2026 Spring Practice Thread

[JamIrish]

Traore, Young, Onye, and Thomas are playoff caliber. Burgess I have high hopes for. Guys like Mullins, Hughes, and Mukam can be good contributors/rotational players on a contending team. Thing is guys like Dunham and Golden have legit 5 star/AA upside and can also see the field and give you snaps in '26 with 8 months of coaching and physical development. For the Dline to go from good to Elite they need a difference maker in middle.

 

[Dale]

Thomas are playoff caliber.

Thomas? He hasn’t even proven he can take a competitive snap against anyone

 

[BeatSC]

Oh no! Hope we don’t play the team he lands on. Btw I don’t know how to use italics.

 

[BeatSC]

Have GOT to find a kicker.

Recruit Dominic De Freitas from App State. Nappanee IN kid and holds the Indiana HS record for making a 62 yd field goal his senior year.

Dominic De Freitas 2025 Stats per Game - NCAAF - ESPN

The 2025 NCAAF season stats per game for Dominic De Freitas of the App State Mountaineers on ESPN. Includes full stats, per opponent, for regular and postseason.

www.espn.com

Was 20-25 this season, so not bad, but not amazing. Only his first year though. Present him with an NIL offer he can't refuse.

How about a degree from ND instead of Crap St?

 

[BeatSC]

Classic ND offseason boys.

Didn’t he make an extra point for us?

 

[BeatSC]

Thomas? He hasn’t even proven he can take a competitive snap against anyone

He has been ok on special teams!

 

[JamIrish]

Thomas? He hasn’t even proven he can take a competitive snap against anyone

He had a sack against Indiana in the playoff last year. He'll need to add weight and keep his speed/athleticism but he has the tools you want in a pass rusher. He had 2 sacks when he got playing time, the same as Burnham had all last year and more than JR had this year on 1/20 the number of snaps.

 

[Rocketman84]

Defensive End (9 - 64)

Boubacar Traore (2)
Loghan Thomas (2)
Bryce Young (2)
Preston Zinter (2)
Chris Burgess (4)
Dom Hulak (4)
Joe Reiff (4)
Rodney Dunham (4, EE)
Ebenezer Ewetade (4, EE)

Defensive Tackle (10 - 74)

Jason Onye (0, seeking waiver)
Elijah Hughes (1)
Armel Mukam (2)
Brenan Vernon (2)
Cole Mullins (3)
Sean Sevilano (3)
Davion Dixon (4)
Gordy Sulfsted (4)
Tiki Hola (4, EE)
Elijah Golden (4, EE)

How many of these 18, excluding Onye can you say for sure can play ACC level snaps? CFP competition type snaps?

Play? Or play AND be effective?

 

[Dale]

OP is updated. 106 but believe some - all of the PWOs listed are grandfathered in so effectively don’t count towards the 105.

 

[notredamermotherpray4us]

Figured this is a good place to put this and sorry if it's already been pointed out somewhere... I was looking at our new tp commits on 247 and looked at our top all time recruiting commit list. 5 of the top 16 and 7 of the top 25 all time commits are on the current roster with multiple years of eligibility. That's incredible! Some serious talent on that list.

 

[notredamermotherpray4us]

Figured this is a good place to put this and sorry if it's already been pointed out somewhere... I was looking at our new tp commits on 247 and looked at our top all time recruiting commit list. 5 of the top 16 and 7 of the top 25 all time commits are on the current roster with multiple years of eligibility. That's incredible! Some serious talent on that list.

Just to add to this a little. Keeley, Porter, and Graham out of high school would all be ranked in our top 20 all time as well (since like 2000)

 

[Me2SouthBend]

Who from the recent portal haul will have the most impact on the 2026 season and who will have the greatest impact in their multi year ND career? I’ve got Brewu for 26 and Porter for the long haul.

You?

 

[RudyVerse]

Give me Mylan Graham. If he’s committed he can be a freak. His player comp is Devonte Smith (bama we).

 

[Rockin’Irish]

Give me Mylan Graham. If he’s committed he can be a freak. His player comp is Devonte Smith (bama we).

Also CeeDee Lamb as a comp

 

[Rocketman84]

Better add a profile for our New Kicker, Spencer Porath

COMMITMENT | Purdue Transfer K Spencer Porath Signs with Notre Dame

Notre Dame has landed kicker Spencer Porath

irishsportsdaily.com

 

[jprue24]

Who from the recent portal haul will have the most impact on the 2026 season and who will have the greatest impact in their multi year ND career? I’ve got Brewu for 26 and Porter for the long haul.

You?

The kicker.

 

[Rocketman84]

Who from the recent portal haul will have the most impact on the 2026 season and who will have the greatest impact in their multi year ND career? I’ve got Brewu for 26 and Porter for the long haul.

You?

'26 season: Porath, Brewu, Keeley
Career: Porter/Graham, Keeley, Brewu

 

[NewEnglandGuy]

OP is updated. 106 but believe some - all of the PWOs listed are grandfathered in so effectively don’t count towards the 105.

