We got our first look at the 2024 Notre Dame Fighting Irish on last week in the annual Blue-Gold game. Although it’s only a scrimmage during spring practice, this game can tell us a lot about what the Irish will look like for the upcoming season, as well as the near future. We also get to hear what coach Freeman had to say about the roster for the upcoming season. He had some high praises for the team, calling it the most talented roster he had since he got here. With that in mind here are the biggest takeaways from the game.
CJ Carr is the Quarterback of the Future
When you talk about Notre Dame quarterbacks, all the discussion centers around transfer Riley Leonard. This is completely justified as he’s the lock to behind center for the Irish week one. However, lost in all that is what Notre Dame is going to do in the future at quarterback. Although they’ve been using the strategy of bringing in transfers for the position, many on the Notre Dame coaching staff have signaled that they want to move away from that strategy.
Which why there has been so much anticipation surrounding newly recruited quarterback CJ Carr. Carr was a four-star recruit in high school. He was the 47th overall prospect and 6th best QB in the 2023 recruiting class. He’s a pure pocket passer, with a good arm and enough speed to scramble is need be. He gained lots of praise for his maturity and football IQ.
With all these traits people were very excited to see how he would perform in his first college football practice. And he didn’t disappoint. He threw for 165 yards, and a touchdown with no interceptions. His passes also had a nice touch on them, and he made great decisions. Notre Dame won’t be looking in the portal for QBs anymore after Carr takes the reigns next season.
Mixed Results for Notre Dame Defense
Notre Dame’s defense took a hit this offseason with many of their star players like Cam Hart and JD Bertland leaving for the NFL draft. In total Notre Dame lost four defensive starters to the NFL draft this season. So there was a genuine concern about what this defense was going to look like next year. Concerns that were hoped to be squashed during the Blue-Gold game.
And it was a mixed result for this new Irish defense. The secondary had an up-and-down game. There were some plays where they looked great and looked like they were going to be a lockdown group all season. However, there were other plays where they got completely burned and gave up huge plays. The biggest word to describe their play is inconsistent.
It was a similar story for the defensive line and the linebacking core. Had a lot of good plays, but also flashed some weaknesses that could be exploited due to how young they are. However, what Irish fans can get excited about is the problems were mostly just due to inexperience. Simple problems that can be fixed by them getting more practice and game time in. Overall it’s a situation where there is a ton of talent in those two positions but they’re just raw.
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