JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat | July 25 2025

Notre Dame Football Live Chat | July 25 2025

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Eric Hansen

1:05

Hi Ryan. It is the expectation that Chris Terek will be ready for camp and trying to push his way up the depth chart into a backup role at one of the offensive guard sports.

Ryan Frankfort Illinois

1:04

Good afternoon Eric will Chris Terek be ready for camp GO IRISH ☘️☘️☘️🏈🏈🏈

Eric Hansen

1:03

Hey Bo, I was smart enough to use my lifeline for this question too. So Kyle Kelly told me he wouldn't be surprised if at least one — and perhaps two —2027 prospects joined the Irish class by the start of their high school season or just shortly after the start. Three-star DT Deven Robertson from Hattiesburg, Miss., and four-star RB Amir Brown from Rolesville, N.C., would be two names to follow over the next month or so in that regard. Kyle had a good intel piece with more names this morning that's worth checking out: Intel: Notre Dame pushing for more 2027 talent after landing QB Teddy Jarrard commitment

Bo Johnson

Forgot to mention I'm from Michiana. Grew up in Osceola, lived in the area my whole life and currently residing in Edwardsburg. IYKYK.

12:56

With Teddy Jarrad's commitment what's the chance of some other '27 recruits committing to ND before their HS season starts? And who's your top 2 picks? Trying not to make it to hard to answer!

Eric Hansen

12:56

Hey Phil. So let's start with who's NOT young that will likely be in a six-man rotation, give or take ... grad transfers Malachi Fields and Will Pauling and juniors Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison. So among the true freshmen and redshirt freshman, I think there are four realistic options in play ... Elijah Burress, Logan Saldate, Micah Gilbert and Cam Williams. Bettis and Richardson are longer-term projects. Of the four I mentioned (and redshirt soph KK Smith is in play too), Micah Gilbert feels like a solid pick for the rotation. Burress would seem like the best best for No. 6, but I am playing a hunch with Cam Williams, and we'll soon see if that gut feeling was intuitive or just a bad taco that didn't agree with me.

Guest

12:43

Phil from Napoleon, OH; What young receiver will play a bigger role? Is there someone no one is really talking about?

Eric Hansen

12:43

To your second question, I tried to fly through some research and hopefully my math is on point, but of the 28 preseason AP polls in the post-Lou Holtz Era (next one is Aug. 11), Notre Dame has performed as expected seven times, better than projected eight times and worse 13 times. However, lately it's been trending in the "better: category more often, including last year when ND started No. 7 and finished No. 2. Why I think they'll be a playoff team, in short, is culture, depth, defense, coaching and I do believe the QB position will turn into an asset.

12:40

But a lot of it is being thorough and leaving no stone unturned. Most of the assistants will check out a reliable tip, even if it's inconvenient. ND also tried to get kids on campus to be evaluated during their June camps. And the eval process continues even when a kid has committed, because sometimes they level off. That doesn't happen often, but it does happen. (more)

12:38

Hi Tom. Yes, I'm counting on some scouting reports from you and Marie regarding the new 2027 quarterback commit from your neck of the woods. To your questions ... 1) The short answer that will fit in this chat format is being thorough. That's both for high school and transfer portal additions. For instance Notre Dame football director of scouting Matt Jansen has already started to build a data base of potential portal pickups that will be added to, refined and then pared down throughout the season. For high school kids, general manager Mike Martin and director of recruiting Carter Auman and the "front office" staff do a great job of getting ahead of the curve. (more)

Tom F, Kennesaw, GA

12:28

Hey Eric, great news out of Kennesaw yesterday!!! Looks like Marie and I and any other Chatters in the Atlanta area will have to go see some North Cobb Warriors games. I sure hope that Teddy develops into the talented player that everyone projects. A couple of questions/comments: the Freeman coaching staff seems to be able to do a real good job at evaluating high school players, in many instances before other schools jump on the bandwagon. What are some of the key elements that go into that evaluation process?? 2) In years past, it seemed that ND did better and was more successful when not much was expected of them. But, when hopes were the highest heading into a season was when we struggled the most. Please tell us why this year will be different and that all the preseason hype is not setting us up for a letdown. There is a lot of talent along the OL, but this unit will not have played together very much and the DL's of Miami and A&M are among the best in college FB. Go Irish!!!!!!

