compelling.

The standard was set in 2023 when Alt and Fisher gave Notre Dame two future NFL starters at the bookend positions. That unit is the measuring stick. Whether the 2026 group can approach or exceed that standard depends on Black and Lambert fulfilling the expectations their talent demands and the experienced interior delivering the consistency and physicality that championship offensive lines produce week after week.

The ingredients are there. The configuration is right. The assignment is clear. The supporting cast surrounding the offensive line — from Carr to Williams to the upgraded receiver room — gives the unit's performance a direct and immediate impact on Notre Dame's national championship aspirations.

This is Joe Rudolph's defining season. And for the first time in his Notre Dame tenure, he has the right players in the right places to make the definition one that every Fighting Irish fan will be proud of when the 2026 season is complete.

Will Black and Guerby Lambert. Protect the edge. Control the line of scrimmage. Fulfill the potential. Give CJ Carr the time to be great.

Do those things — and this offensive line does not just have the chance to be the best unit of the Rudolph era at Notre Dame.

It has the chance to be something that Notre Dame fans remember for a very long time.

Notre Dame's Most Painful and Embarrassing Losses-fan’s perspective

From gut-punch defeats to head-scratching upsets, these are the losses Irish fans can never forget

Every Notre Dame fan carries a mental list. The losses that still sting when you think about them too long, the ones that changed the trajectory of a season — or a program — and the ones so unexpected they still feel like a fever dream years later. The Lucky Lefty Podcast recently opened that wound for their audience, and the responses painted a vivid picture of decades of Irish heartbreak.

The conversation surfaced losses across multiple eras, each carrying its own specific flavor of pain.

The Embarrassments

Northern Illinois in 2012 sits near the top of almost every fan's embarrassment list — and for good reason. Notre Dame was riding the wave of an undefeated run toward a national championship appearance, and the NIU loss came at the worst possible time for the program's credibility. As one listener put it, every squirrel gets a nut eventually, but this particular nut cost the Irish dearly in terms of national perception.

The Stanford loss under Marcus Freeman's early tenure carries a different kind of embarrassment — not just because of the defeat itself but because of the way it ended. David Shaw, coaching what turned out to be one of his final games, walked off the field with a smirk that said everything. A program that had been terrible that year had just handed Freeman one of the most stinging early losses of his tenure, and Shaw departed without so much as a handshake — walking slowly off the field as if he wanted every Notre Dame fan to absorb the moment fully. You can't fight the bully when he moves to another city. That slow walk became the enduring image of that afternoon.

The Michigan State fake field goal belongs in its own category entirely. Notre Dame's defense had every reason to expect it — the Spartans' kicker had missed two attempts from distance on the night, and the situation screamed fake. And yet when Michigan State ran it, the Irish fell for it completely. The image of Notre Dame defenders' faces in that moment — the sudden realization of what had just happened — captured something painfully familiar about Irish football in certain eras.

The Painful Ones

The 2014 Florida State game occupies a special place of pain for Notre Dame fans because of what it represented beyond the loss itself. The Seminoles were coming off a national championship, riding an unbeaten streak, and playing at home with full momentum. Notre Dame had the talent and the moment to make a genuine statement — and a controversial pass interference call late in the game swung the outcome. The what-if of that game lingers because the trajectory of Brian Kelly's program could have bent permanently in Notre Dame's favor with a victory. Instead, a fork in the road sent the program in a different direction.

The 2023 Ohio State loss — with ten men on the field — makes the embarrassing list for reasons that need no elaboration. Execution errors at the most basic level, on the biggest stage, against the most visible opponent. That one hurt in a way that felt institutional rather than situational.

The Northwestern Problem

Perhaps the most revealing discussion centered on a Northwestern loss that podcast co-host Malik Zaire experienced firsthand as a Notre Dame player. The pain wasn't simply that Notre Dame lost — it was how Northwestern played in that game. The Wildcats were dropping touchdowns, making plays that had no business happening against a Notre Dame roster with significantly superior talent. Trevor Siemian was throwing bombs. The Irish were getting beaten by a team that, as Zaire noted, probably could have won by more if they had simply caught every ball thrown their way. Losing to a team that wasn't at full capacity is its own particular brand of humiliating.

The Consistent Thread

What connects every loss on this list is not talent disparity — it is execution, circumstance and the painful randomness of college football applied to a program that carries enormous expectations into every single game it plays. Notre Dame fans don't just want wins. They want wins that match the standard the program sets for itself, and every loss on this list fell short of that standard in its own specific and memorable way.

The good news, as one podcast host noted, is that genuinely embarrassing losses — the kind where Notre Dame had no business competing — have been remarkably rare over the past 15 years. The 2012 Alabama national championship game is the only contest in that span where the outcome felt completely inevitable from the opening drive. Everything else has been competitive, consequential and winnable.

That is the standard Marcus Freeman is now carrying forward — and the 2026 season represents his best opportunity yet to ensure the painful losses remain in the past where they belong.

ESPN's College Football Future Power Rankings Have Notre Dame at the Top

When ESPN set out to rank all 68 Power Four programs in their future power rankings — evaluating quarterback situations, trench outlooks, roster management, star power and coaching staff quality with the kind of comprehensive rigor that separates serious analytical work from preseason speculation — the Fighting Irish came out on top.

Not second. Not in a group of three or four teams separated by fractions of evaluation points. First. Unambiguously, convincingly and with justification that holds up to scrutiny from every angle the evaluation touched.

This is not a sentimental ranking built on Notre Dame's brand, its history or the weight of its tradition. ESPN looked at what is actually on the field, what is being built in the recruiting pipeline, how the roster is being managed and who is coaching the program — and concluded that no program in the country is better positioned for sustained elite performance than Marcus Freeman's Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The case begins with a quarterback whose growth and efficiency have already made him one of the most decorated signal callers in Notre Dame history. It runs through an offensive line that is finally deploying its elite talent in the right positions. It extends through a running back room with genuine dimension and a wide receiver group upgraded on every level. And it culminates in a defense that returns significant proven production while adding transfer portal talent to a revamped defensive staff that made the transition look seamless during spring practice.

Stack all of it together and the No. 1 ranking does not just make sense. It is the only honest conclusion.

CJ Carr — Growth, Efficiency and the Foundation of Everything

Every conversation about Notre Dame's 2026 ceiling begins in the same place — under center, with a redshirt sophomore quarterback whose growth from his first start to where he stands today represents one of the most impressive individual development arcs in college football.

CJ Carr did not arrive at Notre Dame's starting position through the transfer portal or through the kind of five-star recruiting coronation that precedes some quarterbacks before they ever take a college snap. He developed — through the program's system, under the coaching staff's instruction and through the accumulated experience of an entire season of starting at Notre Dame — into exactly what ESPN's Adam Rittenberg described as a national awards contender.

The statistical foundation that justifies that description is historically significant. Carr's 168.06 passer rating from the 2025 season was a Notre Dame program record — surpassing the previous mark held by Jimmy Clausen, a quarterback whose 2009 season is still discussed as one of the most polished individual performances in Notre Dame's quarterback history. Breaking a program record in your first year as a starter is not a product of circumstance. It is a product of genuine excellence sustained over the course of a full season against Power Four competition.

The efficiency numbers amplify the record even further. Carr completed 66.6 percent of his passes — fourth best single-season mark in Notre Dame program history across every era of Fighting Irish football. He threw 24 touchdowns against just six interceptions — and four of those six interceptions came in his first two starts, the natural adjustment period of a first-year starter navigating varsity speed for the first time. In his final ten starts of the season, Carr threw four interceptions across ten games — a turnover rate that matches the best decision-making quarterbacks in the country regardless of experience level.

The deep ball numbers are equally impressive and perhaps more revealing about what kind of quarterback Carr truly is. Eight touchdowns and zero interceptions on passes of 20 yards or more — a statistical combination that reflects both the arm talent to challenge defenses vertically and the decision-making discipline to never force throws in the most high-risk areas of the field. Zero interceptions on deep passes across an entire season is the kind of number that NFL scouts and Heisman voters notice immediately because it is so rare and so meaningful as a predictor of elite quarterback performance.

His yards-per-attempt average of 9.4 ranked second among all returning quarterbacks in the entire country — not second in the ACC, not second among independent programs, but second nationally among every returning signal caller in college football. That number reflects efficient, high-value passing that consistently moves the chains, creates explosive plays and maximizes the production value of every throw rather than accumulating yards through volume and check-downs.

