JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat | July 25 2025 | 7/25/2025

Notre Dame Football Live Chat | July 25 2025

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Eric Hansen

2:35

OK, that's going to do it for this week. There will NOT be a chat next week because we'll be in conflict with training camp access and interview opportunities. However, let's pencil one in for Thursday, Aug. 7 and then settle into a weekly Wednesday routine starting on Aug. 13. Thanks for all the great questions today. Talk to you on the 7th.

2:34

If I had time, it would be beer brats. But I have commitments that will make grilling impossible this weekend. Unless of course, it's at your house!

Bo Johnson

2:33

from Michiana. What are you grilling this weekend?

Eric Hansen

OK, last call for questions.

2:28

Hi David, I think you sent this before I had spit out an answer to an earlier, similar question. To recap, Notre Dame is cautiously optimistic.

David - Boston

2:27

Hi Eric - Thanks for the chats! Golden's recruitment seems to have hit a bit of a snag. If not him, does ND have appetite to explore other DL options? Or would they be happy with the class they have. I hope they pull this one out, but realize these don't typical go ND's way.

Eric Hansen

2:27

Awesome, Bo. Thanks for the follow-up!

Bo Johnson

2:26

Eric, I've gotten that my whole business career, "Bo Knows" as the go to guy, thanks to ND! I trust you guys to "know" what I don't know, the inside to Notre Dame football recruiting.!

Eric Hansen

2:26

Hi Bob. I'm almost a month into it and am loving the experience. I don't want to drone on and on, but it starts at the top with Shannon Terry's leadership as the CEO for On3, his business model and his vision. There are many more resources and great teammates. So to more specifically answer your question (and I'll let Tyler speak for himself), it's allowed me to get back into the lane that I feel is my strength, which is deeper analyses and columns, reconnecting more with former players and national media figures, just doing more compelling content that we didn't have as much time for with a smaller staff. And I really enjoy learning stuff and interacting with my new teammates.

Bob (Oxnard CA)

2:22

Hi Eric,How has joining BlueandGold changed what you and Tyler do? Does being part of a big and talented team allow you guys to dive more in depth on particular aspects of the team/sport?

Eric Hansen

2:22

“It’s the unique part of college compared to the NFL, where you can see all the contracts. You can see what the market rate is. Everybody can kind of track it. Here’s what quarterbacks are making in the NFL. Well, college, it’s a little different, because these contracts are, as of right now, are probably mostly private and or aren’t like released.

“And so then you’re trying to help families and players kind of figure out: What is the market value for, again, starting left tackle at Power 4? What’s a slot receiver going to make as well as then you kind of see what high school kids are coming in the door and what value they have based on their rankings. So, it’s a very, very fluid and interesting space.”

2:21

Hi John, and thank you! To your question, a question of my own ... seeping through to whom? From school to school? To the media? From agent to agent? I did a piece with Dave Peloquin, a longtime member of Notre Dame's football staff who's now in the college agent business. Here's the story: Peeking into the new revenue-share world of college football with Athletes First's Dave Peloquin ... and here's an excerpt that might help answer your question.(more)

John from Chatham, NJ

2:17

Hey Eric- congrats on move to On3. Best of luck.
my statement- ND has not had this amount of respect/high expectations across fanbase, media, recruits, and opponents since 1993?
my question- how much transparency is seeping through on player pay by school, position, etc?

Eric Hansen

2:16

Peter, that is difficult to answer that in a vacuum. 1) If Mickens would leave, would it be before signing day? Probably not. 2) Some kids are signing contracts now, no long letters-of-intent, so while they could back out post-signing day, it might be stickier and less desirable to do so. 3) Who would be the successor? Marcus Freeman replaced a really good running backs coach in Deland McCullough this past offseason with a wow hire in Ja'Juan Seider. ... on top of all that, Marcus Freeman makes sure HE has a relationship with recruits. And Chris Ash factors in as well.

Peter

2:12

How many of the DB commitments will stick if Mickens leaves for a promotion?

Eric Hansen

2:12

OK, I'll answer you this time. .... My answer is TE Eli Raridon. I'm all in on him this year.

Guest!!! Can I see some ID you really are named "Guest"?

2:11

Sorry Ryan that I was a party pooper on that. I am not a way-too-early kind of guy when it comes to scores.

Guest

2:10

Which player do you think is most jazzed/happy/pumped about how the summer workouts went?

