JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat | Feb. 11, 2026

Notre Dame Football Live Chat | Feb. 11, 2026

Eric Hansen

3:00

OK, I was determined to clear out the question portal today, and I succeeded and perfectly within my three-hour window. Thanks for all the great questions. We'll be back to do it all over again next Wednesday at noon ET.

2:59

I think the hope is that he'll get to 230. If not he'll still be a valuable special teams guy. ... Luke Talich won't return in 2027, because he'll be out of college eligibility. He's played in more than the four-game regular-season threshold to redshirt in each of his first three seasons. ... The question I hope is eliminated is when will Charles Jagusah be back? That would imply that he is ... for good.

2:56

Hi Tom. Thank you. My mom was a way way better cook than I'll ever be, with way more range. BUT, I did learn how to cook Italian food from here and my grandkids unanimously have voted me best cook in the family. But stuffed shells, is the one I've mastered that even my mom would say wow. 2) Colleague Mike Singer has a source who said Loghan Thomas' weight is 218, which at 6-foot-4 is still very light for a defensive end, particularly one not just coming out of high school. (more)

Tom F, Kennesaw, GA

2:52

Hi Eric, my prayers and condolences on the loss of your mother recently. So, what was your mother's recipe that was your favorite that you try to make on your own??? How close have you gotten?? Has anyone confirmed if Logan Thomas' listed wright of 207 is accurate or a misprint?? If it is accurate what do you think the plans are on how to use him???What would be the possible reasons that Luke Talich might not return for 2027?? While Spring ball usually doesn't provide answers, what question do you hope is eliminated?? Thanks for meeting with us this week.

Eric Hansen

2:52

Thank you, Ed. My mom passed away on Friday and we're going to have her celebration of life this coming Sunday. I don't want to get too emotional or personal here, so I'll limit it to this. Mom would have wanted me to work this week and have this chat and have fun with you guys. She was a huge Notre Dame fun, but there was an ulterior motive. She figured if Notre Dame won big, people would be happier and thus nicer to me.

Ed from Sayville

2:49

Hello Eric. No questions today, however I do want to extend condolences to you, your family, her students and her friends on the loss of your Mom. She must have been a remarkable person. I know she will be with you in spirit for the rest of your days. It’s hard to become an orphan at any age, but I hope you can take solace in the impact that she made on you and all those in her sphere of influence.

Eric Hansen

2:49

Hi Damian, for me it's 1) the ability to adapt and evolve. Football is a game that's not static. That's why you can have a guy like Brian VanGorder win the Broyles Award legitimately as the nation's top assistant and later become a dinosaur. 2) Great leadership. Being able to fix things. Being able to handle crises. Marcus Freeman gets A's for that. 3) Being authentic. Phonies don't last in that business or any other.

Damian Becker, Lynbrook, NY

2:46

In your opinion and just as important, experience, what are the top 3 (or more) attributes of Marcus Freeman that are typical of head coaches who established long-term championship contending programs?

Eric Hansen

2:46

Here they are:
Indiana: 12-1-2-4-2
Miami 77-13-6-12-17
Notre Dame 17-4-22-12-5

Those Notre Dame numbers are elite, which is why when people speculate how far the Irish might have gone in the CFP, this kind of backs it up. Those are significantly better than the 2024 team that reached the national title game and WAY better than the 2012 team that did the same.... And thanks to you for being part of the chats.

2:42

2) I published a story on this shortly after the national championship game, but was having trouble finding it. I keep track of every national champion and every runner-up, though, in those metrics so that's easy for me to find. So these rankings in the national stats will be in this order. Rush offense, pass efficiency, rush defense, total defense, turnover margin. Indiana's was as good as any champ or runner-up in the BCS/Playoff Eras (1998-present) (more)

2:35

Jordan!!!! Glad you enjoyed the Super Bowl. I thought the commercials were not as entertaining as usual, which actually is convenient when factoring in pitstops and replenishing snacks. I do think you need some fresh messaging each season. And Leave No Doubt is going to be a 2026 anthem, no doubt. But Team Glory and Choose Hard are embedded in the culture. It's a way of life. (more)

Jordan, from Seattle

2:32

Eric!!!!! Watching Love and Mills in the SB was a treat; watching the game with Pats fans was the cherry on top. Hope you had a chance to watch it as well. Two questions: 1) some coaches’ messaging can get stale, they can lose the locker room. Do you think Marcus Freeman’s messaging (i.e., team glory) has a chance to do so? Is it varied year to year? 2) Where did 2025 ND finish in your top 5 metrics compared to Indiana and Miami, if you dont have to take too much time to look it up? Thanks for all the objective reporting delivered in a humorous fashion that you do and for always making time for these chats.

Eric Hansen

2:30

So based purely on the rankings, Jarrard would be No. 2 and fairly comparable to Carr in the Rivals-only ranking. Point No. 2, he reclassified into the 2026 class. And when he did, he didn't have senior year film that the others do, and his ranking took a hit when compared to them. 3) Coaches don't get hung up on recruiting rankings. 4) Carr has really backed up his projection with actual production. Jarrard still has to prove that projection was correct or perhaps understated.

