Mailbag! Notre Dame’s Elite Offensive Potential, OL Lineup Debate, Defensive Continuity, and More!

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

The ticket, Lady Jennifer of Coons.

Well, many thanks, good sir.

Here is my discover card.

They accept a discover at Renaissance Fairs?

Yeah, they do here.

Discoverers accept it at the places I love to shop.

Get it with the times.

With the times.

You're playing the loot.

Yeah, and it sounds pretty good, right?

Discoverers accept it at 99% of places

that take credit cards nationwide.

Based on the February 2025 Nilsen report.

When you want spring break to feel like.

And a moment away from the kids to feel like.

And your reward status to feel like.

Thank you for being a Hilton Honors Gold member.

Enjoy your daily food and beverage credit.

And now that nightcap in the lounge can feel like.

It matters where you stay.

With Hilton Honors, earn the most valuable gold status faster.

And unlock benefits at over 9,000 locations worldwide.

Hilton, for this day.

There's real buzz around Notre Dame's offense

heading into spring practice.

But the question isn't whether or not they'll be good.

The question is, could it become one of the best offenses in college football this season?

It's coming up next on the Friday Mailbag.

You are locked on Irish.

You're daily podcast on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Part of the Locked On Podcast Network.

Your team every day.

What is up, welcome in to Locked On Irish.

You're daily home for Notre Dame football.

I'm your host, Tyler Wojak.

I graduated from Notre Dame.

Now I'm a producer at Fox Sports.

And I'm recovering the Irish since 2020.

I am thrilled to have you here with me on Friday.

March 13th.

So happy Friday to you.

And thanks as always for making this your first watch or listen of the day.

Today's episode is presented by five-hour energy.

Have your cake and drink it too.

Birthday cake flavor is back.

No fork needed.

Vanilla cakey flavor, caffeinated cake, and no sugar.

It's party time order now at 5OurEnergy.com or on Amazon.

And before we dive into today's show, I'd really appreciate it if you would take a second

and make sure that you were subscribed to the YouTube channel or wherever you're listening to the podcast.

If you have not subscribed already, please hit that button because it really does help us out.

So today we've got the weekly Friday mail back.

And you guys send in some great questions.

So thanks to all of you who submitted yours.

I really appreciate it because you make the show better and my life easier.

We're going to start with a big one about the offense and what it's ceiling can be this season

because there's real excitement about the quarterback C.J. Carr and the potential of this group.

We'll also talk about the depth chart at wide receiver and along the offensive line.

Plus why a breakout season for NES Williams is very realistic.

Then we're going to shift to the defense and discuss coaching continuity.

Now the Chris Ash, it is in his second years defensive coordinator,

but has a whole new group of assistants and how that could affect the unit moving forward.

Finally, we're going to wrap things up with some bigger picture Notre Dame topics

and a fun one involving dinosaurs that I'm definitely looking forward to.

So make sure you stick around until the end for that one.

But our first question comes from at two star Irish fans 75.

How many yards per game can this offense average in 2026?

Two star Irish fans 75 says he's going to set the over under at 430 yards per game.

Well, last season Notre Dame finished 13th in the country in total offense

and they averaged 458 yards per game.

So I'm going to take the over and I think they're going to hit that over comfortably.

I think 430 is way too low for this team and this unit led by C.J. Carr.

And if Carr makes the jump that we hope and expect he will this season,

they should be closer to 480 in my opinion,

which would put them amongst the top five offenses in the country and the reason being

is because an explosive passing attack is just going to lead to more yards.

Notre Dame had what I believe is the best rushing attack in the country last season

led by Jeremiah Love and Jardin Price.

And while they had a bunch of explosive plays,

I think you'll have even more explosive plays if Carr is chucking it down the field more

and you're going to get those big chunk plays just more frequently.

If Carr is hitting like 20 yard passes down the field all night long,

they're going to have a ton of yards.

Don't give it wrong. This often does have question marks,

but it also has the opportunity to be elite.

They could have a great quarterback, arguably the best quarterback in college football.

I believe they have a very underrated running back room.

They have a very capable wide receiver in Jordan Faezon,

who is another very underrated player across college football.

I think fans are going to learn a lot more about him this season as a football player.

I think people recognize him as the lacrosse player playing football.

Well, he doesn't play lacrosse anymore.

He's a big time football player.

I think he's going to showcase that again in 2026.

They also have an offensive line that has a chance to be great

because of how much talent they have.

I mean, every single year, Notre Dame is recruiting one of

the best offensive line class in the country and a lot of those guys ready to play.

Gerby Lambert was a borderline 5 star.

Will Black was a 5 star.

Charles Jagsau can ever get on the field.

He was a 5 star.

