JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat | Aug. 13, 2026

Notre Dame Football Live Chat | Aug. 13, 2026

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Eric Hansen

1:03

Hi Mark, and thanks. Great news for Tommy. I know longtime recruiting analyst Tom Lemming was impressed by him. He was not widely recruited, though, and originally committed to Miami (Ohio). If/when he did visit the ND campus with his family, it is my recollection that it was not the intent for Notre Dame to extend an offer. ... As far as Tommy Rees burning bridges, I don't think that's the case. There are many who feel he has the potential to be a head coach. I think he does too, but I think his best fit is as an offensive coordinator.

Mark Czar /Grand Rapids mi

1:00

Tommy Carr is creating a buzz in Ann Arbor. Did he make any recruiting visits to South Bend? Another Tommy / Rees is the OC of the Atlanta Falcons. Did he burn bridges existing South Bend for Alabama? Is he a potential ND Head Coach in the future? Thank you your insight Eric!!!

Eric Hansen

12:57

Hi Jack. That is the correct read. The preseason AP poll comes out on Monday at noon ET. Thanks for reading the column. For those who missed it, here's your shot at redemption: Should Notre Dame be No. 1? Inside my AP preseason poll ballot
My preseason ballot is always predictive ... and specfically where those teams will line up on Selection Sunday in December, not necessarily who will do well in the CFP. The subsequent polls are not predictive, but a snapshot of reality or my version of it. And thank you!

Jack, Strongsville, Oh

12:52

Hi Eric. I read your column behind the ballot on your preseason pick for the AP poll. Do you think Ohio State and Notre Dame will both go undefeated in the regular season since you have them number 1 and 2? Thanks for the great work.

Eric Hansen

12:52

Hi Tony the Great, qué pasa? Oh wait, you just told me. My prediction would shift to: from right tackle to left ... Guerby Lambert, Sullivan Absher, Ashton Craig, Anthonie Knapp, Will Black. Hope to see you in the land of cheese curds.

2581

12:50

Tony from Lexington, Kentucky, but currently representing ND in Oaxaca, Mexico (visiting daughter & granddaughter there). Hope to see you at Lambeau, Eric the Great ! With the announcement of Matty Augustine's injury/surgery, who do you now predict will comprise the starting Offensive Line for ND on September 6th?

Eric Hansen

12:50

Again, off the top of my head, I'd throw WR Mylan Graham in that bucket, OT Will Black, S Brauntae Johnson, LB Jaylen Sneed, TE Ian Premer and P Jasper Scaife. I am sure I am leaving a bunch of people off. Again this list isn't about who is best in the field, but who is an unusual physical speciman.

12:46

Ahoy JJ!!! The multiple decades part of your question is not happening LOL. I don't have enough caffeine in me today to fuel a comprehensive answer off the top of my head. But I can at least take a stab at the current roster. For those who didn't read the article, the four Irish players in the 2025 roster who did make the freaks list of 100 players across college football were: DT Francis Brewu, defensive end Bryce Young, offensive guard Anthonie Knapp and defensive tackle Elijah Hughes. (more)

JJ - Bushwood CC (NJ)

12:41

Ahoy Eric!!! I’m always intrigued by Bruce Feldman's annual Freaks List, and it’s cool to see four ND guys show up this year. D-line is well represented! Who else on the current roster would be on your own list? What about from the multiple decades you’ve covered the team?

Eric Hansen

12:41

Hi Mike. When we brought this up with Marcus Freeman during our small-group interviews with him in late July, he acknowledged that was indeed the case, but he didn't seem interested in giving much detail on which teams when pressed on that, for whatever reason.

Mike from Rockville, MD

12:39

Hi, Eric! Did the ND coaches visit any other teams this offseason? When they have done that in the past are they comparing notes, learning about schemes or fundamentals or something else? Thanks!

Eric Hansen

12:39

Styles Prescod is now the No. 3 tackle option and can play both sides. O-Line coach Joe Rudolph mentioned Wednesday that Prescod has had a strong offseason. True freshman Grayson McKeough might be No. 4 in that order, whether or not he's lining up there in practice at the moment. And sorry for not putting the exclamation points where they belong at the beginning of this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

12:37

Hi Mark. As you astutely noted, this injury dilutes ND at two positions. Augustine was battling to be the starting right guard. He was also ND's third-best tackle option behind starters Guerby Lambert and Will Black. For the guard option, I think it could go a couple of ways. The most likely would be Sullivan Absher winning that starting nod and thriving. The more complicated one is shifting Ashton Craig to right guard and elevating Joe Otting to starting center. That's less plausible, but still on the table. (more)

Mark from Memphis, TN

12:33

Hi Eric!!!!!!!!! I was bummed to hear about Matty Augustine’s injury, because it seemed like his career was about to take off. Who becomes the “next man in” at OG/OT while he is out?

