Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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4 SEPT. 13, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED T o this point during his rel- atively short stint as the Notre Dame head coach, Marcus Freeman has pushed all the right buttons. His hiring decisions have all hit the mark. His message and methods are taking root. His re- cruiting is gaining steam. Player development is off the charts. And the transfers he's pulled from the portal have been great fits. Freeman's career path, so far, has been smooth. But faced this offseason with the two biggest transitional decisions he's made since he took the Fighting Irish top job in December 2021, Freeman and his instincts are being put to the test in Year 4, after naming redshirt freshman CJ Carr his starting quarterback, and hiring Chris Ash as his new defensive coordinator. Carr came to Notre Dame as the No. 6 quarterback recruit in the country, and he's expected to be a great Irish signal- caller for years to come. But Carr also entered this season without a collegiate pass attempt, making him the first Irish starting quarterback to open a season without throwing a pass since Brandon Wimbush drew the opening-day start in 2017 after DeShone Kizer left for the NFL. Looking back further — from when Ian Book became the starting quarter- back for three straight seasons from 2018-20 — the Irish have been blessed with experienced signal-callers for six of the last seven seasons. Freeman started veteran transfer quarterbacks the last two seasons with Riley Leonard in 2024 and Sam Hart- man in 2023 — the two combined for 66 total starts before transferring to Notre Dame — meaning Carr brings an inex- perience dynamic this season that Free- man hasn't faced and can't lose sight of. "You're going to have some growing pains with any first-time starter, we understand that," Freeman said. "We can't expect CJ to be perfect. There are some ups and downs that come with that position, with being a first-time starter." GOLDEN TO ASH Under former defensive coordinator Al Golden, the Irish defense became the cornerstone of the program, and one of the best units in the country the last two seasons. Enter Ash — a 51-year-old, well- traveled coach who has spent the last four seasons in the NFL, including 2024 when he was a scout for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Ash came to Notre Dame with high praise. But he hasn't worked in the college ranks since 2020. Outside of solid stints as the defen- sive coordinator at Wisconsin in 2011-12 and as the co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State in 2014-15, not much stands out on Ash's résumé, other than he moves around a lot. Between 2006, when Ash left Iowa State after seven seasons, and his hiring at Notre Dame in January, the journey- man coach made 10 career stops, only one of which lasted more than three years. Undeterred, Ash was the hire Freeman was willing to make. "Chris has a great reputa- tion of being a coach who builds strong relationships, while si- multaneously developing his players," Freeman said. "And that makes him a great fit for this role." Ash vowed upon his arrival not to fix something that wasn't broken. The Irish defense un- der Golden last season finished among the top 15 nationally in nearly every pertinent category, including total defense, scoring defense, passing defense and turnovers forced. "At the end of the day, the way Notre Dame has played defense is the way Notre Dame is going to play defense in the future," Ash vowed. Whether it was bringing in Mike Denbrock as his new offensive coordinator last season, or Leonard to help bridge the quarterback gap from veteran in 2024 to a first-year starter in 2025, every hiring and coaching deci- sion Freeman has made so far has been near flawless. But none of those previous coach- ing moves carried the immediate and long-term implications in the way the choices of starting Carr or hiring Ash do against a front-loaded Irish schedule that includes two SEC opponents (Texas A&M and Arkansas), and two double- digit-win teams from last season (Mi- ami and Boise State), during their first five games. Ready or not, Freeman believes that both his new quarterback and his new defensive coordinator are up to the im- mediate and long-term challenges this season will present. Beyond that, his two critical offseason decisions will be the compass in coming years to program progression, stagnation or regression. ✦ Marcus Freeman made the first real quarterback decision of his Notre Dame head coaching career during fall camp, picking redshirt freshman CJ Carr to be the team's starter. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com. UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE Offseason Decisions Open A New Chapter For Freeman