Notre Dame had its first practice of the 2026 spring today and it was a great day. To kick off, it was easy to see just how athletic this team is. It’s a much bigger team overall, this team is really, really athletic and really fast. There’s only so much you can tell about the team without pads, but you can see those traits very clear. It’s cliche to say, but it’s also true, this is the most physically impressive Notre Dame team I’ve seen in my 15 years of covering the team.

Vince, Trevor and myself were all at practice today and below is a recap of all of our observations.

Here’s part one of the report, with a look at the offense.

It was a good day for CJ Carr, although I’m sure some will point to the interceptions. One pick was a bad throw, the other was a tremendous play from Tae Johnson. But I loved how aggressive CJ was today. I’ve always said, I want to see a QB be more aggressive and then bring it back than be someone who you have to push to be aggressive. The ball came out of CJ’s hand with a lot more zip today, which was really good to see.

His first pass of 7-on-7 was a forced backside seam to Cooper Flanagan, but the ball was picked off by Tae Johnson on a great play. Carr hit six of his next seven 7-on-7 throws, and the only incompletion was a drop. It was a good first day for Carr.

Blake Hebert has a really, really love arm. Ball comes out with a lot of zip, there’s no doubt about that. The issue for Hebert is two-fold. One is that he was not at all accurate. When he misses, he can miss really bad, and he has to do a better job than we saw today with overall ball placement. When he does it right, however, it’s really impressive. Two is he has to speed up his progressions. He was a bit late on reads a bit too much today.

Noah Grubbs was swimming mentally, you could see it. That’s why he threw an Out cut for a pick six despite there being a defender right in the window. Grubbs has a lot to learn, but I came away today very impressed with his arm talent. His arm speed is quite good, but the ball really came out well and Grubbs shows a lot of zip on his fastball. His ball placement is already better than Hebert, at least it was today. He understands the need to put the ball in certain spots, which helped him today. He threw a gorgeous corner ball to Kaydon Finley for a big play during 7-on-7.

Nolan James Jr. had a really, really impressive day for the Irish. He’s extremely quick and showed some juice as a runner. But he also filled out quite a bit and was put together extremely well. His upper body was very thick and defined. James caught the ball extremely well out of the backfield, including a sweet one-handed catch on a check down that was thrown behind him during a team period. He carried himself like someone fighting to be “the guy” in the backfield.

We were able to see Aneyas Williams during some pass game periods and during movement drills. Like James, he has filled out his upper body as well and as expected caught the ball extremely well. The thing I did notice about Williams today was he had a bit more initial burst than we’ve seen in the past, and when he turned it loose after the catch it looked like he had a bit more juice than he showed in the past. That’s a great sign for him. You saw an example of this on a wheel route where he blew past the DE, got vertical and housed it.

You could tell that Jonaz Walton is still going through a learning period, and he wasn’t always confident in what to do, but when he was confident he impressed. He’s a short bowling ball, but his balance and agility are really impressive. He moved through drills extremely well, showed good cutting ability and his passing catching skills were what we expected. Walton caught a wheel route during a drill and you could see how comfortable he was tracking the ball and hauling it in.

Focused more on some new players today, so that will be a lot of what I discuss today, but a couple young returners also impressed. When the offense went on the field for the first time you had Jordan Faison at X (field outside), Mylan Graham at Z (slot) and Micah Gilbert at W (boundary). The second group was Elijah Burress at X, Bubba Frazier at Z and Cam Williams at W. The third group was Logan Saldate at X, Kaydon Finley at Z and Jerome Bettis Jr. at W.

I wasn’t really trying to focus on Cam Williams today, but you couldn’t help but notice him. Early in drills he was still a bit too choppy with how he cuts, but when we got to competition periods he was really good. This was without a doubt the best I’ve ever seen him in practice. It seemed as though the staff was trying to get him a lot of reps, as we saw him get work with the 1s, 2s and 3s. Williams destroyed Mark Zackery with a press release and ran by him by over 5 yards. If Carr would have led him it’s a touchdown, but it was still about a 40-50 yard gain. He also ran a really good quick post route during team, made a good catch and then made a safety miss to get extra yards. It was a really good day for Williams.

It was a bit of an up-and-down start for Micah Gilbert, including getting blanked by Jayden Sanders on a go route early in team, but overall he had a good day. He worked well to the ball on comebacks and he beat Mark Zackery over the top on a post route for a touchdown during 1-on-1. Gilbert was a guy I was told by sources was going to impress with his burst, and he didn’t disappoint in that regard.

Elijah Burress has definitely filled out and he is running with a lot of confidence. He was very sharp out of his breaks, showed good speed and had one of the better plays of the day. Burress ran a Go route against Chas Smith, who had pretty good coverage, but Burress out played him for the football and hauled it in for a touchdown.

I was pleased with what I saw from Jerome Bettis Jr. as well. He is built really well and was smooth going through drills. His route running was good, and he worked hard back on a couple of comebacks to get open. He also made two really difficult catches in traffic, including beat Ayden Pouncey for a contested catch late in practice on a contested catch. His separation wasn’t always great, but his ability to attack the ball impressed.

