Blaine Bradford, who visited Notre Dame last month, named a top five tonight that includes Notre Dame. Alabama, LSU, Ohio State and Oregon are the other top schools for the elite 2026 safety from Louisiana.

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“I haven’t been this eager to play football since, I don’t know, middle school. Whatever you want to say,” tight end Mitchell Evans said. “I’m more energetic, more excited and ready to go this season.”

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden met with the media Friday, after practice No. 3 of preseason camp. Here's everything he had to say. Answers are largely verbatim. Questions may have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: How is the headset communication thing going? How’s that working? And does the green dot have to go on the middle linebacker or can it go on Jack Kiser?

“We don't really worry about that. We'll pick one green dot. We'll have two or three in reserve, and then we'll manage it. If you're the green dot on first and second down, you're probably going to be the green dot on third down. We could have a situation where we say, ‘All right, take a blow. If we get into third down, you go.’ Again, I'm glad I have experience with it. And, hopefully, I can share that with our staff and so we can operate smoothly, but it is different. It is a challenge, and we'll see where it goes.”

Q: The iPad aspect of it for college guys — what do you want them to keep in mind when using those?
“Focus. Like, we tried it for three games in the NFL and scratched it. I think the prevailing attitude was that ‘everybody's watching TV.’ We opted for the still pictures. Management obviously opted for the still pictures. So, we have a bigger challenge, right? Don't grade the game. There’s going to be real time — like if you get your butt kicked on a play, there's going to be real-time footage of you getting your butt kicked on a play. Like, refocus, reload, put it behind you and go. Same thing with the coaches.

“We're not there to grade the game. We’ve got to be really concise in our coaching points. Watch what we have to watch, and then talk to the players about what's coming up next and where we're going on the next third down, where we're going on the next red-zone play, where we're going in the next P10. But you can get enamored with it. We had it for three preseasons. I don't know what year — you guys could look it up. And there's a lot of times you look over to the bench, and everybody's looking down at the iPad. So, we’ve got to be careful with that.”

Q: When you have a sixth-year guy like Jack Kiser and some other veterans on the defense, is it easier to implement the system this time around — using the headset communications?

“I just think we're blessed. We're blessed. We have great kids. We have great leadership. So from that standpoint, it doesn't take a lot to convince them, just a little experiential. Just sharing different experiences and what can help them. And for the most part, they want to learn. They want to know how to do it right, and so I don't think that will be too big a problem, but we're going to have to practice it here pretty soon.”

Q: Marcus Freeman said the other day, it's like entering camp at a 500-level course with the defense, because the players are so veteran and experienced. What are the ways that you're already seeing that experience?

“I don't know. I mean, I appreciate the commentary. I just think at the end of the day, we work really hard at it. We work hard at it. The players work hard at it. The staff works hard. And there's a lot that goes into it. There's tips every day. There's cut-ups. There's a summer-development program. There's individual programs. So, really, really working really hard in April, working really hard in May and June, working on the weekends, getting it situated so that you can give that information to the players. And most importantly, that you have enough leaders and a high standard, so that they accept the information and make it their own.

“Because I can send them videos on Blue, but if we don't have guys that are accepting it, executing it, making it their own, bringing it from their head to the heart, then I'm just fighting with Twitter then, right? I'm just fighting with YouTube, and that's not what we're here to do. We're here to win games, and we're just blessed to have a bunch of guys that [say], ‘Man like, coach me, Coach. Coach me. Just coach me. Push me.’ And that's what we attract. And that's what's awesome about coaching at Notre Dame. We have a lot of guys that want to be the best that they can be irrespective of whatever part of your life you're talking about.”

Q: When you're playing an opponent in week 1 that gets a new offensive coordinator now at a different school, what’s the balance between watching K-State film, and Texas A&M film and learning the personnel?

“There's definitely a balance. The personnel is, obviously, the A&M film. Kansas State is more of a philosophy and then seeing where they go. What does the O-line coach like to do? What does the wide receiver coach like to do? What does the running back coach like to do? It's that confluence that comes together in the opening game. So, this is the second year in a row where we didn’t know what we were going to see. Everybody said, ‘Oh, yeah. You're going to see this from Navy.’ We didn't see anything from Navy in the first 15 plays that we thought we were going to see. So, it is what it is. So, how do you handle it? You manage your own variables and keep your variables quiet and rely on your fundamentals. And then, hopefully, have enough leadership to withstand anything that you could not have practiced early, and just move forward.”

