Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 APRIL 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER UNDER THE DOME Notre Dame's situation could go a few different ways, but if Carr is healthy, he should get a chance to end the team's run of transfers and lead the offense for multiple seasons. Carr looked like the team's most talented quarterback in April's spring game, and the grandson of former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr came to Notre Dame as ESPN's No. 2 pocket passer and No. 36 overall recruit in the 2024 class. Although backup Steve Angeli has waited patiently and been effective when given opportunities, Carr is seen as having a higher talent ceiling." — ESPN on projecting rising sophomore CJ CARR to be Notre Dame's starting quarterback in 2025 No. 5 Is the average rank for Notre Dame in way-too- early 2025 college foot- ball rankings produced by The Athletic (No. 3), CBS Sports (No. 3), ESPN (No. 4), FOX Sports (No. 4), NCAA.com (No. 4), Sports Illustrated (No. 4), Pro Football Focus (No. 5), On3 (No. 5), Yahoo Sports! (No. 6) and USA Today (No. 8) in late January. Even though Notre Dame came up short in the na- tional championship, the Fight- ing Irish have a great chance of making another run next season. "According to PFF's wins-above-av- erage metric, eight of their 15 most valuable players should be returning to school. That includes running back Jeremiyah Love and cornerback Leonard Moore, who each project as the best players in the country at their respective positions heading into next year. "The biggest question Notre Dame faces is who will be replacing Riley Leonard under center. The current favorite is his backup, Steve Angeli, who earned an 83.9 PFF grade on 104 snaps this year." — Pro Football Focus 1987-88 Marked the last, and currently the only, time a Fighting Irish men's basketball player aver- aged at least 20 points and 3 assists per game over the course of a season. Point guard David Rivers did it that year, posting 22.0 points and 5.6 assists per game while leading Notre Dame to its fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. This year, Markus Burton was averaging 22.2 points and 3.1 assists per game through 24 games played as of March 10. If he main- tains that pace through the end of the season, he'll join Rivers as the only Irish players to do that and would be just the 15th ACC player to achieve that milestone since 1996. I don't care about anybody's opinion. I know who I am. I know I can coach basketball. And I know I'm turning this program around. If you gave up on me already, I'm going to see you back here. I don't give a damn. Don't give up on these kids. Because we're going to get this thing rolling. I sat there and watched more Louisville fans in here than Notre Dame people. And that's embarrassing. That's embarrassing for me because I'm the head coach here. And yes, I got us in this predicament. But don't come back when we're losing — or when we're winning. Because we're turning this around. You better believe that. "Write this date down and believe it! Because we're going to get this thing rolling! I don't care if you gave up on us or not!" — Notre Dame men's basketball coach after his team lost 75-60 to Louisville Feb. 16 54 Games was how long it took for Notre Dame point guard Markus Burton to eclipse the 1,000-career point milestone, etching his name alongside the program's all-time greats. He became the seventh- fastest Irish player to do so: Rk. Player Games 1. Austin Carr 35 2. Adrian Dantley 44 3. Tom Hawkins 44 4. Bob Arnzen 47 5. John Shumate 47 6. Troy Murphy 48 7. Markus Burton 54 8. Gary Brokaw 58 9. Chris Thomas 60 Burton also became the program's 68th overall player to tally 1,000 career points, which moved Notre Dame into a tie with Kansas for fourth place for most 1,000-point scorers behind North Caro- lina, Duke and Louisville. Notre Dame has the best backcourt in the country with Olivia Miles and Hannah Hi- dalgo. That duo immediately makes the Irish one of the favorites to win a title this year. Their depth was a concern early in the year, but they've gotten relatively healthy and proven that their starters have the motor to play most of the game, if necessary." — On3's Talia Goodman on Notre Dame being one of seven women's basketball national title contenders We're not trying to win three championships; we're trying to win one. We're proud of what last year's team did, but that was last year's team. This team's done nothing." — Notre Dame men's lacrosse head coach Kevin Corrigan 10.5 Is the 2025 over/under win total set by FanDuel Sportsbook for four schools: defending national champion Ohio State, national runner-up Notre Dame, Oregon and Penn State. Just behind that quartet was Georgia, Texas, Tennessee and Clemson at 9.5. NUMBERS AND QUOTES BY STEVE DOWNEY