Spring practice looms! We dissect defensive stars, offensive line outlooks, recruiting battles, and predict Heisman finalists. Plus, who cracks the running back elite?
Believe it or not, we're now a week away from Notre Dame kicking off spring practice for the 2026 season. This week, we've covered several different topics including who we believe will be the stars on the defensive side of the ball, the outlook on the offensive line and the biggest questions for the offense heading into spring. We also broke down the importance winning the Chicago recruiting battle in the 2027 and 2028 cycles and also talked about who we believe will be the next teams to make the College Football Playoffs.
Today, we ended the week like we do every week here at Irish Breakdown with a Friday free-for-all mailbag. Our daily listeners came correct this week and asked a lot of great questions. We covered topics including potential spring breakouts and what to expect throughout the offseason. It was another great Friday free-for-all mailbag on today's episode of the Irish Breakdown Podcast.
You can watch the entire episode here:
Here are some of the questions we answered in today's mailbag:
On Marcus Freeman's Comments About Staying At Notre Dame For A Long Time...
"Look, I hope this is the case, but the future is uncertain. I think right now, as of today on March 13, 2026 I think Freeman believes that he'll be here for a long time. Let's see what his answer is after another long season, or if Notre Dame goes out and wins the national championship. We just won't know for sure until we know. It's kind of like a corporate accountant going through their busy season. For four months of the year, they're working six to seven days of the week for 12 to 14 hours at a time and they might want to leave. But in their non-busy season, they're working a completely different schedule. We'll know when we know, I'm just focused on the 2026 season."
On Predicting The Heisman Finalists For This Upcoming Season...
"Odds are it will most likely be all quarterbacks with the exception of Jeremiah Smith from Ohio State. Right now, my prediction for the Heisman finalists are CJ Carr, Arch Manning and Dante Moore. If there's a fourth, it'll like be one of Jeremiah Smith or Julian Sayin from Ohio State. Unlike some of the recent years, I think we'll see more quarterbacks as finalists this year. But it wouldn't shock me if a guy like Byrum Brown makes his way into the conversation now that he's playing at a more notable school with Auburn."
On Our Top Five Notre Dame Running Backs Since 2015...
"The obvious No. 1 guy is Jeremiyah Love, he is head and shoulders above everyone else since 2015. After that, not in any particular order, Jadarian Price has to be in the conversation. Josh Adams for what he did from 2015 to 2017 is in the conversation along with Kyren Williams for what he did in 2020 and 2021. I'd also put Audric Estime in my top five as well. Other players like Dexter Williams and CJ Prosise are close, but I think those five would be my top five since 2015."
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