SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In between two momentous Notre Dame football recruiting weekends, head coach Marcus Freeman got a glimpse this week of the 11 later-arriving members of his 2023 class during their first week of classes and summer workouts.
What impressed him the most about them is what he didn’t witness during some drillwork with ND’s returning veteran players, transfers and 12 early enrolled freshmen.
Culture shock.
“The young guys come in more and more prepared for a college training schedule,” Freeman said Thursday during a one-on-one interview with Inside ND Sports. “Every year it’s like they’re more and more prepared.
“Now, training is one thing. Football is another. So, we’ll see when we put the pads on and they have to go out there and execute it. But they look good. They look physically good. They look like they’re prepared for a college training schedule.”
Among those who caught Freeman’s eye Wednesday were running back Jeremiyah Love, wide receiver Kaleb “KK” Smith, and defensive ends Brenan Vernon and Boubacar Traore.
Almost the entire roster started the summer term injury-free. That includes players who missed all or portions of contact work in spring practice — safeties Ben Minich, Adon Shuler and Thomas Harper, cornerback Christian Gray, defensive lineman Devan Houstan, tight end Mitchell Evans and running back Jadarian Price.
The exceptions are June-enrolled freshman offensive tackle Charles Jagusah (winter PCL surgery) and returning tight ends Eli Raridon and Kevin Bauman (fall ACL tears).
“When I say 100 percent, they’re doing 100 percent of every rep that everybody else is doing,” Freeman said of his injury report. “The two guys I mentioned, the ACL guys, maybe they’re being held back a little bit in the running, like maybe not as much volume as everybody else, but we expect them to be doing that come training camp.”
Portal perspective
Freeman’s philosophy with the transfer portal is to always do your deep research on prospective transfers, whether or not there’s an immediate or obvious need.
That was the case with quarterbacks over the past couple of months after rising junior Tyler Buchner in late April opted to transfer to Alabama, leaving the Irish with three options, two of whom had never thrown a pass in a college game.
Window shopping but without a serious intent to pursue adding to projected starter and Wake Forest grad transfer Sam Hartman, rising sophomore Steve Angeli and freshman early enrollee Kenny Minchey.
“We’re happy with the group we have, and we think with the reps and development of Steve Angeli and Kenny Minchey, and the reps they’ll get with the 2s and 3s, they’ll be ready to be the backup and third string for our team.”
The Irish did add two more scholarship transfers in the spring in Rhode Island defensive back Antonio Carter II and Penn State running back Devyn Ford for a total of 10 incoming transfers, three of whom are walk-ons.
• Freeman said the addition of Ford, a former Rivals top 50 recruit, was not a reflection of uncertainty regarding Price’s recovery from a June 2022 left Achilles tendon tear.
“We feel very good about Jadarian Price and where he’ll be as we get ready for this season,” Freeman said. “Devyn Ford was about: Does he have traits that maybe we don’t have in our running back room? And can he help us win championships? If the answer was yes, let’s bring him in and do it. And it was.”
The traits specifically were the combination of elite speed, maturity/experience and a special teams skill set. Once junior Logan Diggs transferred to LSU in the spring, only returning starter Audric Estimé could check the maturity/experience box.
“If we didn’t believe [Ford] had those traits that we believed would help us win, we would not have brought him in,” Freeman said, “but we feel very confident in JD.”
• Two players exited the Irish roster before the March 22 start of spring practice but never entered the transfer portal during the 45-day spring window, nor did they medically retire.
The two — kicker Josh Bryan and cornerback Philip Riley — remain enrolled at Notre Dame and for now plan on getting their degree from ND. They’ll both be juniors academically in the fall.
Looking ahead
Two of the more intriguing positions to watch once training camp kicks off in late July is the lingering battle at right offensive guard and the sorting out the rotation at linebacker.
Sophomore Billy Schrauth emerged from spring practice as the No. 1 option at left guard, and grad senior Andrew Kristofic and junior Rocco Spindler got most of the spring reps at right tackle without a starter being named.
At linebacker, grad senior Jack Kiser’s strong spring and desire to compete for the starting spot at the weakside (Will) linebacker created an interesting dynamic, as did the surge of young linebackers, including sophomores Jaylen Sneed and Nolan Ziegler.
Kiser started at rover in 2022, but ND’s tendency to play with an extra defensive back and just two linebackers relatively routinely, meant only 336 snaps last season. Still, he was second on the team in tackles with 58, seven more than grad senior starting Will linebacker Marist Liufau, who played a team-high 646 defensive snaps.
Incumbent starter at middle linebacker, grad senior JD Betrand (580 snaps), led the Irish in tackles with 82.
But Kiser was ND’s top-graded linebacker overall, per Pro Football Focus, and third-best defender among anyone who played more than 10 snaps in 2022. He graded out as ND’s best tackler and its best pass rusher from any position.
“That's the beautiful thing about competition,” Freeman said. “We know all three are going to play. We know that Marist is going to play, Jack Kiser is going to play, and JD is going to play. Who goes out there first? Let’s see who plays better in fall camp.”
Meanwhile Ziegler has adapted so well inside that he’s become a key backup behind Bertrand, while Sneed continues to develop at the rover in the mold of former Irish All-American and Butkus Award winner Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.
“He has some Owusu traits — explosion, athleticism,” Freeman said, “but again we don’t use a rover all the time, so we’re trying to develop him as just a linebacker. And so, he’s going to have to be able to play rover if we have three linebackers on the field and Will or Mike when there’s two linebackers on the field.
“But he is truly improving, and I expect him to play a lot this year.”
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