2:28

Hi Skip. Where do we start? Let's start with the actual rankings. So I'll give you two numbers for each QB. The first is the Rivals Industry ranking, which averages in all three services. The second is the Rivals-only ranking. CJ Carr in his class was 6/16. Jarrard is 15/18. Fellow freshman Noah Grubbs is 29/44. Redshirt freshman Blake Hebert was 26/37 in the 2025 class. Just for fun Kenny Minchey was 14/17 in 2023 and Steve Angeli was 33/47 in 2022. (more)

Skip - Houston

2:18

Please help me. Teddy Jarrard is ranked as the #18 quarterback for 2026 by On3 (Rivals); i.e., not very high. On the other hand, everything I read from Notre Dame puts him as the follow up to and equal of CJ Carr. I can't reconcile these two views. What are your thoughts? Thank you.

Eric Hansen

2:17

Hi Jeremy. I have seen Teddy Jarrard wearing No. 2 in his high school photos. RB Nolan James Jr. traded down to No. 2 this spring, so maybe he'd be willing to give it up or arm-wrestle for it? If not, it's probably going to be 9. If not that, you're looking at 23, 24, 25.Yikes.

Jeremy from Goshen, IN

2:13

I noticed the QB friendly numbers are taken. any idea what number Teddy Jarrard will be at ND?

Eric Hansen

2:13

Hi Matt. Well I already answered the Winter Olympic question, so I can focus on your football question. Even in dead periods, there can be contact, but the recruit has to initiate the contact during the dead periods. The workaround for this is say Joe Rudolph calls a school and talks to the coach there. The coach then says, so and so will be in my office at 3. And then the coach has the kid call Rudolph at 3. I'll post the NCAA recruiting calendar at the end of this answer.

Matt from Muscatine

2:10

Hi Eric! I hope you and yours are doing well. I have two questions today. The first: what are the rules (in general) for the various contact/no contact recruiting periods? I hear a lot of recruits say, “so and so was always reaching out, we talked every day,” etc. So how does that work (in a chat friendly format—you can write the full, in-depth article on your abundant free time ;-p ). The second question: what is your favorite winter Olympic sport and why? Thank you!!!

Eric Hansen

2:09

We're going to have a chance to talk to Spencer later this month, so we'll get his side of that. I believe the contracts run for one year from January to January, so there would be an issue for a player trying to do that in June or August, but I'll try to have someone on the record talk about that when we do the specific Porath piece.

2:07

Tom, I'm not going to be much help here, but let me give it a try. Notre Dame asks us not to release the specific dates of spring practices, because fans can't attend them and they do not want fans showing up anyway ... is how it's been explained. So the best I can do is say around St. Patrick's Day, you can start ramping up your enthusiasm. So not too long after that. I'm going to wait for the Rob Hunt press conference that I mentioned earlier to do the specific injury thing, other than what we we've already reported. (more)

Tom

2:01

Tom from Golden Beach, Florida: Eric, have they disclosed a schedule for the spring football scrimmages (other than the date of the BG game) or at least set the date of the initial practice? Speaking of spring practice, do you know which players won’t be available? In particular, which potential starters (e.g., Jagusah) won’t be available? Finally, I understand that Purdue head coach Barry Odom objected to the transfer of kicker Spencer Porath to Notre Dame for the 2026 season since he never officially entered the transfer portal. Was there a reason why Porath didn’t use the transfer portal and is there any risk at all that his eligibility to play for ND could be denied? Thanks!

Eric Hansen

2:00

Hi Matt. Adding the title of co-defensive coordinator, especially if it was cosmetic, wasn't going to keep Mike Mickens from chasing his dream. He'd like to be a coordinator soon and a head coach someday. The opportunity to learn from another really strong defensive mind, in Jesse Minter, and someone he had great familiarity with, Mickens believed, would accelerate his professional goals.

Matt in Augusta,NJ

1:58

Why wasn’t Mickens promoted to Co-defense coordinator? Was he just ready to move on? Odd the replacement got the title.

Eric Hansen

1:58

If you can give me a little bit more specific then what you're looking for, these are the three programs I know the best. Grew up in Ohio and went to Ohio State, covered Indiana for more than a decade early in my career and have covered Notre Dame for 100 years ... OK, not 100, but it probably feels like that to some people.

1:57

Len!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats on the longest question in the chat this week, and I love the context. Nothing manifesto-esque about it, so it works just fine. And thanks for the nice review on the ND/IU story. Let me answer the question at the very end of the second screen first and then kind of work my way back. No, not at all. The point Marcus Freeman was making wasn't that it's an either/or proposition -- talent or execution. He wants, he demands both. But what he was saying is that sometimes elite talent can erase mistakes that lesser talent cannot. That doesn't minimize execution or the desire for it. As for the talent/development/execution arc, it's not just about those things. It's also about how the talent fits together. And how fit is so important at Notre Dame. Culture does win, but not lacking all the other elements. And all the other elements win, but not without culture. (more)

len from the Jersey Shore

Somewhere down the road I would love an article with a more in-depth comparison unit by unit of Ohio state 2024, IU 2025 and ND in each of those years in talent, player development and execution. My concern is I remember after the Miami game last year CMF saying sometimes talent does the wrong thing but makes the play anyway. He was speaking of DE BTraore. Week later Traore went way outside on a passing play on Texas A & M winning drive while J Bothelho went way inside, losing containment. Reed scrambled for a long first down. Winning TD happens a few plays later. Does CMF rely too much on talent and not enough on disciplined execution of assignment IYO?

