Notre Dame finally has continuity at quarterback. Now CJ Carr has to carry a different offense.

The defining image of Notre Dame’s 2025 season was not the 0–2 start. It was what happened after it.

The Irish lost their first two games, absorbed the questions that follow any September stumble in South Bend and then won 10 straight. They finished 10–2 because Marcus Freeman’s team did not fracture, because the defense remained sturdy and because a first-year starting quarterback became increasingly comfortable carrying the offense. The season ended without a playoff invitation, but it clarified something that had remained uncertain throughout the previous offseason: CJ Carr is Notre Dame’s quarterback.

Carr started all 12 games, completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 2,741 yards and threw 24 touchdowns against six interceptions. He was accurate without becoming timid, mobile enough to escape pressure and increasingly capable of controlling the game before the snap. Those numbers make him the foundation of the 2026 team.

They do not make this a simple continuation.

Notre Dame lost the most explosive backfield in college football to the first round of the NFL Draft. Jeremiyah Love went third overall. Jadarian Price went 32nd. The Irish are rebuilding their running-back rotation, reshaping the receiver room through the transfer portal, sorting through an offensive line with health and position questions and replacing the production of tight end Eli Raridon. On defense, proven stars return alongside a group of high-upside additions who must quickly learn how Chris Ash wants to play.

For the first time in years, Notre Dame does not enter August wondering who will play quarterback. The 2026 season asks a more demanding question: can Carr make a changing team look settled?

Carr’s second season begins with command

Carr’s freshman year worked because Notre Dame did not ask him to be the entire offense. Love was a home-run threat from anywhere on the field. Price ran for 674 yards and 11 touchdowns despite sharing the backfield, returned kicks and could finish a drive without the formation advertising where the ball was going. Mike Denbrock could use play action, move the launch point and let Carr attack favorable matchups rather than requiring him to solve every possession through dropback volume.

Carr was more than a passenger. His 24-to-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio reflected a quarterback who generally understood risk. He showed touch outside the numbers, timing in the middle of the field and enough movement skill to change an angle when the pocket deteriorated. When Notre Dame recovered from its start, he played with an authority that cannot be simulated in a spring practice.

The next step is not simply a larger stat line. Carr must become the player who makes the offense right when the new parts are not. That means resetting protection, identifying where pressure will come from, moving the ball to the proper matchup and accepting a four-yard completion rather than forcing a highlight. It also means delivering the aggressive throw when the defense gives Notre Dame a chance to strike.

The Irish can build a more varied passing game around him than they could a year ago. They may also need to. Without Love and Price, the offense no longer has two backs capable of turning an ordinary run into a touchdown before the defense can recover.

Replacing two first-round backs is a shared assignment

No player on the roster should be asked to replace Love. No player should be asked to replace Price, either. Notre Dame must replace what the pair did collectively: explosive runs, reliable short-yardage work, pass protection, receiving value and the emotional effect of knowing a routine handoff could change the game.

Aneyas Williams is the most experienced answer. He averaged 9.3 yards per carry in limited work last season and has shown the receiving instincts to become an important third-down player. His elbow kept him out of spring contact, so the question entering camp is not whether he can contribute. It is how much work his body and the offense can reasonably place on him.

Nolan James Jr. and Kedren Young give the Irish more developed options, while freshmen Jonaz Walton and Javian Osborne arrive with the kind of talent that can force a staff to reconsider its timetable. Freshmen at running back can earn touches faster than at many other positions, but Notre Dame will not play one merely because he can run. Denbrock and running-backs coach Deland McCullough need someone who can identify pressure, protect Carr and handle the details that decide whether an explosive play is even available.

The likely solution is a rotation. Williams can become the versatile centerpiece, one of the younger backs can provide acceleration and another can absorb the physical carries that keep the offense on schedule. That approach may not produce a national awards campaign, but it can preserve the balance that made Carr’s first season manageable.

The wrong outcome would be asking Carr to replace the backs with sheer passing volume. Notre Dame should be better equipped to throw in 2026. It still wants defenses to feel the run game on every snap.

The receiver room finally has competition—and expectation

Jordan Faison returns after leading Notre Dame with 49 catches for 640 yards. His value is broader than those totals. He can play from the slot, separate underneath and adjust when a play leaves its original structure. Carr trusts him, and that relationship gives the passing game a dependable starting point.

Jaden Greathouse is the other established Irish receiver, though his health remains important after an injury-interrupted offseason. When available, he gives Carr a bigger target who understands leverage and can work through traffic. Notre Dame’s ceiling, however, may depend on two receivers who have barely played college football.

Mylan Graham and Quincy Porter arrived from Ohio State as former five-star recruits with a combined 10 catches last season. The lack of production should temper easy conclusions. Their recruiting pedigrees should not be ignored, either. Graham has the suddenness to create separation and produce after the catch. Porter brings length and a catch radius the room did not consistently possess. Both came to South Bend for opportunity; both still have to earn Carr’s trust, learn the offense and prove that potential can survive contact against a veteran defense.

