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Update: Reports indicate Phil Jurkovec switching positions to TE after benching

The former Notre Dame QB has struggled for Pittsburgh this season: 57-of-112 (50.9%) passing for 818 yards with six touchdown passes and three interceptions.

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Recruiting Notre Dame commit expected to visit Louisville this weekend

I'm looking into how much concern there should be over this, but I wanted to share this with the board right away.

Our Louisville site, Cardinal Sports, is reporting that 2024 Notre Dame safety commit Brauntae Johnson is on Louisville's expected visitors list for Saturday's game. Johnson was previously recruited by head coach Jeff Brohm and some of the current Louisville assistants while they were at Purdue.

I've reached out to Johnson but haven't heard back yet.

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Football Watch | Place Your Bets: Notre Dame vs. Louisville prop bets and predictions

Eric Hansen and Tyler James make prop bets and predictions ahead of Saturday's road game for No. 10 Notre Dame (5-1) at No. 25 Louisville (5-0) in L&N Stadium (7:30 p.m. EDT on ABC).

Inside ND Sports subscribers can submit their votes prop bet predictions all season long for a chance at a free year-long subscription. Voting for ND-Louisville is open here.

• Over/Under 5.5 tackles for ND DT Howard Cross III
• More receptions for ND: WR Jayden Thomas or WR Jaden Greathouse
• Over/Under 60.5 rushing yards for Louisville RB Jawhar Jordan
• More offensive touches for ND: RB Gi’Bran Payne or RB Jadarian Price
• Over/Under 1.5 interceptions thrown by Louisville QB Jack Plummer
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Football Opponent Outlook: What Notre Dame should expect from Louisville

I reached out to Ty Spalding from Cardinal Sports for insight on Louisville.

I also have you covered with top transfer additions, a depth chart, key 2023 stats for the Cardinals and Pro Football Focus grades.

Basketball 2025 PF Malachi Moreno on Notre Dame visit: 'It was truly amazing to see'

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I tracked down Notre Dame men's basketball 2025 power forward target Malachi Moreno this week to learn about his visit last month, his interest in the Irish and how much of a priority he feels like from the Irish coaching staff.

Moreno is a 6-foot-11, 210-pound recruit out of Georgetown (Ky.) Great Crossing High School. According to Rivals, Moreno is a four-star prospect and is the No. 62 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class. He was on campus during the Sept. 23 football game against Ohio State.

"The vibe from the coaching staff was amazing," Moreno told Inside ND Sports. "They all have a certain love for each other and only want what's best for themselves and the players. They are also big relationship people. They said I fit their style really well with how I am a playmaking big man."

Moreno was offered back in the spring. He knows head coach Micah Shrewsberry from his time around freshmen guards Braeden Shrewsberry and Logan Imes in the Indiana Elite grassroots basketball program.

In addition to watching practice, Moreno toured campus and had meetings with the coaches and player development staff. The staff views Moreno as a versatile four-man who can rebound and alter shots with his shot-blocking ability. After spending the morning watching Shrewsberry coach, Moreno said his biggest takeaway was how he gets the most out of his players but does so in a loving way.

Moreno holds 23 total offers including Notre Dame, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Cincinnati, Florida, Indiana, LSU, Purdue and Tennessee. According to his X (Twitter) profile, Moreno visited the Volunteers on Sept. 30 and Arkansas, Cincinnati, Indiana earlier in September.

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Recruiting 2025 WR target Daylan McCutcheon sets visit date for Oct. 14

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On Thursday, Inside ND Sports confirmed that Notre Dame 2025 wide receiver target Daylan McCutcheon plans to visit Notre Dame for its game against USC on Oct. 14.

It will be his first trip to campus since he visited in the spring where he clicked with wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey and head coach Marcus Freeman.

"I think I could see myself [playing] under coach Freeman, — he's a trustworthy person," McCutcheon said in April. "I believe in what he says, and I think what he has planned for players that go there ... it's truly special."

The 6-foot, 160-pound recruit attends Lucas (Tex.) Lovejoy and is rated as a four-star prospect. He is ranked as the No. 17 wide receiver and No. 107 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class.