1:50

Hello Eric!!!!!!!!!!!!! Catching up on all ND as I have been traveling of late. You article comparing ND and Indiana was awesome. I felt Ohio St in 24 had more high end talent than ND. Consider their 14 draft picks in 2025. That OSU team rivaled the most talented teams in the recent past. And their draft picks did not include Calen Downs or J Smith. Whereas ND had less blue chip talent. I also felt IU in 2025/2026 was the best executing team I had seen in college football in many years. surely Coach Curt C and his staff did a great job of teaching assignment correct football. My view of the ND team is in between the two. More overall talent than IU but not yet reaching IU's execution level. Even with ND's recent recruiting success I believe they are less talented still than Alabama, Ohio ST or Georgia at their peaks. In this chats I would like to get your thoughts on ND's talent, player development and execution a sit compares to the last two CFP champions. Somewhere (more)

Eric Hansen

1:50

Thank you Matt!

Matt from Austin

1:49

Hi Eric. No questions this week. Just enjoying the chat and wishing you and your family a great week. Thank you as always. Matt

Eric Hansen

1:47

Thanks for the note, Jeanna Anne!

JEANNE ANNE ROCKNE

1:46

ON SUNDAY MARCH 29, 2026 THE N D CLUB OF ST JOE VALLEY IS HOSTING THE KNUTE K ROCKNE MASS & BREAKFAST. THIS IS THE 95TH YEAR COMMENORATING THE ROCK'S DEATH. THE MASS IS IN DILLION HALL WITH THE BREAKFAST TO FOLLOW IN THE MORRRIS INN.THE FEATURED SPEAKER HAS YET TO BE ANNOUNCED

Eric Hansen

1:46

Scott!!!! That's a great idea. And now that the NFL season is over, it's very doable. Thanks for the suggestion. 2) I think they'll all three be strong recruiters, but I think DBs coach Aaron Henry will hit the ground running. As far as development, I'm really eager to see what Charlie Partridge can and will do with the D-line. And that's not a slam on Al Washington. 3) So many to choose from but Quincy Porter tops my list. 4) What a cast. But the lines I repeat the most are Bill Murray's, so I will go with him. Thanks for the compliments.

Scott, Greenville SC

1:40

Hello ERIC!!!! So now the waiting game starts. I think its on ESPN. I hope you are having a fine ND day! I truly enjoy your Wednesday chats as well as the award winning FNS's with you and Tyler. Between the humor and information you share, I always feel like I'm on top of all things Irish. Couple of questions for you Sir, I truly enjoy your chats with former Irish players. Do you have any upcoming chats with recent grads? 1) I would love to hear about their perspective of Freeman and how he measures with their pro coaches. (And don't say by height) 2) of the two new coaches, who steps in immediately and makes an impact in recruiting and preparing their players for spring ball and beyond. 3) what new player are you most excited to see for the coming season? Lastly) who was MVP of Caddyshack? Rodney? Murray? Knight? The Gopher? Or Chase? Be safe, all the best to the best ND journalist!

Eric Hansen

1:40

1:37

Hey Pete. I believe the players get to pick what they want, as long as it isn't claimed by someone else on the same side of the ball. Single digits are very popular. The restriction comes for uniform numbers 50-79. Offensive linemen must have a number in that range. And skill position players can't have a number in that range. Defensive linemen can, but they can have single digits too. Linebackers can as well, and freshman Thomas Davis Jr. is No. 58. As far as the rules are the start of the chat, those are from the move Caddyshack, my favorite funny movie of all time.

Peter, westwood, NJ

1:34

Hi Eric - what is ND's methodology for assigning the players' numbers? Also, where do all those rules come from listed at the beginning of your article? Go Irish, Beat Badgers!

Eric Hansen

1:31

Manny!!!!!&&^%$#!! Nice weather, huh? New rule no weather bragging. Just kidding. I can take it. ... The thing about Marcus Freeman. he is so eager to get better and so good at finding channels to do so, you do see the differences without having to squint to find them. One huge one is game management, The decisions that happen within the game. Another is how much more he knows about offensive football and how much more he makes significant contributions on that side of the ball. Three, he doesn't make the same mistake twice. There's a longer list, but those were the three that hit me when I read your question.

Manny from San Pedro!

1:20

Eric!!!!!!!! So excited for next season and i still have to wait through the nice weather lol Since you have covered the team and probably know more than anyone, what do you think the biggest change in a Freeman program from his first couple seasons to now? Will his learning get this team prepared for a national title run?????

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