So there's talent all across the board.

If they can stay healthy and develop into a cohesive unit,

they're going to be up there for the Joe Moore Award at the end of the year as well.

I feel more confidence about the defense and the fact that they will be elite

given all the returning talent on that side of the ball.

But I'm very bullish on the offense as well.

I think this can be a top 5 unit in the country.

CJ Clark can make everyone around him better.

He can make the White receivers better.

And he can make the run game better.

He can make the offensive line better.

And just look what he did against Arkansas last season.

I know that Arkansas was not in a great spot at that point in time.

But that Arkansas team was competitive against some of the top teams in the SEC last year.

And I mean, they had nothing going against Notre Dame's offense.

They could do whatever they want.

Carr had it going down field, which opened up the run game.

I believe Carr had 354 yards passing in that game.

It was just whatever he wanted, man.

He was hitting throws all across field.

It was a huge game for him.

And I think they should be able to do that more frequently,

especially against the schedule in 2026.

All right.

At Ryan underscore to Saint.

What is your three deep depth chart for Notre Dame at White receiver next season?

I think this could change.

So I'm going to give you my depth chart at the start of the season,

but it could look a lot different by the end of the year.

But in the season opener against Wisconsin,

this is what I think it's going to look like.

I think Mike Gilbert is going to start at Boundary,

Jordan Faizown is going to be in the field and then chain great house in the slot.

And then right behind them, you're going to have Quincy Porter as the next Boundary guy in the field.

I believe Miley Graham is going to be the next field receiver,

but I believe he'll be the fourth White receiver in this group.

He could potentially move his way up into the starting unit.

We've talked about him a lot in the show this week.

But for now, he'll be the second field White receiver behind Jordan Faizown.

And then I think the backup slot White receiver is going to be Logan Soldate.

Like Brown has said before, he really needs a six man rotation of White receiver.

It's really hard to rotate beyond that.

Certainly in a single game.

But then, you know, as the season goes along, guys are going to get hurt.

Guys are going to need some rest.

You are going to expand beyond six guys.

But I think that's your top six right there.

And right behind them, you're going to have a few more guys fighting for snaps.

Cam Williams, it's kind of make a break time for him.

If he's ever going to be a big time player at Notre Dame,

if he's going to come close to scraping that potential that he once had as a recruit,

it's got to be now.

But right now, it's a really crowded room and two very talented Boundary White receivers ahead of him.

Then you've got Elijah Burst, who is really one of the stars of spring practice last year,

partially because all of Notre Dame's White receivers were either not on the team just yet,

or they were dealing with an injury or just rest after Notre Dame played a 16 game season,

the year prior.

He had a good camp as well.

But then Mike Tenbrook kind of called him out in a press conference.

It said he has the opportunity to be elite, but he doesn't understand the playbook yet.

And if he doesn't understand where he needs to be, then I can't put him out there.

Well, now that he's going to be in year two, this is an opportunity for Elijah Burst to show that he does know the playbook.

He does know where he needs to be.

And he can finally showcase all that talent on the field.

Then I think the third string slot.

Water Seevers is going to be the true fresh and K Don Finley.

Finley said he's been playing the slot at his introductory press conference, which I'm not going to lie.

That surprised me.

I thought he has the physical tools to be a boundary water seeker.

I mean, he could play anywhere.

But I guess, considering we compared him to Jane Greathouse coming out of high school,

it makes a little bit more sense that he's playing in the slot.

But out of those five freshman White receivers, I think Finley has the best chance to play early.

But it's going to be tough because there's a lot of talent in front of him.

So right now Gilbert, Faeson, Greathouse are going to be the starters.

But if Graham makes a move, it would not shock me.

If he figures out a way to be in the top three, it would probably force Notre Dame to adjust like the traditional boundary field

and slot wide receiver roles because they could have two field receivers on the field at the same time and Faeson and Graham.

But you know what?

If you're Mike Denbrock and you're Mike Brown, the White receivers coach, that's a pretty good problem to have.

All right.

Next up at Irish Cowboy, 22.

What's your ideal offensive line lineup?

And why is it at left tackle?

Mind you, this is what Irish Cowboy is saying.

Left tackle will black, left guard, Anthony Napp, center, Ash and Craig, right guard, Charles Jagassal,

and right tackle, Kirby Lambert.

And then he also says maybe not for week one, depending on Craig and Jagassal's health.

Yeah, I think that's pretty safe to say that Ash and Craig and Charles Jagassal are unlikely to both be healthy week one.

It would be great if that was the case.

And I really like this lineup a lot.

I just don't think Ash and Craig is going to be ready to go week one because he tore his ACL.

Against NC State last year.

So it was further along in the season compared to the Purdue game the year before.

