Michael Hsu, representing the College Basketball Players Association, has filed an unfair labor practice with the National Labor Relations Board saying that Notre Dame's committed a labor violation by classifying college athlete as "student-athletes rather than employees.

As far as I can tell, there aren't any student-athletes connected to this. We'll see what kind of legs this actually has.

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The Blue-Gold Game rosters will be filled out Thursday morning with a draft that Notre Dame is streaming live on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Some details:

• Al Washington is the Blue head coach. Deland McCullough is the Gold head coach.

• The first pick will be determined by a coin toss.

• Players entering their senior year of eligibility will already be assigned to teams and will help in the draft process.

• The draft will go by positions. So every player from one position group will be selected in a back-and-forth order before the next position group is started.

Here's the YouTube link for 9:15 a.m. EDT on Thursday:

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Inside ND Sports goes through which signees, commits, targets and prospects are scheduled to visit Notre Dame this weekend with additional recruiting notes on the top targets.

The Heat Index has been updated with the following changes:

RB James Simon’s heat check now reflects his recent visit to Notre Dame.
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WR Jayvan Boggs’ heat rating has been upgraded from Plain to Medium ahead of his Notre Dame visit.
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OT Josh Petty’s heat rating has been upgraded from Plain to Medium following his recent visit to Notre Dame.
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DT Javeon Campbell’s heat rating has been downgraded from Medium to Mild following his canceled visit.
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LB Madden Faraimo’s heat check now reflects his recent visit to Notre Dame.
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LB Noah Mikhail’s heat check now reflects his recent visit to Notre Dame.
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CB Trystan Haynes’ heat check now reflects his recent visit to Notre Dame.
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🤮 🤮 🤮 🤮

What an exciting schedule this would be(heavy sarcasm)

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Hunter Bivin, Notre Dame’s assistant athletics director for alumni relations and former Irish offensive lineman (2013-17), discusses the evolution of Legacy Weekend under head coach Marcus Freeman, the value of getting former ND football players on campus, who's expected this weekend, his Blue-Gold Game and spring practice experiences, the difficulty of judging offensive line progress Saturday, what it's been like to see his brother on ND's staff, the return of offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, his relationship with Harry Hiestand and more.

Then @Eric Hansen and I answer questions from Twitter and The Insider Lounge (24:08).

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@Eric Hansen and I plan to record our next Inside ND Sports podcast on Thursday. Send us some questions you'd like us to discuss. We like to give priority to questions submitted on The Insider Lounge.

If you have multiple questions, try to be succinct and ask them separately. Thanks!

Full release from Notre Dame:



In a partnership that champions community at home in Indiana and abroad, The University of Notre Dame has collaborated with Irish race car driver James Roe on a uniquely themed helmet for the INDY NXT by Firestone™ events during the storied Month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Hailing from Naas, Co. Kildare, Ireland and piloting the No. 29 Topcon entry of Andretti Global, Roe will don a racing helmet designed to mirror the iconic gold helmets of the Fighting Irish football team – a classic touchstone of the University. To ensure authenticity, the racing helmet was carefully produced using a painting process identical to that used for the football helmets.

In the lead-up to being on track for the Indianapolis Grand Prix races on the IMS road course on May 10 and 11, Roe and this unique helmet will visit Notre Dame Stadium for the annual Blue-Gold game on April 20. In addition Roe appeared on the season finale of the Wake Up the Echoes Podcast – the Official Show of the Fighting Irish.

“I’m thrilled to partner with the University of Notre Dame on this special helmet – highlighting the close and timeless bond between the University and Ireland,” said Roe. “It’s a privilege to wear the gold helmet that has meant so much to generations of Notre Dame football fans – myself included. I’m proud to represent the indomitable spirit shared by the Fighting Irish community in Indiana, in Ireland and across the globe.”

Following the race weekend, Roe and the Notre Dame helmet will be featured at other University events including a helmet swap at a Fighting Irish football game in the fall of 2024.

Catch Roe and his Fighting Irish helmet in action during the INDY NXT by Firestone doubleheader weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 10 (6:15 p.m. ET) and May 11 (1:00 p.m. ET) with broadcasts available on Peacock.

Notable because he's the older brother of Notre Dame's Tae Davis. Dre may be a pretty popular portal option, so I don't think this is a layup by any means. I'm also curious what his graduation status is.

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Markel Dabney, a 2026 linebacker recruit, plans to spend three days at Notre Dame this week. He's scheduled to arrive on Thursday and stay through the Blue-Gold Game on Saturday.

Notre Dame offered Dabney on Pot of Gold Day last month. The Richmond (Va.) Huguenot product has visited NC State, Duke, Virginia and South Carolina this spring. He camped at Notre Dame last summer.

