Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM FEBRUARY 2026 19 of the fan base's ire on Knapp in 2025. But look beneath the surface and you'll find a darn good offensive lineman. Knapp earned above-average Pro Football Focus grades across the board, including a 73.3 mark as a run blocker, which is his strength. He also only al- lowed 9 quarterback pressures all sea- son, including just 5 in Notre Dame's final nine games. Whether he sticks at tackle long-term is up for debate, but Knapp has started 27 of 28 possible games in his college career. He's been a rock for the Irish on the left side. BEST 'NEXT OPTION' 1. Redshirt freshman S Tae Johnson Virginia Tech transfer Jalen Stroman started the season in Xavier Watts' old position. A game and a half later, Notre Dame replaced him with Johnson, who — and we do not say this lightly — is a lot like Watts, but bigger and faster. Johnson was a Freshman All-Amer- ican in 10 games (eight starts) for the Irish, and he intercepted 4 passes, sec- ond on the team only to Moore. If not for a couple missed opportunities, it easily could have been more. Johnson has an uncanny ability to read a quarterback's intentions and blitz his coverage as- signment, which makes him a takeaway machine. Notre Dame understandably deferred to the veteran in Week 1, seeing as John- son was still so new to the safety posi- tion. But it wasn't long before he took hold of Watts' old spot for the long haul. 2. Wide receiver Will Pauling Pauling split reps with Jaden Great- house in the slot, but when Greathouse went down with a hamstring injury four games into the season, the Wisconsin transfer became a featured player in Notre Dame's offense. Pauling caught 26 passes for 381 yards and a team-high 6 touchdowns, including a score in five straight games between Sept. 27 and Nov. 1. He was a security blanket for Carr, with a pen- chant for making plays after the catch (8 missed tackles forced). Perhaps most importantly, Paul- ing instantly became a leader in Notre Dame's locker room. He is the only first-year, non-quarterback transfer in program history to be named a captain, an incredible accomplishment. 3. Redshirt sophomore C Joe Otting Elite redshirt junior center Ashton Craig went down with a season-ending knee injury ahead of Notre Dame's most important game of its 10-game win- ning streak, an Oct. 18 matchup against Southern Cal. Otting entered the lineup for his first career start, and he did maul the Trojans. On Love's first carry, Otting and left guard Billy Schrauth cleared the hole. On Love's touchdown later that series, Otting moved his man out of the gap. Love and Price enjoyed massive holes up the middle the entire game, and that doesn't happen without a strong per- formance from the center. Otting allowed 4 quarterback pres- sures in 6 starts, and he excelled at cut- ting off linebackers at the second level. FRESHMEN OF THE YEAR T1. Cornerback Dallas Golden Alabama transfer DeVonta Smith in- jured his calf early in the year. Notre Dame thought it had a viable replace- ment at nickel in Karson Hobbs, a red- shirt freshman who had been waiting for an opening for playing time like the one given to him with the Smith injury. As it turned out, Hobbs wasn't ready for such a big responsibility after all. He didn't perform up to standard and has since entered the transfer portal. It was actually Golden who was best equipped to be the next man up at nickel. Golden was one of four Notre Dame true freshmen who played in more than four games. Two of the other three are also on this list. Among the four, Golden logged the most snaps (311). Golden was the only Notre Dame true freshman to have at least 20 total tackles and he was one of two with an interception. T1. Cornerback Mark Zackery IV A team's top two outside corners are always going to be among two of the most played players on the roster. Sure enough, Christian Gray logged 638 de- fensive snaps and Leonard Moore was on the field for 632. Only safety Adon Shuler played more than them at 661 snaps, and he did it in 12 games. Gray and Moore played 10 each. That means someone else had to step up and eat up snaps outside, and Zack- ery was the one to do it. He played 307 defensive snaps, and he started three games. His starts came in Notre Dame's first win of the season, first road win of the season and at Boston College. When in a pinch, the Irish leaned on Zackery, and he was a solid contributor. 3. Linebacker Madden Faraimo Only one true freshman can say he played in every game for the Irish in 2025. Faraimo. The most impressive part of Fara- imo's first collegiate season didn't come on defense but rather on special teams. Notre Dame takes as much pride in propping up the third phase of the game as any program in college football, and Faraimo was on the field in a special teams capacity more than every one of his teammates but one. Preston Zinter made 211 special teams appearances. Faraimo made 181. Faraimo finished with 16 tackles, in- cluding 3 for loss (2 sacks). It is only the beginning for him, too. He'll be a snap- eater on defense before long as well. ✦ Redshirt freshman Tae Johnson entered the start- ing lineup a few games into the season and missed the final two games of the year, but he still fin- ished second on the team in interceptions with 4. PHOTO BY FRANK HYATT