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.

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.

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.

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.

joe rudolph may have his best 5-man combo on the offensive line

Joe Rudolph has done an amazing job recruiting size, length and talent to the Notre Dame offensive line room. His efforts may lead to the Joe Moore Award returning to South Bend next winter, if things go as planned. Entering spring practice, the first unit has been freshman left tackle Will Black, junior left guard Anthoine Knapp, junior center Joe Otting, junior right guard Sullivan Absher and Sophomore right tackle Guerby Lambert. Senior center Ashton Craig is expected to make a full recovery from the leg injury that ended his 2025 season prematurely, and junior guard Charles Jagusah is still dealing with complications from surgery to remedy his injured left arm due to a ATV accident last summer. Despite missing two highly talented linemen this spring, the early returns from coaches and players signal great things ahead for the group.

Rudolph spoke to the media on Wednesday and began with sharing how pleased he’s been with the right side of the first unit, which features Guerby Lambert being moved from right guard to right tackle, and Sullivan Absher replacing him at the right guard spot.

“Those two guys really kind of called each other out about guys that they are confident in, guys that they really look to for leadership, guys that they really trust. and that's always a unique situation when you can kind of create that or build that into your five-line. And then it would have been easy to leave Knapp outside and Guerby inside. What was just the basis of moving them around, too? Guerby has a real comfort on the right side of the line, which is cool.”

Knapp has always been a devastating run blocker and will serve as a more than comparable replacement for former left guard standout Billy Schrauth, who is preparing to be selected in the upcoming NFL Draft. Freshman Will Black came to South Bend with a lot of buzz as a 5-Star in the 2025 class, and head coach Marcus Freeman said there some early growing pains that he had to endure and overcome to begin reaching his full potential. He’s a natural tackle with great length and athleticism that should benefit from being next to a veteran like Knapp, who was ranked as top returning offensive tackle in college football before being moved inside,

With all of the movement this spring, Rudolph has been impressed with the performance of the Black-Knapp combo on the left side and the performance of the line as a whole.

“Knapper, we felt, has done a great job playing left. But we thought to get each guy in maybe the spot that would allow them to shine the most would be the chance to move Knapp in and create a good competition at the left, which Will's done a great job of, but there's still good competition there. And really what you don't know is how the guys will embrace it. And there's a lot of differences, right? It's like, I've been really good here, and now you want me to move here. And Anthony's just embraced it, and he wants to know the intricacies of the position and the differences. And that's really kind of created it. And then what you can't anticipate is how well they work together, the pre-snap communication, how they work in the meeting room, how they talk, their plan, their trust for one another. So I've been impressed by it.”

Another bright spot this spring has been the performance of freshman guard Matty Augustine, who can play both guard and tackle for coach Rudolph. The Irish have 4-5 experienced linemen that have the flexibility to play multiple positions and that should allow a group that has suffered from injuries over the last three seasons to maintain a dominant level of play throughout the 2026 season.

Charlie Partridge looking to turn up the pressure

The impact of new defensive line coach Charlie Partridge was on display as several Irish defensive linemen met with the assembled media after their seventh practice. Before they walked to the podium, their new leader shared his thoughts on how he’s re-shaping how the front four has been challenged to focus on consistently pass rushing collectively. .

Last season, the Irish sacked opposing quarterbacks 43 times and hurried them 210 times, but they were key moments in games where they allowed open lanes for players like Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed to scramble for first downs. Partridge has set the tone for his position room by setting a focus for each day.

“We're leaning in on pass rush lanes. I know Coach Freeman talked about that the other day with the media group.”

“That's something we've put a big emphasis on while still pass rushing aggressively, pass rushing together as a unit. Because so many times, if you don't pay attention to that, you may have somebody have a great rush and win on one side, but if you're not in good lanes on the other, it was for naught. So we put a big focus on that, and today's focus, like I said, was aggressively attacking our keys in the run.”

As he learns his athletes, Partridge has been able to lean on the familiarity he has with defensive coordinator Chris Ash to help with his transition. The relationship is built on mutual respect with an understanding that disagreement is not about personal feelings. They haven’t worked together since 2013, when they were both on the Arkansas Razorback staff. However, they’ve always been in contact with one another, including last season when he was a defensive line coach in the NFL for the Indianapolis Colts.

“It's kind of what I said when I got here, guys. I mean, me and Chris, our background goes so much. We've been through so much together in the football world that we can argue or discuss things that maybe we don't see the same way, and there's no feelings. You don't have to worry about hurting each other's feelings. Even if we get to a point where we're maybe arguing about something, it's all about getting together and getting on the same page, and then it's very, very healthy. He hasn't let me down one bit.”