Eric Hansen

12:28

Hi Skip, not everyone looks at a prospect and sees the same thing. So evaluations are subjective, not objectively factual. What I will say is I trust the Rivals/On3 ranking (the No. 2 QB), not just because that's my affiliation, but because I know that all those evaluators saw him at the Rivals national camp in June and I know how deep and how thorough those evals are. I'm not sure ESPN is as far along in its evals and they don't have the same resources. I also know that Tyler James saw him in person at the Rivals camp and came away very impressed. Same with longtime analyst Tom Lemming, who saw Teddy in January and gave him four-stars-plus. I actually did a story with Lemming on some historical perspective on the Jarrard commitment: Putting Notre Dame's QB recruiting roll, and where it could lead, into historical perspective ... I recommend that you check it out.

Skip / Houston

12:22

This is weird - I saw today that Teddy Jarrard was listed as a 3-star and also considered the #2 quarterback in the 2027 class - both cannot be true (factual) - what gives?

Eric Hansen

12:22

Hi Frank, I consulted with Kyle Kelly for a couple of phone-a-friend lifelines today. I encourage you to read his stuff. He's all over this one. But to answer your question, Notre Dame is cautiously optimistic that the Irish will land the DT from Sarasota, Fla., on his new commitment date of Aug. 9. So they've not invested a lot in a backup plan. If that fell through, they could peruse players committed elsewhere or the transfer portal.

Frank from Royse City, Texas

12:20

Eric, does ND have a backup plan if they don’t land Golden?

Eric Hansen

12:19

Hi Addison. That question is harder to answer in this era, because of the larger amount of roster turnover you have with the transfer portal. Let's assume who might reasonably be coming back, because to answer your question, it's not just about talent. It's where talent meets opportunity. Otherwise, I'd put CB Khary Adams and S Joe O'Brien and the running backs and maybe an O-lineman or two on the list. So working with the framework of ahead-of-the-curve talent and opportunity, I'd say the best bets at this point would be WR Kaydon Finley and maybe some of the other WRs as well, TE Ian Premer, both of the ends -- Dunham and Ewetade. An interior DL like Tiki Hola or Elijah Golden if they get him might be in play as well.

Addison Cowling -- South Bend, IN

12:12

How many instant impact players do you see from the 2026 class, if any?

Eric Hansen

And off we go ...

12:10

Those typically have been the rules, but the "no drinking" and "no bare feet" rules are not in play today (except for me). So kick off your shoes and sip on what you'd like.

12:09

PLEASE include your name and hometown along with your question(s). If you submit one as "guest", I'm going to need to see some ID to make sure that's your given name.

12:08

That wasn't as brief as I had hoped ... anyway, as far as this week's chat ...

12:07

► Finally at WSBT Sports Radio 960, we’re rolling through a newsy Notre Dame offseason. My new radio partner is Sean Stires, and we’ll be together every Friday, starting today on Weekday SportsBeat (960 AM, live streaming at wsbtradio.com). The weekday shows run from 5-6 p.m. ET. You can download all episodes as podcasts. I’ll also be part of the pregame shows. More details to come.

12:06

Some of you who followed us over from Inside ND Sports want some help navigating the home page. The stories move through the carousel really quickly, so if you have trouble finding one of the stories I've referenced, you can find all of my content using this link: https://www.on3.com/user/erichansen/

12:04

► 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.

12:03

Our partnership with WSBT-TV, our YouTube content and my radio work with WSBT 960 will all continue. As far as Blue & Gold, I encourage you to take a test drive — a seven-day trial for a $1 for all our great content and that around the expanded On3 Network.

12:02

► On July 1, Tyler James and I made the move to the On3 network and blueandgold.com and joined some amazing teammates. I believe this will be a great move for us and for our subscribers. I’m thrilled to tell you that the chats will continue under our new banner. We’ll still be intermittent through July, but weekly starting the second week of training camp and then throughout the football season. Camp starts next Thursday.

A short preamble of programming notes first, and then we'll roll into the chat ...

12:01

Welcome to the final Notre Dame Football Live Chat before training camp starts next Thursday.

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