The November elevation that Sporting News specifically cited in their No. 3 national quarterback ranking — a passer rating of 170.2 in the final month of the regular season — confirms what the full-season numbers suggest and then exceeds it. Carr was better in November than he was in September. He was better when the schedule was harder, the stakes were higher and the defensive preparation against him was most sophisticated. That late-season elevation is the single most reliable indicator that a quarterback's development is genuine, sustainable and pointed toward something significantly better in year two.

The growth from his first start against Miami in 2025 — when the country got its initial look at a talented but unproven first-year starter navigating an elite opponent in a high-pressure environment — to the polished, confident and statistically dominant quarterback who closed that season and walked into spring 2026 as the program's unquestioned leader is as dramatic an individual development arc as any quarterback in the country produced over the same period.

Entering 2026 with that foundation behind him — the record passer rating, the elite completion percentage, the zero deep-ball interceptions, the November elevation and a full offseason of development with Mike Denbrock building a system specifically around his strengths — Carr is not just one of the five best returning quarterbacks in the country. He is making a genuine and credible case to be the best. And the structure surrounding him in 2026 gives that case more supporting evidence than any other quarterback in college football can claim.

The Offensive Line — Elite Talent Finally in the Right Places

The offensive line evaluation is where ESPN's future power ranking for Notre Dame gets most specific and most optimistic — and for good reason. The unit that Joe Rudolph is sending onto the field in 2026 is the most thoughtfully constructed and positionally appropriate starting five he has assembled since his arrival in 2023, when Joe Alt and Blake Fisher gave Notre Dame a bookend tackle pair that now starts in the NFL.

The interior of this offensive line returns experienced, battle-tested starters whose collective knowledge of Notre Dame's blocking schemes and protection concepts gives the unit a communication and cohesion that young tackle prospects need around them to develop effectively. Ashton Craig returns at center as a legitimate Rimington Trophy contender — a distinction that reflects both the quality of Craig's individual performance and the critical importance of his role as the unit's communicator and pre-snap processor. Craig's ability to identify defensive alignments, make protection calls and ensure that every blocker on the unit is operating from the same information on every snap is the infrastructure that makes everything else on the offensive line function.

Anthonie Knapp returns at left guard — now settled into the position where Rudolph and the staff believe his ceiling is highest after two years of starting at left tackle. The move inside is not a demotion but a correction — putting a talented, experienced blocker in the alignment where his power at the point of attack, his ability to anchor against interior rushers and his two years of starting-caliber experience are most powerfully expressed. Knapp at left guard entering 2026 is a significantly more dangerous player than Knapp at left tackle — and the unit benefits immediately from having his experience and physicality deployed in the right place.

Sullivan Absher completes the interior at right guard with the competitive hunger of a redshirt junior who has waited for exactly this starting opportunity. Players who earn starting roles through development and patience rather than through recruiting star ratings tend to play with a chip-on-the-shoulder energy that makes them among the most consistently effective contributors on any offensive line — and Absher enters 2026 with every motivation to prove that the wait was worth it for both himself and the program.

The bookend tackles are where this offensive line's ceiling lives and where the most exciting development stories of the 2026 season will unfold. Will Black — a five-star recruit whose length, athleticism and pass protection tools have always projected to the blindside tackle position — takes over at left tackle for what should be a transformative first full season protecting Carr's blind side. The growing pains of a first-year starting left tackle against Power Four edge rushers are a normal and expected part of the development process — but the ceiling that Black is building toward as those growing pains accumulate into experience and confidence is the kind that changes what a program's offensive line can be for multiple seasons.

Guerby Lambert at right tackle is the complementary story — a five-star recruit from the 2024 class finally operating at the position where his physical profile projects most naturally for a full season as the unambiguous starting right tackle. Lambert's combination of size, length and athleticism gives Notre Dame a potential true bookend pair with Black on the left side — the first time since Alt and Fisher that Rudolph has had that configuration available — and the results of a full season with both tackles in their natural positions could finally deliver the dominant unit that the talent in this room has always suggested was possible.

The potential return of Charles Jagusah — a five-star recruit whose development has been delayed — adds yet another elite-recruited option to a depth chart that is already one of the deepest Rudolph has had since his arrival. The depth and quality of this offensive line room entering 2026 is genuinely exceptional — and the configuration finally matches the talent with the positional assignments that maximize every player's individual ceiling.

The Running Back Room — Dynamic Talent Ready to Carry the Load

The departure of Jeremiyah Love — the No. 3 overall pick in the NFL Draft — is the most significant personnel loss Notre Dame faces on offense heading into 2026. Love was one of the most dynamic running backs in college football, a unanimous All-American whose big-play capability and consistency defined Notre Dame's ground attack across two seasons and made him one of the most celebrated players in the program's recent history.

But the Irish are not rebuilding the backfield. They are reloading it — with a group of talented, complementary backs whose collective skill set gives Mike Denbrock's offense a multi-dimensional ground game that can attack defenses in ways that a single-back approach never allows.

Aneyas Williams steps into the featured role with the physical tools, competitive instincts and playmaking ability to make the transition from Love to the next era of Notre Dame running back excellence as smooth as the talent in the room allows. Williams's combination of acceleration, vision and contact balance gives the Irish a back who can operate effectively in Notre Dame's zone-blocking scheme — identifying cutback lanes, setting up blocks and accelerating through holes before defenders can close them with the quickness that makes him a natural fit for the concepts Denbrock calls most frequently.

Williams's versatility as a receiver out of the backfield adds a dimension to Notre Dame's passing game that forces defensive coordinators to honor the check-down and screen game on every snap — pulling linebackers and safeties into coverage assignments that open the intermediate passing windows where Carr's accuracy and anticipation are most devastating. A running back who can genuinely threaten defenses both between the tackles and in the passing game is one of the most valuable offensive assets any coordinator can have — and Williams brings both dimensions to Notre Dame's 2026 backfield.

The depth behind Williams gives Denbrock genuine flexibility in how he deploys the ground game. Multiple capable backs with different physical profiles and running styles creates the kind of schematic variety that keeps defensive coordinators from settling into comfortable run defense adjustments — because the same blocking scheme produces different looks when different runners are operating behind it.

The collective expectation for Notre Dame's 2026 running back room is not to replace what Love provided individually but to provide what the room as a whole can produce collectively — and the talent assembled gives the Irish offense every reason to believe that collective production will be more than sufficient to keep the ground game a genuine threat that defenses must account for on every single snap.

The Wide Receiver Room — More Weapons Than CJ Carr Has Ever Had

If the offensive line case for Notre Dame's No. 1 ranking is built on positional construction and the running back case is built on dynamic talent filling a significant departure, the wide receiver case is the most straightforwardly exciting component of the entire offensive evaluation — because the group Carr is throwing to in 2026 is simply better than any receiver room he has had available in his Notre Dame career.

Jordan Faison returns as the established and proven No. 1 option after leading Notre Dame with 40 receptions, 640 yards and four touchdowns in 2025 — the team's leading receiver, produced while sharing a room with Malachi Fields and Jaden Greathouse. Faison's decision to give up lacrosse and commit entirely to football this offseason is the kind of singular focus investment that produces significant statistical leaps — and the Carr-Faison connection that produced 40 catches in a season where Fields was the projected No. 1 option is primed to become something even more dominant when Faison enters 2026 as the unambiguous first read with an undivided preparation investment behind him.

Jaden Greathouse brings the explosive playmaking dimension that makes Notre Dame's receiver room genuinely dangerous rather than simply functional. Greathouse's combination of separation quickness, yards-after-catch capability and big-play instincts — demonstrated emphatically in Notre Dame's 2024 postseason run — gives Carr a receiver who can take a short completion and turn it into a long gain, a slant route and turn it into a crossing score and a go ball and create the kind of contested-catch opportunity that changes field position in an instant. Pair Greathouse's explosion with Faison's reliable production and Notre Dame presents opposing secondaries with a No. 1 and No. 2 receiver combination that is as difficult to defend as any in the country.

The transfer portal additions elevate the room from very good to genuinely elite. Mylan Graham arrives from Ohio State with Big Ten starting experience, proven production at one of the most demanding programs in college football and the physical tools that made him a highly coveted recruit before his time at Ohio State. Graham does not need to be the No. 1 receiver or carry the production load to be enormously valuable — he needs to be a legitimate third option who punishes defensive coordinators for the coverage attention they devote to Faison and Greathouse. With the coverage bracket that those two demand, Graham will see single coverage against the best corner available on a given defense — and his Ohio State-tested talent gives him every tool to make opposing teams pay for that coverage decision.

