Watching Notre Dame's wide receivers golf.

Login to view embedded media

Notre Dame football started to operate a little more like a game week with practice Tuesday afternoon. Media members were allowed to watch the first five periods of practice and will speak to running backs coach Deland McCullough and his running backs after practice.

Let's start with injuries first, because there was a notable one. Center Zeke Correll sat out today's practice with a brace of some sort on his left ankle. Ashton Craig took the first-team center reps in his absence.

My hunch is that if Notre Dame feared Correll would be sidelined for a significant amount of time that would prevent him from playing, we'd see left guard Pat Coogan slide over to center. Marcus Freeman isn't available to reporters until next Monday, so we may not get an official update until then.

I did not see LB Nolan Ziegler at today's practice, though Freeman said Saturday that he had returned to the team while dealing with an off-the-field issue. Freshman OT Sullivan Absher was another player I couldn't locate. Players lower on the depth chart were wearing different numbers for scout team, so maybe I just lost track of him. But I didn't locate him while specifically trying to do so.

Other sidelined players as expected: TE Kevin Bauman (ACL), DE Aiden Gobaira (ACL) and WR KK Smith (shoulder).

Notre Dame started its practice with a tempo drill with the first two units on offense and defense.

The first-team offense included QB Sam Hartman, RB Gi'Bran Payne, WRs Jayden Thomas, Tobias Merriweather and Chris Tyree, TE Mitchell Evans, LT Joe Alt, LG Pat Coogan, C Ashton Craig, RG Rocco Spindler and RT Blake Fisher.

The first-team defense included VYP Jordan Botelho, NT Howard Cross III, DT Rylie Mills, DE Javontae Jean-Baptiste, MLB JD Bertrand, WLB Marist Liufau, ROV Jack Kiser, CBs Benjamin Morrison and Cam Hart and S Xavier Watts and DJ Brown.

The second-team defense threw me for a bit of a loop, which prevented me from getting the second-team offense. The defense included VYP Junior Tuihalamaka, NT Gabriel Rubio, DT Jason Onye, DE Nana Osafo-Mensah, MLB Drayk Bowen, WLB Jaylen Sneed, CBs Jaden Mickey and Christian Gray and S Ramon Henderson. What threw me for a loop was Clarence Lewis lining up in a safety spot and Antonio Carter lining up in either a rover or nickelback position. Usually you see the second-team defense lining up in a similar scheme as the first team, so that may have been a base defense look with guys in surprising spots.

Spencer Shrader had a rough field goal session. I had him 4-of-8 during the period. The yardage is a little bit of a guess because we can't see real well from the end zone, but it looked like misses from 40 twice, 44 and 29 yards and makes from 43, 25, 30 and an extra point.

Like I mentioned previously, players were wearing different numbers for scout team purposes. I was able to take account for the OL and DL switches for some drill work as the scout-team lineman went against the opposite side of the ball. So on the defensive line, these guys were working against the offensive line starters: Brenan Vernon, Boubacar Traore, Tyson Ford, DeVan Houstan and Armel Mukam. Walk-ons Kobi Onyiuke and Cole Aubrey were also used.

As for the offensive linemen going against the top-end defensive linemen: Michael Carmody, Ty Chan, Charles Jagusah, Chris Terek and Charles Jagusah.

Some other scholarship players who were wearing scout team numbers today: LB Preston Zinter, S Adon Shuler, S Ben Minich, CB Micah Bell, CB Chance Tucker, CB Ryan Barnes.

Notre Dame football held its 18th preseason practice on Wednesday, Aug. 16. Watch Irish running backs, offensive linemen, defensive linemen, wide receivers, cornerbacks and more work through drills during the first five periods of practice.

Players featured include center Zeke Correll, running backs Devyn Ford, Chris Tyree, Jadarian Price and Jeremiyah Love, offensive linemen Pat Coogan, Billy Schrauth and Rocco Spindler, defensive ends Boubacar Traore and Brenan Vernon, wide receivers Jaden Greathouse and Braylon James, cornerbacks Benjamin Morrison, Jaden Mickey and Christian Gray and more.

Login to view embedded media
Click here to subscribe to Inside ND Sports on YouTube.

Graduate student cornerback Cam Hart understands his journey at Notre Dame has been different than most of his teammates. With 10 days left until the season opener against Navy, Hart is ready for his persistence to pay dividends.

Link to full story:

@Eric Hansen and I will record another Inside ND Sports podcast Wednesday. 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!

Our last media viewing of Notre Dame football practice unfolded today (Wednesday, Aug. 16) at the Irish Athletics Center with stretching followed by five practice periods before the media got booted.

Here’s my main takeaways — beyond how much larger South Bend’s population would be if the weather today was the norm all year 'round:

The most notable injury remains starting center Zeke Correll, who did warm up, jogged slowly during sprints and then hung out with the offensive linemen during drills and one quasi-scrimmage period but did not participate.