And that's the second one, man.

That's going to be a tougher road to recovery for him.

I think Notre Dame is probably going to slow play it with him because they have a very quality option in Joe outing there to start at center.

So Ash and Craig, you know, he's a really talented player.

I know that the Notre Dame coaching staff is really high on them, but it's probably going to take a little bit more time.

And then I mean, Jagassal's health is anyone's guess at this point in time.

But as it pertains to the other shifts, you've got Anthony Nath moving to left guard.

You've got Gerber Lambert moving out to right tackle.

I've said this before, if Will Black goes out there and he beats out Anthony Nath as the starting left tackle,

that is the best case scenario for this offensive line outside of Charles Jagassal being fully healthy.

Because we already know that Anthony Nath is a really good left tackle.

I've been seeing him on some like way too early first round mock drafts for next season.

I think that's a little bit overzealous.

But still, Anthony Nath is a very good college offensive lineman.

He's played left tackle for the past two seasons on an offensive line.

That's been really good.

And as part of a program that prides itself on the play of its offensive line.

And if Black is better and he proves that in practice, give it his size and all of his traits

that made him a five star prospect coming out of high school.

The highest ranked prospect in Notre Dame's class of 2025.

That would be a huge plus because he looks like he is first round capability.

I just hope that if they do decide to move Nath inside, it's not a situation where you rob Peter to pay Paul.

And you try to mask an efficiency at guard by moving Nath out of his position

and then creating a new problem at left tackle.

I'm not saying what that's what is happening here.

I'm just saying I'm hoping that's not the case if they do decide to go that route.

I don't think Rudolph would do that.

Rudolph is very much dead set on getting his five best offensive lineman on the field.

And then, you know, kind of figure out where they are.

Where they fit best along the offensive line.

Well, Black was cross running a guard last year.

So there's a chance that he could be playing guard.

And I know that people don't like that given his size.

But look, man, like if you have a huge offensive line, that's a good thing.

I don't care if they're at left tackle or guard wherever.

If you're five best offensive lineman are out there and they can move guys on the line of scrimmage,

that's going to be a big win for the offense.

All right.

Next up here.

We got a question from Andy underscore wine and cheese.

Great name, by the way.

How many bowl eligible teams do you think are on Notre Dame schedule?

Wine and cheese is set the over under at five and a half.

I'm going to take the under slightly.

I think it's going to be close though.

I believe Wisconsin is going to make a bowl game right now.

They're projected win total in 2026 is six and a half.

So odds are it's going to be coming down to the wire for the Badgers.

But I've said it before.

I think they're going to be much better than they were last year.

Granted, low bar to clear if they went for an eight.

But still, I think Wisconsin could be feisty.

BYU is going to make a bowl game.

Miami is going to make a bowl game.

SMU is going to make a bowl game.

And I think Navy will be the fifth team on the schedule to make a bowl.

But when you look at the other team, other teams on Notre Dame schedule

and you look at their projected win totals, it's a lot of three and a half.

It's a lot of four and a half.

So Notre Dame is a very easy schedule.

We know that.

But I do expect BYU to be good.

I expect Miami to be good.

And I think SMU could be a lot better than people project right now.

SMU's win total is eight and a half going to the season.

It's March, right?

Obviously, a lot can change between now and then.

But Notre Dame schedule is just very easy with the exception of those three games.

And you know, there's not a whole lot of middle ground.

It's like you've got Miami who could be competing for a national championship.

You could be BYU who could be competing for a college football playoff.

And then I guess your middle ground is Wisconsin and SMU.

After that, you know, it's some teams who are really, really bad.

And then you've got Navy in there.

And they might win more games than other teams on the schedule.

But it's still Navy and Notre Dame has smoked them in recent years.

But they will be challenged this year.

You can write that down for sure.

All right.

That's the offensive outlook.

But the defense is an important question of its own coming up next.

Let's talk about coaching continuity and what it means for the Irish defense this season.

Today's episode is brought to you by Fandall.

College of basketball is nonstop.

Big games, tight spreads, momentum swings, every single night.

From early tip-offs to late night West Coast shootouts, there's always action on the board.

And now Fandall is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins

with a college basketball parlay profit boost.

You can build any college hoops parlay you want, rivalry games, ranked matchups, whatever fits your read.

You can mix spreads, totals and player props to match how you see the slate playing out.

Then you can apply the profit boost and instantly bump up the potential payout.

I've said it before.

I like Arizona to win the national championship.

There are other teams who have a chance to like Michigan, like Duke, but I just really like Arizona.

So that is who I'm putting my money on this March.

Go safe, go bold.

Ride with the team you've been following all season.

It's your parlay, your style now with more upside behind it.

