JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat | April 2, 2026

Notre Dame Football Live Chat | April 2, 2026

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Dave from Dallas, TX

12:32

Long-time listener, first-time caller. Thank you for your insights and professionalism over your standout career covering the Irish! Two questions about technology: 1) Much was made in the ND/Ark ’25 game of Taylen Green’s use of a VR headset for his mental preparation. Does Notre Dame use similar technology with CJ (and the other QB’s, for that matter)?; and 2) recognizing that no football program likes to pull back the curtain on how they think they can gain a competitive advantage, does Notre Dame’s support staff employ any AI tools for this purpose (it seems to this reader that there would be application to things like nutrition, film study [self or opponent], and myriad others)? Blink twice, if yes. Thanks in advance and Go Irish!

Eric Hansen

12:31

Hi Skip, we have not seen them punt in the two practices we've had viewing windows for among the six they've staged. This will be between Australian import Jasper Scaife and sophomore Erik Schmidt. I spoke with Erik recently and will have a feature on him. As the weather gets more cooperative and the Irish get outside more, we'll likely have opportunities to witness that. My sense is this is a competition that will carry over through summer and will be decided in August.

skip - Houston

12:29

Any reports on punter competition? Thanks.

Eric Hansen

12:26

My sense it will be more than the two-man rotation he used last year, but he isn't committed to go as deep as predecessor Deland McCullough did. I think it's going to be really difficult to use less than four, but my gut tells me it will be three-deep. As far as the new recruits, my teammates Mike Singer, Kyle Kelly and Tyler James have done the deep work on those guys. My bandwidth and spring responsibilities don't allow me to go that deep on recruits at this point. Tyler James does film studies on all of them, so that would be a great resource. ... to your last question, I think the mindset of the team, the continuity, and the talent are all big positives through six spring practices that bode well. I wrote about the mindset yesterday in this piece: How inviting struggle to the party is pushing the Notre Dame O-line and D-line to surge

12:18

Hi Marie. I did have a chance to talk to Notre Dame RBs coach Ja'Juan Seider recently, and he mentioned in the article I did focusing on Kedren Young that it's too early to tell how deep the rotation will be. Some of that is because there are only two fully healthy scholarship RBs, Nolan James Jr. and Jonaz Walton, participating this spring. All five are on track to be 100% by this summer. So I would think August will be the timeline when he decides how deep of a rotation he wants to start the season using. (more)

Marie from Atlanta

12:12

Hi Eric, I hope you’re having a fantastic week. I believe you got to speak with Coach Seider recently, with all the great running backs that he has this year did you get the feeling that maybe he will expand the rotation to greater than two? what are your thoughts on the two new recruits Whisenton and Rogers? what are the biggest strengths that each will bring to the team? With everything you’ve seen and heard about spring practice so far what is the one thing that makes you the most confident that this team can contend for a championship? As always, thanks for hosting the chat and all the great insights.

Eric Hansen

Off we go ...

12:09

Lots of first-time question-askers today to go along with some familiar ones, so welcome all.

Gambling, drinking and bare feet will be tolerated as reasonable levels.

Here are the rules:

12:08

PLEASE include your name and hometown along with your question(s). Providing your 40 time is optional.

12:07

As far as this week's chat ...

12:06

► The Third & Gold Podcast is available at all places where you find podcasts, as well as our YouTube Channel. On our most recent episode, we caught up with former Notre Dame offensive lineman Mike Golic Jr. The next episode will drop late Friday afternoon, with special guest Matt Shelton.

12:05

► If you missed the last episode of our aspiring-to-be-viral Notre Dame Football YouTube show, Football Never Sleeps, what are you doing with your life? Seriously, the show keeps its shelf life long after the live presentation, so you can catch up now or later on our YouTube channel. We’ll be back next week, Monday at 7 p.m. ET, for another presentation of Football Never Sleeps with Tyler James co-hosting with me. And check out some great shows on the Blue & Gold YouTube channel as well, including the live Notre Dame Football Show, on Wednesday nights.

► On July 1, Tyler James and I made the move to the On3 network and blueandgold.com and joined some amazing teammates. It’s proven to be a great move for us and, I believe, for our subscribers as well. And if you’re a potential first-time subscriber, we have a great deal — 50% off your first year with an annual subscription. With that, you get all of our premium content, plus all the value you get from a national team of writers and content creators, as well as access to every team site in the On3 network and a full year of The Athletic. Check it out at: https://www.on3.com/teams/notre-dame-fighting-irish/join/.

12:04

First, some quick programming notes:

12:02

Welcome to Notre Dame Football Live Chat with six spring practices in the books and the South Bend weather alternating between arctic one day and tropical the next.

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