Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546068
BY BGI STAFF E ach year in the Marcus Free- man era, ranking the top 25 most important Notre Dame football players has become a greater challenge. With the roster getting more talented and deeper, determining who to include gets harder and harder. The exception, of course, was the top spot. There's a unanimous No. 1 this year, and you can probably guess who it is. This list is not necessarily ranking the best players or the top NFL prospects. It's a list of the most important players. Voters considered talent, impact, place on the depth chart and positional value, but a premium is placed on these two questions: 1) If you subtracted this individual from the roster, how much of a setback would it be? And 2) If this less proven player emerges and makes an impact, how much does that raise the ceiling (or lower it, if a breakout does not happen as expected)? With that in mind, here are BGI's top 25 most important Notre Dame football players of 2026. 1. QB CJ CARR Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price are gone. Notre Dame's offense needs an engine. Despite playing a different position, Carr is the player who has to step up the most without the superstar running backs. He was tremendously efficient in 2025, but he often dealt with quarterback-friendly defensive setups as teams did everything they could to stop Love and Price. He'll now have to beat defenses that are doing everything they can to stop him. There's no question in anyone at CJ Carr, the returning starting quarterback and a Heisman Trophy candidate, was a unanimous pick for Notre Dame's most important player of 2026. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER 26 PRESEASON 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 25 FOR '26 25 FOR '26 These are BGI's top 25 most important Notre Dame players of 2026