Quincy Porter provides additional receiving depth from the same Ohio State program — another experienced, proven pass catcher who brings Big Ten competition reps to a Notre Dame receiver room that needed exactly this kind of experienced depth to complement its returning talent.

Three legitimate receiving threats with different physical profiles, different route-running styles and different strengths within the passing game — backed by experienced portal additions who contribute immediately and meaningfully to the room's depth and versatility. The receiver room Carr inherits in 2026 is the best he has ever had and one of the most complete groups in college football heading into the season.

The Defense — Proven Production Returns, Elite Additions Bolster the Front

While the offensive case for Notre Dame's No. 1 ranking builds from quarterback to skill positions to the line, the defensive case begins and ends with a simple and powerful truth — the production that made Notre Dame's defense one of the best units in the country late in the 2025 season is returning at a remarkably high rate, and the additions made through the transfer portal have addressed the few areas where reinforcement was genuinely needed.

Leonard Moore is the centerpiece of everything Notre Dame does defensively in 2026 and the most important returning player on the entire roster. The best cornerback in college football — PFF's No. 1 ranked returning cornerback for the second consecutive season — enters 2026 as the consensus Thorpe Award favorite after earning first-team unanimous All-America honors in 2025. Moore's 91.4 coverage grade and 90.9 overall defensive grade led all Power Four starting cornerbacks. He led Notre Dame with five interceptions while being targeted on only 11.5 percent of his coverage snaps — the ultimate testament to a cornerback so dominant that the entire country's offenses chose to scheme away from him rather than challenge him.

With Moore locking down one side of the field, the rest of Notre Dame's secondary carries a freedom and flexibility that makes the entire defensive system more dangerous. Christian Gray returns as a proven secondary contributor whose versatility allows defensive coordinator Chris Ash to present multiple coverage looks without sacrificing quality at any individual position. The addition of DJ McKinney from Colorado via the transfer portal gives the secondary a third proven option — a player with starting experience against Power Four competition who slides into a complementary role alongside Moore and Gray and completes what ESPN identified as potentially the biggest strength on Notre Dame's entire 2026 roster.

Adon Shuler returns at safety with the kind of range, instincts and ball-hawking ability that make him one of the most exciting developmental stories in Notre Dame's defensive backfield. His presence in the deep middle — rotating into coverage, supporting the run and creating the kind of turnover opportunities that change field position and momentum — gives Ash's secondary a complete, complementary set of pieces that no passing game can attack with a single schematic approach.

The linebacker corps is anchored by Drayk Bowen — one of the most complete linebackers in college football and the defensive engine that makes Notre Dame's second level function at its highest capacity. Bowen's combination of run-stopping physicality, coverage range and pre-snap processing intelligence gives the entire defense a communicator and lead tackler who elevates every player around him. His return alongside the developing linebacker talent around him gives Brian Jean-Mary — veteran defensive assistant now overseeing the linebacker group — proven production to build around from day one.

The Defensive Line — Transfer Additions Transform an Already Talented Front

The most dramatic and consequential roster construction development on Notre Dame's defensive side heading into 2026 is the transformation of the defensive line through a combination of proven returning contributors and high-impact transfer additions that address the program's most critical pass rush needs.

Boubacar Traore returns as Notre Dame's most dangerous and most disruptive pass rush weapon — a junior edge whose combination of first-step quickness, motor and technical pass rush arsenal makes him a consistent threat to influence every passing down. Traore's presence gives Ash's defensive front a proven, established disruptive force that new additions can complement rather than replace — the difference between addition by addition and addition by multiplication when it comes to what a defensive line can become collectively.

Bryce Young returns as a versatile and experienced contributor whose ability to line up in multiple positions along the defensive front gives Ash the flexibility to create different alignments and present different problems to opposing offenses without sacrificing individual quality at any spot. Young's experience and positional versatility are the kind of foundational traits that make an entire defensive line unit more difficult to prepare for — because the combinations he enables on the front are more numerous and more creative than a less flexible roster allows.

Jason Onye provides senior-level experience and established production at the defensive tackle position — a player whose understanding of what Notre Dame's defensive system demands and what elite college football competition requires gives the younger contributors on the defensive line a standard to measure themselves against and a guide to follow in the most demanding preparation moments of the week.

The transfer additions are where the defensive line story becomes genuinely transformative. Francis Brewu arrives from Pittsburgh with a national reputation as one of the most physically dominant interior defensive linemen in the transfer portal — a player whose combination of power, leverage and relentless effort at the point of attack gives Notre Dame's front an interior disruptive presence that immediately elevates the entire unit's run-stopping and pass-rushing capability. Brewu's Pittsburgh experience against ACC competition means his transition to Notre Dame's defensive system is not a leap into the unknown but a progression within a competitive environment he already understands.

Keon Keeley arrives from Alabama with the pedigree and physical tools that made him one of the most coveted defensive line recruits in his class — and the development infrastructure of Alabama's program having already invested significant time and resources into maximizing his potential. Keeley gives Notre Dame an edge presence whose ceiling, if fully realized under Ash's system and Partridge's coaching, could be the most disruptive individual defensive line performance the Irish have produced in years.

Tionne Gray from Oregon rounds out the transfer additions with starting experience and proven production from a Pac-12-level program — a player whose senior eligibility makes him the most immediately impactful of the three portal additions in terms of on-field availability and competitive readiness.

A New Defensive Staff That Hit the Ground Running

The most compelling subplot of Notre Dame's defensive preparation heading into 2026 is the transition to a reshaped defensive staff — and how smoothly that transition appears to have gone during spring practice despite the significant personnel changes that coordinator Chris Ash made to his unit this offseason.

Aaron Henry joins the staff to coach defensive backs, reuniting with Ash in a configuration that the coordinator knows and trusts from previous stops in his coaching career. The comfort and communication between Henry and Ash — built on an existing professional relationship — eliminates the adjustment period that typically accompanies new staff additions and allows the defensive back group to benefit from coaching cohesion from the very first practice of the spring.

Charlie Partridge takes over the defensive line — a coach whose recruiting track record and development philosophy give Notre Dame's front seven a proven leader whose ability to maximize pass rush talent and interior disruption is already on display in the 2027 recruiting class, where he landed the No. 2 defensive tackle in the country in David Folorunsho during his first recruiting cycle.

Brian Jean-Mary's oversight of the linebackers completes a defensive staff whose collective experience and internal cohesion make the transition from the previous staff configuration feel less like a rebuild and more like a refinement.

The spring practice reports that emerged from the new defensive staff's first extended look at the roster were encouraging across the board — a unit that absorbed significant coaching change, integrated transfer additions and developed communication between new coaches and returning players with a smoothness that reflects both the quality of the coaches Ash brought in and the leadership of the veteran players already in the building.

A defensive staff transition that goes well in the spring is not a guarantee of autumn dominance — but a transition that goes poorly in the spring is almost always visible in September. Notre Dame's spring went well. The foundation for what this defense can become in 2026 under its new coaching configuration is as solid as any rebuilt staff could reasonably hope to establish in a single spring session.

The Bottom Line — No. 1 is Not a Gift. It Is a Grade.

ESPN evaluated 68 Power Four programs. They looked at quarterback situations, trench outlooks, roster management philosophies, collections of star power and coaching staff quality. They graded every program with the analytical rigor that separates meaningful future power rankings from preseason popularity contests.

Notre Dame came out No. 1.

Not because of history. Not because of brand. Not because of 11 national championships and one of the most famous stadiums in American sports. Because of CJ Carr's historically efficient first year and the second-year leap that every indicator supports. Because of an offensive line finally deploying its elite bookend talent in its natural positions. Because of a dynamic, versatile running back room. Because of a receiver group more talented and more experienced than any Carr has had available. Because of Leonard Moore being the best cornerback in America and Drayk Bowen being one of the best linebackers. Because of Brewu, Keeley and Gray transforming a defensive line that was already talented. Because of a new defensive staff that transitioned smoothly and a head coach who turned down the NFL to keep building something in South Bend.

Phil Steele has Notre Dame No. 1 in his preseason rankings. ESPN has Notre Dame No. 1 in their future power rankings.

The program that Marcus Freeman has built did not get to the top of those lists by accident.

It earned every spot.

Notre Dame 2027 Linebacker Recruiting — Brian Jean-Mary's Chance to Build Something Special

With two official visitors on the way and Amarri Irvin already committed, the Irish linebacker class could become one of the best in recent memory

Notre Dame's 2026 linebacker recruiting class is building toward something that could redefine the position group in South Bend for years to come — and the man at the center of it all is linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary, who is closing in on a group that Lucky Lefty co-host Shaun Davis and Malik Zaire are already calling potentially game changing if the remaining pieces fall into place.