Eric Hansen

2:09

OK Ryan they are not going to break the Miami record for a game in that facility. The capacity is smaller when the record of 76.968 vs. Florida was set in 2013. ND and Alabama set a facility record (when it was known as Sun Life Stadium) in the BCS National Championship Game in January of that year (80,120). Capacity currently is at 65,325. ... Question 2 is harder. I am just doing deep dives into opponents now for my preseason AP poll ballot. Wouldn't have a clue for a score yet, but I do think ND will win.

2:03

Ryan, trying to look up the record, it's tricky, because the stadium capacity has changed over time.

Ryan from Cincinnati

1:54

Hi Eric, two questions and I'll make it simple. 1. Will the season opener break the attendance record for Miami? 2. What is your way to early prediction for that game? I got ND 31-21. GO IRISH!

Eric Hansen

1:53

OK Len!!!!!!!!!!!! Unless Manny shows up today, I think you're going to take the punctuation cake! Thanks.

Len from the Jersey Shore

1:53

Eric, Great point on caliber of transfers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eric Hansen

1:52

Pararescue, did you combine your name and hometown into one? ... I think that's a great roundtable discussion, so maybe I could tap into some of my teammates and we could come up with some lists that you can either point and laugh at or marvel at our insight. ... As far as that 2012 team, maybe not high draft choices universally, but probably more draft choices than you think. Five of the 11 offensive starters on that 2012 team eventually were NFL Draft picks. On defense it was 8 of 11. And one of the three who wasn't, Matthias Farley, had a long NFL career and was a starter in 2017 for the Colts and in 2021 for the Titans.

Pararescue

1:46

Would you consider doing a segment on projecting who on the team will play on Sundays? We can then keep track and see how good you are at evaluating. It would replace the blue chip percentage and give a much clearer idea of just how potentially good the Irish can be. I remember watching the 2012 disaster against bama thinking lots more of them would play on Sundays. Thanks

Eric Hansen

1:46

So California is important. But ND is big in Florida without playing in the state EVERY year. And maybe what you suggest, a series with UCLA for home and home here or there, maybe Cal. Stanford is still in play. And maybe a Shamrock Series game out there. So I think in this day and age, intermittent presence would likely be enough, but I'm with Marcus Freeman. I'd like to see ND-USC continue on an annual basis for scads of reasons.

1:43

Hey Mike I'm going to give you some numbers first for context and then give you your answer. First the numbers. These are the top 10 stats from the 2010-25 recruiting cycles that have produced the most ND signees in the Brian Kelly/Marcus Freeman Eras:
California 34
Florida 34
Ohio 32
Illinois 26
Indiana 26
Texas 21
New Jersey 19
Georgia 19
North Carolina 17
Pennsylvania 14

Guest

1:37

Mike Fitz Sparks, Maryland Impact on Califiornia recruiting if USC bails? Do we try and do a series with UCLA? ROSE BOWL is the belle of the Ball (no pun).

Eric Hansen

1:36

Really appreciate that Bo. And I hope you notice I resisted using the old pun from the Bo Jackson commericials ... "Bo Knows"

Bo Johnson

1:36

From Michiana, and just wanted to say thanks for the response. I'm all caught up on B&G articles.....GO IRISH

Eric Hansen

1:35

Besides QB battle, the two things I'm most curious to see would be the 14 June additions (two transfers, 12 freshmen) and the players coming back from injury like Ashton Craig, etc. No. 2 ... because they won't be in pads and not likely in many or maybe any competitive periods on day 1, just looking at comparative speed and players who have changed their bodies since the spring. Stuff like that. I would imagine Tyler will look at the same. We usually look at everything then divide up what we're going to write about afterwards. Our other teammates will be there too. ... Thoughts on Lincoln Riley? If I were a USC alum/donor, I would cringe.

