Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SUMMER 2026 17 Williams for 53 yards. The Blue-Gold Game's longest play from scrimmage set up a touchdown run for true freshman running back Jonaz Walton. Hebert later reached the end zone on the best throw of the day from any signal-caller, threading the needle over the outstretched arm of 6-foot-4 safety Luke Talich. He found redshirt freshman wideout Elijah Burress in the back of the end zone from eight yards out. Hebert's day was Notre Dame's most successful statistically, connect- ing on 7 of 11 throws for 103 yards with 1 touchdown. "I think Blake's made tremendous progress from where he was a year ago to now," Denbrock said. "I see a lot of signs of someone who understands our offensive structure a little bit bet- ter. Understands how to adjust it a little bit better. So, I like the direction he's headed in. I think he did some really good things throughout the spring." Meanwhile, Grubbs hit fellow fresh- man wide receiver Devin Fitzgerald for a 28-yard touchdown later in the scrim- mage. But he also threw an interception over the middle to redshirt freshman safety Ethan Long, giving the Notre Dame defense a chance to win it late. "I called the same play two plays in a row," Denbrock said, explaining how he tested his young quarterback. "The first one, he took his medicine, he dropped it down to the back, and we gained, I think, a first down. … The exact next play, I called exactly the same play, and he forced the dig and it got picked off. "That's a great lesson for him, right? As frustrating as it is to have it hap- pen, there's no greater teacher than him going through that and understanding that." As for Carr, his day ended with an interception that was not at all his fault. On third-and-10, Carr executed an- other perfectly placed hole shot to red- shirt senior tight end Ty Washington. Washington dropped it, and the ball de- flected into the arms of redshirt senior linebacker Jaylen Sneed for the pick. Carr is Notre Dame's locked-in start- ing quarterback. Hebert and Grubbs are battling for the No. 2 job, with incom- ing freshman Teddy Jarrard set to join the fray in June. Neither spring prac- tice nor the Blue-Gold Game settled the competition, which will extend into fall camp. One thing is clear, though: Despite a slow start on Saturday, Denbrock and the Irish are lucky to have Carr at the helm. "He's in a position now where he can steer the ship," Denbrock said. "Some- times he steers it in the ditch, and sometimes he steers it on the straight and narrow. We're still working through all that, and that's his and [mine] to make sure we have a comfort level there. But he's done an incredible job of taking command." RUSHING ATT. YDS. AVG. TD LONG Aneyas Williams 10 38 3.8 1 7 Jonaz Walton 11 34 3.0 1 7 Blake Hebert 1 8 8.0 0 8 Kurtis Smith 2 7 3.5 0 6 Xavier Southall 2 5 2.5 0 3 Matt Williams 2 3 1.5 0 3 Nolan James Jr. 1 1 1.0 0 1 CJ Carr 1 -10 -10.0 0 0 Noah Grubbs 2 -12 -6.0 0 0 Totals 32 73 2.3 2 8 PASSING COM. ATT. PCT. YARDS TD INT. CJ Carr 7 15 46.7 55 0 1 Noah Grubbs 7 14 50.0 64 1 1 Blake Hebert 7 11 63.6 103 1 0 Totals 21 40 52.5 222 2 1 RECEIVING TAR. NO. YARDS AVG. TD LONG Cam Williams 6 3 57 19.0 0 53 Devin Fitzgerald 4 3 54 18.0 1 28 Aneyas Williams 3 3 13 4.3 0 8 Mylan Graham 3 2 31 15.5 0 20 Logan Saldate 3 2 17 8.5 0 9 Elijah Burress 5 2 15 7.5 1 8 Kurtis Smith 1 1 11 11.0 0 11 Micah Gilbert 5 1 7 7.0 0 7 Jonaz Walton 1 1 7 7.0 0 7 Xavier Southall 3 1 2 2.0 0 2 Jordan Faison 2 1 0 0.0 0 4 Bubba Frazier 1 1 0 0.0 0 4 Nolan James Jr. 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 James Flanigan 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 Totals 39 21 222 10.6 2 53 DEFENSE SOLO AST. TOTAL SACKS-YDS. TFL-YDS. INT.-YDS. PBU Jaylen Sneed 3 1 4 0.0-0 0.0-0 1-3 0 Ethan Long 3 0 3 0.0-0 0.0-0 1-20 1 Chaz Smith 3 0 3 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Luke Talich 2 1 3 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 1 Francis Brewu 2 1 3 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Sean Sevillano Jr. 2 1 3 0.0-0 1.0-1 0-0 0 Armel Mukam 2 0 2 1.0-6 1.0-6 0-0 0 Brauntae Johnson 2 0 2 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Adon Shuler 2 0 2 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 1 Christian Gray 2 0 2 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Davion Dixon 2 0 2 0.0-0 0-0 0-0 0 Jayden Sanders 1 1 2 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 2 Rodney Dunham 1 1 2 0.5-3 0.5-3 0-0 0 Keon Keeley 1 1 2 0.5-3 0.5-3 0-0 0 Ayden Pouncey 1 1 2 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 1 Teddy Rezac 1 1 2 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Madden Faraimo 1 1 2 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Tionne Gray 1 0 1 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Cole Mullins 1 0 1 0.0-0 1.0-1 0-0 0 Elijah Golden 1 0 1 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Boubacar Traore 1 0 1 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Loghan Thomas 1 0 1 1.0-10 1.0-10 0-0 0 Mark Zackery IV 1 0 1 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 1 Patrick Downes 1 0 1 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Chase Young 1 0 1 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Joe Reiff 1 0 1 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Ko'o Kia 1 0 1 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Christopher Burgess Jr. 0 1 1 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Tommy Powlus 0 1 1 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 0 Ebenezer Ewetade 0 0 0 0.0-0 0.0-0 0-0 1 Totals 41 12 53 3.0-22 5.0-24 2-23 8 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS BLUE 41, GOLD 40 April 25, 2026 • Attendance: 45,308 Notre Dame Stadium • South Bend TOUCHDOWNS AND FIELD GOALS Team Scoring Play Blue Walton 4-yard rush (Porath kick) Blue Williams 3-yard rush (Porath kick) Blue Burress 8-yard pass from Hebert (Schmidt kick) Blue Fitzgerald 28-yard pass from Grubbs (Portah kick) Blue Porath 43-yards field goal