The foundation is already in place. Amarri Irvin, the Florida linebacker who committed to Notre Dame earlier in the cycle, gives Jean-Mary a proven cornerstone to build around. Irvin's presence alone signals that the Irish are recruiting the position at an elite level in this class — but what comes next could elevate the group from very good to genuinely special.

Two linebacker prospects are scheduled for official visits to Notre Dame, and the Irish coaching staff is pushing hard to close on both. One prospect that had been in the conversation — Noah Glover — came off the board earlier this month when he committed to Miami, removing himself from Notre Dame's official visit list. But the two remaining targets represent the kind of talent that, if signed alongside Irvin, would give Notre Dame a linebacker trio capable of competing with any group assembled nationally in this recruiting cycle.

Jean-Mary's ability to close on these two visitors is the central question surrounding Notre Dame's linebacker recruiting between now and signing day. If he lands both, the trio with Irvin becomes one of the most celebrated linebacker hauls in Notre Dame's recent recruiting history — a group that could be mentioned alongside the program's best position-specific classes of the past decade.

The linebacker position has been a focal point of Notre Dame's defensive identity under Marcus Freeman, whose background as a defensive coordinator and linebackers coach gives him a particular investment in the position group's development and recruiting. Jean-Mary carries that torch forward in 2026 — and based on the talent currently in play and the official visits on the calendar, he appears to be carrying it at exactly the right height.

The official visits will tell the story. Notre Dame has done the work to get these prospects on campus. Now comes the closing — the part of the recruiting process where relationships, vision and the weight of Notre Dame's football tradition either win the room or don't.

Based on everything surrounding this class so far, the Irish coaching staff appears ready to win the room.

Jordan Faison's Growth Sets the Stage for a 2026 Breakout at Notre Dame

Breakout seasons don't materialize from thin air. They are built — rep by rep, season by season, through a progression of growth that is visible in the numbers if you know where to look and patient enough to watch the arc develop over time rather than demanding immediate results.

Jordan Faison's arc at Notre Dame is one of the most clearly defined and statistically compelling progression stories in college football heading into 2026. Look at the numbers across each season he has played and the trajectory is unmistakable — a receiver who has gotten measurably, undeniably better every single time he has stepped on a college football field, against better competition, in bigger moments, with higher stakes surrounding every performance.

Now, entering 2026 as Notre Dame's established No. 1 wide receiver and quarterback CJ Carr's most trusted target, everything Faison has built across three seasons of steady statistical growth is pointed directly at one destination — a breakout season that the numbers have been predicting for anyone paying close enough attention.

The progression is real. The breakout is coming. And the story of how Jordan Faison got here is worth telling in full.

Where It Started — A Walk-On With Zero Catches and One Moment

The baseline of Faison's progression at Notre Dame is important context for everything that follows — because where he started makes where he is going that much more remarkable.

Faison arrived at Notre Dame as a walk-on. Not a three-star recruit who needed development time. Not a portal addition brought in for a specific role. A walk-on — a player who had to earn everything from scratch against a roster filled with recruited talent that arrived with built-in advantages in opportunity and visibility.

Through the first several weeks of his freshman season in 2023, Faison had zero catches. Not a breakout waiting to happen, not a player on the verge — zero production, zero statistical footprint, zero reason for the outside world to pay attention.

Then came Louisville. Two catches, 48 yards, one touchdown — and a trajectory that changed permanently from that moment forward. In the final six games of that regular season, Faison went from invisible to indispensable, finishing with 17 catches for 274 yards and three touchdowns once he got going. His freshman year closed with a five-catch, 115-yard, one-touchdown performance against a ranked Oregon State team in the Sun Bowl — a statement game that planted the flag for everything that was coming.

The foundation had been laid. The progression was about to begin in earnest.

2024 — The Injury-Interrupted Proof of Concept

The 2024 season was supposed to be the year Faison announced himself to the wider college football world on a full-season scale. Injuries had other plans — limiting his overall regular season production and forcing a level of patience and resilience that tested his commitment to the process.

But here is what the 2024 numbers reveal when you look at them honestly — even in an injury-hampered season, Faison produced when he was healthy, and when the playoffs arrived and his health returned, he delivered the kind of performances that proved the Sun Bowl was not a one-game sample of his ceiling.

Against Indiana and Georgia in back-to-back playoff games, Faison recorded 11 catches for 135 yards — producing at exactly the moment Notre Dame needed its receivers most, on the biggest stage the college football regular season offers, against playoff-caliber defenses that had spent weeks preparing specifically for Notre Dame's offense.

The 2024 season's most important contribution to Faison's progression was not statistical. It was the proof that he could be relied upon in high-stakes moments, that the Louisville and Sun Bowl performances were character revelations rather than flukes and that when his body allowed him to play at full capacity, the production followed immediately and emphatically.

That proof set the stage for what 2025 was about to become.

2025 — The Statistical Leap That Changed the Conversation

If 2023 planted the seed and 2024 proved the concept despite limited opportunity, then 2025 was the season Jordan Faison's progression announced itself to the entire country with a clarity that could not be dismissed, debated or explained away.

Forty receptions. 640 receiving yards. Four touchdowns. Notre Dame's leading receiver — not a portal addition, not a five-star recruit, not the player anyone had projected to lead this offense statistically when the season began.

The numbers represent a genuine statistical leap that reflects every element of Faison's growth as a receiver. More receptions than any season before. More yards than any season before. More touchdowns in a single full campaign than his career suggested was coming. And all of it produced while sharing a receiver room with Malachi Fields — a four-year Virginia transfer who arrived specifically to be the go-to target — and Jaden Greathouse, who had been one of the most talked-about receivers in the program entering the season.

Faison outproduced them both. Not because the opportunity fell to him by default but because he earned it, week after week, with performances that proved he was the most reliable and productive weapon in Carr's passing arsenal.

The weekly production in 2025 told the story of a receiver operating with a consistency and confidence that only comes from genuine development. Five receptions for 33 yards and a touchdown against Miami in the season opener — no easing into the season, no waiting for momentum to build. Five catches for 105 yards and a touchdown against Purdue two weeks later — back-to-back productive performances that established a standard rather than teasing one. Seven catches for 89 yards against Arkansas on the road — producing in an environment where receivers are routinely neutralized by crowd noise, hostile atmospheres and game-plan-specific coverage. Six catches for 83 yards against Boise State — maintaining production against a defense built specifically to take away big plays in the passing game.

Then the regular season finale — three catches for 68 yards and a touchdown against Stanford on the road — a closing performance that mirrored the Sun Bowl statement from his freshman year and confirmed that Faison's best games consistently come when the moment is largest.

The Carr-Faison Connection — Chemistry Built Over Time

Numbers tell one part of the Faison story in 2025. The other part is the relationship that developed between him and quarterback CJ Carr throughout the season — a connection that grew more precise, more instinctive and more productive as the weeks accumulated and the two players built the kind of shared football language that only develops through sustained repetition and genuine trust.

Carr arrived in 2025 as a first-year starter navigating all the challenges that come with that transition — learning to manage game speed, make pre-snap reads under pressure and build the kind of confidence in his receivers that allows a quarterback to throw with conviction into tight windows against elite coverage. Faison became his anchor in that process.

The Carr-Faison connection worked because Faison gave his quarterback something every first-year starter desperately needs — a receiver who ran precise routes, found soft spots in zone coverage with intelligence rather than just athleticism, presented a reliable and consistently available target and made the right play after the catch to maximize every opportunity. Carr learned he could trust Faison in any situation, against any coverage and in any field position — and that trust, built game by game throughout 2025, is now entering 2026 as one of Notre Dame's most valuable offensive assets.

A quarterback and his No. 1 receiver entering their second full season together with an established connection and a full year of shared starting experience is a luxury Marcus Freeman has never had in his tenure at Notre Dame. Carr and Faison have it now — and what that chemistry can produce with a full offseason of work behind it is one of the most exciting questions surrounding Notre Dame's 2026 offense.

The Decision That Unlocks the Next Level

Before the statistical case for a 2026 breakout can be fully made, the offseason decision that makes it possible deserves its own recognition — because Jordan Faison made a choice this spring that speaks directly to how seriously he is approaching this opportunity.

Faison gave up lacrosse. Completely. Fully committed to football as the singular focus of his athletic life going forward.

For a multi-sport athlete, that decision carries real weight. It means every offseason hour that was previously divided between two sports is now directed entirely toward football. Every training session, every film session, every route-running repetition, every moment spent deepening his understanding of the offense and strengthening his connection with Carr — all of it now happens in the undivided context of a player who has chosen football as his complete identity.

