Gone Camping: Three Storylines to Follow Through Fall Camp

Brenden Duffy
Jul 30
3 min read

With Notre Dame football players back on campus and camp slated to begin tomorrow, we preview what fans can keep an eye on as we approach week one.

Photo via Notre Dame Athletics

QB Competition

Without a doubt, the most important and followed position battle will be at Quarterback as redshirt freshman CJ Carr and redshirt sophomore Kenny Minchey prepare for an intense fight.

Entering fall camp, Marcus Freeman has declared this an open competition, and fans are excited to find out who will be leading the charge for, potentially, years to come.

In the Gold vs. Blue game, Carr impressed as he threw 14/19 for 170 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. The more athletic Minchey had a quieter yet still solid performance as he threw 6/14 for 106 yards and was able to find the endzone via a short-yardage scramble.

There is a chance we see both signal-callers during the year, with special packages designed for whoever ends up as the backup. However, the importance of having a legit QB1 can not be understated in today’s game, especially if you want to compete for a CFP Championship. This competition will be watched nationally, so whoever can handle this pressure best could likely end up as the starting quarterback for Notre Dame.

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Who Fills in for Jagusah?

With Charles Jagusah set to miss the beginning of the season due to surgery following a UTV accident where he fractured his humerus, a big question has become who will start at RG? Luckily for Notre Dame, the offensive line room is among the deepest in the country, meaning there are countless valid solutions to this question.

One of these options includes promoting someone like Sullivan Absher, Guerby Lambert, or Joe Otting. Absher, a redshirt sophomore, took snaps at each tackle and guard position last year, but performed better when on the inside, making him a good candidate to replace Jagusah. Lambert and Otting are also young and talented, but the switch to guard could feel unnatural for this tackle and center pair. Moving either of these two will cause a major chain of change on the depth chart, for better or worse is to be determined. Otting fits the bill of a true guard better than Lambert, but Lambert’s talent could outweigh this situation.

The more intriguing but less likely scenario would involve starting true freshman Will Black at left tackle, forcing Anthonie Knapp to start inside. One year after starting most of the year at left tackle, would the staff want to push this change upon Knapp?

The Irish offensive line will face, arguably, two of their biggest tests this season when they open the year with Miami and Texas A&M. Without Jagusah, how the offensive line fares in these matchups will be held under a microscope.

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What Will the Defense Look Like?

One staple of Notre Dame Football, and especially with Coach Freeman, is stout defense. This will be a season of big change, and it begins at the coordinator position. Following Al Golden’s departure to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Irish hired former Rutgers Head Coach, and most recently a scout with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Chris Ash. Despite what felt like an underwhelming hire at the time, Ash does have the previous experience to warrant some trust from the public now that some time has passed. We will see if Ash can keep this defense at the elite level Golden had established, but it will be tricky with the roster turnover.

What does a Notre Dame defense without Xavier Watts, Benjamin Morrison, Jack Kiser, Howard Cross, or Rylie Mills even look like? These former Irish stars have paved the way for the next group to continue a heritage of domination.

Who will step up this season? We already know what to expect from the highly skilled duo of Leonard Moore and Drayk Bowen. The more intriguing storyline to watch will be who takes that next step and joins Moore and Bowen as true leaders this season among the returning talent, such as Adon Shuler, Christian Gray, Jaiden Ausberry, Boubacar Traore, etc. Additionally, multiple transfers and true freshmen are set to see playing time this year. How these new pieces will fit into Ash's defense will begin to be determined at camp.