Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 4, 2025 39 GAME PREVIEW: BOISE STATE in 2025. Losing defensive end Ahmed Hassanein (62 pressures in 2024) to the NFL has hurt the Broncos, whose pass rush isn't much to be feared right now. Notre Dame's passing attack is much more talented than South Florida's. Redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr has found great success throwing to ju- nior wide receiver Jordan Faison and redshirt senior Malachi Fields as of late, and the pass protection has gotten sig- nificantly better since Week 1 at Miami. Carr has proven to be an accurate passer who can push the ball down- field when given time in the pocket, and there's no reason to expect he won't have time in the pocket against Boise State. Advantage: Notre Dame SPECIAL TEAMS Seven of USF's 34 points against Boise State came on a 45-yard fake punt from backup quarterback Locklan Hewlett (incidentally, the son of Carr's private quarterback coach, Will Hewlett). Notice how that says "backup quar- terback," not "punter." South Florida — and this is true — had Hewlett line up in the punter's spot in punt forma- tion and no one on Boise State noticed. The Broncos are susceptible to fakes, which Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman and special teams coordinator Marty Biagi love to draw up. As far as kicking goes, Boise State has attempted 3 field goals and made 1 through Week 4. The Broncos have used two different kickers, which is no- table. Irish redshirt senior kicker Noah Burnette was solid through two games until he injured his hip, and if he's not available, true freshman Erik Schmidt hooked his lone attempt so far. Punting-wise, Boise State's Oscar Doyle leads the Mountain West with 49.8 yards per punt. Notre Dame's James Rendell has been good this year as well, putting 3 of his 6 punts inside the 20 at an average of 45.3 yards per punt. We'll call that a wash. Notre Dame has the advantage in the return game, though. Price ran back his second career kickoff return touchdown against Purdue. That, along with the gaffe on the fake punt, gives the Irish the edge. Advantage: Notre Dame COACHING Spencer Danielson rose through the ranks at Boise State the old-fashioned way, from graduate assistant to posi- tion coach to co-defensive coordinator to defensive coordinator to head coach. He's been with the Broncos since 2017, so he knows what it takes to win at col- lege football's most prestigious Group of Five program. Rebounding from the USF game will be a challenge, but there's reason to be confident that Danielson is up to it. He nearly knocked off Oregon in Week 2 a year ago and earned a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff — with Jeanty, but still. Meanwhile, Irish head coach Marcus Freeman lost two straight close games to open the season, but in-game coach- ing decisions did not impact either out- come. Freeman maintains the benefit of the doubt as an in-game coach that he earned throughout Notre Dame's run to the national championship game in 2024. Except where the defensive coor- dinator is concerned, the Irish are a OFFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. WR-X 5 Chris Marshall 6-3 215 R-Jr. 83 Qumonte Williams Jr. 6-5 190 Fr. WR-F 3 Latrell Caples 6-0 195 6th 25 Quinton Brown 5-8 165 Fr. or 13 Chase Penry 6-0 192 R-Sr. LT 77 Kage Casey 6-5 311 R-Jr. 70 Kyle Cox 6-6 300 R-So. LG 78 Tyler Keinath 6-2 318 R-Sr. or 67 Jason Steele 6-4 300 R-So. C 63 Mason Randolph 6-4 310 R-Sr. 72 Zach Holmes 6-2 295 R-Sr. RG 62 Roger Carreon 6-5 310 R-Jr. 64 Carson Rasmussen 6-5 300 R-So. RT 75 Daylon Metoyer 6-4 321 R-Jr. or 65 Hall Schmidt 6-7 310 R-Jr. TE 85 Matt Lauter 6-3 245 R-Sr. 88 Matt Wagner 6-5 250 R-So. WR-Z 80 Cameron Bates 5-10 180 So. or 82 Ben Ford 5-10 187 R-Sr. QB 4 Maddux Madsen 5-10 207 R-Jr. 14 Max Cutforth 6-2 208 R-So. RB 26 Sire Gaines 6-0 217 R-Fr. or 8 Malik Sherrod 5-8 177 6th DEFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. DE 95 Max Stege 6-4 269 Jr. 15 Malakai Williams 6-5 252 R-Sr. NT 92 David Latu 6-4 325 R-Jr. or 19 Dion Washington 6-2 305 R-Sr. DT 90 Braxton Fely 6-1 296 Sr. 99 Michael Madrie 6-4 290 R-So. or 94 Keanu Mailoto 6-5 282 R-Sr. EDGE 5 Jayden Virgin-Morgan 6-3 260 R-Jr. 91 Bol Bol 6-4 240 Fr. or 13 Sterling Lane II 6-3 238 R-Jr. MLB 53 Marco Notarainni 6-3 240 R-Sr. 41 Boen Phelps 6-1 215 R-So. WLB 43 Jake Ripp 6-3 240 R-Jr. 17 Clay Martineau 6-3 227 So. N 4 Davon Banks 5-11 188 R-Sr. or 20 Jaden Mickey 6-0 182 R-Jr. FS 0 Ty Benefield 6-2 205 Jr. 38 Travis Anderson 5-11 190 R-Fr. or 31 Cole Miller 6-0 186 R-So. BS 21 Zion Washington 6-1 214 R-Sr. or 10 Derek Ganter Jr. 6-0 212 R-So. FC 7 A'Marion McCoy 6-0 180 5th 16 Franklyn Johnson Jr. 5-10 172 R-So. BC 6 Jeremiah Earby 6-2 186 Sr. or 14 Demetrius Freeney 6-0 187 R-Jr. SPECIAL TEAMS Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. P 37 Oscar Doyle 6-3 214 Jr. 16 Kaleb Annett 6-3 195 R-Fr. K 35 Colton Boomer 5-10 175 R-Jr. 48 Canaan Moore 5-11 170 Fr. or 30 Jarrett Reeser 5-9 205 R-Jr. KO 35 Colton Boomer 5-10 175 R-Jr. or 30 Jarrett Reeser 5-9 205 R-Jr. H 37 Oscar Doyle 6-3 214 Jr. 31 Cole Miller 6-0 186 R-So. LS 42 Mason Hutton 6-5 230 R-Sr. 54 Hunter Higham 6-3 245 R-So. KR 8 Malik Sherrod 5-8 177 6th 24 Dylan Riley 5-10 192 So. or 80 Cameron Bates 5-10 180 So. PR 8 Malik Sherrod 5-8 177 6th 3 Latrell Caples 6-0 195 6th BOISE STATE BRONCOS TWO-DEEP DEPTH CHART