The technical refinements that decision enables — sharper route running, more refined release packages against press coverage, deeper route tree development and the kind of receiver-quarterback timing work that only accumulates through concentrated repetition — are exactly what separate a very good college receiver from a great one. Faison has invested in all of it this offseason, and reports from South Bend suggest it is already showing up in the way he is operating within Notre Dame's offensive system.

The player who led Notre Dame in receiving in 2025 while still splitting his attention between two sports is now a full-time football player preparing for what could be his final season in South Bend. That combination of established production and elevated preparation is a genuinely dangerous thing for opposing defenses.

Reading the Progression — What the Numbers Say About 2026

Pull back and look at Jordan Faison's statistical arc across his Notre Dame career and the trajectory draws itself.

A walk-on with zero catches who finished his freshman year with 17 receptions, 274 yards and three touchdowns in six games once he got going — including a 115-yard Sun Bowl performance against a ranked opponent. An injury-hampered sophomore season that still produced 11 catches for 135 yards in two playoff games when his health returned. A junior season that produced 40 receptions, 640 yards and four touchdowns as the team's leading receiver — with consistent weekly production against a diverse slate of competition that included road games, playoff-caliber defenses and opponents that specifically schemed to take him away.

Each season has been better than the one before it. Each opportunity has been maximized more completely than the previous one. Each stage of the progression has revealed a receiver who is not just adding statistical volume but genuinely improving as a route runner, a contested-catch threat, a yards-after-catch contributor and a football intelligence that allows him to manipulate coverage in ways that create opportunities for himself and for the receivers around him.

The natural extension of that arc — a returning No. 1 receiver, a full offseason dedicated entirely to football, a second season of genuine chemistry with his starting quarterback and a role in the offense that is now unambiguously his — points toward one thing.

A breakout season. The kind that turns a compelling progression story into a national conversation about one of the best receivers in college football.

The Stage Is Set

Marcus Freeman has never entered a season with a returning No. 1 wide receiver. He has never had all three coordinators return simultaneously. He has never had a returning starting quarterback with a full season of starting experience already behind him. In 2026, he has all three — and Jordan Faison is the player who ties them together most directly.

Carr knows where Faison will be. Faison knows what Carr needs. The offense knows how to use them together. And Faison has spent an offseason investing everything he has into becoming the best version of himself as a receiver before what could be his final opportunity to make a definitive statement in South Bend.

The progression from walk-on afterthought to Notre Dame's leading receiver to preseason No. 1 target entering 2026 is one of the best individual development stories in Marcus Freeman's tenure. The numbers back every word of it.

Now comes the breakout. The progression has been building toward it for three years.

In 2026, Jordan Faison is ready to arrive — completely, definitively and on the biggest stage Notre Dame has to offer.

Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua stands with sec, big 10 for cfp expansion

The College Football Playoff expansion debate has reached a tipping point, and Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua has made clear exactly where the Fighting Irish stand. Bevacqua has aligned Notre Dame with the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 in pushing for a 24-team playoff format — and in doing so, has positioned the Irish not just as a voice in the conversation, but as a program uniquely built to dominate regardless of how the playoff landscape ultimately unfolds.

Bevacqua Steps Into the Arena

The expansion conversation has been building for two offseasons now. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti lit the fuse last year with an aggressive push to double the current 12-team field. The Big 12 and ACC have since climbed on board, with commissioner Jim Phillips lending his voice to the chorus. Now Notre Dame has joined them, and Bevacqua's reasoning goes deeper than simply wanting more teams in the field.

"I think in this day and age with what universities are investing in football, it's a very expensive sport," Bevacqua said. "You need to give more teams hope. The way things are structured now, everything points to the CFP. It's a measure of success. It's important in the tenure of a coach. We've seen firings when teams aren't going to make it to the CFP."

Bevacqua's vision extends beyond the present moment. He's thinking about the long-term health of college football as a whole — and what happens to the sport if the financial burden of competing at the highest level becomes unsustainable for programs outside the traditional powerhouse tier.

"My concern is that if more teams aren't given hope, that universities over the course of the next five, ten years will say, 'Hey, is the investment worth it?'" Bevacqua continued. "I would hate to see a college football landscape where there's only a handful of teams that can really give it a legitimate go year after year after year."

That is the voice of a man who understands that a thriving college football ecosystem benefits Notre Dame just as much as anyone. A sport with thirty programs genuinely competing for a title is a healthier, more marketable, more financially robust product than one with eight. Bevacqua sees the big picture — and he's right to.

The Strategic Genius of Notre Dame's Position

What makes Notre Dame's embrace of the 24-team format particularly shrewd is that it comes from a position of strength, not desperation. The Fighting Irish don't need a bigger playoff to survive. They need it to thrive — and there is a significant difference.

Consider what Marcus Freeman has built in South Bend. Notre Dame is scheduling some of the most demanding non-conference slates in the country, with home-and-home series against Alabama, Texas, BYU, Florida and Auburn on the books in coming seasons. The Irish aren't soft-scheduling their way into playoff consideration — they are earning it the hard way, against the best competition available. Ohio State plays Texas out of conference. Clemson has gone back-to-back against Georgia and LSU. Notre Dame belongs in that same conversation about programs willing to put their records on the line before conference play even begins.

That scheduling philosophy means one thing clearly: Notre Dame is building a program that can compete with anybody, anywhere, at any time. In a 12-team playoff, that makes the Irish a dangerous contender. In a 24-team playoff, it makes them a program that would enter the field battle-tested and ready while other programs that padded their records against cupcakes scramble to compete with legitimate title contenders.

Notre Dame wins in either world — and Bevacqua knows it.

Aligning With Power to Shape the Future

By stepping forward alongside the SEC and Big Ten — the two most powerful conferences in college football — Bevacqua has ensured that Notre Dame has a seat at the table where the sport's future gets decided. That is not a small thing for an independent program without a conference megaphone behind it.

The SEC and Big Ten generate the lion's share of college football's revenue and carry the most weight in playoff format negotiations. Notre Dame aligning with those conferences on the 24-team push isn't just a philosophical stance — it's a political calculation that keeps the Irish relevant in conversations that will shape the sport for the next decade. An independent program that sits on the sidelines of that debate risks being shaped by decisions made without their interests in mind. Bevacqua made sure that doesn't happen.

The revenue implications are also impossible to ignore. A 24-team playoff means more games, more television inventory, more distribution money and a bigger financial pie for participating programs. Notre Dame, with its own NBC television deal and massive national brand, stands to be one of the biggest financial beneficiaries of an expanded field. More playoff games means more Notre Dame on national television — and that is always good for the bottom line in South Bend.

A Program Built to Prosper at Any Playoff Size

Perhaps the most important element of Notre Dame's position is that Freeman and Bevacqua have constructed a program that doesn't need the playoff format to change in order to compete. Under Freeman, Notre Dame has already demonstrated it can reach the College Football Playoff and make deep runs in the current 12-team format. The roster investment, the recruiting infrastructure, the coaching staff and the scheduling ambition are all pointed at one goal — winning a national championship.

If the playoff stays at 12 teams, Notre Dame's brutal non-conference schedule and elite recruiting class position them as perennial contenders for one of those coveted spots. If it expands to 24, the Irish would enter as one of the most battle-tested programs in the field — a team that has been preparing to play anyone, not just survive a soft schedule long enough to sneak into an expanded bracket.

Either way, the programs that should be concerned about the playoff format are the ones that need a bigger field just to get in. Notre Dame is not one of those programs. Bevacqua is advocating for expansion from the high ground — as the AD of a program that will be in the conversation whether the field is 12, 16 or 24 teams.

The Bottom Line

Pete Bevacqua has made a bold, calculated and strategically sound move by aligning Notre Dame with the forces pushing for a 24-team College Football Playoff. His argument for the long-term health of the sport is genuine and carries real merit. His understanding of what expansion means for Notre Dame's brand, revenue and competitive positioning shows a leader thinking well beyond the next season.

Most importantly, Marcus Freeman is building exactly the kind of program that makes this position credible. Notre Dame isn't lobbying for a bigger playoff because they need a lifeline. They're supporting expansion because they intend to be one of the programs that makes every round of a 24-team field worth watching — and they're scheduling, recruiting and competing like it every single day.

