In the roughly 4,500 words exchanged between Marcus Freeman and the core Notre Dame football media on Wednesday, the fourth-year Irish head coach spent much of his time in the post-spring football wrap-up steeped in the hypothetical when it came to roster management.
And with good reason.
Retiring 75-year-old federal judge Claudia Wilken and the attorneys in the House v. NCAA case who she admonished late last week continue to be part of every college football team’s roster-limbo dilemma.
As in, how big will the rosters be in 2025? And what does that, in turn, mean for scholarship limits?
Spoiler alert, Wilken is running out of patience and has imposed a deadline, creeping up in less than two weeks.
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And Freeman got a little better handle on what he’s working with after the spring transfer portal window closed on Friday at midnight after 10 relatively quiet days in his world. Senior quarterback Steve Angeli and rising sophomore safety Kennedy Urlacher were the only two departures among scholarship players, landing at 2025 ND opponents Syracuse and USC, respectively.
Walk-ons Rino Monteforte (Cal), a long snapper, and Zac Yoakam (TBA), a kicker, also left the roster.
Among the 93 scholarship players projected at the moment to start the season with the Irish pn Aug. 31 in Miami Gardens, Fla., for the season opener with Miami, 14 will join the roster for the first time in June for summer enrollment and OTAs/workouts.
That’s two more transfers and 12 more freshmen.
Based on not just talent, but depth/opportunity at their respective position groups, the following is Inside ND Sports’ projection of the six with the greatest potential to make an impact on the 2025 bottom line.
Keep in mind, some positions are far more rotational in nature — defensive linemen, running backs and wide receivers, for instance — than others, like offensive linemen and quarterbacks. So, being in the two-deeps at one position may not translate to as much playing time and/or impact as someone who’s a third-teamer at another position.
Also, this is not a long-term projection necessarily as much as it is a look at the 2025 bottom line. With that, we start the six-pack countdown at No. 6.
6. Ty Washington, Tight End
Rising junior Cooper Flanagan’s Achilles injury in January during Notre Dame’s College Football Playoff run provides some wiggle room for the Arkansas transfer to become more than a depth piece and a possible rotational one behind lead right end Eli Raridon.
A strong spring by sixth-year inspiration Kevin Bauman, progress by sophomore Jack Larsen, the June addition of incoming freshman James Flanigan, and Washington’s own troubled and truncated 2024 season at Arkansas muddle the picture.
Washington was dismissed eight games into the Razorbacks’ season for a violation of team rules, and carried a dismal 42.3 film grade from Pro Football Focus at the time. Yet the 6-foot-4, 247-pounder, with two years of eligibility remaining, had a productive 2023 season.
And given Freeman’s “fit” and “culture” watchwords when it comes to incoming talent, he has to feel pretty good about both ND’s vetting of Washington’s demise at Arkansas and what he could become at ND to add him to the roster.
5. Will Black, Offensive Tackle
Here’s where extreme talent collides with less-the-perfect timing and perhaps limited opportunity. Had the 6-foot-7, 295-pound prospect from Wallingford, Conn., arrived a year earlier and as a spring enrollee, you could make a case that he would have been in the mix to be ND’s starting left tackle in 2024, after Charles Jagusah suffered a summertime injury that kept him sidelined until January.
Instead, either Jagusah or 15-game left tackle starter Anthony Knapp figure to be the 2025 fixture. And the Irish have lots more tackle talent to go along with starting right tackle Aamil Wagner and sophomore prodigy Guerby Lambert.
But when Rivals designates five-star prospects these days, part of its formula is whether that player is a future first-round draft pick. And Black is just ND’s 22nd five-star in the 25 completed recruiting cycles Rivals has been in existence for.
Only nine of ND’s previous five-stars and one of its five-star O-linemen — Sam Young — carried a higher overall player rating than Black’s No. 20 overall ranking nationally. So, it will be interesting to see how quickly that talent translates to a spot in the two-deeps.
4. Christopher Burgess Jr., Defensive End
The 6-3, 248-pound Chicago Public League product could very well finish his college career as an interior defensive lineman, but the Simeon High grad figures to start it at the field end spot, where senior Josh Burnham and sophomore Bryce Young will likely tag-team at the top of that position’s depth chart.