In five games this season, McCutcheon has 36 receptions for 618 receiving yards and nine touchdowns for the Leopards. Stuckey pulled Jaden Greathouse, Braylon James and Kaleb Smith out of Texas in the 2023 class.

McCutcheon has 30 total offers including Notre Dame, Baylor, Florida, Florida State, Miami (Fla.), Purdue, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Utah. He visited the Gators and Seminoles in July and most recently visited Texas for its game against Kansas last Saturday.

We will continue working on updating the running visitors list thread as more visitors set visit plans for Notre Dame’s remaining home games.

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Recruiting East Spotlight: Storylines to watch in October

@RivalsFriedman says Notre Dame OL commit Guerby Lambert and Notre Dame WR commit Micah Gilbert are guys he's monitoring on the East Coast for rankings adjustments.


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Recruiting Sevillano, Notre Dame commits keep showing out on high school stage

Inside ND Sports highlights six commits — three from each side of the ball — who put together the best moments on the field last week and led their schools to wins.

2024 QB commit CJ Carr

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2024 RB commit Aneyas Williams
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2025 RB commit Justin Thurman

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2024 DT commit Sean Sevillano Jr
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2024 LB commit Bodie Kahoun
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2024 S commit Kennedy Urlacher
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Football Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love keeps honing details with expanded role

Notre Dame isn't just using running back Jeremiyah Love in special packages. He's also starting to get some carries that would normally go to Audric Estimé.

"It will help me be a more complete player," Love said. "I'm already supposed to know everything, but getting more snaps and doing more things is forcing me to get to learn everything.”

Football My Top 25 most impactful ND players for the 2023 season

I once again participated in the annual exercise of ranking the top 25 players on Notre Dame football's roster for Douglas Farmer and his NBCSports.com Counting Down the Irish series. I'm preparing a story for tomorrow morning that breaks down how my ballot differs most significantly from the other media members he polled.

In the meantime, here's my full Top 25.

1. QB Sam Hartman
2. LT Joe Alt
3. CB Benjamin Morrison
4. RB Audric Estimé
5. LB JD Bertrand
6. RT Blake Fisher
7. WR Jayden Thomas
8. S Xavier Watts
9. TE Mitchell Evans
10. NT Howard Cross III
11. WR Tobias Merriweather
12. CB Cam Hart
13. C Zeke Correll
14. DT Rylie Mills
15. DE Jordan Botelho
16. WR Chris Tyree
17. DE Javontae Jean-Baptiste
18. LG Billy Schrauth
19. LB Jack Kiser
20. CB Jaden Mickey
21. DB Thomas Harper
22. RB Jadarian Price
23. WR Jaden Greathouse
24. TE Holden Staes
25. LB Jaylen Sneed

You may recall that @Eric Hansen did his own Top 23 for 2023 in early July.

If you want to read the complete poll results, the link is below:


What did I get right? What did I get wrong?

Football Questions answered on this week's podcast (10/3)

Thanks to all who submitted questions for me and @Eric Hansen on our latest podcast. These are the questions we answered with timestamps.

24:04 • @Bob_Oxnard: Should we move one of our running backs to receiver?

29:21 • @ldlgoirish: it still appears to me that wide receivers do not adjust patterns quickly and correctly especially when defense is bringing pressure. One example is Rico Flores (who played a nice game for a young receiver) not taking his deep route towards and past the right hash to bring his defender away from the deep safety support. Coincidently our very experienced QB led him in that direction. What say you and Eric?

32:49 • Marie Biafore - @biafore_marie: What grade would you give the offensive game plan from the Duke game? Why no running outside, or Getting Love or Price in space? What is the aversion to play action? What grade would you give for offensive in game adjustment or lack there of?

38:35 • Babaganoush - @PLACT_ITFDB: Hartman was always adept at the back shoulder pass at WF. We haven’t seen it yet this season that I can recall. Are there any Notre Dame receivers that can make that play? It doesn’t seem that difficult for a wide receiver. Could there be other reasons for not implementing that?