The playoff may be changing. Notre Dame is ready for all of it.

chicago’s elite Defensive Tackle David Folorunsho Brings Top-10 Talent to Notre Dame

Notre Dame has landed one of the most uniquely gifted defensive tackles in the 2027 recruiting class, securing a commitment from Chicago's David Folorunsho — a St. Patrick standout whose combination of explosive speed, raw power and positional versatility makes him precisely the kind of defensive lineman that transforms how a coordinator can build and deploy a front. And in a story woven together by deep Notre Dame relationships at every level of his development, Folorunsho's path to South Bend feels less like a recruiting victory and more like an inevitable homecoming.

Folorunsho chose Notre Dame over Miami, Georgia, Michigan and Texas Tech, handing first-year defensive line coach Charlie Partridge one of the most significant early recruiting wins of his tenure and giving the Fighting Irish a cornerstone piece for a defensive front that is being built to play multiple looks, confuse offensive lines and dominate from the inside out.

A Swiss Army Knife on the Defensive Front

The first thing that jumps off the film when you watch David Folorunsho is that he doesn't fit neatly into a single box — and that is exactly what makes him so dangerous, and so valuable to Notre Dame's defensive system.

At 6-3 and 285 pounds, Folorunsho has the size, anchor and power to line up as a true nose tackle and own the interior against the run. But what separates him from a conventional space-eater is the explosion and lateral athleticism that allow him to slide outside, line up over a tackle and win in ways that interior linemen simply aren't supposed to win. He can two-gap, he can shoot gaps, he can be a three-technique on one snap and a nose on the next. That ability to play multiple alignments without losing effectiveness is rare at any level of football — at the high school level, it is almost unheard of.

For Notre Dame's defensive staff, this versatility is not a bonus — it is the foundation of why they wanted Folorunsho so badly in the first place. The ability to present different fronts, shift alignments pre-snap and keep offensive lines off balance requires players who can execute in multiple roles without hesitation. Folorunsho is exactly that player. He gives defensive coordinators a true chess piece — someone who can be the answer to multiple problems on any given game plan.

Explosive Speed That Redefines What an Interior Lineman Can Do

What truly elevates Folorunsho into the conversation as a national top-10 prospect is a first step that simply does not belong on a 285-pound defensive tackle — and yet there it is, every single snap, blowing up offensive linemen before they can establish their sets.

His get-off is elite. The moment the ball moves, Folorunsho is already in the backfield mentally and closing on the quarterback or ball carrier physically. That kind of explosion draws immediate comparisons to former Notre Dame defensive line standouts Sheldon Day and Rylie Mills — players who combined interior size with an athletic profile that made them impossible to account for on a one-on-one basis. Folorunsho is cut from that same cloth.

That speed off the line translates directly into production. In his dominant junior season at St. Patrick, Folorunsho posted 55 tackles, 18 tackles for loss and five sacks — numbers that reflect a player who is not waiting for plays to come to him but actively hunting them down with first-step quickness that offensive linemen at the high school level simply cannot match. As he continues to develop that explosion under Notre Dame's elite strength and conditioning program, the production that made the entire country take notice will only grow.

His hands are equally impressive — fast, strong and violent at the point of contact. He doesn't just use his speed to get into the backfield; he uses his hands to win the leverage battle and finish plays with authority. The combination of an elite first step with fast, powerful hands is what allows Folorunsho to rack up tackles for loss against double teams, against chip blocks, against every scheme an offensive coordinator has thrown at him. He finds a way to win.

Power That Anchors the Run Defense

Speed and versatility tell only part of the Folorunsho story. The other half is the kind of raw, physical power that allows Notre Dame to line him up in the middle of the field and simply dare opposing offenses to run at him.

Folorunsho's ability to anchor against double teams, absorb contact without losing ground and still make plays at the point of attack gives Notre Dame's defensive front a true run-stuffing anchor when the game plan calls for it. He is not a finesse player who disappears when the line of scrimmage becomes a phone booth — he thrives in that environment just as much as he does in open-field pursuit.

That balance of speed and power is what gives Notre Dame's defensive staff the freedom to be genuinely creative with their front structures. They can ask Folorunsho to be a disruptive, gap-shooting interior pass rusher on one series and a two-gap run-stopper on the next. Offensive coordinators cannot simply account for one dimension of his game — they have to prepare for all of them, and that is an enormous advantage for a Notre Dame defense that wants to make life as complicated as possible for opposing offenses.

The Notre Dame Brotherhood That Brought Him Home

David Folorunsho's commitment to Notre Dame is not simply the result of a great recruiting pitch. It is the product of relationships built over years by people who love Notre Dame deeply and poured that love into a young man who was watching and absorbing all of it.

The head coach at St. Patrick is Tom Zbikowski — a name that needs no introduction in South Bend. Zbikowski was one of the most celebrated safeties in Notre Dame history, a hard-hitting, instinct-driven defender whose toughness and competitive fire defined his Irish career. As the head coach guiding Folorunsho's development at St. Patrick, Zbikowski brought Notre Dame's standard of toughness, discipline and preparation to the program every single day. Folorunsho didn't just hear about what it means to be a Notre Dame football player — he was coached by one, shaped by one and held to that standard throughout his high school career.

The Notre Dame thread runs even deeper at St. Patrick. School president Dan Santucci is himself a former Notre Dame starter and a teammate of Zbikowski's with the Fighting Irish. The culture inside St. Patrick's walls — the standard of excellence, the pride in academics, the understanding of what Notre Dame football demands — is not incidental. It is baked into the institution by men who lived it. Folorunsho has been immersed in that environment from the moment he arrived at St. Patrick, long before Notre Dame's coaching staff ever made a formal offer.

And then there is Kerry Neal of WIN Performance, Folorunsho's trainer — a man whose fingerprints are all over the physical transformation and athletic development that turned a three-star prospect into a consensus Top-10 national recruit almost overnight. Neal's work with Folorunsho refined the explosiveness, built the functional strength and honed the technical skills that made the entire country take notice after his junior season. The elite first step, the violent hands, the ability to play with leverage and power at 285 pounds — Neal had a major hand in building all of it. Notre Dame isn't just getting a great player; they're getting a great player who has been developed by an elite trainer who understood exactly how to maximize his gifts.

Together, Zbikowski, Santucci and Neal form a triangle of trusted, Notre Dame-connected mentors who shaped David Folorunsho at every level — on the field, in the weight room and within the walls of his school. When Notre Dame came calling, Folorunsho wasn't hearing about the program for the first time. He already knew what it stood for. He had been living it.

Charlie Partridge Wins Big in Year One

The significance of this commitment for first-year defensive line coach Charlie Partridge cannot be overstated. Landing the No. 2 defensive tackle in the country — the No. 9 overall prospect nationally according to Rivals and On3 — against Georgia, Michigan, Miami and Texas Tech in his very first recruiting cycle at Notre Dame is a statement that echoes across the entire college football landscape. Partridge didn't need a grace period. He identified the right player, built the right relationships and delivered one of the biggest defensive line commitments Notre Dame has seen in years.

A Class That Keeps Getting Better

Folorunsho becomes the 17th commitment in Notre Dame's 2027 recruiting class, joining a group that already features quarterback Champ Monds, running backs Lathan Whisenton and Isaiah Rogers, wide receiver Jackson Coleman, tight end Titus Hawk, offensive linemen Olu Olubobola, Jackson Hill, James Halter and Richie Flanigan, defensive end Aidan O'Neil, linebacker Amarri Irvin, cornerbacks Xavier Hasan and Ace Alston, safety Zayden Gamble, nickel John Gay III and long snapper Sean Kraft.

Adding a consensus Top-10 national prospect with Folorunsho's unique skill set doesn't just deepen the class — it changes the ceiling of what this Notre Dame defense can become.

The Bottom Line

David Folorunsho is the rare defensive tackle who can do everything — stop the run with power, rush the passer with elite speed and line up in multiple alignments without losing a step. He is a versatile, explosive, physically dominant interior defender who gives Notre Dame's defensive staff the freedom to be as creative and multiple as any front in college football.

He is also a Chicago kid who was raised in a Notre Dame household by a Notre Dame coaching legend, developed by an elite trainer in Kerry Neal, and supported by a school president who wore the same Notre Dame uniform. When David Folorunsho commits to the Fighting Irish, it isn't just a recruiting win. It is a family reunion — and Notre Dame's defensive front of the future is better for it.

Joe Rudolph and Notre Dame Flip OT Jackson Hill From UCLA

Joe Rudolph didn't have to go after Jackson Hill. That is the first thing you need to understand about this commitment — and it is the most important context for everything that follows.

Notre Dame's offensive line coach already had three quality commitments locked in for the 2027 class. He has five-star target Albert Simien scheduled for an official visit on June 19th. He signed six offensive linemen just a year ago. By any conventional measure of roster construction, Rudolph had room to be patient, selective and conservative with the next offensive line commitment in this class.