Head to Fandall.com to get started.

That's Fandall.com.

Fandall, play your game.

Today's episode is also sponsored by Coast.

Coast pay is giving lockdown college listeners up to $2,000 credit for your business when you get started today.

If you manage a crew, construction, HVAC landscaping, any operation with trucks on the road,

you already know how messy gas and material spending can get.

Cards get shared, receipts disappear, and month end turns into a headache.

Coast pay fixes all of that.

Coast pay is the modern fuel card and expense management tool built specifically for fleets.

Fuel, maintenance materials, all on one card with real control and instant visibility.

Every transaction shows up the moment it happens.

No surprises.

If someone fuels up at a time or tries to buy something outside their limit, you'll know instantly.

They'll get real-time alerts so you always know who's spending what and where.

Plus, it works anywhere visas accepted, no detours to specific stations.

It's built for operators who don't have time to chase paperwork.

And unlike old fuel cards, there are no contracts or commitments, just smarter expense control.

Right now, Coast pay is offering our listeners up to $2,000 credit when you get started at Coast Pay.com,

slash locked on college.

Go to Coast pay.com, slash locked on college to see how you can earn up to $2,000 credit term supply.

The Coast visa commercial credit card is used by Celtic Bank.

All card accounts are subject to credit approval.

Welcome back to the Friday mail back here on locked on Irish.

Before we get back to the questions, if you've been thinking about joining the everyday club,

now is the time you get ad free shows and access to a group chat on Discord.

And if you're signed up before the NCAA tournament tips off,

you can get into our everyday club bracket pool on Discord for a chance to win some locked on merch.

I'll be in the pool as well.

And I'm really looking forward to it right now.

You can use code March to get your first month free.

Head to locked on Irish.supercars.com or tap the link in the show notes to learn more.

All right, now back to the questions here.

And our next one comes from at DA Domer and M in your opinion,

which scenario presents more of a challenge to the continuity of a defense?

All other factors being equal.

Replacing the defensive coordinator or replacing three position coaches.

Well, I think it's replacing a defensive coordinator because that's who oversees the entire system.

That's who is in charge of doing all the install.

That is who is in charge of all the verbiage, how they get calls in from the sideline, all of that.

It all goes back to the coordinator.

This year will be a good test of this theory, though, because last year,

Notre Dame brought back all of their assistance on defense,

at least all the main ones.

They brought Al Washington back on the defensive line,

back spooled back, a linebacker's coach,

and you know, the best defensive backs coach in college football,

Mike Mickens back to oversee the secondary.

And yet, that defense had a slow start to the year to put it lightly

in Chris Ash's first year as a defensive coordinator.

In looking back, it's still shocking.

Just how badly they played against Texas A&M.

It's obviously much worse against Texas A&M than it was against Miami.

They gave up some big plays.

They just didn't play like the Notre Dame defense we had become accustomed to,

watching under Al Golden.

But man, when you think back to that Texas A&M game and how

it felt like everyone in the secondary didn't know where to go

and they were just playing so passively.

And Marcel Reed was just cutting them up all the way down the field.

It just doesn't make any sense.

And then you compare that to how the defense looked at the end of the year.

It was like night and day.

Now part of that has to do.

It's fact that all the players and the rest of the coaches got more comfortable

being in Chris Ash's system, but it was a shock to the system.

I think everyone expected some learning curve with the new defensive coordinator,

but nobody was expecting that.

I know I wasn't as well.

Now this year, it's a complete opposite.

They bring back Chris Ash, but they had to replace all three assistants.

There is going to be an adjustment for the players.

No doubt about it.

We're going to see that in spring practice.

They're going to make some plays.

They're going to make some mistakes that they probably wouldn't have had

if their old position coach was there.

And also the position coaches have to learn the players.

It's not just on the guys on the field to kind of make the adjustments.

The coaches are going to have to adjust to everything going on around them as well.

But I think the adjustment will be easier because the system is the same.

The verbiage is already in place.

Plus Charlie Partridge and Aaron Henry, no Chris Ash very well.

If it were three completely random assistants, it might be a little bit of a different story.

I would say but considering Aaron Henry coached with Chris Ash and he played for him.

He knows him extremely well.

And then you have Partridge who was his teammate.

Was Ash's teammate in college.

They've coached together a few times before.

Like they understand each other.

So from a coaches standpoint, that adjustment will be easier.

The players are still going to have to learn how to play under their new position coaches.

They're going to have to form new relationships and all that stuff.

But I think it's much, much different when you lose a defensive coordinator

and you have to install a brand new system.

Whereas, you know, with new position coaches,

you're just kind of learning that new guy, their style, their coaching style, all that stuff.

