JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat | Aug. 19, 2026

Notre Dame Football Live Chat | Aug. 19, 2026

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12:25

Joe from Massapequa, NY . If ND is 11-1 with its only loss at BYU and Miami is 12-1 and wins the ACC championshio gsme who gets the higher seed? Its early ik. Also can u give us an update on how the freshmen OL are doing? Especially Merrill. Do you see them crack the 2nd team at some point? Thanks my man . Love the podcasts!!

Eric Hansen

12:25

As far as the starting linebackers ... Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa is the nation's top-ranked returning linebacker, per Pro Football Focus, and yet he only started two of the 11 games he played in. But he played a lot in the five-man rotation and played well. My sense is that eventually the starting duo will be Drayk Bowen and KVA. But early in the season, KVA may still be on a pitch count, and so maybe he doesn't start as regularly as he will later on.

12:21

Hi Big G. I think you are a first-timer asking questions as well, so welcome!! Sullivan Absher was competing with Matty Augustine to be the starting right guard until Augustine suffered an injury last week that wilk likely keep him out until October. That doesn't necessarily default the job to Absher. Ashton Craig can play either center or guard and he will be a starter, barring an injury setback. The question will come down to is Absher a better guard than Joe Otting is a center? Then Craig swings to the open position. Absher has played tackle before, or at least practiced there. But he's not a true swing man like Augustine was. My sense if one of the tackles gets hurt, Styles Prescod is now the next man in. And if it's a guard, then either Absher is elevated and Craig plays center or Otting is elevated and Craig plays guard. (more)

Big G

Here are my questions. Do you believe that Sullivan will be the swing lineman if he loses the right guard battle? Will KVA start with Bowen now that he is cleared? Thanks, Go Irish

12:17

I am from Chicago and live now in Wichita, KS.

Eric Hansen

“Well, I always think it gives you an opportunity to see a lot of stuff. You know exactly what defense is doing, because they can't hide it anymore. When you line up a certain way — because everybody defends spread — when you go up under center, it's a different avenue. Because now you've got to defend the run game. You still have to defend maybe some quick dropbacks. I know people don't do it a lot. But your nakeds [bootlegs], your screens, all those things. Your play action becomes really good, especially a program like us that runs the ball. So, it just opens up the opportunity. Plus, man, we've got to help develop our players.

“That's helping CJ chase his dream. But it also, as he's chasing it, it’s helping us become a better offense. So, it's all pieces that we can use and put together. I grew up in that world. The only way I knew was coming up under center. So, I joke with them guys all the time. Can't take a snap.”

12:16

The best way to explain the advantages of using that from time to time I will leave to Notre Dame running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider, who has been a play-caller at the college level as a coach before and who was a college quarterback himself at West Virginia and Texas A&M. Here is what he had to say:

12:13

Beth, thanks for joining our community and starting us off with such a great question. I hope I can match the quality with my answer. ... Notre Dame has been almost exclusively a shotgun team since CJ Carr took over as the starter last August. Some of that is that he had really never done it in high school and as a first-year starter has to use his limited practice time to get better at other phases of the game. So it wasn't worked on much. This offseason, there was a shift to add that component, and not just to his game, but to the other QBs' skillsets at well. (more)

Beth from Westfield, iN

12:09

Eric: New member of your website. Loved last week’s Q & A! My question is about C J Carr. I have heard that he is working on taking snaps from underneath the center. What are the advantages to this versus from the shotgun? Why is it such a hard skill to learn?

Eric Hansen

OK off we go ...