Instead, he went to California, identified a 6-7, 300-pound three-star prospect playing at Chaminade Prep, made a conviction call that the recruiting services had this one wrong — and didn't stop until Jackson Hill flipped his commitment from UCLA and chose Notre Dame.

That decision tells you everything about how Joe Rudolph evaluates offensive linemen and why his track record of developing players that others overlooked is one of the most quietly elite résumés in college football coaching.

Rudolph Made a Conviction Call — Not a Desperation Move

The easiest way to misread this commitment is to assume Notre Dame added Hill because they needed bodies or because the elite targets weren't materializing. Neither is true, and Rudolph's own actions prove it.

Simien, one of the most coveted offensive line prospects in the entire 2027 class, is still very much in play for Notre Dame with a June official visit on the schedule. Rudolph is not closing the door on elite five-star additions to this class — he is pursuing them aggressively at the same time he committed Hill. That simultaneity is the key. This was not an either-or decision driven by scarcity. It was a both-and decision driven by genuine belief in what Jackson Hill can become.

When an offensive line coach of Rudolph's caliber pursues a prospect while elite alternatives are still available and actively being recruited, that pursuit is a statement. It means Rudolph watched the film, saw something real and decided that waiting on rankings to catch up to his evaluation was a luxury Notre Dame couldn't afford — because eventually someone else was going to see what he saw, and by then Hill would already be committed somewhere else.

Rudolph saw it first. He moved first. That is what separates elite evaluators from everyone else.

The Rudolph Track Record — Turning Upside Into Production

To fully appreciate why this commitment makes sense, you have to understand the history Joe Rudolph brings to offensive line evaluation — because his track record of identifying players whose rankings dramatically understated their actual ceiling is not a coincidence. It is a philosophy.

Throughout his coaching career at Wisconsin, Pittsburgh and now Notre Dame, Rudolph has consistently identified offensive linemen that recruiting services rated as good-not-great prospects and developed them into legitimate NFL-caliber players. The pattern is unmistakable to anyone who has followed his career closely. Rudolph does not simply recruit the rankings — he recruits the player, the frame, the athleticism and the coachability. He asks one central question when he evaluates an offensive line prospect: what does this player become when I get three years of elite coaching, elite strength training and elite competition into his body?

That question produces very different answers than a recruiting service snapshot of a 17-year-old's current production level. And time and again, Rudolph's answers have been proven right when the players he believed in reach their junior and senior seasons and the rest of the country finally sees what he saw years earlier.

Jackson Hill is the latest player to benefit from that evaluation process — and if Rudolph's track record means anything, Hill's three-star ranking will feel like a distant memory long before his Notre Dame career is finished.

What Rudolph Sees in Hill That the Rankings Don't Capture

So what exactly did Joe Rudolph see when he watched Jackson Hill that convinced him to go all-in on a three-star prospect while five-star targets remained on the board?

Start with the foundation that cannot be faked and cannot be coached — the physical profile. At 6-7 and 300 pounds, Hill already possesses the frame that NFL offensive line scouts put at the very top of their evaluation criteria. Length is the single most non-negotiable physical attribute for a developmental offensive tackle, and Hill has it in a way that only a handful of prospects in any given recruiting class possess. Those long arms allow him to strike pass rushers before they can get into his body, create natural leverage advantages in the run game and give coaches the raw material to build a finished product that can hold up against elite college pass rushers for four years.

But Rudolph didn't fall in love with Hill's size alone. What truly separated Hill in Rudolph's evaluation is the athleticism that lives inside that massive frame — and the proof of it comes from the most unexpected place imaginable.

Jackson Hill plays catcher in baseball. Let that sink in for a moment. A 6-7, 300-pound athlete who lines up behind home plate, receives pitches at full velocity, blocks balls in the dirt, controls a running game and makes throws to every base is not just big. He is a legitimate multi-sport athlete whose body moves with a coordination and quickness that his size has no business producing. The quick-twitch hand-eye coordination required to catch at a high level translates directly to an offensive lineman's most critical skill set — active, fast, coordinated hands that can punch, redirect and sustain blocks against elite competition.

That dual-sport athleticism tells Rudolph something the film alone might not fully communicate — that Hill's body is not done developing, his coordination is already advanced beyond what his football experience reflects and his ceiling as an offensive lineman has not yet come close to being reached.

Add to that a powerful run-blocking foundation already in place, the football IQ to potentially play both tackle and guard at the college level and the academic profile that attracted offers from Penn and Dartmouth alongside his Power Four football offers — and what Rudolph saw was not a three-star offensive tackle. He saw a Power Four starter hiding inside a recruiting ranking that hadn't caught up to reality yet.

The Positional Upside That Makes Hill Even More Valuable

One of the most underappreciated elements of Hill's commitment is what his positional flexibility means for Notre Dame's offensive line depth over the next four years.

His natural size and length make him an obvious developmental tackle — the kind of player you project to protect the blind side as he refines his technique and adds functional strength. But Rudolph has also identified a realistic path where Hill moves inside to guard, where his 6-7, 300-pound power frame would make him one of the most physically imposing interior blockers in the ACC. A guard with Hill's size and athletic profile is a mauler in the run game — the kind of interior presence that creates movement at the line of scrimmage and gives a rushing attack a completely different dimension.

That flexibility to develop Hill at multiple positions is a luxury for Rudolph as he constructs the offensive line room around the 2027 class. It means Hill isn't locked into a single role before he ever takes a college snap. It means Rudolph can put him where the offense needs him most as the depth chart evolves. And it means that even if the tackle spots ahead of him are filled with elite talent, Hill's value to the program doesn't diminish — it simply finds a different expression.

The Class Context — Building With Depth and Range

Understanding why Rudolph went after Hill also requires understanding the broader 2027 offensive line class Notre Dame is assembling — because this group is being built with a specific philosophy in mind.

Olu Olubobola is the crown jewel — an elite, nationally-ranked New Jersey tackle whose offer list reads like a who's who of college football royalty. James Halter brings physicality and toughness from Pennsylvania. Richie Flanigan adds size and length from Wisconsin. And now Hill contributes a high-ceiling developmental profile with rare physical tools from the West Coast.

Rudolph is not building a one-dimensional offensive line class of interchangeable prospects. He is building a room with range — elite recruits with proven rankings alongside high-upside players whose ceilings may ultimately be just as high, or higher, than the stars suggested. That is how championship offensive line rooms get built. Not by chasing the same profile over and over, but by identifying different kinds of value and trusting your evaluation process to sort out who becomes what.

With Simien's official visit still on the calendar, this class could add another elite headline name before the 2027 cycle is complete. But Rudolph's willingness to commit Hill now — before that visit, while Simien is still in play — tells you he sees Hill's value as independent of any other decision. Hill earned this commitment on his own merits, on his own timeline, through Rudolph's own evaluation process.

That is the highest compliment an offensive line coach can pay a prospect.

The Bottom Line

Joe Rudolph went after Jackson Hill because Joe Rudolph trusts his eyes over a ranking, his evaluation over a database and his understanding of what a 6-7, 300-pound multi-sport athlete can become over what he currently is on a recruiting service's board.

The three-star label on Hill's profile will not survive contact with Notre Dame's strength program, Rudolph's coaching and the kind of elite competition that accelerates development faster than any recruiting service can track. It never does when Rudolph makes a conviction call on a high-upside offensive lineman that others have undervalued.

Jackson Hill chose Notre Dame over UCLA because the pull of South Bend and the belief of one elite offensive line coach proved stronger than a prior commitment. Notre Dame went after Jackson Hill because Joe Rudolph saw a future starter that the rest of the country hasn't fully discovered yet.

History suggests Rudolph is right. It usually does.

Leonard moore could give notre dame first jim thorpe award

Not every star arrives with fanfare. Not every player who ends up changing a program's defensive identity does so with a five-star recruiting ranking, a top-10 national profile and the weight of enormous expectations pressing down on his shoulders from the moment he steps on campus. Some players arrive quietly, get to work and let the field do the talking — and by the time the rest of the world catches up to what they already are, the transformation from unknown to undeniable is already complete.

That is the Leonard Moore story. And as he enters what could be his final season in South Bend, it is one of the most compelling individual journeys in Notre Dame football.

Moore wasn't heralded when he arrived at Notre Dame. He wasn't the centerpiece of a signing class headline or the subject of breathless recruiting coverage. He came to South Bend without the noise that typically surrounds players of his caliber — and then he went out and became the best cornerback in college football. Quietly, completely and undeniably.