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Notre Dame football will be hosting many of its signees and commits for Saturday's Blue-Gold Game. They'll be joined by several targets in the 2025 and 2026 classes.

Here's which targets Inside ND Sports expects to make the visit:

2025 WR Jayvan Boggs
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2026 LB Maurice Barnes
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2026 LB Markel Dabney
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2026 DT Elijah Golden
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2026 DE Evan Harvey
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2026 DE Trenton Henderson
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2026 VYP Cincere Johnson
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2026 S Nick Reddish
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2026 CB Jordan Thomas
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No surprise here as Notre Dame as one of the top contenders for 2026 quarterback Noah Grubbs. He announced a top 10 on Thursday that included Notre Dame, Florida, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Miami, North Carolina, Auburn, Nebraska, Michigan and UCF.

Ohio State is the other team I've heard some buzz for with Grubbs besides Notre Dame. I think Florida's a real contender here too.

I still think Grubbs and Brady Hart are still the best bets for ND's 2026 class, though I'm less confident that a decision is coming soon.

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As Eric alluded to in his live chat, we've confirmed that Notre Dame will host Rice CB transfer Tre'shon Devones on Thursday.

Devones could added needed depth to replace the loss of Clarence Lewis.

Simon Baumgardt went 3-for-5 with a homer, a double and three RBIs as Notre Dame put away visiting Purdue Fort Wayne late in a 15-5 non-conference baseball victory Wednesday at Eck Stadium.

The game was called with two outs in the bottom of the eighth due to the 10-run rule, when Jack Penney capped a six-run inning by scoring on a passed ball.

Penney was one of five Irish players who collected two hits. TJ Williams, David Glancy, Connor Hincks and Brady Gumpf were the others. Gumpf homered, singled and walked three times, reaching base in all five of his plate appearances for ND (17-18).

Harvard transfer Will Jacobsen (1-0) got his first win in an Irish uniform with two innings or relief.
Notre Dame. Purdue Fort Wayne falls to 13-23.

The Irish open a three-game ACC series at home with Boston College on Friday (6:30 p.m. EDT)

NOTRE DAME 15, PURDUE FORT WAYNE 5: Box Score

Ahead of his visit to Notre Dame this weekend, 2025 WR target Jayvan Boggs included the Irish in his top seven alongside Georgia, Florida, Missouri, UCF, USC and Texas.

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Boggs was previously committed to Ohio State. He's teammates with 2026 QB target Brady Hart at Cocoa (Fla.) High.

Boggs has planned June official visits to USC, Georgia and Missouri.

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I included a drive-by mention of Rice transfer CB Tre-Shon Devones coming in for a visit this week in the answer to the first question. I hope to post more on him later. Here's a link to his bio ... a former walk-on who performed very well this past season.

Hi Eric & Tyler! During the podcast (or football never sleeps) you characterized Steve Angeli's arm strength as close to Ian Book. We all know there is a lot that goes into playing QB. From what I have seen I disagree with your assessment on arm strength. . I see a QB with excellent mechanics with an array of throws, who is fairly accurate although not top line at this point. I be curious between the scrimmage today, and then the Blue Gold game, if you opinion would change. Here is close to what my assessment would be. I marked up someone else's NFL draft grades to make my points.

Quarterback Ability

Arm Talent:

• Arm Strength (6/10) – Arm strength is middling. Can push the ball downfield a bit, but nothing special with his arm strength. Stronger than Ian Book easily.
• Touch Ability (4/5) – Throws nice with touch.
• Release (3/5) – Average release.

Accuracy/Placement: He needs to improve on the move

• Accuracy (11.5/15) – Good accuracy. Struggles with consistency at times but has flashed the ability Ball will sail on him in the intermediate area when he tries to place it in between coverage zones.
• Placement/Vision (7.5/10) – Placement is a lot of times off, Throws really well on timing concepts.

Pocket Presence:

• Pocket Positioning (3/5) –Adequate
• Pocket Maneuverability (4/5) – Moves around the pocket very well.

Footwork: 10

• Consistency (4/5) – Throws from a solid base and platform.
• Quickness (3/5) – quick feet but not nearly as good as Ian Book.

Athleticism

Mobility:

• Outside of the pocket (5/7) – Gets outside of the pocket well. Shows the ability to throw well on the move, but isn’t consistent as of today. Very capable of moving to the outside of the pocket.
• Downfield Ability (3.5/5) – effective scrambler. He is a capable scrambler and even can be a designed runner on a limited basis

Improvability:

• Natural Improvability (2/4) – Flashes some improvability but mostly in small increments
• Play Extension (2/4) – good at moving to extend plays

Intelligence

Football IQ/Field Vision:

• Football Intelligence (2.5/5) – Flashes solid football intelligence This can improve with reps
• Ability to read pre-snap (3.5/5) – Reads pre-snap alignments pretty well. This can improve with reps

Overall: – 7th Round NFL pick or free agent Again with reps and play can improve

This is both a compliment to Audric Estimé and a reflection of Notre Dame using a lot of multiple tight end looks and defenses not respecting the wide receivers on the outside.