He had his left ankle in a soft brace wrapped by heavy tape. Sophomore Ashton Craig took his place and repped with the first team offense. Correll is expected to play in next Saturday's opener with Navy in Ireland, but we'll check on that Monday when head coach Marcus Freeman is next available.

In “the pit” — off to the side where injured players take part in alternative training — mainstays Kevin Bauman (ACL tear) and KK Smith (shoulder surgery rehab) worked with a strength-and-conditioning staff member, as did offensive tackle Michael Carmody.

Carmody had his right wrist wrapped and did the upper-body exercises left-handed only. Bauman, who is out for the season for the third time in August/September in his four years at Notre Dame, worked out fervently, as if he were playing next Saturday — which he is not.

In period five, we saw some hierarchy of 1s and 2s. Most notable Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler continue to rep with the starters at left guard and right guard, respectively. Billy Schrauth and Andrew Kristofic were the 2s.

Defensively, I’d imagine they didn’t want to show too much of as Navy-specific alignment, but it was interesting to note that nickel Clarence Lewis lined up as a No. 1 safety with Xavier Watts. Also, even with starting cornerback Cam Hart back and fully participating, freshman Christian Gray was not nudged out of a spot with the 2s. Instead he lined up opposite sophomore corner Jaden Mickey.

All three grad senior linebackers — JD Bertrand, Marist Liufau and Jack Kiser — aligned as starters.

As Tyler noted Tuesday, we’ve come to the point of practice in which the squad has been split into varsity and scout team, with the scout team members wearing Navy starters’ numbers — which makes spotting missing players more challenging.

I did not see Nolan Ziegler taking reps on Wednesday. When head coach Marcus Freeman noted Ziegler was back at practice for Saturday’s completely closed session, he did not expand to say whether he was participating in any way. Ziegler has been out for most of camp attending to a personal matter and has requested privacy. Freeman did say Ziegler is expected to rejoin the roster at some point.

Speaking of scout teams, none of the five healthy scholarship tight ends were working with the scout team. They want them all ready for Navy, including freshman Cooper Flanagan. The tight ends spent a practice period working with the O-line and O-line coach Joe Rudolph on combination blocks.

Also speaking of scout team, a couple of non-two-deep defensive linemen of note escaped scout team duty on Wednesday — senior nose guard Aidan Keanaaina and freshman end Boubacar Traore.

Notable was the fact that the rovers and vypers did some side work away from their position groups inside the IAC, and out of the view of the media.

Finally, the pecking order on deep kickoff return man remains 1) Devyn Ford, 2) Chris Tyree, 3) Jadarian Price and 4) Jeremiyah Love. WR Jaden Greathouse, WR Rico Flores and RB Gi’Bran Payne rotated in as the sidekick/blocking back on kickoffs.

Interviews tonight are with cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens and CBs Cam Hart, Ben Morrison, Jaden Mickey, Christian Gray and nickel Clarence Lewis.

Our team did not play especially well this year, after an awesome season the prior year. Our best known golfer was Palmer Jackson but most consistent golfer was a freshman Nate Stevens. His stroke play average was 71.47.

This year's team could be much better. Jackson and Stevens are both back and we have 3 talented freshman. One of the freshmen, Jacob Modleski is the Indiana Junior Champion and has qualified twice for the U.S. Junior Amateur. This year he qualified for match play and lost in the round of 32 on the 19th hole. Well he's now playing in the U. S Men's Amateur. There are two days of stroke play before match play. Out of 300 participants, 64 qualify for match play. First round Jacob shot 75 with a triple bogey on the final whole. He came through today with a 5 under 67. He's -1 for the two days. The cut is predicted to be +1. He should make it. Darn good for an 18 year old kid. If interested, here is a link https://championships.usga.org/usamateur/2023/scoring.html

The movement in this Rivals250 for Notre Dame's 2024 commits is pretty minimal. The Irish still have nine commits in the top 250 and five in the top 100.

The biggest moves: OG Peter Jones moved up eight spots. RB Aneyas Williams dropped 12 spots.

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

2025 four-star RB commit Justin Thurman

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

Devyn Ford thriving at Notre Dame with a second wind and no second thoughts​

Notre Dame redshirt freshman running back Gi'Bran Payne details fall camp improvements, competition at the position, Audric Estimé's leadership, taking pride in pass protection, what Jeremiyah Love brings to the room, Sam Hartman and more.

Login to view embedded media
Click here to subscribe to Inside ND Sports on YouTube.

Notre Dame freshman running back Jeremiyah Love appeared in front of the media on Tuesday for the first time since enrolling this summer. Love discussed what he’s learned in fall camp, the importance of getting live scrimmage reps, benefits of offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Gerad Parker's system and more.

Login to view embedded media
Click here to subscribe to Inside ND Sports on YouTube.