So for our sake here, as noted in fans, I think we're all hoping that replacing three position coaches

is a lot easier than replacing a defensive coordinator.

All right, we got a question from at Kenneth Herney.

What do you think the floor and ceiling are for Nias Williams this season?

This is a good question because we have talked about Nias Williams a lot on the show.

He's going to be one of the most important players to watch during spring practice.

And he obviously has very big shoes to fill, not just Jeremiah Love, but Jedi and Price.

Unfortunately for Williams, he's going to be compared to both of those players

because they were both so talented and they just destroyed opposing defenses way more often than not.

But I've said before, I think Nias Williams is a good player.

And he's due to have a big season in 2026.

So I think the floor for him is Tony Jones Jr. in 2019.

And that's a pretty low floor to be honest with you.

Sure.

Jones rushed for 857 yards on six yards per carry.

And he had six touchdowns in 2019.

But Notre Dame completely abandoned the run game against Georgia.

The biggest game of the year.

Best defense they're going to play.

They didn't even try to run the ball.

Their only running game was in books scrambling.

And you could tell like that was the game plan from the jump.

Notre Dame moved the ball effectively on offense.

And it really just revolved around in bookmaking plays throwing to Colcomat and throwing to Chase Cable.

But they didn't even try.

They had double digit rushing yards in that game.

They didn't even have that many attempts.

So even though, you know, Tony Jones was able to get some stats against some of the lesser teams.

It was very clear they did not have confidence in the run game.

I just don't see a scenario this season where Notre Dame refuses to run the ball with Nias Williams

if he's healthy.

And we've already seen him farewell against really quality competition before.

Getting carries throughout the college football playoff in 2024 as a true freshen.

Almost had a touchdown against Penn State.

Had some nice carries against Indiana.

A few of them to put them into field goal range at the end of the first half.

So he is a good player and he's performed well against good teams.

Now for talking the ceiling like the absolute best case scenario for Nias Williams this season.

I think it's Audric Estimae in 2023.

And Estimae had a really, really good year that year.

I've got a stats pulled up right now.

He had over 1,300 rushing yards, 18 touchdowns.

They had 142 receiving yards as well.

Like that was a big, big season.

If you don't want to say 2023 maybe 2022 when he was split and carries with Logan Diggs.

But still Estimae finished with 920 yards a year and 11 touchdowns.

Nias Williams and Audric Estimae are obviously very different backs.

Nias Williams does not have the size that Audric Estimae had.

And maybe he won't be like the fully formed version of Estimae right away.

But you know, I feel like Nias Williams can have a really big season.

He's not going to just bowl over guys like Estimae did.

But he's very shifting.

He can do a lot more different things than Estimae probably could.

At least at this point in his career.

So if everything works out, right?

And CJ Car is clicking and that just gives Nias Williams some light boxes

and he's able to run through them.

Then I don't think it's crazy for him to get close to 1,300 yards.

3,300 is a lot.

And Audric Estimae got a lot of those at the very end of the season when he ran for four touchdowns.

Against Stanford and honestly could have set this single game rushing record.

If Marcus Freeman just kept them in the game, but they pulled them out.

So he got a lot of those yards at the end of the year.

Nias Williams is going to have some opportunities man to run all over some defenses.

So I would not be shocked if he got well over 1,000 yards rushing this season.

Okay.

Keegan Powell, 8219 asking a question that a lot of other fans have asked.

What's the deal with Logan Thomas?

He seemed like a really promising recruit, but hasn't gotten much of a spotlight since arriving on campus.

Well, and the simple answer is he can't seem to hold weight.

He's listed as 207 pounds.

And that's going to be an issue for a defensive end, especially one playing on this level.

Now in his defense, Logan Thomas is also dealt with some injuries throughout the past two years.

Nothing major that kept him out for like a very long extended period of time.

But it just hasn't always been healthy.

I think that plays a part in it.

And also, Notre Dame has just had so many veterans in front of him at that Viper position.

Like you have Jordan Batello, Jr. Tuyallamaca, not to mention Bubacar Treyori.

So there wasn't really a clear path to playing time for Logan Thomas during these first two years.

Now he did come in in different situations where Notre Dame was going all out to defend the pass.

And they're bringing in their pass rusher.

So you know, there is some confidence in Logan Thomas.

But it wasn't really, there weren't that many great opportunities for him.

But now this year's a huge opportunity for him.

Because realistically, the only guy ahead of him on the depth chart right now is Bubacar Treyori.

I don't think he's going to play strong side end.

I think that's just going to be Bryce Young, Keon Keely, Rodney Dunham as well.

But now that those guys are gone, this is a great opportunity for Logan Thomas to get on the field early and often.

And he has to take advantage of it.