Eric Hansen

12:32

Manny!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you. ... I think you have a skewed sense of what we do at practice. No snacks, no water ... but lots of little rubber pellets in our shoes that won't go away even when you shake them. So the only thing available to eat is those rubber pellets. If my body didn't care about what I was putting into it and I didn't care if I spilled all over myself, I'd eat something from our Taco Bar. ... There's some more questions about keeping the noise out and the short answer for all of those is that he puts the players in position to be uncomfortable in practice situations and creates an edge. He also told them to keep the pain from being left out of the playoff last December, and I think that's still in play.

Manny from San Pedro

12:28

Eric!!!!!! Love that the chats are back!!! Two parter. What’s your go to snack when u are attending practices? Also this might be the most hyped team since you started covering them. What is freeman doing to keep the noise out?!?!

Eric Hansen

12:26

That is really intriguing, in part because Ian Premer would love to do it. I talked about this with him in May, because he did some of that for his high school team in Kansas and he has been compared to former Penn State All-American Tyler Warren, who performed in that role for the Nittany Lions. We have seen very little of Wildcat in practice, and ND used a RB when they did. That doesn't mean they'd run it at all, may just be spitballing. But Premer would be an interesting option if they did.

mneubert17

12:23

Do you see a potential wildcat role built out for Ian Premer, similar to how Bowers or Warren were deployed?

Eric Hansen

12:23

He's also been proactive in creating a standalone series with Clemson outside of the ACC commitment and is pushing to play Miami and Florida State within that ACC agreement more regularly than some of the other schools in that league. And the IU cancellation allowed ND and USC to resume their rivalry in 2030. So, no I don't see this as coercing the Irish toward a full-time conference commitment in football.

12:21

Hi Robb. The schedule-softening trend isn't as widespread as perhaps you are perceiving it to be, but it could move in that direction if the CFP committee doesn't reward teams for playing aggressive non-conference schedules and if the CFP expansion goes to 16 instead of 20 or 24 teams. Even then, Notre Dame's AD Pete Bevacqua says he is finding no shortage of teams that want to schedule the Irish. (more)

Robb, Edwardsburg

12:18

Hey Eric, Lots of talk of series being cancelled, with IU already dropped, and I wondered if this is a pattern that will get worse over the next year or so? Will it force ND to do something, ie, enforcing contracts if possible, scheduling less Power 4 teams or heaven forbid, think of joining a conference or arranging for more than 5 games against the ACC?

Eric Hansen

12:17

Kevin!!!!! Nice to have you reemerge. How far is Sleepy Eye from Green Bay? Probably farther than I'm imagining. ... In any event, the question is specifically for the first half of Wisconsin? I'm going to say three -- Aneyas Williams, Nolan James Jr. and Kedren Young. But Jonaz Walton is ascending, and he could play in that game as well, though likely after halftime.

Kevin-sleepy eye,mn

12:13

Eric!!!!!!!! I'm back...really never left:) How many of our RB's will play in first half against Wisconsin? And who.

Eric Hansen

12:13

Anytime you have good assistants, people are going to want to hire them away. That's how the game works. And Gino could have left already. But so far he is enjoying this opportunity too much to leave. I don't know many people who would have walked away from having a chance to coach CJ Carr through the completion of his college career.

12:11

Hi John. I think Gino Guidulgli's presence on Marcus Freeman's staff is a significant factor in what you're seeing in both Notre Dame QB recruiting and QB development. He is relentless in terms of starting the process off with never being too busy or too full of himself to evaluate a prospect. And he's an elite evaluator. You layer on top of that Mike Denbrock and his offense and his reputation and working so well with Gino. And then Marcus Freeman is a big factor too. (more)

Guest

12:09

John, Villa Park, Ca. Thanks for all your great work on these chats. While ND does not have the greatest reputation for developing quarterbacks, it appears that 3 quarterbacks developed at ND will be power 4 starters this year. Do you think this is primarily attributable to Gino and do you think our current roster and commitments will allow ND to maintain this high level in the future? With these results, do you think there is some risk we will lose Gino to other opportunities?

Eric Hansen

OK, off we go ...

Since you were so good with the "no drinking" rule being stricken from the list last week, we'll rescind that and the "no bare feet" rule this week.

12:07

Here are the addtional mandates ...

12:06

PLEASE include your NAME and HOMETOWN along with your question(s). No 17-parters, no manifestos.

Not to this week's chat ...

12:05

For those of you who have signed up as first-time subscribers for 75% off for your first year of blueandgold.com and the network and national content throughout the On3 Network, thank you. The response has been so overwhelming, the folks way higher on the food chain than me have extended the offer through this weekend. That’s $30 (I did the math for you). 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/?utm_source=p...

12:04

First, just one programming note this week:

Why Thursday? Because I had a coverage conflict yesterday, with practice and interviews. We'll be back on Wednesdays at noon moving forward.

12:03

Welcome to a special Thursday editition of Notre Dame Football Live Chat.

Connecting…

Horka Burning Love, Austin, Texas

6:18

Which ND coach has the cutest love handles and is Jack Soble trying way too hard to take Tyler’s place?

