Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 PRESEASON 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME All Eyes On CJ Carr At Lambeau Field By Tyler Horka Remember when Sam Hartman was nearly flawless in his Notre Dame debut? When he had as many incomplete passes as touchdown tosses against Navy in Ireland — 4 apiece? While it's not CJ Carr's first start with the Fighting Irish, I've got a hunch he's going to be just as dynamite for Notre Dame in a neutral-site matchup against Wisconsin as Hartman was three years ago against the Midshipmen. Now, the two performances obviously have noth- ing to do with each other. But there is nothing wrong with remembering one recent outstanding outing for a high-profile Notre Dame quarterback and arriving at the idea another will emulate it. The thing with Carr is, he's beyond talented enough to do so. This is not a world-beating Wis- consin defense, either. If Notre Dame's team mantra is "leave no doubt," then Carr, a trendy name in the Heisman Trophy con- versation all offseason, might as well do exactly that from Week 1. It'll be a welcome sight for Irish fans to see that Carr wasn't a one-hit wonder or that he won't be prone to a second-year slump as the starter. You want a lot of players to have a Week 1 coming out party if you're Notre Dame, but who's more important to any team than QB1? In many ways, Notre Dame will go as Carr goes in 2026. And the redshirt sophomore quarterback from Saline, Mich., — who started all 12 games for the Irish a year ago — is going to be pretty good from the start. It'll be a long day for the Badgers' defense. Boubacar Traore Will Ruin Wisconsin Debuts By Tyler James Wisconsin entered its preseason camp with Old Dominion transfer Colton Joseph expected to be the team's starting quarterback and a pair of transfers — Lucas Simmons-Johansson (Florida State) and PJ Wilkins (Ole Miss) — bat- tling for the starting left tackle job. The challenge of Notre Dame redshirt junior defensive end Boubacar Traore awaits both positions. The 6-foot-5, 253-pound Traore led the Irish in sacks (6.5), tackles for loss (10) and quarterback hurries (8) last season. He's entering the 2026 season with expec- tations to make an even greater impact that could se- cure him a spot as a high pick in next year's NFL Draft. Traore can start to make his case as a game wrecker in 2026 in the season opener against Wisconsin. Regardless whether Simmons-Johansson or Wilkins wins the starting left tackle job for Wiscon- sin, neither possesses much game experience in that role. Wilkins has made four career starts between Charlotte (two in 2024) and Ole Miss (two in 2025), but they all came at left guard. Simmons-Johansson played just 84 of- fensive snaps as a backup left tackle in his three seasons with the Seminoles. Joseph, a two-year starter and 2025 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year, can't feel too comfortable about making his first start at Wisconsin with Traore on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Notre Dame should try to match Traore against Wisconsin's inexperienced left tackle in pass rush situations, but he can also be a force against the run. He'll be key in preventing Joseph, who rushed for 1,007 yards last season, from being a dangerous dual threat in the backfield. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WHO WILL BE NOTRE DAME'S MVP IN THE SEASON OPENER? The first three seasons of the Micah Shrewsberry era for Notre Dame men's basketball haven't been filled with a lot of highs. Shrewsberry owns a 41-56 record at Notre Dame after leading the Irish to three consecutive losing seasons. His oldest son, Braeden Shrewsberry, has been a key player on all three of those Irish teams. Now the senior guard, who averaged 11.9 points per game the last three seasons, is pushing to be a leader in a program that sorely needs positive momentum. The Irish lost six players to the transfer portal in the offseason and replaced them with transfers from Gonzaga, Rutgers, Winthrop, Penn, Davidson and Division II UVA Wise. Shrewsberry is a career 38.1 percent shooter from three-point range at Notre Dame, but he's working to find more ways to impact games for the Irish in the 2026-27 sea- son. He sat down with Blue & Gold Illustrated in July while the team was going through summer practices. Here are some highlights from that one-on-one conversation. BGI: Does it feel surreal being a veteran on the team? Shrewsberry: "It does. It's gone by so quick. People always say that, but it actually has really gone by quick." BGI: Does that add extra motivation to it? That this is putting a cap to your Notre Dame career? Shrewsberry: "Yeah, definitely. I've been here for three years, and we haven't won s---. If we don't win, I'm going to look back at it when my career 's over and have regrets and be down about that. I'm definitely all in." BGI: This team has so many veteran transfers coming in for their final seasons. Does it feel like you all have chips on your shoulders with some- thing to prove? Shrewsberry: "That's definitely some- thing we've all talked about, all the older guys, and even when they were on their visits, just talking to them about how they're all in, they want to win this year, it's their last year. We all just have one goal, and that's to make the NCAA Tour- nament. It's good to have everybody on the same page and the same goals." BGI: What's going to be the key to mak- ing that improvement to get to that tour- nament level? Shrewsberry: "Just getting better every day, honestly. We're going to have ad- versity. We're going to lose some games. Nobody goes undefeated. We've just got to be able to respond to adversity and keep that hunger, keep that chip on our shoulder, because that's what's going to get us through." BGI: What are you doing individually to try to take the next step with your game? Shrewsberry: "Really just what I do every off- season. Just trying to expand my game, just keep getting better in my game overall. I'm getting stronger in the weight room. I feel like I've got- ten a lot stronger this summer. As a team, too, we talk about that with our strength coach. Just being a killer." — Tyler James Five Questions With … SENIOR GUARD BRAEDEN SHREWSBERRY CARR TRAORE Shrewsberry, a career 38.1 percent shooter from three-point range, is motivated for the Irish to excel after three losing seasons. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER