Notre Dame Football Mailbag: Offensive evolution in 2026, transfer portal success, and some new passing game weapons
Latest Notre Dame football mailbag covers everything from the 2026 offense, a transfer portal recap, and some miscellaneous roster notes.
Notre Dame football is on the tail end of a tremendous ending to the transfer portal period. Head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish just had themselves quite the second week. With needs being met all over the roster, this team now looks like one that could potentially compete for a national championship during the 2026 college football season.
With the action beginning to slow down, it feels like the perfect time for another Notre Dame football mailbag. As always, much appreciation to everyone who submitted questions this week. From a 2026 offensive preview and potential ideological shift, to a transfer portal recap, and some miscellaneous roster questions, there was a lot to get to. It is an exciting time to be a Notre Dame fan, and great times are definitely ahead of us.
Notre Dame and the transfer portal
Yes, extremely happy. The first week was a rough one for Notre Dame fans, and while Coach Freeman is going to maintain that it was always a part of the plan, it wasn’t. The staff made a couple of poor miscalculations, and it got things off to a really slow start, while also causing them to miss on a couple of top early targets. Things worked out, so nobody will remember those flaws as we get further removed, but there were. I just hope that general manager Mike Martin learns from them.
Going into the portal period, Notre Dame needed to get two defensive tackles. They got them in Tionne Gray (Oregon) and Francis Brewu (Pitt), two players I like quite a bit. You also received great news that Armel Mukam was returning. You got a very important boundary receiver in Quincy Porter (Ohio State), a good kicker, and solidified an elite secondary. It was an awesome second week of portal action.
The evolution of the Notre Dame offense
I do think that the Notre Dame offense will have a bit of a philosophical shift next season. Teams under Freeman will also run the football at a high clip, but this is certainly a passing offense on paper that has the upside to open things up. Without Love or Price in the backfield this season, offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock is not going to have a superstar running back to lean on. He would be a fool not to put more on the plate of quarterback CJ Carr, and Denbrock is no fool. Throwing the football on first down from some lighter alignments would be an interesting shift I wouldn’t be shocked to see, although opposing defenses would be a bit shocked, at least early in the year.
Running back rotation next season
I think he kind of has to, right? When you had Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, I understood keeping the rotation smaller. You have a bunch of good running backs now, but I don’t see a difference maker, at least not right now. To start the season, I expect a three-man rotation between Aneyas Williams, Nolan James Jr., and Kedren Young, assuming that Young is back and fully healthy. From there, don’t be surprised if one of the two freshmen (Javian Osborne and Jonaz Walton) eventually crashes the party. Regardless, I think a three-man rotation makes a lot of sense next season.
Christopher Burgess’ development as a player
If you have ever seen Burgess in person, he is a massive kid – broad shoulders, powerful lower body. He was always a player who had the frame to eventually move inside. Based on some videos I have already seen this offseason, he is carrying his weight very well and is reportedly already 298 pounds. Of the young defensive tackles, Burgess would be my pick to be a breakout, unless you want to put Oregon transfer Tionne Gray into that bucket as well. If both players can break out in 2026, Notre Dame has a chance to have a stellar defensive line heading into 2026.
Which former Ohio State wide receiver will play more next season?
I think both Quincy Porter and Mylan Graham will play a ton this year for Notre Dame. I do believe that there is an easier path to see the field for Porter right now. At 6-4 and 210 pounds, he is just such an easy projection into the boundary receiver spot, a position that doesn’t have a clear answer right now. I would be very surprised if Porter isn’t the starting boundary to begin the season. Graham, on the other hand, is going to have a deeper pool of talent to compete against this offseason.
Past Notre Dame recruits
This was a fun hypothetical question, and even though we are passed the likelihood of Notre Dame bringing anyone else in, I still wanted to talk about a couple of recruits that got away. The one player that I would have had some interest in was former Georgia Tech wide receiver Isiah Canion, who ended up signing with the Georgia Bulldogs. His combination of size and straight-line explosiveness would have been an interesting fit in the boundary. If Notre Dame wasn’t so deep at safety, former Michigan standout Brandyn Hillman could have made some sense. Hillman ended up signing with Virginia from the portal this offseason, which should be a great spot for him.
Tyler Buchner returning in 2026?
No, Buchner is not returning in 2026. Unless he is applying for a waiver that I am not aware of, he has fully exhausted his eligibility after coming in originally to Notre Dame in the 2021 recruiting class.
What happened to Brody Foley?
For people who aren’t familiar, Brody Foley is an extremely talented tight end who transferred from Tulsa. He was expected to visit Notre Dame two Mondays ago, but the Irish staff cancelled the trip. Although I would have personally pushed for him, the program decided that they were good with the tight ends they currently have in the room. The 6-6, 260-pound tight end ended up with Louisville.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish News
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