Nice Work! 106 is correct, but the list shows 107 - remove PWO WR Whitman

Two Notre Dame wide receivers enter transfer portal

Two depth wide receivers for Notre Dame have entered the transfer portal.

sports.yahoo.com

Conventional wisdom is Burgess will be/already is interior DL, semantics I know…..

Also keep an eye on most likely PWO who may be retained for a 5th year - Kobe Onyiuke - he played in 10 games including Miami, A&M, and USC. He would be on all the special teams and be a good depth piece with only 8 DEs - with the Burgess move considered. Not official, but we’re monitoring haha.

He would make 107, maybe a scout team RB or special team depth piece - local guy Justin Fisher? Another PWO 5th year option. Veteran, culture guy. Played in all the regular season games in 2024, didn’t play much in 2025 so idk…but who is the team gonna hit every day in practice? Redshirt freshman James, again? Redshirt soph Young coming off the knee injury? Either one of the true freshman who may push for starting time with Williams??? Fisher would make sense to me. Was a RB previously before helping the team with TE depth last year. Need some meat to grind during the preseason at RB. That would be 108.

With Designated Student Athlete exceptions, O’Malley was on record stating the 26-27 roster wouldn’t be as high as 25-26 was (113), but not at the restricted 105 either for a few years due to guys like Matt Jeffrey. It would probably be somewhere around 108-109.

I still think they will push for another portal DT - hopefully Gray from Oregon - and another versatile special team guy in the Zinter/Kahoun role. As well as lose another defection or two - possible from WR with Porter AND Graham in the fold - and you would think from OL with 22 roster spots taken up (over 20% of the allowed 105 roster), seems excessive.

 

[Huntr]

 

[Dale]

Mentioned Golden or a CB moved for Nickel but doesn’t sound like the answer is as simple as “yeah ____ is moving there”

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

All but assured that they have not and will not seek a backup QB in the portal. He basically said (paraphrasing) "We had those high-level conversations, but we weren't really sure how to find a veteran guy who would be interested in coming here to backup CJ Carr. Also, someone who would have to be comfortable proving they could beat out Blake, Noah, etc."

Makes sense.

 

[dang227]

I can be as pessimistic as they come, especially in the game day thread, but we are fucking loaded next year.

 

[jerseyborn1971]

Any QB they get now is already a back-up somewhere else. Is that really better than a highly rated incoming freshman?

 

[ACamp1900]

Can someone educate me on the RB room, I know AW and Young (and am totally good rolling with them) but the three younger cats I know nothing about and IBreakdown made it out like it’s a top tier group with ‘best in the nation’ potential,… is that the consensus?

 

[lcaps20]

Can someone educate me on the RB room, I know AW and Young (and am totally good rolling with them) but the three younger cats I know nothing about and IBreakdown made it out like it’s a top tier group with ‘best in the nation’ potential,… is that the consensus?

No, not at all really. Nolan James should be solid to go along with the two you mentioned, but I don't think anyone of them have Love or Price potential.

Then there's the two freshman and who knows how they will adjust to the college game. Both are supremely talented though.

 

[ACamp1900]

Any QB they get now is already a back-up somewhere else. Is that really better than a highly rated incoming freshman?

It’s obviously just an opinion but I’d rather roll with the young guns,… this schedule SHOILD give you multiple opportunities at mop up duty early,… let them go out there and sling it

 

[ACamp1900]

No, not at all really. Nolan James should be solid to go along with the two you mentioned, but I don't think anyone of them have Love or Price potential.

Then there's the two freshman and who knows how they will adjust to the college game. Both are supremely talented though.

Yeah I don’t think they were selling it like it’s running back Love/Price but that it looked like a potential top running back room in 26,… I’m honestly really excited for Williams, I think he WILL be closer to at least Price than many seem to think but yeah, didn’t know much about the depth of the room

 

[jerseyborn1971]

Both Freshman are Top 10 at RB in the nation, no?

 

[NYDOMER]

Can someone educate me on the RB room, I know AW and Young (and am totally good rolling with them) but the three younger cats I know nothing about and IBreakdown made it out like it’s a top tier group with ‘best in the nation’ potential,… is that the consensus?

Osborne has the highest ceiling, 6A Texas football so yk the comp is elite. Shifty, great pass catcher out the backfield, the whole nine. Walton is a bruiser, but might be even faster than Osborne, and an even better pass catcher, and to me looks a bit more ready than Osborne. Nolan is very similar to Kyren, not the fastest but great vision, solid pass blocker, and a smart player all around. I wouldn’t be surprised that these three end up being a 1-2-3 punch like last year how Love Price and Williams were used(not this season in the future of course. So to recap, Osborne= Highest Ceiling, if he achieves like I think he will, Love 2.0. Walton= Slightly lower potential, but higher floor, and more ready, think of a stronger Price. James= Highest IQ, and already has experience with playbook, so he will likely get the first crack at playing time.

 

[jerseyborn1971]

I think Williams, James and Kedron are going to get a lot of run this year. The two frosh are going to get developed and indoctrinated into the unselfish culture of that room and become big time contributors in 2027. ND is going to spend the next 5 years showing running backs how sharing carries can still lead them to the 1st and 2nd round of the draft.