Transfer Mylan Graham played mostly slot today and he looked quite comfortable. His route running is sharp and he showed really good speed to get down the field. He’ll need to be a bit more competitive at the catch point than what we saw today, but athletically he definitely looks the part.

Freshman Kaydon Finley had a rough start to practice and it looked like he was unsure of himself, but he very, very quickly got rolling. Finley is a really impressive player, both athletically and when the ball is in the air. His first 1-on-1 rep he got blasted in the chest as he got to his top end by Ethan Long and went to the ground. After that he was really good. Finley showed a good feel for finding soft spots in the zone, and he had a really impressive corner route and catch to beat Chas Smith later in practice.

Classmate Bubba Frazier has a lot of juice. He beat Luke Talich on a slot fade but the ball was underthrown. Frazier caught a lot of quick throws and showed elusiveness after the catch, although he was stripped of the ball once during 7-on-7. Fellow freshman Devin Fitzgerald has really, really good hands but his route running will need work based on what we saw today. He was clearly in his head a bit, but when he let’s it rip he was good.

Didn’t spend too much time on the tight ends today, but a couple of observations. James Flanigan is put together extremely well and his vertical speed is impressive. Flanigan absolutely dominated Bryce Young on an early run, driving Young several yards off the ball. It was really, really impressive. Jack Larson has added some good weight and continues to be a good route runner and pass catcher. Preston Fryzel has legit speed and he catches the ball quite well.

Here is the first team line today:

LT Will Black
LG Anthonie Knapp
C Joe Otting
RG Sullivan Absher
RT Guerby Lambert

This unit did not disappoint. Their protection during team periods was really stout and they gave Carr time to throw. The right side especially got really good movement on a few runs, but it’s hard to read too much into that without shoulder pads.

Black looked very comfortable on the edge. He had a 1-on-1 rep against Loghan Thomas where he put his head down and got beat. He also lunged too early at Boubacar Traore during team and that resulted in him getting beat around the edge. Black was able to stay on Traore and that allowed Carr to climb the pocket and dump the ball off to James for a positive gain. Outside of that he was quite good. Later in 1-on-1s he stoned Traore on the outside, he handled Bryce Young in another 1-on-1 rep and overall looked good.

Knapp looks comfortable at guard, I just don’t see him moving based on what I saw today. A few times you could tell things happening so quick resulted in him stopping his feet at the moment of contact, and that will need to be addressed. But he’s so strong and his pad level is so good inside. There is definitely going to be an adjustment here technically, but Knapp looked really good inside today. Jason Onye beat him with a quick inside move during 1-on-1, but he handled Christopher Burgess Jr. and he was able to anchor and stone Tionne Gray on another pass rush.

I really liked what I saw from Sullivan Absher today. He had a really good 1-on-1 win against Francis Brewu and overall held up well in pass pro. The right side of the line also got consistently good movement in the run game. Good first day at RG for Absher.

Lambert was without question the most impressive OL today. He’s so natural at tackle. It’s easy for him out there. He destroyed Boubacar Traore on an early 1-on-1. Traore tried to beat him with a speed rush outside but Lambert was all over it. Traore. tried to get low and around him, but Lambert drove him right into the ground, chest first. He and Absher worked really well together on some twists and stunts as well, passing off outside slants and Lambert picking up the blitzer. Big time first day of practice for Lambert.

The second OL had some movement, but there’s what we saw:

LT Styles Prescod 
LG Devan Houstan
C Cam Herron (he also got some 1st team reps during inside run)
RG Matty Augustine (he also played RT)
RT Owen Strebig

It’s obvious the staff is working to get Augustine comfortable at multiple positions, which tracks with the intel I gave you the other day. He played a lot of guard today, but also got action at RT. Augustine isn’t as athletic as Black and Lambert. He’s tighter in the hips, but he comes off the ball hard, he’s physical and he battles. I could see a move to guard being permanent down the road, but right now they’ll need him ready at tackle as well.

The third team OL looked like this:

LT Grayson McKeogh
LG Peter Jones
C Sullivan Garvin
RG Max Anderson
RT Charlie Thom (he also played RG) and Robbie Wollan

McKeogh is still pretty thin despite being around 300 pounds. He’s going to end up being massive. He moves well in space and had some really good 1-on-1 reps, including a clean win against Rodney Dunham. He will have to adjust to the speed rushes on the outside from a footwork standpoint. When he lost on the edge it was about him not really getting out with urgency. When he did show urgency he was plenty quick enough to get outside and win.

Jones really battled today but he has to keep moving his feet at the point of contact. When he does that he gets good movement, but it’s inconsistent. Thom is a pretty athletic young lineman and he competes. There’s a lot of potential there, but he’s still pretty thin and will need to add a lot of strength, but overall he flashed on day one.

I really, really liked what I saw from Garvin. He’s very physical, he’s very strong and he moves better than I thought he would during his first day at center. His snap to step quickness impressed me and he battled. He’ll need to clean up some stuff technically, but he did not look like a freshman playing his first day in the offense. Really good stuff from him today.