Notre Dame football has wrapped up fall camp, and head coach Marcus Freeman’s 2026 Fighting Irish roster is coming into focus ahead of the season opener against the Wisconsin Badgers on Sept. 6 at Lambeau Field.

Over the last several weeks, we’ve gotten a great glimpse into this version of Notre Dame, including the players who will be mainstays in the starting lineup, breakout stars, and key depth pieces. From pre-camp to now, there has been movement in terms of players who have surprised, excelled, and underwhelmed to varying degrees.

Here is a stock report to conclude fall camp. Players who have risen above expectations sit alongside others who have left clouded question marks heading into the 2026 college football season opener. Keep a close eye on these names as we inch closer to kickoff.

Stock up

LB Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa

The junior linebacker is one of the more dynamic players on Notre Dame’s defense and in the entirety of college football. If healthy, the 6-foot-3, 230-pounder has a chance to be one of the best overall defenders in the country. There was some question earlier this offseason about his recovery timeline from an end-of-season ACL injury, but if the action in fall camp was any indication, KVA is well ahead of schedule compared to where some people thought. His knee brace is off, he’s moving incredibly well, and I am fully in on KVA being one of the breakout stars for this Notre Dame team in 2026.

DT Armel Mukam

There has quietly been a lot of praise for Mukam this offseason. The 6-foot-3, 305-pound defensive tackle enters a very important redshirt junior season. He entered the transfer portal this offseason but opted to return to South Bend.

According to some sources, new defensive line coach Charlie Partridge was a big reason for Mukam’s return, and there is a high opinion of what he will be able to accomplish down the stretch of his Notre Dame career.

The praise escalated a ton in fall camp, and now there is a high probability that Mukam could end up being a starting defensive tackle for Notre Dame this season. If he is able to finally put all of his athletic gifts together, he could become a breakout star for the Fighting Irish. This is the deepest defensive tackle room we’ve seen at Notre Dame in some time.

Whether Mukam is No. 1 in the rotation or No. 4, he is going to play a lot. It appears that the high-upside interior defensive lineman is finally putting it all together.

WR Micah Gilbert

I still admittedly have some questions about what the boundary wide receiver position will look like for Notre Dame in 2026, but Micah Gilbert has had a strong end to the offseason and fall camp. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound pass catcher is still only a redshirt sophomore but has a really intriguing blend of size, physicality, and movement skills if he’s able to finally stay healthy.

He was expected to fight with Quincy Porter for the boundary position, but Porter is still dealing with his recovery from an offseason surgery. With that opportunity in front of him, Gilbert has excelled and has become a more consistent element. I expect him to be the starter at the boundary when Notre Dame heads to Lambeau Field.

WR Matt Jeffery

The redshirt sophomore is taking a unique journey to this point, mirroring some of what we’ve seen from Notre Dame’s top receiver Jordan Faison. He began his career as a lacrosse player for the program but is now turning heads on the football field. Jeffery has been one of the big talks of fall camp and looks like he is firmly in the rotation at wide receiver.

I don’t think he’ll be a top-three receiver for this team, but compared to the expectations going into the offseason as nothing more than a solid and complementary depth piece, it appears that Jeffery is going to play a much bigger role. The 5-foot-11, 195-pounder has consistently gotten open and made plays when they have come to him this offseason.

TE Jack Larsen

There was no expectation for the redshirt sophomore tight end going into the offseason. However, Larsen has taken advantage of opportunities in fall camp, so much so that Freeman has talked about him being fully entrenched in the tight end rotation.

Cooper Flanagan and James Flanigan will be the top two tight ends on this team, but Larsen is now in the conversation with Ty Washington as potentially that third tight end for the Irish offense.

While Larsen isn’t the biggest tight end in the world at 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds and isn’t a dominant blocker, he has some of the best hands and ball skills on the team, which has flashed consistently throughout fall camp.

EDGE Keon Keeley

After Keeley transferred from Alabama this offseason, the point of emphasis was to trim down his body and get into better shape. Now at about 275 pounds, Keeley has been turning heads this offseason and in fall camp.

Along with Boubacar Traore and Bryce Young, Keeley expects to play a ton in the 2026 season and could finally fill some of the five-star upside he had coming out of the 2023 recruiting class for the Crimson Tide. If Keeley does have this type of breakout, Notre Dame’s defensive end room has a chance to be one of the best in the country.

Stock down

WR Quincy Porter

This is no shot against Porter. If healthy, the 6-foot-4, 215-pound pass catcher has a chance to be an absolute star for Notre Dame.

The problem, however, is that he was unable to showcase the full scope of his talent this offseason while recovering from an injury. In a recent press conference, Freeman talked about Porter being a couple of weeks out, and while they expect him to be a big part of this offense, Porter is going to have to come back to full health and find his spots in this wide receiver rotation before hopefully having a strong end to the 2026 season. This is a minor hiccup for what many thought would be a breakout star for Notre Dame in 2026.

CB Mark Zackery IV

Like Porter, this isn’t much of a shot at Zackery but more about where he sits on the depth chart compared to where some people believed he would be.

Behind DJ McKinney, the Colorado transfer, many had penciled in Zackery as the second field corner for this team. However, according to Freeman, Jayden Sanders is the other player in contention to be the starting field corner with McKinney, which means those are the top two in the field, with Zackery fitting in as potentially the No. 3 cornerback on the field side.

Injuries can happen and Zackery can end up playing a much bigger role. The future is still bright for the sophomore.

However, there is a real possibility that, barring injury, he might play less in 2026 than he did as a true freshman last fall. That was not the expectation many hoped for given the high upside he brings to the table. The cornerback depth could halt Zackery’s full potential for another year.

WR Cam Williams

This is a huge offseason for the redshirt sophomore pass catcher. From a pure talent perspective, Williams is up there with anybody on the roster, and there has been some good early feedback on him this offseason. However, Williams once again has failed to be a consistent version of himself, and he hasn’t been a guy that many people have heard enough about this offseason.

Barring a couple of injuries or a late ascension, it doesn’t look like Williams is going to be one of the top pass catchers for this team. At some point, we need to start asking the hard questions about Williams, who has all the talent in the world but for whatever reason has not put it together.