Keys to the Season: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
By Stiofán Mac Fhilib
2025 should be a fascinating season for Notre Dame fans as they see just what stamp fourth year Head Coach, Marcus Freeman, can put on his program. A year ago he became the first ever Irish HC to win 14 games in a season, as the expanded 12-team playoff format saw ND go 11-1 in the regular season before reaching the National Championship Game, finishing 14-2.
Like his predecessor just over a decade ago, Freeman’s injury-beset team couldn’t take the final step, albeit with a more impressive display down in Miami than Brian Kelly’s 2012 team could muster there against Alabama. But college football’s most storied program did win the first ever home playoff game in the sport’s history, and more importantly, won Notre Dame’s first two NY6 bowl games in over 30 years. Within the space of less than a week!
The sheer determination they showed in recovering from their early bizarre and embarrassing home defeat to the sixth best team in the MAC, Northern Illinois, spoke volumes about Freeman’s leadership and maturity in his role. And with the talent they can field in 2025, pre-season expectations in South Bend, and all around ND Nation, haven’t been as high since late in the Lou Holtz era. In other words, for over 30 years.
For all that, however, there remain some key questions to be answered by the AP Pre-season Poll #6 Irish over the next four or five months. How these each play out will likely determine just how far into January 2026 we see the Irish playing.
Is CJ Carr the Prince who was Promised?
As he enters the second season of his third stint coaching at Notre Dame, OC, Mike Denbrock, has plenty to work with on his side of the ball. Arguably the best RB room in college football, led by the imperious, and more importantly fully healthy, Jeremiyah Love. He will get to run behind an Offensive Line expected to be at least Joe Moore Award semi-finalists. And quite possibly a lot better by season’s end.
When they travelled to Texas A&M for the 2024 season-opener the starting OL had a combined six career starts. In Miami on Labor Day weekend, they’ll have 52. Though they’re all still young enough to have at least one more year of eligibility after this one.
The Wide Receiver room was significantly strengthened by the arrivals of Malachi Fields from UVa and Wisconsin’s Will Pauling, to complement playoff star, Jaden Greathouse, and dual-sports Lacross national champion, Jordan Faison.
Tight End Eli Raridon, has been beset by injuries during his time with the Irish, but now back to full health, he is ND’s biggest pass-catching threat at a position that is a little thin due to the injuries to Cooper Flanagan and the now medically retired Kevin Bauman.
All in all though, the supporting pieces for the offense to take a step forward and become more balanced are all there…only one big question remains. And it is around the most important position on the entire field. Can much hyped redshirt freshman QB, CJ Carr, live up to the heavy expectations placed upon him? And how quickly?
The four-star prospect is rated the best Irish QB hope since the days of Jimmy Clausen and Brady Quinn. But, he has yet to throw a live pass, and while he made some very impressive throws in both of his Blue-Gold Spring Game appearances, by all accounts it was a very close-run battle between him and redshirt junior, Kenny Minchey, in Fall Camp.
Certainly he has the higher long-term upside, but in a season where ND’s schedule is heavily front loaded, and the two hardest games of all are the opening pair, his starting goals may be more to not lose games than to win them.
How well and how quickly he adapts to the college game will play a huge role in where the Irish hope to be seeded come early December.
Operation Enhance the Defense
On a Notre Dame defense that returns a strong core of players with lots of experience in 2024, the biggest question surrounds the ability of new DC, Chris Ash, to hit the ground running, after the remarkable job by his predecessor, especially en route to the National Championship Game last year.
Curiously Ash’s résumé is not entirely dissimilar to that of Al Golden. Both had great success at least a decade ago in the DC role, had a less than ideal time as a Head Coach, and then went to the NFL and learned from that experience.
Ash is certainly a quick learner in his boss’s terminology. Marcus Freeman’s current mot du jour is ‘enhance’ and you’ll hear players and assistant coaches parrot that frequently. And when asked what changes or new systems Ash was planning to bring or install, he didn’t hesitate to say he was simply there to enhance what the Irish defense already did well.
It was certainly noticeable in the Spring, when coaches were allowed to go out on the road to recruit, that Notre Dame took advantage of the recent rule changes allowing analysts, i.e. assistant position coaches, to actively recruit instead. Ash stayed in South Bend to ‘learn the ND defense’, which tells you everything about what Freeman wants him to do.
The most obvious enhancement should see the Irish playing more zone coverage, with some other tweaks to the DE rotation and how they line up on passing downs. He surely has plenty of talent to work with. The obvious strengths are at DE, LB and CB, but after Fall Camp, the coaches seem high on their DT rotation, especially Jason Onye, while Adon Shuler and Virginia Tech transfer, Jalen Stroman, are expected to play at a high level at Safety.
When asked about the overall talent, Ash reckoned the only other team he’d been on with comparable talent levels was the 2014 Ohio State team. If Ash can lead his 2025 Notre Dame defense to the same result at the end of the season, there will be an awful lot of happy Irish fans both in Miami and around the world!
Just how Special will Marty Biagi’s units be?
Notre Dame’s kicking game was quite the rollercoaster ride in 2024. South Carolina transfer, Mitch Jeter, started the season well, but after an injury early on, the rest of the regular season was a mess, until he regained full fitness and his mojo. The playoffs saw him make vital kicks against Georgia, and of course, his famous game-winner with eight seconds remaining against Penn State.
The Irish again then turned to the now usual portal route, taking Noah Burnette from UNC. His remarkable second season kicking, where he was 19-20 on Field Goals, was sandwiched between a pair of 15-21 years. Interestingly he has a better career record between 40-49 yards than 30-39. Fall Camp reports were a little mixed, but it is a position where ND definitely needs better production, and quickly, given the opening schedule.
Australian punter, James Rendell was successful in gaining another year of eligibility and will look to add consistency to his undoubtedly strong leg. His technique is not always aesthetically pleasing, nor always entirely effective, though he did manage to land almost half of his 50 punts inside the opponent’s 20 yard line, and without a single touchback. He is another player whose importance could be critical in the opening half of the regular season schedule.
Elsewhere on Special Teams, coordinator, Marty Biagi, will look to enhance his return and blocking units. The team’s top RB pair, Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, have been named as the KO returners, though I suspect Love will be used judiciously in that role, mostly in bigger games.
Blocking kicks and punts has been a unit speciality in recent seasons, and with the likes of Jason Onye and Bryce Young available, ND fans will look to see Biagi enhance that aspect of their game too.
STIOFÁN MAC FHILIB
COLLEGE FOOTBALL ANALYST
A VERY LONG-DISTANCE SUBWAY ALUMNUS OF NOTRE DAME, COUNTY ANTRIM-BASED STIOFÁN HAS BEEN A FAN OF THE FIGHTING IRISH SINCE 2000. FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER @SMACFHILIB.