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Brock Harris, who Rivals ranks as the No. 3 tight end and No. 35 overall in the 2026, intends to visit Notre Dame on June 4.

Notre Dame offered Harris on Pot of Gold Day last month. He caught 55 passes for 655 yards and eight touchdowns as a sophomore at St. George (Utah) Pine View. This will be his first visit to Notre Dame.

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James Simon, a four-star running back in the 2025 class, arrived on campus today for his two-day visit. Simon is more of a luxury than a need with Notre Dame already having two running back commitments in the class, but the Irish are still pursuing him.

I see LSU as the frontrunner for Simon, a Shreveport, La., product. Texas, Miami, Alabama, Texas A&M and Louisiana Tech are also in his top schools alongside Notre Dame. This is Simon's second visit to Notre Dame. He also attended the USC game in October.

Simon rushed 192 times for 1,600 yards and 21 touchdowns in his junior season at Calvary Baptist Academy. Rivals ranks him as the No. 21 running back in the 2025 class.

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Come join us with your questions. Here's a shortcut to the question queue:

Notre Dame's safety competition won't be complete until Rod Heard II arrives from Northwestern, but Adon Shuler has made a strong case for consideration this spring.

"He's going to be really, really good for us," Mike Mickens said.

The NCAA's committee on infractions has approved an agreement with Michigan and five individuals who currently or previously worked for its football football program "on recruiting violations and coaching activities by noncoaching staff members that occurred within the football program."

One former coach did not participate in the agreement, and that portion of the case will be considered separately.

"The agreed-upon violations involve impermissible in-person recruiting contacts during a COVID-19 dead period, impermissible tryouts, and the program exceeding the number of allowed countable coaches when noncoaching staff members engaged in on- and off-field coaching activities (including providing technical and tactical skills instruction to student-athletes). The negotiated resolution also involved the school's agreement that the underlying violations demonstrated a head coach responsibility violation and the former football head coach failed to meet his responsibility to cooperate with the investigation. The school also agreed that it failed to deter and detect the impermissible recruiting contacts and did not ensure that the football program adhered to rules for noncoaching staff members."

In separating the cases, the individuals in the agreement can immediately start serving their punishments.

"The agreed-upon penalties in this case include three years of probation for the school, a fine and recruiting restrictions in alignment with the Level I-Mitigated classification for the school. The participating individuals also agreed to one-year show-cause orders consistent with the Level II-Standard and Level II-Mitigated classifications of their respective violations."

A two-run home run by first baseman Connor Hincks proved to be just enough cushion for Notre Dame baseball to pick up a home nonconference victory over Valparaiso on Tuesday.

The Irish held on for a 7-6 victory over the Beacons despite allowing a three-run homer in the ninth inning.

Notre Dame (16-18) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. The Irish loaded the bases with back-to-back singles by Hincks and third baseman Simon Baumgardt and a walk by designated hitter Tito Flores. Right fielder Brady Gumpf plated Hincks with an RBI single. After catcher Carson Tinney flew out to right field, centerfielder TJ Williams knocked in two more runs with a single.

Valpo (11-23) pulled within one run in the fifth inning with a two-RBI single by Ryan Maka off reliever Bennett Flynn in his second inning of work. The Irish responded with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Shortstop Jack Penney scored Williams with an RBI single. Then Hincks knocked in Penney with an RBI triple.

Valpo scored another run in the sixth inning with an Alex Ryan RBI single off Ricky Reeth in his first of two innings of relief. Then Hincks gave Notre Dame some insurance runs with a two-run blast in the seventh. He's second on the team in RBIs this season with 32, one behind David Glancy.

Notre Dame found itself in trouble in the ninth inning when senior picher Sammy Cooper hit the first two batters. Closer Nate Hardman replaced him, but he allowed a three-run homer to Carson Husmann after striking out Maka. Hardman escaped to earn his fourth save of the season by getting the last two Valpo hitters to fly out to right field.

Notre Dame starter DJ Helwig, a freshman right-hander, picked up his first career win for pitching three scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and one walk and struck out three.

Notre Dame's only victories in April have come against nonconference opponents. The Irish have lost their last 10 ACC games. The last conference win came against Miami on March 23. The win over Valpo was the second nonconference victory during that stretch.

The Irish can pick up a third Wednesday with a home matchup with Purdue Fort Wayne (13-22) at 6:30 p.m. EDT (ACCNX)

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