Notre Dame football had a fairly quiet offseason, and while they did have some departures, ESPN still has more than a few questions about the Irish heading into the 2025-26 season.
Bill Connelly, Eli Lederman and Adam Rittenberg looked at each team across the country and ranked every conference, but clearly Notre Dame’s situation is different than the majority of those.
The Irish lost multiple key players including quarterback Riley Leonard, safety Xavier Watts and defensive tackle Rylie Mills, but he failed to mention the departure of star cornerback Benjamin Morrison. Part of that could have been due to his injury, but he still had a season left of eligibility.
Connelly mentioned that Notre Dame’s biggest coaching move was filling the hole that defensive coordinator Al Golden left, as it was former head coach Chris Ash taking over that side of the ball. He wasn’t enamored by the Irish’s additions on defense via the transfer portal, as Connelly said they “might have been a tad underwhelming, outside of defensive backs DeVonta Smith and Jalen Stroman.”
Clearly losing quarterback Steve Angeli was another factor that didn’t go well, as was the departure of three offensive lineman with starting experience. The things that Connelly outlined that went right seem like they outweigh the bad, as “Notre Dame retained younger, more talented players who could form one of the nation’s best O-lines for multiple seasons.”
It gets better, as the Irish return a trio of impressive backs headlined by star Jeremiyah Love, along with addressing “their biggest offensive need at wide receiver with the transfers of Malachi Fields and Will Pauling.”
The complete take on Notre Dame’s offseason will be if head coach Marcus Freeman “brought in enough at receiver — and will be banking on a young blue-chip player at…
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Publish date : 2025-05-13 20:11:00
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