Four-star tight end Nate Roberts has officially backed away from his commitment to Notre Dame's 2025 class, as we suggested would happen last week.

Story from @Charleston Bowles:

I have joined in the past but not sure if one has been posted for this season.

Notre Dame senior running back Devyn Ford talks about his transition to the program, differences between Notre Dame and Penn State, his experience, quarterback Sam Hartman, first impression of freshman running back Jeremiyah Love and more.

Login to view embedded media
Click here to subscribe to Inside ND Sports on YouTube.

Notre Dame running backs coach Deland McCullough on what’s it like coaching this group, what has him most excited during fall camp, his bond with running backs, addition of Devyn Ford, growth of Jadarian Price after injury and more.

Login to view embedded media
Click here to subscribe to Inside ND Sports on YouTube.

Pat Scanlon and Mike Golic Sr. are co-hosting. Jamie Uyeyama of Irish Sports Daily and I will be the guest contributors, for lack of a better term. I think it'll run about an hour, live at 7 p.m. ET. I'm sure there will be replays. The links where you can allegedly stream it are:

https://www.facebook.com/ndsenioralumni

https://www.youtube.com/@ndsenioralumnigroup9728

https://www.facebook.com/notredamealumni

The show is produced by the Notre Dame Senior Alumni Board.

Notre Dame football held its 17th preseason camp practice on Tuesday, Aug. 15. Watch Irish quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, cornerbacks and more work drills and the entire team on some 11-on-11 action.

Players featured include quarterback Sam Hartman, wide receiver Tobias Merriweather, wide receiver Jayden Thomas, wide receiver Jaden Greathouse, tight end Eli Raridon, cornerback Cam Hart, nickel Thomas Harper, cornerback Benjamin Morrison, cornerback Jaden Mickey, cornerback Christian Gray and more.

Login to view embedded media
Click here to subscribe to Inside ND Sports on YouTube.

This is the poll I vote in, and yes we are copycats where Notre Dame is concerned, matching the AP and coaches poll. You can check out each individual voter and how they voted. Heckling is not encouraged, but not illegal either.

However they have 7 other QB’s ranked ahead of Hartman. I haven’t seen enough of Hartman play to know whether he’s the 8th best of the lot, but I’m surprised at some of the names ahead of him at the QB position that I have seen play. I wasn’t impressed with Nix when I saw him play. Although he’s cut down on stupid plays he still makes some head scratchers in big games trying to be the hero. Dude from FSU is a better athlete than a QB imo. Saw the Utah kid and he was great one game and awful one game.

I can see Williams, Penix, and Maye. Either way if he plays like a top 25 CFB player we are going to win a lot of games.

Login to view embedded media
Notre Dame 2025 offensive tackle Owen Strebig told me on Tuesday morning that he plans to visit for the Ohio State game on Sept 23.

Strebig, a 6-foot-8, 295-pound recruit, is rated as a four-star prospect. He is ranked as the No. 77 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class and No. 10 offensive tackle.

The Waukesha (Wisc.) Catholic Memorial prospect has visited the Irish twice this year including in July for the Grill & Chill recruiting event. Strebig has built a strong relationship with offensive line coach Joe Rudolph and head coach Marcus Freeman.

Strebig reports 20 total offers including Notre Dame, Florida, Florida State, Miami (Fla.) and Wisconsin.

As more commits, targets and prospects begin their school seasons and set visit dates, we'll have all updates on our running visitors list thread.

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

Login to view embedded media
I confirmed with Notre Dame 2025 four-star linebacker target Anthony Sacca on Sunday that he intends to visit the Irish on Sept. 23 for their game against Ohio State.

Sacca visited campus for the Blue-Gold Game in April, where he broke down his trip with Inside ND Sports. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound recruit attends Philadelphia (Pa.) St. Joseph's High.

Rivals list Sacca as a safety, but the Irish are targeting him as a linebacker. Sacca is ranked as the No. 74 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class.

Sacca, a Penn State legacy, holds 23 total offers including from Notre Dame, Florida State, Georgia, Miami (FL), Michigan, Ohio State. Oregon, Penn State and USC. Sacca only took one visit this summer and it was to Ohio State in July.

As more commits, targets and prospects begin their school seasons and set visit dates, we'll have all updates on our running visitors list thread.

Login to view embedded media

Bryce McFerson is finding the consistency needed to unlock his potential as Notre Dame's booming punter.

“Last year, I would just go hit ball after ball really well, and then I would just be out of it mentally in team period. But I feel miles ahead in team period.”

I spent some time one-on-one with Benjamin Morrison in June. He opened up about the turning point in his breakout freshman season, the impact Mike Mickens has made on him, his drive to get better and refusal to get complacent.

I think you'll enjoy this one.

“I get frustrated," Morrison said, "when I hear someone say, ‘Yeah, next year you probably not going to get as many interceptions just because they won't go at you.’ But I think that's kind of a slap across the face, because it's possible.”