“It's been a while since we've worked together. Last time we were together was Arkansas in 2013. Yeah, it was 2013, so it's been a while, but we talk all the time, and he's exactly what I knew he would be.”

With returning edge rushers like Boubacar Traore and Bryce Young, and the additions of defensive tackle transfers Francis Brewu and Tionne Gray. the Fighting Irish are working hard during spring practices to have four pass rushing threats that should lead to a more disciplined and consistent rush for opposing offenses. The linebacking corp added 13.5 sacks last season, but that number could decrease if the plans being laid by Partridge and his players continue to manifest through the rest of spring and fall camps into the regular season.

returning qb and coordinators give marcus freeman a better feeling this spring

For the first time since 2020, Notre Dame will have a returning starter under center. as quarterback CJ Carr returns to become the face of the Irish offense heading into a very important spring practice schedule. Carr had an impressive start to his 2025 season, but leveled off towards the end of the season. Despite disappointing late season performances, he threw for 2,741 yards and completed over 66 percent of his passes with 24 touchdowns, and seven interception. Head coach Marcus Freeman recently sat down with On3's JD Pickell and talked about his confidence in what he’s seen from his second year signal-caller.

"It's exciting," Freeman stated. "It's my first time having a returning starting quarterback along with all three coordinators returning as well. There's a level of comfort knowing who they are as people, knowing that they know the schemes, knowing who CJ Carr is and the work ethic that he puts in as well as the work our coaches put in. There's a level of confidence we have but we still have to continue to do the work."

According to FanDuel, Carr is currently the favorite to win the Heisman and widely considered one of the best returning quarterbacks according to several outlets. Multiple outlets project Carr to be the number one quarterback in college football with a chance of being a top 10 pick in the 2027 NFL Draft. The off-season buzz matches the buzz generated by his arrival during bowl practices for the 2023 Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl. Since then, the sound coming from his talent and preparation have been unavoidable.

"He's prepared," Freeman answered when asked about Carr. "From the moment he stepped on campus, he's prepared to be the starter. It's just a reflection of the way he was raised, being obviously a coach's kid and a coach's grandson. He prepares tremendously. That's the one thing you appreciate about CJ Carr is there is no finish line for him and that's what I'm excited for."

Now, the pressure ratchets up for Carr and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, who will also have the same conductor for his offense returning for the first time since returning prior to the 2024 season. Both Freeman and Denbrock have high expectations for their quarterback, and his maturity is greatly needed as the offense loses almost 73 percent of it’s production with players like Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price, Eli Raridon, and others leaving for the NFL. The passing game must take a step forward with Carr becoming the focal point of the offense.  

"The thing that you're seeing him do now is him truly let his leadership shine," Freeman explained. "He's making the guys around him better. You see him getting the wide outs, tight ends and the running backs together saying, 'Okay, we're going to throw on Saturdays at this time and you have to be there. Then they're going to watch film at this time and they have to be there. He is always looking for ways to improve." 

Defensive coordinator Chris Ash has continuity in the coaching staff with the hiring of Charlie Partridge, Aaron Henry and Brian Jean-Mary. All three coaches had existing relationships with Ash and understand how he wants things communicated to the players. That may have been difficult with the previous staff that had coached under former defensive coordinator Al Golden. Going into his second year, Ash has a better feel for what the players can do and the defense should benefit from it.”

"Every year before this, I was spending time with a certain side of the ball trying to make sure we understand what the new scheme was," Freeman stated. "You're trying to figure out how we're going to script practice to get enough reps for this quarterback competition. Every year is different, but this one's different. I don't need to go spend a whole bunch of time figuring out what we're doing on offense, defense and special teams because the coordinators are back."

Marcus Freeman has an early season hurdle to get over in the form of his team getting off to slow starts, and the continuity flowing from his quarterback and coordinators has him extremely confident about the Fighting Irish being able to fulfill his mantra for the season. “Leave No Doubt”.

brian jean-mary loves talent and experience in lb room

While at Michigan and other stops like Tennessee in his coaching career, Brian Jean-Mary has consistently developed tough minded linebacker room that were good against the run and the pass. Now, he brings that magic to South Bend to replace former linebackers coach Max Bullough who returned to Michigan State, his alma mater, to be the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for Pat Fitzgerald.  

He was the last hire of three new defensive assistants for head coach Marcus Freeman along with new defensive line coach Charlie Partridge and new defensive backs coach and co-defensive coordinator Aaron Henry. The linebacker room that he inherits is not short on talent or experience with five players totaling more than 100 snaps in 2025, and that’s something that has Jean-Mary excited.