Q: Jordan Clark yesterday was talking about when he got here, what he liked the most was that so many guys just love football. And that was something that he brought to it, and he said the same thing with Rod [Heard]. He's a real football-head. He’s a guy that loves the game. When you're looking at guys in the transfer portal — like veteran guys — is that something that you want to identify, that these guys could fit in and learn what we do because of their love of the game?

“Yeah, if football is social for you, like this is not the place. If you want to be great, if you want to be really coached in the fundamentals of the game — the ball disruption, how to defend the screen, how to tackle, different techniques in the running game. If you want to be challenged with that all day — how to play situational football — you want to be challenged with that every day until every one of those tools becomes your own, this is the place to come. And that's the truth.

“If you just want to roll the ball out and just play the same coverage every play, this is not it. This is an NFL system that we execute and that we are giving to the guys. They're empowered to take it over and execute at a high level. And to do that, you need to recruit the type of young man that you're talking about. And we couldn't be happier than we are with those guys that have come in, in the transfer portal.”

Q: Who has stepped up in the first couple days with Gabe Rubio down with an injury? Who are you expecting to fill that void?

“Well, it's a great question. Obviously, Donnie [Donovan Hinish], Donnie and Jason [Onye] have continued. They benefited greatly from the spring. But Donnie and Jason — Armel [Mukam] has really stepped up. Cole Mullins has played a lot, too. So, I would say from that group will be the fifth and sixth in Gabe’s absence. And then obviously, hopefully, we're not too long without Gabe. We'll see how that goes.”

Q: And where's Brenan Vernon with his development?

“I mean, just [a] young guy. Just continuing to learn it, trying to get better, but not at that level of Armel right now, but he'll get there. And he'll add a little bit more power, a little bit more strength, a little more weight. And that will help him be able to relax in there and play naturally, which is what we're trying to get him to do.”

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@Eric Hansen and I discuss our top three takeaways from Notre Dame football's first three practices, the most interesting things they heard from offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and defensive coordinator Al Golden and play a game of Hot or Not with predictions for the 2024 season.

Then we answer questions from Twitter and The Insider Lounge (35:39).

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Notre Dame football held its third preseason practice ahead of the 2024 season on Friday, Aug. 2. Watch Notre Dame's defensive linemen, wide receivers and defensive backs in action.

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Yes, a special Saturday edition. PLEASE include your name and hometown with your question(s). The question queue is already open. Here's a shortcut to it:

Posting this on behalf of @Eric Hansen:

Three days into Tyler Buchner’s practice conversion from quarterback to wide receiver, the now grad walk-on, with junior eligibility, started Friday’s Notre Dame football practice as more of a bystander.

He joined the bike brigade during team warmups, joining recovering teammates running back Gi’Bran Payne, linebacker Kahanu Kia and defensive lineman Quentin Autry on the stationary bikes, But when the team broke into individual drills, the 6-foot-1, 215-pound San Diego product made himself useful during the wide receiver drills.

Throwing passes to his teammates, usually the role filled by receivers coach Mike Brown.

As was the case with Practice No. 2 on Thursday, the media was allowed to view team stretching/warmups and the five five-minute practice periods that followed.

Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock’s voice is definitely the loudest consistently in the three practices we’ve peeked in on. “Details are what matter,” he barked out during a period ion which the quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends were all working together.

His praise is equally as emphatic when he sees something he likes. “Now, you’re talking mhy language,” he said after a successful rep.

The early periods of defensive drills were more station-oriented than position-specific. And the various position groups rotated through block destruction, stripping the ball and pushing the sleds. Thus, every defensive player, for instance, had some time with defensive line coach Al Washington working on block destruction.

There were also periods later on where Washington was coaching just the interior defensive linemen in drills, and the vypers and field end Bryce Young were working with the linebackers.

Except for volume, offensive line coach Joe Rudeolph sounds more and more like Harry Hiestand — in terms of language choice — with each passing day. The rotations on the offensive line remain static, with the one true competition between left guards Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler.

The O-Line spent much of the media window in split line drills, with a tackle, a guard and a center working against scout defenders, and another combination doing the same thing a few feet away.

One constant at practice and the post-practice interviews are boom mikes and cameras. They’re for an upcoming documentary series on the Irish football team, produced by Fighting Irish Media and eventually shown on Peacock.

There will be one episode released before the season and another late in the regular season. The official dates have not yet been released.

