Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546639
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 26, 2026 11 UNDER THE DOME "I think Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa is going to have a year that won't shock anyone around Notre Dame. He's one of the best defensive players in the country, in my opinion. He has battled through an injury with the ACL, but he's a really good football player." — Notre Dame junior quarterback CJ Carr "Leonard Moore could be the first defensive back selected in next year's NFL draft, leaving Notre Dame with a significant void to fill. Hasan, the top-rated defensive commit [No. 54 overall player per ESPN] in the Irish's class, has the tools to compete for immediate playing time at corner- back. The 195-pound Hasan pairs good instincts with excellent top-end speed, including a verified 10.53-second 100-meter time, and already has the frame to hold up against college competition." — Craig Haubert on cornerback Xavier Hasan being the most impactful player in Notre Dame's 2027 recruiting class, which was ranked No. 2 by ESPN "If the Fighting Irish continue to stack up lop- sided wins, the push for Marcus Freeman's team as the No. 1 team in the country will grow stronger. Throttling Rice doesn't change the No. 1 conversa- tion in the wake of the result in Austin, but this team had six touchdowns and just one punt on its first seven drives. The strength of the argument for Texas will be hard to beat for a few weeks, or until they lose, but the Fighting Irish have put voters on notice in these first two weeks." — Chip Patterson of CBS Sports on Notre Dame "Yeah, I get it, 52-0 against Rice, but come on — this is one of those games where I know nothing about Notre Dame. I'm a little concerned. That's two straight games under four yards per carry. It was 5.7 last year, fourth-best in college football. I know they lost Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, but they're at 3.6 yards per carry this season — 117th in the country. I like CJ Carr, but it's really tough to play quality quarterback football inde- pendent of a run game. Notre Dame and Miami — we're going to know nothing about either of them until they actually play each other." — Joel Klatt of FOX Sports on Notre Dame "Marcus Freeman has a team talented enough to win a national championship and a schedule away from South Bend that should only help the Irish achieve that goal. The only true road game against a preseason top-25 team is at BYU on Oct. 17 followed by a bye week before playing Navy on Oct. 31 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. The only other true road games are against Pur- due (Sept. 26), North Carolina (Oct. 3) and Syra- cuse (Nov. 28). Notre Dame opened the season on Sept. 6 against Wisconsin at Lambeau Field. Purdue, North Carolina, Syracuse and Wisconsin combined to go 13-35 last year." — On3's Chris Low on the Irish having the easiest Power Four schedule away from home "A former Broyles Award finalist, Denbrock had one of the top offenses last season with the emer- gence of quarterback CJ Carr. The Fighting Irish are ranked fifth nationally in scoring offense and 18th in total offense (458.5 yards per game). Denbrock has repeatedly proven he's one of the top play callers in the sport; in 2023 at LSU, he directed the nation's top offense with Heisman winner Jayden Daniels." — Pete Nakos of On3 on including Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock on his list of power conference coordinators who could be college football head coaches in 2027 "I visited Notre Dame a bunch of times. I loved Notre Dame. As a kid you want to go to Notre Dame. It's the same with Notre Dame football. It's like the coolest thing in the world. It's Notre Dame. It has that tradition. They've had so many great players go through there in every single sport. But I just knew, I could feel it in my gut… I'm not sup- posed to go there. "So I picked Iowa. Iowa was really good at wom- en's basketball before I went there as well. Made a few Sweet 16s, made an Elite Eight. But they hadn't been to the Final Four since [1993]. I wanted to go somewhere that was good but maybe hadn't been a blue blood for quite a few years and kind of help them get back to that. It was obviously my home state too. And two hours from where I grew up. Perfect distance so my parents can't just show up but also you can go home if you wanted to." — Cait- lin Clark on the "New Heights" podcast PHOTO COURTESY NEW ORLEANS SAINTS PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER Irish On Social Media THEY SAID IT THEY SAID IT "An interesting comp we heard from one defensive assistant we chatted with this week: Notre Dame's CJ Carr reminds him of former Purdue great and Pro Football Hall of Famer Drew Brees. 'He's got a very quick release, really good composure and processes so well,' the coach said. 'He's always on time and accurate.'" — Bruce Feldman of The Athletic