"I had a little bit of an idea of what we were doing defensively and watched player wise some crossover tape," Jean-Mary explained. "I always admired from afar and now that I'm here, every new coach is going to try to dive into the film and try to learn as much as you can about the system. You have to build trust with the players and they have to get to know me the same way I have to get to know them. They've done a great job of opening themselves up and letting me pour into them. It's been great." 

The Notre Dame defense got off to a slow start last season, but managed to remain stout against the run for the second straight season, giving up 98.9 rushing yards per game (9th in the nation) and 3 yards per rush (7th in the nation). That type of production from a unit that found a better footing in Chris Ash’s defense with each game is a great foundation, and a little pressure for the veteran coach.

"It's one of the best jobs in the country," Jean-Mary stated. "It's a blessing to be in a situation where we know what the expectations are every week; we know what the expectations are at the end of the year. Some people look at that as pressure. There's only certain schools that have that type of pressure. So when the standard is to be the best, that's a challenge for us as coaches and that's what you want to be a part of. I've been at those other places where the challenge is to just have a good season. I know that's not the case here."

One of the biggest advantages that he brings to the Irish staff is the relationship he has with some of the top 2027 and 2028 recruits that began while he was at Michigan. The 2027 board suffred the loss of Ellis McGaskin once Max Bullough left for Michigan State, but connections with players like Kaden Henderson, Noah Roberts, Roman Igwebuike and Brayton Feister immediately upgraded the board for the Irish.  

5-STAR KADEN HENDERSON SET TO VISIT NOTRE DAME

2027 5-star 6-2 215-pound linebacker Kaden Henderson of Tampa (Fla.) Jesuit visited South Bend back in November and it lived up to everything for the top ranked linebacker in the 2027 class according to 247 Sports. He always heard about the Notre Dame tradition and academics, but he was still unsure of what to expect when he arrived. He previously spoke about it with Lucky Lefty.

• “I always heard it was different. The moment I got there and stepped in the facility it made me feel like home. Everyone was really nice and welcoming. It didn’t feel like an act.

• “The atmosphere and fans were incredible. I’m from Florida, but I have to admit that watching the game in the snow was pretty cool. I love how the style of defense and how fast and aggressive the linebackers play. That’s how I play now and how I want to play in college.”

One of the best moments of his visit were the two impactful conversations he had with head coach Marcus Freeman and former linebackers coach Max Bullough. Unfortunately, Max Bullough is no longer with the Irish program, but new linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary was heavily recruiting Henderson at Michigan and had a similar relationship. During the period of transition between coaches, Marcus Freeman took the bull by the horn with Henderson’s recruitment and is one of the main reasons he has scheduled a second visit to South Bend on April 18th.

• “Coach Freeman told me that there’s no place like ND and that I’m already a perfect fit and that I’m built for Notre Dame from religious and academic aspects. The way he breaks it down, makes it clear for me to see it, and see myself there.”

Now, The Irish have a better idea of who they will competing against for the 24th best player in the country according to 247 Sports as he released his top 5 schools which included Notre Dame along with Miami, Texas A&M, Ohio State, and Alabama. He’s also locked in his official visit for June 19th.

jeremiyah love and jadarian price make all-combine team

Notre Dame standouts Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price were the best running back duo in 2025, and the pair went into the 2026 NFL Draft cycle mocked to be the first two backs selected according to most industry experts. They both lived up to the expectations of NFL scout and coaches in Indianapolis.

Love and Price both had outstanding performances, and they were recognized by NFL.com as two of the standouts. NFL.com released its All-Combine team, and the Notre Dame stars were the two backs listed on the ranking.

Love kicked things off with an elite performance in the 40-yard dash. Despite checking in at 212 pounds, Love had a blazing time, posting a 4.36 in his first run and a 4.37 time in his second run. His official 4.36 time was the second best at running back and continued to separate himself as the best back in the draft. In fact, Love's performance helped him continue to put himself in the debate as the best overall player in the draft.

The 40-yard dash was the only testing aspect of Love's performance, but he did participate in the on-field position drills. Love was also a standout there, showing explosiveness, impressive route running skills and he caught the ball extremely well. Love certainly impressed NFL teams with his performance, which comes after an elite 2025 season in which he won the Doak Walker Award, was a unanimous All-American season and rushed for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Price also had a strong testing performance, running a 4.49 in the 40-yard dash. Love also had a 35-inch vertical jump and a 10'4" broad jump. Price's 10'4" broad jump was tied for the third best among the running backs. His 21 reps on the bench press was also impressive.