And if it doesn't start this spring, then he is going to risk getting jumped by one of the freshmen.

I think Ebenezer Iwatate is more of like a true Viper, even though I don't think they call it that anymore.

Maybe Charlie Partridge has a new name for that position that Treyori plays and Thomas plays.

But those guys came in with all kinds of traits, plenty of reasons to be excited about.

Yeah, they're fresh, but they're still very, very talented.

And they're going to be there for spring practice.

So the time to make a move is now for Logan Thomas.

And even though no one really expects him to be a start of the season, he's going to have to bulk up.

He's going to have to really, really dedicate himself to the weight room and to getting better on the practice field this year.

Because Notre Dame needs him and for him to have a good career at Notre Dame, it's got to start now.

He's got to make some plays and he's got to just put on weight, man.

You just can't be a reliable defensive end weighing 207 pounds, especially when you go up against really good competition.

You've got like a 320 pound offensive tackle lined up in front of you.

He's fast, he's got good length, he's got nice moves getting around the edge.

But eventually size is going to win there more often than not.

So it's an important spring for Logan Thomas.

I'm certainly not counting him out.

I think there are a lot of reasons to be excited about his potential, but he's got to start showcasing that on the field.

All right.

Before we wrap up the show, we've got a couple bigger picture Notre Dame questions to tackle in a very important dinosaur debate that you're not going to want to miss.

That's straight ahead.

Today's episode is brought to you by indeed workplace chaos deadline stacking up inbox overflowing in the one position you have to fill.

Still sitting open when the pressure is on and you need the right hire.

This is a job for sponsor jobs indeed sponsor jobs.

If you reach the people actually fit what you're looking for skills experience locations.

So you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your post.

And here's a stat that says it all in the minute.

I've been talking to you companies like yours made 27 hires on indeed according to indeed data worldwide.

So if you're hiring spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with indeed sponsor jobs.

Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes less stress less time.

More results when you need the right person to cut through the chaos.

This is a job for indeed sponsor jobs and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsor job credit to help get your job.

The premium status it deserves indeed dot com slash podcast.

Just go to indeed dot com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on this podcast.

Indeed dot com slash podcast terms conditions apply need to hire.

This is a job for indeed sponsor jobs today's episode is presented by five hour energy.

Welcome to the five hour energy flavor draft with 18 different flavors to choose from including new options like confetti craze,

fruity rainbow or cotton candy.

There really is something for everyone.

The board is set the flavors are ready and only one is going to take the top spot.

Now here's the thing five hour energy has a wide variety of flavors.

So there really is something for everyone, whether you like bold fruit, smooth and balanced or bright and punchy.

This lineup runs deep with the first pick.

I'm drafting berry.

Big bold mixed berry flavor with notes of raspberry and blackberry a little tartness to keep it balanced in a clean finish with minimal aftertaste.

It's smooth easy to recognize and just flat out dependable.

That's my number one overall pick, but don't sleep on cherry and my sleeper.

I've got my eye on confetti craze that rich freshly baked cake vibe with smooth vanilla frosting notes sounds like a wild card that could shoot up draft boards fast.

Find your new favorite flavor of five hour energy shots available online at five hour energy dot com or on Amazon.

Are we just have three more questions left on this Friday mail back and our next one comes from at marks the idle of the idle 5591.

Why do you think that near the end of every season and Notre Dame seems to be one of the most injured teams still in attention for the playoff?

Is it the academic requirements, meaning less rest and more stress compared to the football factories or is it something else?

Look, Mark Seattle of the idle always comes in with really great questions in the mail bag and I just disagree with the premise of this question, but I know it's one that others have asked before.

I know that there are still some more Orlando doubters out there because they basically blame him for all of the injuries that Notre Dame faces throughout any given season.

Here's the thing with injuries.

I don't believe Notre Dame suffers more injuries than other teams more often than not.

You're just not paying as much attention to all the other injuries that other teams deal with and that's okay. I get it.

I'm not asking you to be locked into Alabama's injury report at the end of the year.

And sure in 2024, Notre Dame had a lot of high profile injuries pile up over a 16 game season.

I mean, you lose Riley Mills in the first round of the playoff. You lose Benjamin Morrison during the regular season.

Howard Cross was really never healthy that entire season.

And then once you got to the playoff, it felt like some of the offensive lineman were dropped down.

Spinler was dealing with an injury. Charles Jagassal was here before the year. So I get it.

They were injured a lot during that year, which made the run to the national championship even more exciting when you consider everything that they had to deal with.

But I feel like a lot of fans only think about the injuries that Notre Dame is dealing with.

And they believe that every other team is just healthy. That's not true.

Other teams get hurt all the time. They have injuries. As a matter of fact, I think when Notre Dame played Georgia, they were without two of their starting offensive lineman.

