2026 Spring Practice Thread

[allenm5333]

I am sticking to my prediction that Craig could end up at OG because Otting is just better than Absher.

Unless Jagusah takes it of course

My prediction is Augustine replaces Absher*

*Jagusah pending

 

[Dale]

Pouncey will be Moore’s backup and JOB will be Tae’s backup. Dudes just need to hit the weight room.

 

[allenm5333]

Pouncey will be Moore’s backup and JOB will be Tae’s backup. Dudes just need to hit the weight room.

Pouncey beating Adams?

 

[Dale]

My prediction is Augustine replaces Absher*

*Jagusah pending

Can’t afford that for OT depth IMO.

 

[Dale]

Pouncey beating Adams?

Pouncey is already CB2 on the boundary and has the head start due to Adams’ injury. Smith has also impressed at the Field.

 

[BeauBenken]

Final nuggets now that we're at the end of spring:
-WR competition will go deep into the fall, the only guys who are "locks" for major snap count are Faison and Graham. Graham is a hit, and can play multiple spots. Picking the complimentary pieces to those two will be exactly that... what is the best combination of guys for 3 and 4 WR sets.
-OL has questionable depth and injuries could be "catastrophic" if they happen to the wrong guys. RG is by far weakest spot of the starters, but overall they feel very good about the five as a unit and expect it to be a lot better than last year.
-Expect more pass heavy offense with a premium on receiving ability / pass protection from the RBs.
-The crazy thing about the team is that the offense *should* be a lot worse without Love/Price and the defense *should* be better but allegedly the offense gets the better of the defense quite a bit in competitive situations. So read into that what you will, but it's possible the offense is just nasty. Only cautionary thing I've heard on the defense is that they miss Bowen/KVA, generally speaking they expect this DL to be orders of magnitude better than what we saw last year and the secondary is just all the same dudes + some new good pieces. Apparently the freshman DBs are LEGIT so thank you Mike Mickens for that parting gift.

But worrisome regarding the O-line considering there always seems to be an injury or two. Hope we are preparing for the scenario.

 

[allenm5333]

Can’t afford that for OT depth IMO

Augustine could be the starting RG and play RT if Lambert went down. If Black got hurt, I bet Knapp goes to LT. Absher is the next guard in. Kind of the NFL model where you have 8 OL and figure it out

 

[greyhammer90]

But worrisome regarding the O-line considering there always seems to be an injury or two. Hope we are preparing for the scenario.

Kind of wonder if that's the other reason we're reportedly going to be so pass happy. It's a lot easier to protect your OL when they aren't being asked to maul the inside lanes 20 times a game

 

[Dale]

Augustine could be the starting RG and play RT if Lambert went down. If Black got hurt, I bet Knapp goes to LT. Absher is the next guard in. Kind of the NFL model where you have 8 OL and figure it out

IMO you’d rather have your backups be flexible over your starters popping over every which way. Your best 7 is almost certainly including Jagusah, Craig, Lambert, Knapp, Black and Otting.

 

[Jeffwantpoppers]

I mean, I’m sure the offense getting the better of the defense is probably because CJ Carr is legit

 

[NDFAN2008]

I am sticking to my prediction that Craig could end up at OG because Otting is just better than Absher.

Unless Jagusah takes it of course

I'm guessing Jagusah doesn't come back till Miami

 

[arrowryan]

The offense is getting the defense because they have a returning, future Sunday player at QB paired with the best WR room of the Freeman era. See what happens when you have a QB with real, NFL arm talent?

 

[Dale]

Gross

 

[allenm5333]

IMO you’d rather have your backups be flexible over your starters popping over every which way. Your best 7 is almost certainly including Jagusah, Craig, Lambert, Knapp, Black and Otting.

Yes I agree with you. Also, a lot depends on the extent of the injury. What happens in the game could be vastly different than what happens with a week of prep.

 

[Old Man Mike]

In the Kelly years we often had very good lines, but almost never lines deeper than 7 or 8.

Maybe we were just lucky, but those guys (always warriors anyway) held up. (playing dinged)

We always had a back-up "interior lineman" (often guard AND center trained), and a back-up tackle.

We rarely had more than 7//8 ready to immediately contribute, and the back-ups rarely played real snaps.

It's "nicer" to have 10//12 ready to go (and I still believe we have that talent); but you CAN go without it.

 

[IRISHbluehen]

If this team stays even moderately healthy, I just can't see how they are not in the semifinals at bare minimum. I am ready to be hurt again

 

[Old Man Mike]

 

[Rocketman84]

Who thought his name was pronounced Goo-by?

 

[Rocketman84]

If this team stays even moderately healthy, I just can't see how they are not in the semifinals at bare minimum. I am ready to be hurt again

Not utilizing our biggest strengths or our biggest playmaker! Only thing that's stopped us before in recent memory

 

[Crazy Balki]

In the Kelly years we often had very good lines, but almost never lines deeper than 7 or 8.

Maybe we were just lucky, but those guys (always warriors anyway) held up. (playing dinged)

We always had a back-up "interior lineman" (often guard AND center trained), and a back-up tackle.

We rarely had more than 7//8 ready to immediately contribute, and the back-ups rarely played real snaps.

It's "nicer" to have 10//12 ready to go (and I still believe we have that talent); but you CAN go without it.

I don't think I can recall a year where ND lines under Kelly rolled deeper than 5. Seemed like the unit always had that kind of weak link.