With the news that senior nose guard Gabe Rubio suffered a broken bone in his left foot in Wednesday's preseason-camp opening practice, junior Donovan Hinish and senior Jason Onye were among those getting increased reps in Thursday’s practice during the media viewing window.

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Defending Olympic Champion and four-time NCAA Champion Lee Kiefer defeated Italy's Alice Volpi 15-10 in the semifinals to move her one step away from her second consecutive gold medal. She will face fellow American and current Harvard fencer Lauren Scruggs in the final, scheduled for 3:45 pm EDT.

From staff and Fighting Irish Media:

Former Notre Dame center Lauren Ebo is an Olympian.

On Wednesday, Team Nigeria announced its Olympic roster, and it includes the Washington, D.C., native who finished her collegiate career as a graduate student at Notre Dame in 2022-23. She averaged 9 points and 7 rebounds over 28 games while in South Bend.

Women's basketball at the 2024 Paris Olympics begins on July 29 with pool play in Lille, France. Nigeria is grouped with Australia, France and Canada and will see those teams in that order. Of note, Ebo will face former Irish post Natalie Achonwa and current Irish wing Cassandre Prosper when Nigeria plays Canada on Aug. 4.

Former Irish and current WNBA standouts Jewell Loyd and Jackie Young are playing for Team USA in the 12-team competition.

Today is Aug. 1, which means Notre Dame and other FBS programs can send written scholarship offers to recruits in the 2025 class. A trio of Notre Dame commits were the first to share their Irish offers today on Twitter/X: OT Owen Strebig and DEs Dominik Hulak and Joseph Reiff.

Check them out below.

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Former Notre Dame women's soccer player Korbin Albert gave Team USA a 2-0 lead over Australia on pool play at the Paris Olympics.

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Notre Dame football held its second preseason practice ahead of the 2024 season on Thursday, Aug. 1. Watch Notre Dame's quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends connect in the passing game and the running backs get involved with the offensive linemen against defensive linemen and linebackers.

Players featured include quarterbacks Riley Leonard, Steve Angeli, Kenny Minchey and CJ Carr; wide receivers Micah Gilbert, Jaden Greathouse, Kris Mitchell, Jayden Thomas, Jordan Faison, Beaux Collins, Logan Saldate, Cam Williams and Deion Colzie; tight ends Mitchell Evans, Kevin Bauman, Eli Raridon, Cooper Flanagan and Jack Larsen; running backs Devyn Ford, Aneyas Williams, Jadarian Price, Jake Tafelski and Jeremiyah Love; and defensive linemen Rylie Mills, Jason Onye and Joshua Burnham.

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Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock met with the media on Thursday after Irish football practice. Here's everything he had to say. Answers are largely verbatim. Questions may have been edited for clarity and brevity

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I told you yesterday that Gabriel Rubio went down during Notre Dame's first preseason practice.

Notre Dame announced Thursday morning that Rubio fractured the second metatarsal in his left foot and has already had surgery to repair the fracture.

He is expected to return to play this season, but a timeline was not shared beyond that.

Jason Onye and Donovan Hinish will be asked to step up even more as reserves behind NT Howard Cross III and DT Rylie Mills.

Notre Dame football held its first preseason practice ahead of the 2024 season on Wednesday, July 31. Watch Notre Dame's offense, defensive linemen and linebackers work through drills during the first five periods of practice.

Players featured include quarterbacks Riley Leonard, Steve Angeli and CJ Carr; wide receivers Jayden Thomas, Jayden Harrison, Jordan Faison, Deion Colzie and Logan Saldate; tight ends Mitchell Evans, Eli Raridon and Jack Larsen; running back Jadarian Price; defensive linemen Jordan Botelho, Rylie Mills, Donovan Hinish and Bryce Young; and linebackers Jack Kiser, Jaylen Sneed, Drayk Bowen, Jaiden Ausberry, Preston Zinter and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa.

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After publishing our video clips from the first five periods, I’ve expanded on my first quick notes report. Here’s my full breakdown of Notre Dame football’s first preseason practice.

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@Adam Gorney's looking back at the recruitments of the NFL players who made the NFL.com top 100 ahead of the 2024 season.

Two former Notre Dame players made the list between 81-100: DBs Julian Love and Harrison Smith.


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Nice shout out from Coach Freeman — good job on spring conditioning Eric.

Benjamin Morrison remains on track to be ready for the season opener at Texas A&M.