You were just so locked in on one team, Notre Dame, that you know all the injury updates.

You know the backups who are dealing with nagging injuries.

And unless it's like a major big time name on another contender, odds are you aren't locked in on their injury report.

And you don't even really know about the injuries that that team is dealing with.

For example, in 2025, Notre Dame lost Ash and Craig and Billy Shroud to injuries on offense.

You know, whatever Jane Greathouse was dealing with, but that being said, Shroud and Greathouse were supposed to play if Notre Dame made the college football playoff.

So they were able to stay pretty healthy on the offensive side of the ball throughout the entire season.

And then yeah, defensively, they lost KVA at the end of the season.

He suffered that torn ACL against Syracuse.

Tade Johnson missed him time because of an injury that he suffered in practice during a drill.

Gabriel Rubio went down during the week leading up to USC, but Johnson and Rubio were both expected to be back for the playoffs.

Injuries happen all the time in football.

And if the only two guys who were definitively out for the rest of the season were Ash and Craig.

And then you guy KVA on the other side of the ball, like that's a pretty healthy team.

You're going to have guys go down.

You're going to have guys missed the rest of the season.

And a lot of times it's just bad luck.

It's part of the game.

Think about it this way.

Okay.

Marks you asked about the academic requirements.

In the NFL, those are a collection of the best football players in the world.

And they dedicate their entire lives to being in peak physical physical condition so they can be available to play.

And yet those guys get hurt all the time.

Just ask San Francisco 49ers fans or Baltimore Ravens fans.

It feels like their entire teams have been on injury reports at one point or another.

They don't have to worry about class either.

And yet they still get hurt.

It's football.

And you can try your hardest to keep guys fresh and prevent injuries.

But as long as it's 11 on 11 tackle football with some of the biggest and baddest dudes on the planet,

guys are going to get hurt.

And I don't think that Notre Dame is any different than the rest.

I think most of it is just luck.

Notre Dame actually had good luck in 2025 for the most part.

They didn't have good luck in 2024.

Maybe it cost them the national championship with Riley Mills.

I guess we'll never know.

But it's football, man.

It happens.

All right.

Voluntary Joel 41.

Is there a course of action where Notre Dame's Olympic sports other than football and hockey?

Okay.

Voluntary Joel 41 asks, is there a course of action where Notre Dame's Olympic sports join the Big East?

It seems like that could reduce expenses and maybe make them more competitive and men's basketball.

Or is the ACC commitment to financially binding to get out of?

This is an option that we discussed on the show at length.

Back in December after Notre Dame was snubbed from the college football playoff.

And people of Aqua and really the entire University of Notre Dame were publicly beefing with the ACC.

And as I said then, I love the idea of Notre Dame moving Olympic sports to the Big East.

Because I love the Big East as a basketball conference.

I miss those days when Notre Dame was in there and Louisville was in there.

And Sarah Hughes was in there.

Like back then, the Big East was a basketball powerhouse and Notre Dame was pretty good.

I mean, they were never good enough.

Really, it's a compete with the real big dogs of the Big East back during,

even during those early days in the Mike Breira.

And those are some really fun teams right with Luke Herringoady and all that.

So I think I would really appreciate it from an nostalgic standpoint.

The Big East was pretty down this year.

I mean, they've got Yukon, but a bunch of other teams who haven't really been that good.

But then again, the ACC hasn't been that good either.

I just think it's really comes down to getting out of that ACC contract.

It's not going to be easy.

And then if you do get out of the ACC contract, then you have to fill up the rest of the football schedule.

And that's a lot harder to do these days as an independent.

As we learned with the USC deal, Notre Dame would then be responsible for trying to replace those five ACC games

that they're slotted every single year.

And they basically have to either set up a deal with the SEC, which I would certainly like.

But it would be complicated, same if they try to do something with a big 10.

So I think that's that's the biggest issue here is for as mad as Notre Dame was with the ACC after the college football playoff.

It seems like cooler heads have prevailed.

And they'll probably be in the ACC for the next few years.

But who knows, man, in college football, really college sports in general, things changed by the minute, let alone the day.

So I'm not ruling it out.

I just think that there is less momentum for that to happen than there was a few months ago.

Okay.

Last question.

One of the most interesting questions I've ever gotten in a mailbag.

So at Willie McBride, respect to you.

He said, I love that you use teradactyl to describe guys like Bryce Young and Joey O'Brien among others.

I also call Ian Primer a teradactyl as well.

But keeping with the dinosaur theme, who on the current roster would be a T-Rex, a Velociraptor,

or a Brontosaurus.

So if you're watching on YouTube and you're not fully locked in to what all these different dinosaurs look like,

you probably are familiar with a T-Rex.