The 2013 line was obviously excellent with Martin the Elder, Watts, Martin the Younger and Stanley. But Lombard was kind of just okay. I'd say that any of Absher, Augustine or Jagusah start over him.

The 2015 line was also elite with Stanley, Nelson, Martin and Glinch. Elmer was better than Lombard, but still, not sure I'd take him over Absher, Augustine or Jagusah.

The 2017 line had a crazy good left side tandem of Glinch and Nelson, Mustipher was good too. But that unit also needed a true freshman Rob Hainsey to split reps at RT with Tommy Kraemer, who really wasn't a tackle, and Alex Bars was just solid at RG (shame, because I felt Bars had taken a massive jump in '18 before his injury). Again, I think any of the 3 5-7 guys on this line start on that unit. Hell, I'm not even sure I'd take Mustipher over a healthy Otting.

The 2020 line was probably the closest ND has had to an elite and complete line. You didn't have the sheer highs of the 2015 or 2017 line, but no real weak link in the starting 5. Patterson, Banks and Hainsey were all really good that year, and even Eichenberg and Kraemer being the "weaker" parts of the line were still good. But as we saw, the depth behind it wasn't really there. Correll did well as the backup center, but that was pretty much all he could be. Your next guys in were Dillan Gibbons and Josh Lugg. No disrespect to them, but ND has probably about a half dozen guys on roster right now, who are not projected to start, that I'd say would play over those 2.

You roll into this season with Black, Knapp, Craig, Absher and Lambert as your starting 5, that's probably the most complete starting 5 you've had outside of maybe 2020. But you also have Jagusah, Augustine, Otting, and hell, even guys like Prescod, Terek and younger studs like McKeogh waiting in the wings. This unit has spots where they need to show it on the field, but the talent and depth is better than I can ever remember it being.

 

[Dale]

Whatever depth we lack at OL, every other program in the country is worse, with less than a handful of exceptions

 

[Old Man Mike]

Yeh, I'm not talking about five All-Stars across the line, I'm talking about the coaching staff view that if we get 7//8 ready to play that's who we "roll" with. I'm viewing this from the staff's strategic view of coaching football to get ready to play real games.

 

[Ricochet]

Pouncey will be Moore’s backup and JOB will be Tae’s backup. Dudes just need to hit the weight room.

Maybe, but was told that beyond the awesome DB class that they just brought in that the portal DB class is as insane and believe both could 1st round type talent. McKinney is expected to be the Field CB but will have to earn it. This was up I the air because if Gray but it looks like Gray will officially end up becoming Nickel.

Jayden Sanders is the wildcard, he got good experience last year and there are some that believe if given the opportunity that he's a 3 year player who profiles to be a Boundary CB. That's why he was a surprise pickup with Pouncey & Adams already in the fold with only a year on the Freshman.

The CB talent on this team right now is unreal. I think we all expect Gray to be the NB but I can also see him being FCB-2 because of his experience there as well as have an uber talented #2 at NB in Dallas Golden.
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However, when you have the likes of Adams, Pouncey and Sanders vying for B-CB #2 some one is bound to move to F-CB because I can see 2 of those 3 ending up being part the 3 deep with Moore.

I believe Adams missing the Spring has really opened up the competition for the backup CB positions.

I originally expected Adams to be heir apparent to Moore but with the Portal pickups I'm no longer so sure.

 

[RudyVerse]

I can’t remember which transfer is the Colorado one but mark it down he’s going to be a stud. He’s long, experienced, and wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a 4.42 guy on draft day. No one will have CBs like us in 2026.

 

[IrishInOntario]

I can’t remember which transfer is the Colorado one but mark it down he’s going to be a stud. He’s long, experienced, and wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a 4.42 guy on draft day. No one will have CBs like us in 2026.

With a healthy season Mickinney is going to be excellent. Skinny kid though and Colorado's S&C sucks. Wish he would have been at ND for the winter semester to out an extra layer of armor on.

Functionally, in season I think the depth chart will be...

BC: Moore
2. Sanders
3. Pouncey or Adams

FC: Mckinney
2. Sanders
3. Zackery

NB: Gray
2. Golden
3. Sanders

 

[FWIrish4]

With a healthy season Mickinney is going to be excellent. Skinny kid though and Colorado's S&C sucks. Wish he would have been at ND for the winter semester to out an extra layer of armor on.

Functionally, in season I think the depth chart will be...

BC: Moore
2. Sanders
3. Pouncey or Adams

FC: Mckinney
2. Sanders
3. Zackery

NB: Gray
2. Golden
3. Sanders

I believe I heard on a pod McKinney is actually on campus while finishing his CO degree. Is that correct?

 

[CanadalovesND]

I believe I heard on a pod McKinney is actually on campus while finishing his CO degree. Is that correct?

Yes. Similar situation to Beaux Collins back in '24.

 

[allenm5333]

With a healthy season Mickinney is going to be excellent. Skinny kid though and Colorado's S&C sucks. Wish he would have been at ND for the winter semester to out an extra layer of armor on.

Functionally, in season I think the depth chart will be...

BC: Moore
2. Sanders
3. Pouncey or Adams

FC: Mckinney
2. Sanders
3. Zackery

NB: Gray
2. Golden
3. Sanders

Agree. But could also see a situation that if an outside corner was hurt that they could possibly throw Gray there and role with Golden in the slot.

 

[IrishLax]

For anyone on campus to attend the spring game, #1 Notre Dame lacrosse also hosts #5 Syracuse at noon. Could make a fun double header.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Has there been news on Heberts staus for today?