As good as his testing numbers were, Price was even better during the on-field drills. He was incredibly smooth and efficient with his footwork going through the bag drills, which are meant to replicate making cuts with the ball in his hands. Price also showed himself to be a good route runner and he caught the ball extremely well. While Love showed off his pass catching skills at Notre Dame, Price didn't get as much of a chance to do so, hauling in just 15 passes for 162 yards and three touchdowns in his career.

notre dame offers explosive 2028 wide receiver

2028 5-11 165-pound wide receiver Jeramy Laster Jr. of Hendersonville (Tenn.) Beech was recently offered by the Fighting Irish and the magnitude of the offer from a program like Notre Dame was not overlooked.

“Man it feels unreal,” Laster Jr. told IB. “Notre Dame is a really prestigious program and it feels great to be on their radar. Coach (Mike) Brown and I have been talking for weeks, so I knew they kind of liked me. But, when he told me he was offering a scholarship, i couldn’t believe it.”

As a sophomore, Laster Jr. amassed over 1500 all-purpose yards and 18 touchdowns and holds things down in the classroom as well with a 3.4 GPA. That’s why an offer from the Irish hits a little different.

“I want to great at everything,” Laster Jr. shared. “I’ve been working hard this off-season to ready for spring ball and taking some college level courses. You can’t play sports forever, and I plan to be a success in everything I do. A school like Notre Dame can definitely help.

“I definitely want to visit,” Laster Jr. continued. With spring ball coming up, it makes if difficult to find time. I haven’t picked a date yet, but I am planning on visiting.”

He holds offers from programs like Indiana, Ole Miss, Auburn, Florida State, Tennessee and Vanderbilt amongst others.

blue and gold game sheds light on qb competition

Marcus Freeman has spent the spring overseeing a new defensive coordinator in Chris Ash put his fingerprints on a talented defense along with a quarterback battle between Steve Angeli, CJ Carr and Kenny Minchey. Last Saturday, he got an opportunity to watch the fruit of months of observations and evaluations during the annual Blue and Gold game at Notre Dame stadium.

The Blue team defeated the Gold team 76-31 in a spring game that looked much different than in years past.The Fighting Irish were without several players who were rehabbing from injury or resting from an extended run in the college football playoff.

That encouraged some changes to the format and scoring to the game. Instead of four quarters, the game consisted of three periods with four drives consisting of a minimum of six plays. For each of these drives, the ball was placed at various spots to create different game-like situations.

The biggest storyline during the spring has been the quarterback battle between Steve Angeli, CJ Carr and Kenny Minchey. All three QBs had an equal opportunity to shine, and each led the Irish offense on at least one touchdown-scoring drive. But many Irish fans are saying Carr looked the most impressive during Saturday’s game.

Carr finished 14 of 19 for 170 yards and two touchdowns, including a 27-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Xavier Southall and a two-yard score to freshman wide receiver Elijah Burress. However, he did throw the game’s only interception on his second-to-last drive under center.

After a slow start, Angeli seemed to settle in and capped his day with a 16-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Scrap Richardson. He finished 8 of 11 for 108 yards and the aforementioned touchdown.

Minchey ed a three-play, 45-yard drive where he scored on a four-yard run and celebrated his touchdown by doing a backflip in the end zone. He finished 6 of 14 through the air for 106 yards and ran for 12 yards on six carries.

After the game, Freeman said he saw a lot of good from all three quarterbacks and said they could all lead Notre Dame to wins.

“It’s crazy to think this, but you’ve got three guys that all could lead your program to a victory and be your starting quarterback,” Freeman said. “You would like to go into fall with a two-quarterback battle. It’s really hard truly having a three-quarterback battle.”

On the defensive side of the ball, Luke Talich led the way with nine tackles while Bryce Young and Preston Zinter were credited with sacks. Ben Minich intercepted Carr for the game’s only turnover.

But perhaps the biggest defensive plays of the afternoon came on a goal line stand in the seventh series of the scrimmage, where Talich helped the Gold team make back-to-back stops at the goal line on third and fourth down to prevent a Blue touchdown.

Jadarian Price led the team in rushing with 46 yards on six carries while freshman running back Nolan James Jr. led the team in receiving with 60 yards on three catches. For a full look at the final stats from the 2025 Blue-Gold Game,

The Irish will now wait for fall camp to begin preparation for their season opener versus the Miami Hurricanes on August 31st.