But I'm going to show it to you on the stage.

There you go.

There's a T-Rex.

Who am I picking on the Notre Dame roster that would be a T-Rex?

I'm going with Bubacartreori.

He's the apex predator.

Now, unlike a T-Rex, Bubacartreori has really long arms.

He doesn't have gator arms like this T-Rex does.

But man, when you think about Bubacartreori coming off the edge, like his entire job is to attack and disrupt,

he is the predator, and that's exactly what a T-Rex is.

So I'm taking Bubacartreori.

Now, for the Velociraptor, this is a little bit tougher.

And I'm pulling up a Velociraptor on the screen right here.

Not the biggest dinosaur, right?

Faster, more agile, but they stalk and they strike quickly.

So guess what?

I'm taking Tay Johnson.

I couldn't believe how physical Tay Johnson was.

And just his first year as a starter in the secondary, he's a wretched freshman,

missed most of his freshman year with an injury.

And then, you know, when he was coming out high school, you're like, man, this dude's a great athlete.

But is he going to be able to hit?

Is he going to be able to tackle all this stuff?

Well, he answered that question really fast.

He laid the wood on some guys coming downhill.

And I feel like he has some Velociraptor energy.

Now, Tay Johnson is probably a little bit bigger in comparison to the other players in the field

than a Velociraptor would be.

But I just think that's a perfect comp there.

If it's not him, it's probably like a short, feisty cornerback.

But honestly, all of Notre Dame's cornerbacks are tall now.

That was like a mic making staple.

So I didn't really see a good fit there.

So I'm taking Tay Johnson.

And last but not least, the Brontosaurus.

Here you go.

That's what it looks like.

Their massive Brontosaurus was gigantic.

They are kind of like an immovable presence.

Excuse me.

They're hard to push around.

They've got a super long neck, but a low pad level.

They're also pretty territorial as I learned in about 20 seconds reading on Wikipedia.

So a Brontosaurus to me is an offensive lineman.

So I'm going to take Gerby Lambert because Gerby Lambert is a giant.

He might, you know, on the football field, this is a guy who is considering going to Harvard.

So like on the surface, you might not think this is the most intimidating guy in the world.

But just look at this Brontosaurus.

It might not be the most intimidating.

But would you try to move that thing around?

Would you want to get in a fight with a Brontosaurus?

No.

Would you want to get in a fight with Gerby Lambert?

I certainly wouldn't.

So that is who I'm going with.

T-Rex, Bubacard Treyori, Velociraptor Tay Johnson, and Gerby Lambert as the Brontosaurus.

And that is going to do it for this episode.

Thanks again for making this your first watch or listen to the day.

And for tuning in all week long, I know it has been a pretty dry period of the offseason in terms of news.

But guess what folks?

Spring practice starts a week from today.

So we're going to have real kind of real football to talk about.

Because the name is going to take the field.

But you know what?

At this point, I will take it.

And if you enjoyed the show, make sure you subscribe on YouTube or follow the podcast on your favorite podcast platforms.

That way, you never miss an episode.

And while you're there, hit the like button on the video or leave a five-star rating and review of the podcast.

Because that really helps the show grow.

And if you never miss an episode, I say it every day.

Every day or club is built for you.

Get locked on Irish ad free plus members only discord access and more.

Head to locked on iris.supercast.com to join the club.

Have a great weekend everybody.

I'll see you next week.

Water usually wins.

It warps in Rott's wood.

It pulls it apart bored by bored.

Unless you build with treks.

Treks marine grade decking is 100% submersible for docs.

Built to last, it resists rod warping and decay in salt and fresh water.

For homeowners, that means care free days on the water.

Not constant maintenance.

For builders, it means trusted performance that minimizes callbacks.

Water has met its match.

Treks decking.

Performance engineered for your life outdoors.

Visit treks.com slash docs.

Get in the game with the college branded Venmo debit card.

Record your team with every tap and earn up to 5% cash back with Venmo stash.

A new rewards program from Venmo.

No monthly fee, no minimum balance.

Just school pride and spending power.

Get in the game and sign up for the Venmo debit card at Venmo.com slash college card.

The Venmo master card is issued by the bank court bank NA.

Select schools available.

Venmo stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo.me slash stash terms.

Max $100 cash back per month.

When you want spring break to feel like.

And a moment away from the kids to feel like.

And your reward status to feel like.

Thank you for being a Hilton Honors Gold member.

Enjoy your daily food and beverage credit.

Now that nightcap in the lounge can feel like.

It matters where you stay.

With Hilton Honors, earn the most valuable gold status faster.

And unlock benefits at over 9,000 locations worldwide.

Hilton, for this day.