Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541560
36 NOV. 29, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: STANFORD NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. STANFORD RUN DEFENSE One of the few things Stanford does better than average is play run defense. After a season-best performance of holding North Carolina to 50 yards on 27 carries Nov. 8, the Cardinal ranked 32nd nationally in run defense. Stanford had an open date Nov. 15. But Stanford hasn't seen anything like Notre Dame junior Jeremiyah Love this season, and barely saw him last season. The 2025 Heisman Trophy contender got just 6 carries (53 yards and a touchdown) in a game that got out of hand and prompted then-running backs coach Deland McCullough to go five deep in distributing carries to his backs. It will be Love's last chance this year to impress the Heisman Trophy voters before the vote is taken on conference championship game weekend in early December. As a team, Notre Dame's average of 5.25 yards per carry was 17th-best nationally going into the Syracuse game, and the best the Cardinal has faced this season. It could be the final college regular-season game for both Love and redshirt junior Jadarian Price, each of whom has one year of eligibility left. Notre Dame's two most likely candidates to be the Irish starter in 2026 if both Love and Price head to the NFL, sophomore Aneyas Williams and freshman Nolan James Jr., could get some play in this game. Advantage: Notre Dame OFFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. WR 0 Malachi Fields 6-4 222 R-Sr. 5 Cam Williams 6-2 200 R-Fr. WR 2 Will Pauling 5-10 190 R-Sr. or 1 Jaden Greathouse 6-1 215 Jr. LT 54 Anthonie Knapp 6-4 300 So. 71 Styles Prescod 6-6 292 R-Fr. LG 75 Sullivan Absher 6-8 327 R-So. 55 Chris Terek 6-6 322 R-So. C 64 Joe Otting 6-4 308 R-So. 57 Cam Herron 6-2 285 Fr. RG 76 Guerby Lambert 6-7 335 R-Fr. or 75 Sullivan Absher 6-8 327 R-So. RT 59 Aamil Wagner 6-6 300 R-Jr. 76 Guerby Lambert 6-7 335 R-Fr. TE 9 Eli Raridon 6-7 252 Sr. 7 Ty Washington 6-4 248 R-Jr. or 85 Jack Larsen 6-3 250 R-Fr. WR 6 Jordan Faison 5-10 185 Jr. 11 KK Smith 6-0 176 R-So. QB 13 CJ Carr 6-3 210 R-Fr. 8 Kenny Minchey 6-2 208 R-So. RB 4 Jeremiyah Love 6-0 214 Jr. 24 Jadarian Price 5-11 210 R-Jr. DEFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. DE 5 Boubacar Traore 6-4 250 R-So. 44 Junior Tuihalamaka 6-2 255 Sr. or 12 Jordan Botelho 6-3 260 R-Sr. DT 47 Jason Onye 6-5 302 R-Sr. 42 Cole Mullins 6-5 275 R-Fr. DT 41 Donovan Hinish 6-2 277 R-Jr. 93 Jared Dawson 6-1 288 R-Sr. DE 95 Bryce Young 6-7 271 So. 40 Joshua Burnham 6-4 260 R-Jr. WILL 3 Jaylen Sneed 6-2 230 R-Jr. 4 Jaiden Ausberry 6-2 228 R-So. MIKE 34 Drayk Bowen 6-2 235 Jr. 27 Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa 6-3 230 So. CB 15 Leonard Moore 6-2 195 So. 18 Chance Tucker 6-0 183 R-Sr. BS 8 Adon Shuler 6-0 205 R-So. 28 Luke Talich 6-4 210 Jr. FS 9 Tae Johnson 6-2 192 R-Fr. 7 Jalen Stroman 6-1 201 R-Sr. CB 6 Christian Gray 6-0 190 Jr. 24 Mark Zackery IV 5-11 175 Fr. NIC 0 DeVonta Smith 5-11 195 R-Sr. 14 Dallas Golden 6-0 187 Fr. SPECIAL TEAMS Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. KO 18 Erik Schmidt 6-2 210 Fr. PK 18 Erik Schmidt 6-2 210 Fr. P 16 James Rendell 6-6 225 R-Sr. 18 Erik Schmidt 6-2 210 Fr. LS 96 Joseph Vinci 6-4 232 Fr. 49 Andrew Kros 6-4 225 Jr. H 10 Tyler Buchner 6-1 206 Sr. 16 Anthony Rezac 6-3 201 So. PR 6 Jordan Faison 5-10 185 Jr. or 2 Will Pauling 5-10 190 R-Sr. KR 4 Jeremiyah Love 6-0 214 Jr. or 24 Jadarian Price 5-11 210 R-Jr. NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH TWO-DEEP DEPTH CHART With 83 total stops, redshirt junior linebacker Matt Rose had tallied 33 more tackles than any of his teammates through 10 games and his mark of 8.3 tackles per game was tied for 40th in the country. PHOTO COURTESY STANFORD ATHLETICS