SOUTH BEND − Nothing about Notre Dame football has changed, no matter what the calendar claims.
Prior to the annual Blue-Gold game that officially closed spring practice on April 25, it had been 154 days since us media dopes last gathered on the ninth floor of Notre Dame Stadium to do what we do — eat free food and form opinions about Irish football.
One hundred and fifty-four days earlier, we headed for the field as Notre Dame closed out its 2025 home schedule with a 70-7 victory over Syracuse. Watching the final minutes from the north end zone, you were intrigued by how far Notre Dame might go in postseason.
The College Football Playoff selection committee had other ideas. Too soon. Still.
Watching Saturday’s final minutes from the north end zone as Spencer Porath kicked a 43-yard field goal to cap a 41-40 Blue victory, you are still intrigued by how far this program might go in postseason.
It’s premature to book flights and hotel rooms (is it?), but it would be stunning if this Notre Dame football season didn’t end in Las Vegas in late January. This deep and driven team is built to chase a national championship. This team is built to play for a national championship.
Will Notre Dame win a national championship for the first time since 1988? That question will be answered in the coming months. Until then, here are three things we know about these Irish, three we don’t and three we need to know as Notre Dame looks to navigate what might be another looooong college football season.
For all the right reasons.
∎ THREE WE KNOW …
This depth is real
In any other season, spring game snapshots of two former five-star recruits would send message boards into full meltdown mode. Why? How? What?
Any season but this one. On this team. That former Alabama defensive end Keon Keeley did little (two tackles, a half a sack) in a spring game that saw former prep All-American safety Joey O’Brien hobble up the tunnel post-game on crutches barely moved the (panic) meter.
Both could be good, and maybe both will be this season. As April turns toward May, Keeley and O’Brien are just guys. That’s fine. It’s nothing about what either did or didn’t do over the 15 practices. It’s about who’s ahead of them on the depth chart at their respective positions that allows them to slow-play their way into roles.
Notre Dame is stacked at defensive line. Notre Dame is stacked at safety. Any other year, Keeley and O’Brien would be needed right now for the defense to dominate. Same on offense with versatile lineman Matty Augustine. Those three are among a handful who might not see much of the field this season. Not because they’re not good, but because the guys ahead of them, the guys who have been around, are that good.
This culture is real
Former Irish running back Jeremiyah Love had 50 million reasons and change (his NFL contract as the third pick in the NFL draft by the Arizona Cardinals), to beg off a weekend back in the Bend. Love was in Pittsburgh on Thursday and Phoenix on Friday, but there he was on the field as a spectator for the spring game.
He was hardly alone. It was a who’s-who of former Irish up and down and around the sidelines. Benjamin Morrison and Xavier Watts. Marist Liufau and Rylie Mills. C’Bo Flemister? Jack Kiser? Kyle Rudolph? Yep. Hey, there’s Ian Book doing color commentary for Peacock. There were more than 250 former players on campus. For a practice.
That speaks to what Marcus Freeman has built in his first four seasons (will he be here for four more?). Guys want to get back. They still want to feel a part of it. They want to keep that connection. It’s not nothing.
The buzz is already building
That this Irish spring game produced the second-largest crowd in the history of Irish spring games (45,308), was no accident. It didn’t matter that the weather (sunny and 64 degrees) cooperated. If it was cool and cloudy or rainy and windy, there still might have been close to 50,000 in the stands. There’s something about this football team and the 2026 season that has everyone juiced.
Maybe it was the near-miss in 2024. Or the swing and a miss in 2025. Or the schedule that seems to set up another deep 16-game run. Everybody believes that this is the year for Notre Dame, including Notre Dame.
The Irish aren’t running from those expectations. They carried them through spring and will carry them through summer and carry them through the fall. We think they can be good, but they believe they can be good.
THREE WE DON’T …
They’re all right at tight end, right?
With offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock also the tight ends coach, you figured we’d get something from that group in the spring game. A third-down catch in traffic. A sit-down route in the back of the end zone. Something. Anything.
We got nothing. Irish tight ends caught as many passes as the Subway Alums in Section 25. No catches, no problem? Only if the group of Cooper Flanagan, James Flanigan and Ty Washington sidestep similar performances when the games matter. Denbrock likes what the group did this spring. Still, it would have been nice to see.
Next man up at Tight End U? Too early to tell.
Playing time will be at premium when the injured guys return
Joe Otting has quietly/consistently become a starting center. Linebackers Jaiden Ausberry and Jaylen Sneed were scary good this spring when paired together. How will the three fit when the main guys at those positions — Ashton Craig, Drayk Bowen and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa — return to full go after being limited by injuries?
Is it too late for Quincy Porter to get into the receiver rotation? Will Charles Jagusah ever play? Those are good questions to have in this program. They’ve got a ton of guys who deserve playing time, but there’s only so many reps to go around. They’ll figure it out.
Waiting on one key defensive piece
Notre Dame is not moving veteran corner Christian Gray to nickel if it doesn’t believe it has starter material in cornerback DJ McKinney, the Colorado transfer who won’t arrive on campus until June and who should nail down that starting spot opposite all-everything corner Leonard Moore in August.
There’s not much intrigue for fall camp with this team, where the knowns outnumber the unknowns. At 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, McKinney is an unknown. There could be a lot there. If there is, this defense gets even better, if that’s possible.
∎ THREE WE NEED …
Will this good ship lollipop avoid all icebergs?
These good vibes cannot last, can they? Not all summer. Not all fall. Not into winter when the calendar turns and the national championship dreams become real. There must be a step back and a setback somewhere along the line.
An offseason injury. Controversy. Conflict. Internal issues. Something may happen that will do something to derail this Irish express train and its $40 million roster. Maybe. Maybe not. Elite teams know how to remain elite. This one has the makeup of one that will. Watch.
How to go from excellent to elite this summer
We hear it every time we talk to an Irish player — get better every day. There was a lot to like about Notre Dame football in March and April, but it was only March and April. There’s so much more for this program to do, and to be.
That’s where leadership will take the lead. The Irish were told throughout spring how good they are and can be. This is the time to shut out the noise and turn up the focus. You can’t win a national championship between now and fall camp, but you can lose one if you lose focus.
Marcus Freeman being Marcus Freeman as a front-runner
Tough stuff is coming. In August and September. In October and November. If Notre Dame is as good as expected, it should be beyond an early-season crisis. No Northern Illinois stumble. No 0-2 start. No reason for Freeman to play the same hand he played in 2024 and 2025.
How will Freeman and Notre Dame play as a favorite? One that avoids the early season slip. One that starts 5-0, 6-0, 7-0? Freeman pushed all the right buttons in ‘24 and ‘25 as Notre Dame made stepping from the shadows to the national spotlight look easy.
How about staying front and center for all 12 weeks of the regular season? What’s his plan for that look like? Let’s find out.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football ends spring practice, and we have a few thoughts
Reporting by Tom Noie, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
