Fall camp is often a time when late bloomers emerge across college football.

Notre Dame is no exception. Wide receiver Javon McKinley (2020), Asmar Bilal (2019), Miles Boykin (2018) and running back Dexter Williams (2018) are a few recent examples.

Those players were deep reserves or unremarkable starters before becoming important pieces as seniors or graduate students. They won now-or-never camp battles to reach that point. Losing a job to a younger player, though, would’ve been difficult for them to overcome at that point in their careers.

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Notre Dame enters 2021 fall camp with a few candidates in that spot. Here’s a look at five players competing for starting jobs in make-or-break years.