The season concludes this evening, as Ohio State and Alabama duke it out for a College Football Playoff championship. It is never to early to look ahead to what we should all expect this fall, in one where we hope to have a more regular football schedule and spring ball as well.
A total of six experts from 247Sports voted on their early top 25 for the 2021 season and Notre Dame fans should be pretty happy with where they were placed, in a tie for 8th.
The Irish will have to replace plenty of their stars from this past season including linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and quarterback Ian Book, but that still didn’t stop 247Sports’ experts from giving Notre Dame a very high ranking.
Although they didn’t get too much into what to expect out of the Irish next season, it seems like they were happy with what transpired in “the big news this week came on Friday night when Notre Dame landed a big fish to replace Clark Lea at defensive coordinator. Cincinnati’s Marcus Freeman takes over, choosing Notre Dame over LSU.”
Yeah, we all see it that way too, the hire of Freeman wasn’t just a home run, it was a grand slam. Lea left some big shoes to fill and Freeman should be able to fit into them nicely.
Looking ahead at the Irish’s schedule, it doesn’t seem overtly daunting, so giving them a ranking inside the top 10 makes plenty of sense. They will have some bumps in the road and player need to develop, but there is plenty of talent on the roster that is led by running back Kyren Williams and safety Kyle Hamilton. The 2021 season can’t get here soon enough.