Notre Dame Football Mailbag: The quarterback battle, Jeremiyah Love’s usage, 2026 recruiting, and Cam Williams

Notre Dame football is working its way quickly through spring practice already. Before you know it, it will be the fall and the 2025 college football season will be here. The excitement will steadily be ramping up over the next few months. In this week’s mailbag, there was a lot of focus on recruiting, and […]

Ryan Roberts — National College Football Writer
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Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love (4) scores a two-point conversion against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the second half the CFP National Championship college football game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Notre Dame football is working its way quickly through spring practice already. Before you know it, it will be the fall and the 2025 college football season will be here. The excitement will steadily be ramping up over the next few months.

In this week’s mailbag, there was a lot of focus on recruiting, and for good reason. We also got a chance to discuss the team and some early takeaways from the spring. Here are some of the best questions submitted this week.

Who wins the quarterback battle?

If the competition is a tie, you should always go with the higher ceiling. With both Minchey and Carr being younger than Angeli, that also gives Notre Dame a longer runway for having an established starter. I’d also assume if it’s a tie that the younger quarterbacks are not being careless with the football. Defer to the talent and let’s go win a National Championship.

Least amount of questions

It has to be running back or linebacker. Running back is so deep that someone like Kedren Young could fail to earn a substantial spot for a second straight year. Linebacker is also an embarrassment of riches. Think about how many years someone like Madden Faraimo would come in and potentially start. Now consider that he will have to fight just to be a part of a five-man rotation.

Let’s talk about Jadarian Price

I would highly recommend Price to leave early. The shelf life for a running back is just so short, especially for one that has had a knee injury in the past. Price also doesn’t project to a volume runner in a room, so going back to school to “carry the load” isn’t the sell that some people believe. Improving his impact in the passing game this year, however, would be very beneficial.

Starting offensive line against Miami

As of today, I would project Anthonie Knapp at left tackle, Billy Schrauth at left guard, Ashton Craig at center, Charles Jagusah at right guard, and Aamil Wagner at right tackle. I would personally like to flip Knapp and Jagusah, but I have no faith that Joe Rudolph will make that move.

Defensive tackle recruiting

I think the board is very promising for 2027 defensive tackle recruiting. I wouldn’t say it’s one way or another necessarily. Al Washington and the Irish staff have made a very good board. We won’t have a great understanding for just how sound the process is until after we get some early feedback. Some years you are going to maintain a bigger board, and others it’ll be smaller. It really depends on how this staff is meshing with the players on the board.

2026 recruiting wins

I’m very confident at linebacker right now. You obviously have a commitment from Thomas Davis Jr. already, but Notre Dame is also in a good spot with several other linebackers like Simeon Caldwell and Jakobe Clapper. With Marcus Freeman and Max Bullough on the staff, you can bet that linebacker will always be well taken care of.

I’m also very confident that both running back and cornerback will finish strong. Good recruiting coaches like Ja’Juan Seider and Mike Mickens tend to make you feel confident.

What’s the deal with Cam Williams?

Williams is incredibly talented, but needed too much technical work to establish a role last season. If the light goes on, he is the most physically gifted pass catcher on the roster. From the sounds of it, Williams is having a strong spring. If he can find a niche as a downfield weapon in 2025, that would be a strong step.

2026 commitments

Will there be any public commitments this week? No. Will/has there been a commitment(s) this week? Yes, the answer is yes.

A little more recruiting conversation

The two most likely running backs for Notre Dame to close on are current Penn State commit Messiah Mickens and Lone Star standout Javian Osborne. I would be ecstatic about either player ending up with Notre Dame. The dream is that Ja’Juan Seider somehow gets both. The player who might be my favorite, however, is Brian Bonner out of California.

It’s so hard to talk about a big board for 2027 quarterbacks when nobody has been offered yet. Of the quarterbacks that Notre Dame has been in talks with, Peter Bourque from Tabor Academy in Massachusetts. He grew up a Notre Dame fan, has a dynamite offer list, and is very talented.

Running back usage

Notre Dame has one of the deepest running back rooms in college football, but the program hasn’t had a running back like Jeremiyah Love, maybe ever. When accounting for total touches of the running backs, Love needs to account for 50 percent of them in what will most likely be his final season. I would argue that would make players like Jadarian Price more efficient as well. He’s a boom or bust runner, so Price has the chance to be impactful with less touches. I’d like to see him handle about 30 percent of the remaining touches, with the final 20 percent split between Aneyas Williams and Kedren Young. 

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