Now, as he prepares for his third season with the Fighting Irish, the entire country has caught up to what those inside Notre Dame's program recognized long ago. Leonard Moore has been added to the Jim Thorpe Award watch list — and he isn't just on it. He is the front-runner to take it home.

The Arrival Nobody Saw Coming

When Leonard Moore came to Notre Dame, the recruiting spotlight was pointed elsewhere. He did not arrive as the kind of prospect that generates national recruiting coverage or sends fan bases into celebration mode at the moment of commitment. He was not a household name in the recruiting world. He was a Texas native with talent that hadn't yet been fully discovered, quantified or celebrated by the recruiting services that shape early national narratives.

What he was, to those who watched him closely enough, was a cornerback with the physical tools, the competitive instincts and the natural feel for the position that you simply cannot manufacture through coaching alone. The 6-2, 195-pound frame with the length and athleticism to match up with elite wide receivers at the college level. The feet. The instincts. The way he processed routes before they fully developed, the way he competed on the ball and the way he made the position look natural in a manner that only truly gifted players ever do.

Notre Dame saw it. They offered. Moore came to South Bend without the fanfare — and then the work began.

A Star Takes Shape

The first signs that something special was developing came early in Moore's freshman season. Those who watched closely enough saw a cornerback whose instincts were ahead of his experience, whose physical tools were already operating at a level that made experienced offensive players uncomfortable and whose competitive drive was evident on every snap regardless of the score, the opponent or the moment.

But it was his 2025 season that turned what insiders quietly believed into something the entire country could no longer ignore. Moore started 10 games and delivered a performance so comprehensive, so statistically dominant and so consistently elite that the sport's most respected evaluators were left searching for superlatives.

He led Notre Dame with five interceptions — tied for sixth most in the entire country. He added 31 tackles, seven pass breakups and a forced fumble while missing only six tackles all season — a number that reflects the complete cornerback he had become, not just the ball hawk the highlights suggested. He allowed only three receiving touchdowns across the entire season. And he did it all while being one of the most scouted, game-planned-against cornerbacks in college football — a player that every offensive coordinator in the country was specifically scheming to avoid.

The signature moments punctuated the statistical dominance. A 46-yard pick-six against Syracuse that changed the momentum of the game and announced Moore's big-play capability to a national audience. A two-interception performance against Boise State that earned him both the Walter Camp FBS Defensive Player of the Week and Jim Thorpe Award Defensive Back of the Week honors simultaneously — two of the sport's most prestigious weekly recognitions landing in the same hands on the same weekend.

Notre Dame finished the season ranked No. 1 in the country in total interceptions with 21. Moore, the cornerback who arrived without a headline, hauled in five of them.

The Numbers That Turned Heads Nationally

When the season ended and the evaluation process began in earnest, the numbers that emerged from Moore's 2025 campaign were not the kind that generate polite acknowledgment. They were the kind that stop conversations.

PFF ranked Moore first among all starting Power Four cornerbacks in coverage grade at 91.4 and first in overall defensive grade at 90.9 — the top marks at the position across the entire landscape of major college football. Those grades reflect not one great game or one great stretch of games but a full season of elite performance sustained against the best competition the sport offers.

The number that perhaps best captures what Moore had become by the end of 2025 is the target rate — opponents threw at him on only 11.5 percent of his coverage snaps. Offensive coordinators and quarterbacks made a collective, conscious decision across the entire season to route their passing games away from Leonard Moore's side of the field. That is the ultimate testament to a cornerback's dominance. You can only measure a player's full impact when you account for the plays that never happened because of him — and Moore's 11.5 percent target rate tells you the plays that never happened numbered in the dozens.

The season earned him unanimous All-American honors — the kind of recognition that requires every major selector to arrive at the same conclusion independently. For a player who arrived at Notre Dame without the recruiting world's attention, unanimous All-American status represents one of the most complete turnarounds in modern college football recruiting history. He went from under the radar to unanimously the best in the country. The arc of that journey is remarkable.

The Jim Thorpe Watch List — And Why Moore Is the Front-Runner

The Jim Thorpe Award watch list announcement confirmed what the preseason evaluations had been building toward all offseason. Leonard Moore belongs in the conversation for the most prestigious individual honor a defensive back can win in college football — and he doesn't just belong in that conversation. He leads it.

Moore was a Thorpe Award finalist after his 2025 campaign, becoming the first Notre Dame cornerback to reach that stage since Bobby Taylor in 1993. No Fighting Irish cornerback has ever won the award. The history of that gap — more than three decades without a Notre Dame corner reaching the Thorpe podium — makes Moore's opportunity in 2026 feel genuinely significant, not just for his personal legacy but for the program's.

ESPN's Heather Dinich named Moore the lead candidate for the award in the network's Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings, pointing to his unanimous All-American honors, his nation-leading PFF coverage grade and the five interceptions that defined his 2025 campaign. Beyond the Thorpe, Moore carries legitimate front-runner status for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy — the defensive equivalent of the Heisman Trophy — and the Chuck Bednarik Award, which recognizes college football's top defensive player regardless of position.

Three of the sport's most significant individual defensive awards. One player's name near the top of every list. The player who arrived at Notre Dame without a recruiting headline is now the player that every preseason award conversation builds around.

Former Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts brought the Nagurski Trophy home to South Bend after his dominant 2023 season. Moore now has the opportunity to make it back-to-back Nagurski winners from Notre Dame — a back-to-back run that would say something profound about what Marcus Freeman's program has built on the defensive side of the ball.

What Back-to-Back No. 1 Rankings Actually Mean

PFF has ranked Moore the No. 1 returning cornerback in the country heading into 2026 — the second consecutive season they have done so. Every major outlet including CBS Sports, Athlon Sports, Sporting News, FOX Sports and ESPN has echoed that assessment, identifying Moore as one of Notre Dame's most important returning players and one of the premier defensive players in the sport.

Back-to-back No. 1 cornerback rankings from PFF are not handed out carelessly. They reflect a sustained standard of excellence that separates elite players from one-year wonders — the ability to perform at the highest level not just when the element of surprise is working in your favor but when every opposing offense has had a full offseason to study your tendencies, design routes against your technique and find whatever exploitable weakness might exist in your game.

Moore held that No. 1 ranking in 2025 when opponents came after him with a full scouting report. He held it when teams specifically designed plays to attack him. He held it when the margin for error shrinks because every opposing coordinator knows exactly where you line up and how you play. And when the offseason evaluations were complete, PFF gave him the No. 1 ranking again — because nothing they saw in a full season of trying to find a weakness changed their fundamental assessment of what Leonard Moore is.

A Defense Made Better By His Presence

Moore's individual excellence cannot be separated from what it has meant for Notre Dame's defense as a collective unit. When a cornerback locks down his side of the field with the consistency that Moore demonstrated throughout 2025, the structural benefits ripple across the entire defensive system.

Safeties can rotate toward the opposite side with greater confidence. Linebackers can play downhill more aggressively knowing the deep outside is protected by a cornerback who rarely needs help. Pass rushers get critical fractions of a second longer to reach the quarterback because the corner on Moore's side has already eliminated his receiver as a viable option. Notre Dame's leap to No. 1 in the country in interceptions with 21 total picks was not independent of what their best cornerback was doing every single week. It was deeply connected to it.

A defense takes on the identity of its best player. In 2025, Notre Dame's defense took on the identity of a unit that simply did not give up big plays in the passing game — and Leonard Moore was the primary reason why.

The Final Chapter in South Bend

As Moore prepares for what could be his third and likely final season with the Fighting Irish before the NFL comes calling, the shape of his Notre Dame legacy is already remarkable. A player who arrived without recruiting fanfare has become a unanimous All-American, a two-time PFF No. 1 ranked returning cornerback, a Thorpe Award finalist and the preseason front-runner for every major individual defensive award in college football.

The journey from unheralded arrival to the top of every preseason board is the kind of story that programs build cultures around — proof that development, coaching and competitive drive can take a player without a five-star label and turn him into something the entire country agrees is the best at his position.

But Moore isn't finished writing that story. He has one more season in blue and gold, one more opportunity to add to a legacy that already exceeds anything the recruiting services predicted when he arrived in South Bend, and one very specific piece of history within reach.

No Notre Dame cornerback has ever won the Jim Thorpe Award. Leonard Moore arrived at Notre Dame without anyone predicting he would be the one to change that.

At this point, nobody would be surprised if he does exactly that.

The quietest arrival. The loudest statement. The best cornerback in America — and he has one more season to make history in South Bend.