What's next for Notre Dame? Marcus Freeman knows exactly what needs to be done.

While Mike Denbrock returns as Notre Dame's offensive coordinator, the Irish are set to have a new identity on the offense.

While the Irish are still set to be anchored by the exceptional run game of Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price, and Aneyas Williams, Notre Dame will be transitioning into the CJ Carr or Kenny Minchey era in South Bend. The two quarterbacks will provide the Irish a bit more of a downfield threat that Riley Leonard gave the Irish last season, yet it should be interesting to see how the position groups around the quarterbacks are affected.

Let's breakdown each position room to see if they are improved, similar, or worse than the 2024 Notre Dame team.

Worse

While the promise and hype are certainly at the forefront of all Notre Dame fans minds, the maturity curve might take a bit longer than most people believe.

Yes, there is no doubt that CJ Carr or Kenny Minchey can perform exceptionally right off the bat and lead the Irish to back-to-back wins against Miami and Texas A&M.

Yes, Carr and Minchey are both better throwers of the football than Riley Leonard, yet Leonard brought so many intangibles to the table.

Leonard was a junkyard dog at quarterback with an ever-burning competitive fire that willed the Fighting Irish to 12 straight wins. Was he perfect? By no means of the word. He had terrible interceptions against USC and Georgia Tech, but still found a way to get the Irish to the finish line. He struggled against Georgia throwing the ball as well, but when the game was on the line and it mattered the most, Leonard was able to put the nail in the coffin and ice the game.

The biggest area that Notre Dame will miss Leonard is in the short-yardage quarterback run game on 3rd and short, and 4th and short. The reason Marcus Freeman was able to be so aggressive on 4th down was because of the confidence he had in Leonard to pick up two yards.

While Carr and Minchey are naturally more gifted throwing the football, it is too early to deem the position in better hands than with a quarterback that took Notre Dame to the national championship and got selected in the NFL Draft.

Better

The best running back room in college football somehow got deeper after leading the Irish to the national championship game.

The room returns Heisman-hopeful Jeremiyah Love who is coming off a 1,125-yard season where he collected 19 total touchdowns.

Jadarian Price also returns to the room with 746 rushing yards from a season ago with 7 touchdowns.

The Irish also return Aneyas Williams and Gi'Bran Payne, who were the featured 3rd down running backs in 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Then the Irish have Kedren Young and Nolan James who are still developing and waiting in the wings for their opportunity.

With another season under their belt and the new mentorship of running backs' coach Ja'Juan Seider, there is no doubt the Irish running back room will elevate to another new height.

Better

The Notre Dame wide receiver room has been in a down period for the last five years. It hasn't been since Chase Claypool where a Notre Dame wide receiver has led the team in receptions. While that may speak to the excellence of Michael Mayer and Mitchell Evans, the Irish wide receiving room hasn't produced a 1,000-yard receiver since Claypool either.

This year, the Irish will get an improved Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison, who are coming off impressive CFP performances.

The Fighting Irish also add Malachi Fields and Will Pauling from the transfer portal to add experienced pass catchers for the new quarterbacks as well. The quarterback situations should also aid the wide receiving room with more opportunities for a down-field pass game than a season ago.

With the maturity of some of the younger weapons and the integration of the transfer portal pieces, mixed in with a quarterback who will be a bit more accurate than a year ago, the numbers for the receiving room are bound to increase.

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Worse

The tight end room has been a staple at Notre Dame for the past decades, yet this year the room seems to be a bit thin.

Outside of Eli Raridon, who has anchored down the TE1 position after Mitchell Evans' jump to the NFL, the tight end room is a bit thin on experience.

While the Irish added Ty Washington from Arkansas in the portal, the Achilles injury to Cooper Flanagan leaves the tight ends in young hands.

Jack Larsen will see an increased role early in the season, and Kevin Bauman should be another tool for Denbrock to utilize as well.

Better

When three players who started for the program last season transfer out because of returning depth next season brings, the room is in a good place.

While Sam Pendleton, Rocco Spindler, and Pat Coogan made instrumental impacts in leading Notre Dame to the national championship game, the writing was on the wall with the returning pieces the offensive line is bringing back.

Notre Dame's offensive line is in an incredible position for next season, and the scary thing about the unit is: they could all stay together for the 2026 season too.

Yet, the 2025 year is the focus of the article, and this unit is absolutely stacked. It will be a bit of a puzzle to see where offensive line coach Joe Rudolph fits all the pieces together, but there is no doubt that the Fighting Irish will be competing for the Joe Moore Award by season's end.