Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MAY 2025 9 UNDER THE DOME TWO SOPHOMORES SIDELINED IN SPRING WITH INJURIES The 2024 spring season was a fruitful one for Notre Dame wide receiver Micah Gilbert. Time and again, he showed up as one of the Fighting Irish's best pass catchers in periods of practice open to the media — and in social media clips posted by the team itself, too. Gilbert's rise was put on pause when Beaux Collins arrived from Clemson last summer and the more experienced players on the depth chart started rising to the top with the season approaching. Sure enough, Gilbert was not the same fixture in the Notre Dame offense in the fall that he was in the spring. In 16 games during Gilbert's true freshman season, he only played 43 offensive snaps. He ran 13 routes, was targeted twice and had zero catches. Infamously, he dropped a would-be touchdown in garbage time against Stanford on a perfectly thrown ball from Notre Dame quarterback Steve Angeli. All of that behind him, spring 2025 could have been used as another springboard for Gilbert — this time, into actually meaningful contributions during the season. Call it a sophomore step forward. Or not. Gilbert broke his hand on the first day of spring practice. He had surgery, and he has a six- to eight- week timeline for recovery. He was able to suit up and run around with his Notre Dame teammates for most of the spring, but he was not able to catch any passes or play in actual team periods. "Everything no ball — still able to run routes, get the mental reps that I need, watch film, stay around the team," Gilbert said. "Just no ball involved. Nothing that can cause harm to my hand." Additionally, fellow sophomore Guerby Lambert had shoulder surgery midway through the spring to repair an injured labrum. He had been getting many first-team reps at right tackle with senior Aamil Wagner on a modified spring plan. Every look was a valuable one for Lambert, who enrolled last summer and was participating in his first spring season. Lambert's setback could prove to be as minor as possible, though, just like that of Gilbert; head coach Marcus Freeman said Lambert should be recovered and ready to roll for fall camp in a few months. He'll have a chance then to put himself right back in the mix as an option for playing time at either tackle spot. — Tyler Horka Marcus Freeman knows Notre Dame's lead- ership will be different this year. This storyline can grow stale and tiring in the preseason. No one will ever say "we lack lead- ership" until they show in games that they do. But it matters, particularly for a Notre Dame team that lost so much of it — Jack Kiser, Riley Leonard, Rylie Mills, Xavier Watts, Benjamin Morrison, Howard Cross III, Mitchell Evans, Pat Coogan and more — from the 2024-25 team that reached the national championship game. Leadership is how a team survives after a seemingly crippling early season loss to a Mid- American Conference school. Leadership is how a team braves through the gantlet of a 16-game season and a 12-team College Football Playoff. Notre Dame had outstanding leadership last year. If it does this year, Freeman doesn't know who will provide it yet. "You'll see a different type of leadership," Freeman said. "I want it to be organic. I want it to be authentic. That's what I look forward to seeing in spring." Freeman didn't call out anyone by name, but he said he's seen leadership in the weight room and during speed training throughout offseason conditioning. It's time, though, to see it in action on the field. "Who are the guys who are going to be energy providers?" Freeman said. "Who's going to be the guys that, at times, need to challenge the other guys? Who's going to be an older guy that puts his arm around a freshman? Those are all different things that you observe in terms of leadership." One veteran Freeman did mention as having leadership qualities: Alabama graduate transfer nickel back DeVonta Smith. Notre Dame has named a graduate trans- fer a captain for two straight seasons now: Leonard in 2024 and Sam Hartman in 2023. They were rare cases, because both played the quarterback position. But if the Irish didn't have so many fifth- and sixth-year returning starters coming back last year, someone like Jordan Clark would have had a realistic shot at captainship (although, as Freeman will tell you, you don't need to be a captain to be a leader). Freeman knows Smith better than most grad- uate transfers, because he grew up in Cincinnati. The fourth-year Notre Dame head coach is from the Dayton, Ohio, area and got to know Smith and his family well, both while he coached at Cincinnati and while Smith was being recruited. "He's a great young man and obviously did some wonderful things at Alabama when he was there," Freeman said. "He brings a leadership aspect. He's a tremendous athlete that's played a lot of football at a high level. I think the integra- tion into our defense, what we're asking him to do, is not going to be such a curve for him." Still, Freeman knows the Irish will have a younger leadership group than they did in 2024. It's on the coaching staff, starting in spring practice, to identify and develop them. "We have to continue to help our young people that we view as leaders understand what leadership is," Freeman said. "I don't know if you have the 20 — I don't know how old Kiser was, the 26-, 25-year-old guy who can tell the older guys what leadership is. But I do think we have a good group of leaders spread out amongst the team." — Jack Soble Wide receiver Micah Gilbert broke his hand on the first day of spring practice. While he could suit up with his Notre Dame teammates for most of the spring, he was not able to catch any passes or play in actual team periods. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER Freeman knows the Fighting Irish will have a younger lead- ership group than they did in 2024. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER MARCUS FREEMAN SEEKS TO FILL LEADERSHIP VOID