If one becomes a true outside winner, Notre Dame’s offense changes. Safeties cannot lean as aggressively toward Faison. Denbrock gains more freedom to isolate matchups. Carr gets a target who can turn a well-placed 50–50 ball into a high-percentage decision. If both emerge, the Irish can field their deepest receiving corps of the Freeman era.

The tight ends will help define the structure around them. Ty Washington, Cooper Flanagan, James Flanigan and Jack Larsen offer different combinations of size, receiving skill and in-line work as they compete to replace Raridon. Freshman Ian Premer gives the room another high-ceiling athlete. Notre Dame has enough talent to remain multiple; the question is whether anyone becomes the dependable every-down player who lets Denbrock change formations without changing personnel.

The offensive line must settle before Lambeau

Notre Dame has recruited the line well enough to survive turnover. Survival is not the same as dominance.

Will Black and Anthonie Knapp give the Irish premium young tackle talent. Joe Otting, Sullivan Absher and Guerby Lambert are among the linemen competing to establish the interior and complete the best five. Ashton Craig brings experience when healthy. Charles Jagusah entered camp without a firm public timetable, leaving uncertainty around a player talented enough to change the group if available.

The individual ability is obvious. The work is collective: calling out fronts, passing off twists, creating movement on short yardage and avoiding the one free runner who ruins an otherwise sound drive. Carr’s experience will help. So will a deep tight-end room and a backfield capable of sharing protection responsibility. But the line has to become an advantage rather than a weekly workaround if Notre Dame expects to beat playoff-caliber opponents.

Wisconsin at Lambeau Field is an immediate examination. It is the kind of opener that will expose hesitation in communication and punish an offense that cannot run when everyone in the stadium expects it. Notre Dame does not have the luxury of using September to discover its five-man combination.

A defense with stars, depth and a new burden

The defense gives Freeman his strongest argument for patience on offense. Boubacar Traore returns after producing 10 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. His ability to win without a blitz changes what Ash can call behind him. Keon Keeley joins the edge rotation with his own former five-star pedigree, while Francis Brewu arrives from Pitt after making 13 starts and recording 10 tackles for loss. Tionne Gray adds Power Four experience inside.

That transfer group does not need to transform Notre Dame’s identity. It needs to make the front deeper, more durable and more difficult to block in November than it was in September.

The linebackers are already built for that kind of season. Drayk Bowen led the Irish with 67 tackles in 2025, and his experience gives the unit a stabilizing voice. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa contributed 7.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. Jaiden Ausberry adds range and coverage value. The group can play fast because it has already seen most of the pictures an offense will present.

The secondary may have the best individual corner in the country. Leonard Moore intercepted five passes and broke up seven more in only 10 games last season. He has the length, patience and ball production to let Ash tilt coverage elsewhere. Adon Shuler returns at safety after adding two interceptions and five breakups, and DJ McKinney arrives with 22 starts across two years at Colorado. Jayden Sanders adds another experienced body to the competition.

That collection gives Notre Dame flexibility. Moore can follow a top receiver. McKinney can make the corner rotation deeper. Shuler can help disguise coverage. The defense can pressure selectively rather than desperately. Its responsibility is to keep the Irish from needing Carr and a reconfigured offense to win a shootout before every offensive role is settled.

The schedule demands growth, then endurance

The opener against Wisconsin will be treated as a neutral-site event; it will not feel neutral. Notre Dame then returns home for Rice and Michigan State before traveling to Purdue and North Carolina. The first five games should reveal whether the offensive line is ready, whether the new backs can protect Carr and which transferred receiver can handle a starting workload.

The middle of the schedule changes the questions. Stanford visits before Notre Dame goes to BYU. Navy awaits at Gillette Stadium, followed by a home date with Miami. Boston College and SMU come to South Bend before the regular season closes at Syracuse.

There is no opponent on that list that excuses a flat Notre Dame performance. There are also enough distinct styles to stress every developing area: Wisconsin’s physicality, North Carolina’s speed, BYU’s environment, Navy’s discipline, Miami’s roster talent and SMU’s offensive pressure. A playoff résumé will require more than avoiding an upset. It will require the Irish to show that their best football travels.

The verdict

Notre Dame’s 2026 case starts with a truth that was not available a year ago: Carr is a proven college starter, and a good one. The Irish have a receiver he trusts in Faison, a defense with difference-makers at all three levels and a transfer class that addresses obvious needs without forcing the staff to rebuild the entire depth chart.

The uncertainty is concentrated around Carr. Two first-round running backs are gone. The receiver room is more talented than proven. The offensive line has multiple plausible combinations but not yet one settled answer. The tight ends must establish their roles. Those are significant questions, but they are easier to solve with a quarterback who has already started 12 games than with another summer-long competition.

Freeman’s best teams have been resilient, physical and increasingly comfortable in big moments. This one has the raw material to be his most complete. To get there, Carr must do more than repeat his freshman season. He has to provide the continuity that allows everyone else to change.