Notre Dame football fails to find clear answers for biggest remaining question marks coming out of spring practice
Spring practice has come and gone for the Notre Dame football program. It’s typically the case this time of year for optimism to be at an all time high. With head coach Marcus Freeman and his Irish team coming off of a 14-win season, the program is in a very good spot, and that looks […]
Spring practice has come and gone for the Notre Dame football program. It’s typically the case this time of year for optimism to be at an all time high. With head coach Marcus Freeman and his Irish team coming off of a 14-win season, the program is in a very good spot, and that looks to continue.
Spring football is a great opportunity for a team to begin developing an overall identity, and also start to find answers for the biggest question marks on the roster. It’s not the end of the world when answers aren’t found, especially with the summer and fall camp still in front of us, but the less question marks the better. Leaving spring, there are two positions that raise even more questions than they did entering that practice period.
Those two positions are wide receiver and offensive line. One probably isn’t much of a surprise for Notre Dame fans which the other is pretty troubling.
Wide receiver
Every offseason in recent memory, we are fed the same storyline about the wide receiver room for Notre Dame being a lot more talented than we realize. Yet, we typically go through the same cycle: Optimism, disappointment, and then frustration. Coming out of spring, I have a bad feeling that may continue.
Everyone knows that Jaden Greathouse is a good player. With the late season stretch he put together against Penn State and Ohio State, there is a lot of optimism he will be an outstanding player in 2025. Outside of him, everyone was hoping a couple of younger wide receivers would take a step forward in practice. That just didn’t happen. Instead, people are trying to hype up Wisconsin transfer Will Pauling, originally viewed as a depth pickup who led all of college football in drops last season. The other name people have been hyping is true freshman wideout Elijah Burress, who right now, stands at 180 pounds and boasts 4.6 speed.
We have barely a mention of Cam Williams, who is probably the most physically gifted wide receiver on your roster. Redshirt freshman Micah Gilbert was also limited in the spring with a hand injury, which was unfortunate for optimism. Virginia transfer Malachi Fields will be a huge addition to the room this offseason, but he also missed out on a lot of reps while finishing up his degree.
Offensive line
The offensive line should never be an issue at Notre Dame, but the 2025 version boasts several question marks, and the spring didn’t do anything positively to answer them. Going into the spring, most wondered if Charles Jagusah would get a chance to start at left tackle, largely viewed as the most talented option. He didn’t, working exclusively inside at guard.
The assumed starting left tackle Anthonie Knapp, was limited all of spring while recovering from an injury. Those missed reps aren’t ideal for the sophomore offensive lineman. We also saw Guerby Lambert miss the spring while dealing with an injury, and his timetable is unclear. Projected starting center Ashton Craig also wasn’t available while rehabbing from his own injury, and starting right tackle Aamil Wagner was limited as well.
The offensive line is a group that needs so many reps to become a cohesive unit. Unfortunately that group was plagued with injury and missed time. There is still a lot of talent for Joe Rudolph to work with, but they definitely aren’t where most hoped coming out of spring.
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