Art vandelay

10:19

How good is Grayson McKeogh

Jim From Springfield, IL

11:01

Media reports and message boards are full of 12-0 and playoff talk. Seems like it is national championship or the season is a failure. Do you get a sense of how the coaches and players are handling this? Is their any sign of taking teams lightly because they were "reading their press clippings"? Conversely, can you see this team wilting under the expectations? Thanks

Matt from Muscatine

3:40

Hi Eric. I hope you’re enjoying the start of fall camp. I have a follow up from my question last well re: strength of schedule. When looking at last year, Alabama had a strong sos and got extra credit for it, despite losing spectacularly in the SEC championship and struggling at times throughout the season, while Texas Tech had a weak sos but was ranked 4. Both teams got exposed. How do you weigh in sos when you are ranking teams? Could you give some concrete examples of when it definitely impacted your rankings and why it did so in those cases?

Matt from Muscatine

3:56

2581

6:07

Gabe from Walkerton

12:21

Eric!!!! (Im on the trend now) As a whole, so far are you stock up, down or right on track for the 2026 ND football team?

Gabe from Walkerton

12:23

Eric!! I realize that the off the record sit down with CMF was well, off the record, but without sharing his answers can you share what type of questions were asked i.e., more specifics in injury status, HS recruiting, etc?

Gabe from Walkerton

12:24

Eric!!! I personally think ND will go undefeated in the regular season, but think Navy may be a bit more of a trap then people realize. Do you have any games you see that way?

Aaron, Washington DC

1:01

Hi Eric, thanks for today’s chat. I think most ND fans were fairly surprised by the early struggles last season. What has Coach Freeman changed about his approach in the offseason and in camp to ensure the team doesn’t have a slow start like last season (and 2024 to some extent)? Who is stepping up in the wide receiver and tight end rooms and how are those groups progressing? Will there be high impact starters that can contribute to the same magnitude that Will Pauling, Malachi Fields, and Eli Raridon did last season? I appreciate it.

Scott from Mamou, LA

2:26

Happy Thursday Eric!! Also thanks for hosting the chats, not often I get to submit questions but always enjoyable to read the transcripts after the fact. I have noticed in several of the clips we have been allowed to see that the defense seems to be playing lights out. I know as a unit one grouping tends to benefit from the other. So which unit is benefitting the others the most at this point? example DT push up the middle forcing QB out the pocket disrupting time allowing for DE's to get more pressure and DB's to cover better. Next question, with the defense playing so well the flip side is the offense doesn't seem to be taking a step forward we may have wanted to see at the beginning of camp. Is it just an illusion that I'm seeing with Carr and other QB's being flushed from the pocket? Running lanes seem to open which is a good thing but pass protection seems to be a bit undesirable at the moment. and last but not least, what is the timetable for the Matty & Chaz to possibly return? Go Irish!!!!

Jeremy from Goshen, IN

3:14

What's going on with Blake Hebert missing practice? Should we be reading into this?

Bill from St Joe, MI

3:27

Hi Eric!

Tom F, Kennesaw, GA

3:40

Hey Eric, a second question if allowed: last year general opinion was the CJ would be much better 4 or 5 games into the season than he would be in games 1 and 2. Please give us 2 players on Offense and 2 on Defense that you think might progress that way in 2026!!!!! Thanks for all your insight. It looks like your Chatters were able to follow your audible and make the adjustment to Thursday. Go Irish!!!!

Patrick M. - Traverse City, MI

3:52

Hi Eric, thanks so much for the chats and the great work you do. Since last year's defense seemed to need an adjustment period getting used to Chris Ash's scheme, playcalling, etc., do you expect some level of adjustment this fall too given the new position coaches at every level? Or do you think it will be more seamless since it's still Ash's defense? Also, do you see any significnat upsides to the new hires (new ideas, fresh coaching approaches, etc.)?

Guest

4:10

I do not believe Carr has every passed for 3,000 yards in a season (HS/ND). Over/Under on 3K passing for Carr in 2026?

Brent

4:12

I do not believe Carr has passed for 3,000 yards in a seadon on any level so far (HS/ND). Over/Under on 3K passing yards for Carr in 2026?

Dave from Mitchell, GA

4:37

Eric, love all the content you and others are producing since practice started. How many practices does ND actually have from the time fall camp opens until game time? Do they get days off or is there some sort of "practice" happening every day since there is a limited amount of time to prepare for game 1? The practice part of football has always intrigued me because it's what makes teams great. Unfortunately, I still remember the "two a days" pain from back in the day when I played and wondered if that is still a thing. Thanks and keep up the great work!

Gabe from Walkerton

4:40

FYI in the article with this chat embedded in it, it says "Chad" dialogue box instead of "chat"

RK from Minnesota

4:47

Part Two:

RK from Minnesota

4:47

Will the Oline be ready to open the holes for our new backs?

Mike, Alexandria, VA

4:55

Disappointed to hear about this week’s injuries that will require surgeries. Injuries appear to be a significant threat to Notre Dame and other contenders in the National Championship hunt. In your opinion, what offensive and defensive positions would be most impacted by season ending injuries, and what actions are being taken to protect the health of our athletes. Thank you for the great work and the excellent insights,

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