Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM PRESEASON 2026 19 teams to reach the championship games in the BCS and Playoff eras. The worst? The 2012 Irish, who checked in at 74th, and got clobbered by Alabama. The Irish last season ranked fourth in that critical metric in which the last seven national champs have finished in the top eight in the country. The next step this season, when the Irish will face just four teams that fin- ished in the top 60 in total defense from last season, is an offensive team that can constantly and consistently counter- punch whatever an opposing defensive coordinator throws at it. That can be by formation, by person- nel groups and by tempo. That can be having all the gears and modes in the offensive inventory to run 15 times in a row if that best exploits a defense, or throw 15 times in a row — and every- thing in between. At this stage it's more about refine- ments and repetitions, with minor tweaks, than wholesale problem-solv- ing and reboots. Here then are the top five offensive objectives of training camp, which kicked off on Aug. 6: 1. Making A Statement With The Offensive Line That means three things: A) The continued evolution from an O-line that excelled in finesse run blocking and effective pass blocking in 2025 to one that can do all that and add a consistent physicality of being able to move teams off the ball — something that was spotty last season. B) Completing the two dangling po- sition battles, then building chemistry with your best five linemen. Those two contested positions are at right guard and center. At right guard, Notre Dame's third- best tackle, redshirt freshman Matty Augustine, could end up being the team's second-best interior player, behind only junior left guard and All- America candidate Anthonie Knapp. Augustine would have to beat out red- shirt junior Sullivan Absher, who made five starts late last season at left guard in place of injured starter Billy Schrauth, now an NFL rookie. If Charles Jagusah does get medically cleared to play in 2026, it won't likely be by Sept. 6, and his return to play from a broken left humerus will likely be gradual. The other battle is at center. Redshirt senior Ashton Craig has started the season as the No. 1 option in both 2024 and 2025, but he hasn't made it past the midpoint of either season, suffering torn ACLs both years. His rehab timeline is on schedule, but two elements make this a battle — all the time Craig has missed the past two sea- sons and how well he'll be able to move after two major knee surgeries. The other is the strong offseason surge by Joe Ot- ting, a redshirt junior who started the fi- nal six games of 2025 and made as much improvement as any Irish offensive line- man this summer, per sources. C) Continuing to build depth that can absorb an injury or two, if that comes to pass. Even discounting what Jagusah could bring, the Irish have some strong options. The runners-up in the Augus- tine/Absher and Craig/Otting battles are the best of the interior options. At tackle it could be Styles Prescod, freshman prodigy Grayson McKeogh or most likely putting Augustine at a tackle position and reinserting Absher at guard should he lose the right guard battle initially. "Rudy gets those guys to truly believe in one," Freeman said of Irish offensive line coach Joe Rudolph. "And whoever's on the field represents us all. And how do we just continue to focus on getting Here is Blue & Gold Illustrated's projection for Notre Dame's 2026 scholarship depth chart on offense heading into fall camp Aug. 6. OFFENSE Quarterback No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 13 CJ Carr 6-2 215 R-So./3 12 Blake Hebert 6-2 216 R-Fr./4 or 10 Noah Grubbs 6-4 209 Fr./4 9 Teddy Jarrard 6-4 207 Fr./4 Running Back No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 22 Aneyas Williams 5-10 210 Jr./2 2 Nolan James Jr. 5-10 212 R-Fr./4 or 21 Kedren Young 5-11 234 R-So./3 or 26 Javian Osbourne 5-9 200 Fr./4 or 20 Jonaz Walton 5-9 214 Fr./4 Boundary Receiver No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 0 Quincy Porter 6-4 207 So./3 14 Micah Gilbert 6-2 205 R-So./3 5 Cam Williams 6-2 201 R-So./3 8 Jerome Bettis Jr. 6-2 199 R-Fr./4 11 Devin Fitzgerald 6-2 208 Fr./4 Field Receiver No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 6 Jordan Faison 5-11 185 Sr./1 17 Elijah Burress 6-1 190 R-Fr./4 19 Logan Saldate 5-11 185 R-So./3 16 Dylan Faison 6-2 163 Fr./4 Slot Receiver No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 3 Mylan Graham 6-1 192 R-So./3 or 1 Jaden Greathouse 6-1 215 R-Jr./2 4 Bubba Frazier 5-10 182 Fr./4 33 Matt Jeffery 5-11 195 R-So./3 18 Kaydon Finley 6-1 207 Fr./4 15 Brayden Robinson 5-7 168 Fr./4 Tight End No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 87 Cooper Flanagan 6-6 250 R-Jr./2 or 88 James Flanigan 6-6 251 R-Fr./4 or 7 Ty Washington 6-4 253 R-Sr./1 85 Jack Larsen 6-3 248 R-So./3 24 Ian Premer 6-6 240 Fr./4 84 Preston Fryzel 6-4 225 Fr./4 Left Tackle No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 74 Will Black 6-7 316 R-Fr./4 71 Styles Prescod 6-6 298 R-So./3 65 Grayson McKeogh 6-7 298 Fr./4 Left Guard No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 54 Anthonie Knapp 6-5 304 Jr./2 55 Chris Terek 6-5 321 R-Jr./2 77 Peter Jones 6-5 315 R-So./3 66 Tyler Merrill 6-6 330 Fr./4 51 Ben Nichols 6-5 320 Fr./4 67 Gregory Patrick 6-6 281 Fr./4 Center No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 70 Ashton Craig 6-5 310 R-Sr./1 64 Joe Otting 6-4 305 R-Jr./2 57 Cam Herron 6-2 291 R-Fr./4 50 Sullivan Garvin 6-5 315 Fr./4 Right Guard No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 75 Sullivan Absher 6-7 320 R-Jr./2 52 Devan Houstan 6-4 305 R-Jr./2 68 Charlie Thom 6-7 280 Fr./4 56 Charles Jagusah 6-5 330 R-Jr./2 Right Tackle No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 76 Guerby Lambert 6-7 325 R-So./3 58 Matty Augustine 6-8 310 R-Fr./4 78 Owen Strebig 6-8 302 R-Fr./4 BGI PRE-FALL CAMP NOTRE DAME SCHOLARSHIP DEPTH CHART