1:31

Hi Marie. Super busy and loving every minute of it. Thanks for your questions. My hope is that strength-of-schedule incentive will be built into the new formula of who gets in and who does not for the CFPs in 2026 and beyond. I think that will make the issue self-correcting if it does. I do NOT think this is headed for a more uniform/unified/centralized conclusion regarding college sports, though I've seen columns about why people might want to see that. I think college sports is moving in the other direction, more decentralized decisions. And I think there are actually some legal incentives that would supports decentralization. So no scheduling czar. You might try making fun of the people who schedule too many cupcakes, but I'm not sure the IU coach would take it to heart. (more)

Marie from Atlanta

that there may be a role for a scheduling czar, who works to assure that scheduled for all teams are balanced. Additionally, he/she could dictate that more games be played between conferences so we could actually get an idea of which conference is the strongest. I find it hard to believe that the number 8 team in the Big Ten is anywhere near the level of the number 8 team the SEC though Tony Pettiti would want you to believe that. The czar could dictate that on certain weekends play between the conferences had to happen mimicking what they do at the beginning of basketball season. Changing gears, Besides, the quarterback battle, what are the two main things you’ll be looking at in the first practice? What will be assigned to Tyler to look at? Finally, What are your Thoughts on Lincoln Riley‘s comments about the USC Notre Dame rivalry? Thanks again for hosting, can’t wait to read your impressions from the first practice.

1:19

hey Eric, I know you must be extremely busy this week especially with practice starting next week so extra big thank you for hosting the chat. I wo yd like your thoughts on the recent statement by “ google me” Cignetti about dropping Virginia from the schedule and replacing them with Kennesaw State. I know he’s concerned about making the playoffs, but Virginia should be a power 4 win for them and frankly not even a good one. Would they have even made the playoffs this past year if they wouldn’t have dropped Louisville from the schedule? That leads to my question, do you think down the road weather conferences exist or there’s just one big football conference that we may see a scheduling, Cesar

Eric Hansen

1:18

Hi Len!!! You were light on the exclamation points today. ... Thanks for the info and the interesting question. I do think there are two things in play in your question, and I do think ND's evaluations and development model contribute to the large number of transfers fitting in and moving toward the top of other teams' depth charts. But to be fair, I also think the caliber of transfers is higher than say 10 years ago when you mostly had disgruntled players transferring. A lot of players moving around in this era, due to NIL and no-waiting transferring, are pretty darn gruntled. So star players move on ... like incoming transfers such as Malachi Fields, for instance.

1:14

Before I move onto Len, I forgot one part of Brian's question, so let me get to that ... I will look into the whereabouts of the Friday show. If you can shoot me an email, I'll let you know what I find out. ... OK now onto Len from the Jersey Shore.

Len from the Jersey Shore

1:11

Hello Eric! Thanks for hosting. Recruiting for ND has been spectacular. Hope it continues and gets strengthened further by another awesome season. I noticed that all four O linemen that transferred are slated to start this season. Spindler at Nebraska, Coogan at Indiana (I will miss those two guys-real gamers & team players), Pendleton at Tennessee and Chan at UConn. Other projected starters are Colzie at Miami Ohio and Angeli at Syracuse. I saw other transfers who are in the rotation, Thomas at Virginia and Mickey at Boise State, Urlacher at USC. Besides the recruiting hum around the Irish doesn't the depth charts of transfers, although preliminary, also show the strength of ND's recruiting and player development? I remember more transfers going elsewhere and sitting in previous years. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Eric Hansen

1:11

Hi Brian. Thanks for the compliments and for following us over to BlueandGold.com. I will miss working with Darin. We had a lot of fun. As I rambled in my opening stuff ahead of the questions, I WILL be joining Sean Stires on Fridays at 5 ET starting today and each week moving forward. I'm also going to be part of the pregame shows this season, but I think the station wants to announce the lineup and particulars for that first, so I better defer to them for now. I have worked with Sean before when he was at WSBT previously and really enjoyed that. I am looking forward to doing so this season.

Brian K, South Bend

1:05

Hi Eric!!!! Will you remain on WSBT Radio Weekday Sportsbeat now that Darin has moved on? I sure hope so, or this listener is moving on as the content of the show as dropped off the charts since he left. Also, I know this is not necessarily in your wheelhouse, but Darin's final day show with special guests he indicated during last Thursday's show is NOT available on the WSBT Radio website and also is NOT available on the WSBT Radio podcast feed. If there is anything you know or can share I'd appreciate it. I feel like I missed the closing of his show and would like to listen to Friday's show if possible. Now onto ND questions...with Fall camp less than one week away, what is your biggest concern surrounding the team (coaching, position X/Y/Z, etc.) that will lead to success or failure of the 2025 season? Thanks for your amazing insight, and I'm excited to follow you over from Inside ND Sports to Blue and Gold.

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