41:50 • @CharlesWWolfe: Do you think Coach Freeman really meant what he said about wanting Estime to kneel at the 1, or was that just a white lie to instill some confidence in Shrader ?

43:43 • @ldlgoirish: can you and Eric discuss tackling. I know every Head Coach would want zero. But what is a good percentage of missed tackles for a top-notch defense? The PFF miss percentages for several defensive starters is staggering IMO. Am I right or are those the misses expected from a top notch defense?

49:05 • @GreenDay182: Howard Cross is often the forgotten about defensive lineman. He absolutely went off against Duke. Congrats to him and his teammates. He may be too undersized to get drafted, does he have any eligibility left, would he consider coming back to ND, if not do you think he may get a shot in a training camp?

52:57 • @NDNavy86: Charleston’s article listed linebacker snap counts with Marist at 81% and Kiser at 23%. While Marist is undoubtedly fast and arrives with malice, it seems that his decision making is questionable, leading to high reward but high risk outcomes. Marist also missed a few tackles, one in particular in the backfield that let Riley Leonard get 5+ more yards. Kiser seems to routinely put himself in better position to make plays. What are your thoughts? Should Kiser be in more often, especially looking forward to Southern Cal game planning?

Also, is Al Golden’s defense too complicated if he can’t work in some of the young yet talented backers? Duke’s touchdown play to an uncovered player comes to mind…

1:02:33 • Babaganoush - @PLACT_ITFDB: Any idea why Marist Liafau seems to tackle folks so high? When he extreme leverage he brings them down but he’s had a fair amount of whiffs and missed tackles after having opportunity for TFL. Maybe he doesn’t want to be called for “hip targeting”…J/K

1:06:02 • @MurrayOConnell: 1- Does MLiaf still deserve to start?

2- Should we start worrying about kicking now?

3- Is Sam Hartman the football version of Ted Lasso? Both are the classiest and nicest guys in the world!

1:10:15 • @sjb75: Both of you have watched Sam Hartman and Notre Dame play 6 games, and have witnessed what Hartman means to this team. Notre Dame opens at TAM in 2024. Do the two of you believe Marcus Freeman in a few months will seriously consider a grad transfer QB for 2024?

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Football Place Your Bets results: Notre Dame 21, Duke 14

It's time for round 6 of Place Your Bets for the 2023 season with Saturday's road game at No. 17 Duke (7:30 p.m. EDT on ABC).

I detailed the results of the Ohio State prop bets here and updated the standings for the season.

The season standings tightened up as @Scottclarisey is no longer all alone on top. He's been joined by @keegan0615, @Tcnd543 and @jbm19 in a four-way tie for first place with 15 correct bets.

@Eric Hansen and I have tied each other at 13.

We'll share our predictions for the Duke game Friday on YouTube, but you can start submitting your predictions through the Google Form now.


Here are the five prop bets for Notre Dame-Duke:

• Which team will score first?
• Over/Under 145.5 rushing yards for Duke
• Will Notre Dame commit a turnover?
• Over/Under 55.0% completion rate for Duke QB Riley Leonard
• More rushing yards: ND RB Jeremiyah Love or Duke QB Riley Leonard

Remember the top two subscribers in the Place Your Bets standings at the end of the 2023 season will get one year (first place) and six months (second place) of a free subscription.

Get your picks in before voting closes prior to kickoff on Saturday. Make sure you include the same email address with your submission as you did last week. And if you haven't shared the username associated with your entry, please email it to insidendsports@gmail.com.

Football Podcast: Bobby Brown on Notre Dame's wide receiver performances

Former Notre Dame wide receiver Bobby Brown (1996-99) discusses what he's seen from the Irish this season, where the program is headed under Marcus Freeman, how Notre Dame's healthy receivers played against Duke, what Tobias Merriweather needs to do to get back on track, the trust in Rico Flores Jr., if ND could convert someone to wide receiver in the middle of the season, how good Sam Hartman has been, what Gerad Parker has shown as ND's offensive coordinator and more.

Then @Eric Hansen and I answer questions from Twitter and The Insider Lounge (23:16).

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