That still leaves a rotational opportunity the highest-rated for the four June-arriving defensive linemen, who at No. 36 overall just narrowly missed five-star status.
Burgess got lots of national exposure in the camp/all-star circuits, and his physical maturity, strength and burst are unquestioned. It’s more of matter of how quickly he’ll adapt to new Irish defensive coordinator Chris Ash’s system without having had a longer spring on-ramp.
3. Dallas Golden, Cornerback
So much of what has occurred positively for the Irish cornerbacks room since Golden signed in December would seemingly make the climb steeper for the 6-0, 180-pound four-star signee from Tampa, Fla., into a rotational position behind incumbent starters Leonard Moore and Christian Gray.
Sophomore Karson Hobbs surged significantly this spring. Grad senior Chance Tucker is on track to come back from an August 2024 ACL tear, and spring enrollee Cree Thomas looked much more advanced than a freshman in March and April.
And then there’s fellow June enrollee Mark Zackery IV further enhancing that position group. And yet Golden is just freaky, versatile and driven enough to make a run at playing time behind the returning starters.
At No. 69 overall, he was ND’s fourth-highest-rated recruit in the 2025 class, per Rivals, behind only five-star offensive lineman Will Black (No. 20), defensive end Christopher Burgess Jr. (36), and December ultra-early enrolled linebacker Madden Faraimo (61).
He’s also the second-highest rated cornerback prospect to sign with the Irish in the Rivals Era (2002-present), with only Darrin Walls, at No. 51 in 2006, ranked higher.
Not only could Golden impact the cornerback position, he might forge his way into a return role on special teams and could even play wide receiver in a pinch.
2. James Flanigan, Tight End
As was the case with No. 6 on this list — Arkansas transfer Ty Washington — Cooper Flanagan’s unavailability, at least early in the 2025 season, creates an opportunity for the son of former Irish defensive line standout Jim Flanigan and older brother of Irish 2027 defensive line target Richie Flanigan.
Rivals national analyst Greg Smith predicted back in December after James Flanigan signed that he’d be the next great Irish tight end, a position group for Notre Dame that has seen its last 12 primary starters get drafted into the NFL, including fifth-rounder Mitchell Evans to Carolina on Saturday.
At 6-5, 230, the Green Bay, Wis., product already showed elite physicality in national high school showcases. That figures to translate even better in the college game once he builds more size and strength under Irish director of football performance Loren Landow.
1. Malachi Fields, wide receiver
The former two-star recruit, who played quarterback and cornerback in high school, could end up being Notre Dame’s leading receiver in 2025. At worst, the 6-4, 220-pound grad transfer from Virginia figures to be the starting boundary receiver for the Irish and a likely upgrade over last year’s starter, Beaux Collins.
Fields was an impressively productive receiver on an unimpressive passing team last season. The Cavaliers ranked 102nd nationally in team pass efficiency and 64th in passing offense. Against the Irish last November, the Cavaliers labored to throw for 172 yards on 17-of-36 accuracy with three interceptions and two sacks given up.
Most of Virginia’s success in the 35-14 loss at Notre Dame Stadium came with backup Tony Muskett leading the offense against the deep Irish reserves.
Fields, himself, threw an incompletion on a trick play, but led all receivers in the game with 81 yards, that total coming on four catches.
For the season, Fields amassed 55 receptions for 808 yards and five TDs in 12 games a year after accruing 58 for 811 and five TDs.
At Monticello High in Charlottesville, Va., Fields was also a track standout, qualifying as a state finalist in the 2021 VHSL Class 3 state meet in the 200-meter dash, 4x100 relay, shot put, discus, long jump, high jump and triple jump. His best finish at that meet was third in the high jump.
He had considered opting into the 2025 NFL Draft and had an East-West Shrine Bowl invite, but instead decided to try to improve his draft equity with a final college season in South Bend.
Other June enrollees: Linebackers Anthony Sacca and Ko'o Kia, cornerback Mark Zackery IV, safety Brandon Logan, defensive ends Dominik Hulak and Joe Reiff, defensive tackle Gordy Sulfsted and kicker punter Eric Schmidt.
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