Notre Dame Football Earns Major National Praise After Spring Practices
Notre Dame is coming off its most successful season in decades, making it all the way to the national championship before falling to Ohio State. Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish lose a good amount of talent but quite a bit returning and several players looking to take that next step in 2025.
So just how good does Notre Dame look following spring football wrapping up and with the countdown to summer being on?
It’s easy for me to sit here on a Notre Dame focused site and say everything is great and hope people eat it up. It’s another for a national analyst to give huge praise to Freeman and the Fighting Irish.
Andy Staples Ranks Notre Dame No. 2 Following Spring Football
Andy Staples of On3 is a former college football player himself and is mighty impressed with Notre Dame ahead of the 2025 season. Staples released his post-spring top 25 on Monday and had Notre Dame ranked second nationally, behind only Texas. Here is what Staples said of the Fighting Irish:
The most telling fact about Notre Dame’s offseason? Two offensive linemen who started in the national title game immediately hit the transfer portal after the season because they probably wouldn’t have starting jobs in 2025. A great offensive line is the most recession-proof factor in football. Can Notre Dame’s defense maintain the level at which it played last year? That’s the question. But injuries last season forced younger players like cornerback Leonard Moore to show us that the Fighting Irish have future stars ready to emerge. We think C.J. Carr wins the quarterback job, and a bigger arm than the Irish have had in years could unlock a downfield passing game that should complement a punishing run game.
How does Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame handle the pressure of being expected to be great? It’s easy to sit from afar and claim all the right things but building on success isn’t always the easiest thing to do.
It’s notable that Notre Dame’s season opener at Miami is the only game against a team in Staples’ latest top 25 rankings, but the most interesting thing to me is how Notre Dame will handle the expectations.
