The Blue-Gold game looms as analysts debate top recruits, potential All-Americans, and future NFL talent on Notre Dame's loaded roster.
Another week of the offseason is upon us, but this one feels a little different. The annual Blue Gold game is this Saturday afternoon inside of Notre Dame Stadium and there's a buzz around this program that's getting all of us anxious for the start of football season. This week, we have a loaded slate of topics to get to at Irish Breakdown. The NFL Draft is this week, so we'll preview some of the Fighting Irish alum who are hoping to hear their name called throughout the draft process.
We also talk about Notre Dame being a line-driven program, the 2026 freshman class, our favorite 2028 prospects and some national college football topics. But before we get to all of those exciting topics, we start the week with a buy/sell/hold which never disappoints. Our premium message board members brought the heat once again and gave us a lot of great submissions to breakdown. We answered submissions about recruiting, the upcoming NFL Draft, the offensive line and much more. You can catch all of that, and then some, on today's edition of the Irish Breakdown Podcast.
You can watch the entire episode here:
Here are some of the main topics we discussed on today's show:
On The 2026 Freshman Class...
"When you look at everything as a whole, yes I do think this is the best evaluated class by Notre Dame that I've seen so I'll buy this. This class is absolutely loaded and there's a reason why they're the No. 1 ranked class on On3. I think the 2024 class is in contention because that was a great job by the coaching staff and the recruiting staff at evaluation. Keep in mind, during that cycle, Leonard Moore was a three-star recruit, CJ Carr wasn't highly ranked by On3 and players like Anthonie Knapp were down in the recruiting rankings and those are three guys who will be relied on heavily this season."
On Who Could Be A First Team All-American In 2026...
"I think that Carr, Guerby Lambert and Moore could all be first-team All-Americans this season. If I had to buy one, sell one and hold one, I would buy Moore because that's what he was last year. He's the best corner in the country. I would hold Lambert because he was a Freshman All-American in 2025 and is going to be one of the best tackles in the country this year. The only reason I'm selling Carr is the availability of the position on the All-American teams. You can have two first-team offensive tackles, two first-team cornerbacks but only one quarterback."
On Future NFL Draft Picks On The Current Roster...
"This team is absolutely loaded. Right now, I think they have multiple first round draft picks on both offense and defense. Offensively, I think Will Black, Lambert and Knapp could all be first round picks some day. I think Carr will be a first round pick and potential one of the receivers. Defensively, obviously Moore will be one, Boubacar Traore could be one, Adon Shuler and Tae Johnson could be and I think Bryce Young could be one some day. This team is absolutely loaded and I think the future NFL Drafts will reflect that."
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