Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MAY 2025 29 set up a critical touchdown drive early in the third quarter. Viliamu-Asa and Williams were valu- able role players in 2024 — a rotational linebacker and a third-down running back — with the chance to be much more down the line. The former has all the traits of a do-it-all prototype at Will or a thumper at Mike, and he's a strong contender to start at the former this season. For the latter, it's impos- sible to escape comparisons to another recent Notre Dame running back named Williams. Aneyas and Kyren even hail from the same state (Missouri). The third player who fits that cat- egory might have the highest ceiling in the entire class: defensive end Bryce Young. He earned the team's special teams player of the year award as a freshman, blocking 3 kicks and terror- izing blockers in kickoff coverage. The 6-foot-7, 260-pound rising sophomore was up and down as an edge defender in Year 1. But everyone in the program believes he has All-America, first-round potential, and his Year 2 leap has a chance to be astronomical. "The sky is the limit for the kid," Irish defensive coordinator Chris Ash said. "I don't think he has any idea how good he can be." FIGHTING FOR ROLES Moore, Knapp, Viliamu-Asa, Wil- liams and Young are locked in as either starters or major contributors from the 2024 class. As many as 11 more could realistically see the field in 2025. The wide receiver room doesn't have space for all three of Micah Gilbert, Lo- gan Saldate and Cam Williams, but at least one of them is likely to join the ro- tation. Same thing with the safeties. The hard-hitting Kennedy Urlacher and the uber-athletic Tae Johnson are generat- ing buzz in spring practice and should both contribute in some capacity. Elsewhere in the secondary, Karson Hobbs can play both corner and nickel, and Notre Dame would like to rotate the former more than they did last year. In the backfield, Kedren Young will have a tough time displacing Williams, Jer- emiyah Love or Jadarian Price, but he could emerge as a secondary ball carrier. And at the line of scrimmage, offensive tackle Guerby Lambert and defensive tackle Sean Sevillano Jr. on defense are physical freaks who could become key backups at their respective positions. Lambert might have an outside shot to start, but a recent shoulder surgery hurts his chances. There is upside all over this group, which will, at the very least, bolster Notre Dame's depth. If there's one lesson Irish fans learned from the 2024 season, it's that backups are very important. It's also notable that, while the spring transfer portal is coming up, no one in the 2024 class had left Notre Dame as of April 10. In modern college football, that's a rare sign of program stability. QB1? Also rare in 2025: A home-grown quarterback. Notre Dame will start one this season, and it could very well be sophomore signal-caller CJ Carr. Carr committed to the Irish in the summer of 2022, and he's been con- sidered the quarterback of the future ever since. He's competing with Kenny Minchey and Steve Angeli for the QB1 job, which does not have a clear winner at this time. "Just experience in the offense, com- mand of the offense, being in the second year of the offense," Notre Dame quar- terbacks coach Gino Guidugli said about where Carr has improved. "He's done a good job of jumping into that, and then to build on that, once you kind of master the offense, you're not thinking about that anymore. Your ability to process the defense pre-snap, I think he's come a long way there." Carr did not throw for most of the 2024 season, having suffered an elbow injury in practice in September. Now, however, he's 100 percent healthy. If he does wind up being Notre Dame's quar- terback for the next two to three years, the class of 2024 could go down as one of the most significant recruiting hauls in program history. ✦ Offensive tackle Anthonie Knapp was elevated to the starting role for the season opener at Texas A&M, and he would start the next 14 games, a record for a Notre Dame freshman, until his season-ending ankle injury in the Orange Bowl. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER