Tag: Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football Recruiting

247Sports says Notre Dame in the mix for three Top-15 2023 prospects

A trio of top 2023 prospects could end up in South Bend

The Irish just recently missed out on Sonny Styles, brother of wide receiver Lorenzo. It hurt but as an Ohio State legacy, we could have seen this coming. That doesn’t mean that the Notre Dame staff doesn’t have a few big fish they are still going after, it’s the opposite. As 247Sports updated their 2023 rankings, they looked at their Top-10 players and where they were leaning (premium). The Irish are in the mix for three of them and find out below who they are.

Notre Dame Football: Time For A QB Change?

Is it time for Notre Dame to change quarterbacks?

Unfortunately, Notre Dame will not be accomplishing any of their “big picture” program goals this year due to the three losses they now have on the ledger. As a result, how the remaining games are looked at has changed as well. Will the coaching staff prioritize getting more snaps for younger players looking to the future or will the starting lineup and rotations be the same?

Sam Hartman has not been playing good football. The offense has been playing awful football. This isn’t all Sam’s fault, but he is the sixth year QB that was gifted this job with much expected. Now that there are no national postseason trophies to play for, is it time to consider playing the younger quarterbacks eyeing the future? Let’s examine this circumstance more directly.

Notre Dame football 2025 commit makes All-County team

The Irish got a very good one in Reiff

Notre Dame football is off to another hot start with it’s 2025 recruiting class, already having seven total commits.

One of those is Illinois defensive end [autotag]Joseph Reiff,[/autotag] who verbally commited to the Irish in mid-September. The 6-foot, 5-inch and 230-pound pass rusher had an extremely productive season.

Reiff was recognized as one of the best players in the state, being named to the Red Grange All-County team. He’s currently ranked as the No. 39 defensive end and 416th overall player nationally according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

Earlier this season, I actually got a chance to see Reiff perform on the field, where he played exceptionally well.

Stay tuned to Fighting Irish Wire, as we will have an interview with Reiff in the near future.

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Notre Dame vs Clemson: Palpable Disappointment

Maddening. Frustrating. Angering. What else?

For the most part, people were fairly understanding of Notre Dame’s struggles last year. Marcus Freeman was new on the job, there were many moving pieces on and off the field, the roster was in major flux, the schedule was challenging, etc. This year was going to be different though. Everyone was more settled in, the roster felt deeper and let’s not forget that the Irish would be led by the best transfer quarterback available this year as well.

The ultimate goal of course was to make the College Football Playoff and win games. At a minimum be in playoff contention throughout the year. But that dream perished the first weekend of October after the Irish lost Louisville’s Super Bowl at their place. If Notre Dame could run the table from there, they could at least possibly make a New Years Six game and win it. Then Clemson happened. Be honest with yourself. What big-picture goals are left to attain? There are none. That makes this year a disappointment.

Let’s examine exactly what I mean and how Notre Dame can grow from this frustrating experience moving forward.

Notre Dame vs Clemson: Confidences & Concerns

What to like and not like about Notre Dame’s trip to Clemson…

In an ideal world, Notre Dame versus Clemson in November would be a game with playoff implications, not only for both teams involved but for the country as well. As it turns out, that won’t be the case as these two squads will meet with a total of six losses on their combined ledger. But that doesn’t mean the game isn’t important or doesn’t matter.

This will be Notre Dame’s toughest remaining game. If they can manage to notch a victory in Death Valley, the path to 10-2 looks very promising with games against Wake and Stanford remaining. Let’s examine some confidences and concerns Irish fans may have entering this matchup between two teams that had playoff aspirations that won’t be fulfilled regardless of the outcome.

Clemson Is Down, Can The Irish Put Them Out?

Not your typical Clemson game…

Due to the bizarre nature of Notre Dame’s schedule this year, the final 1/3 block of games set up for the Irish very well. After the bye the Irish hosted Pitt. They then travel to Death Valley to face Clemson before having another break before rounding out the year against Wake Forest at home and then a trip to Palo Alto. Notre Dame must have a clean sweep of four wins in this stretch to possibly reach an New Years Six bowl game, the biggest remaining attainable big-picture goal for the year.

Up next for the Irish is their trip to Death Valley. One that has been circled on the calendar forever. It’s the final of the “big 3” matchups this year and is a huge measuring stick game. But this Clemson team isn’t what we are used to seeing from Dabo Swinney. His Tigers are 4-4 and are truly struggling.

Let’s examine the opportunity that lies ahead for the Irish this week.

Notre Dame Crushes Narduzzi & Pitt

Just a reminder – Notre Dame beat the daylights out of Pitt on Saturday.

The big question exiting the bye for Notre Dame was could the Irish manhandle an inferior opponent at home or would this turn into an all-afternoon ugly Pitt slugfest, the kind Notre Dame fans are quite familiar with when it comes to playing Pitt? The answer was quite emphatic as Notre Dame destroyed the Panthers to the tune of a 58-7 blowout.

For the Irish to hope for a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game of note, they must end the year at 10-2 and go 4-0 in this final 1/3 portion of the season. Certainly, Pitt is a bad football team this year. The Irish have faced many of these over the years and struggled to dismantle them. Not this afternoon. Notre Dame dominated.

Let’s examine some particular notes of interest from this lopsided Narduzzi meltdown-inducing game.

Notre Dame vs USC: Winning Is The Best Medicine

Winning is the only thing that will cure these Notre Dame blues…

Notre Dame nation is in an odd place this week. Questioning this team. The coach. Themselves. Trust was broken with this Louisville performance and it’s hard for fans to tell where exactly this team is at. And why it’s there? And how will it be moving forward? Simply put, there is doubt. Justifiable doubt. There’s only one way out of this mess in the short term. Beat USC.

Winning cures all. At least in the short term. If Notre Dame can somehow knock off the Trojans they’d be able to at least enter the bye with one elite-level win feather in their cap trending up into a week to regroup. If things go poorly against USC however, the bottom will have completely fallen out and the bye will be filled with nothing but negativity.

Let’s examine just how critical a win over the Trojans would be.

Notre Dame Football: Picking Up The Pieces

Notre Dame looks to pick up the pieces and make something of what’s left in 2023.

Notre Dame is in a tough spot right now, both big picture and small. Look at their current stretch of games. An emotion-draining last-second loss to Ohio State, followed up by a physical last-second escape against a rock-solid undefeated Duke team, then a trip to the hornet nest that was unblemished Louisville’s home turf. The Irish have dropped 2 of these games eliminating them from the playoff this year and have the reigning Heisman winner heading to town this week yet to come.

Given the Louisville result, it’s obvious that there are now big-picture concerns regarding this program overall and not just week-to-week ones of improved execution. Before any of these big-picture concerns can be addressed, Notre Dame has a handful of games left to play. They must find ways to improve now. There isn’t a minute to be wasted with your nemesis heading to town.

Let’s examine some quick fixes the Irish can implore to try and knock off Caleb Williams and the rest of his Hollywood Hotshot teammates.

Notre Dame vs. Louisville: Confidences & Concerns for Irish

How you feeling about tonight, Irish fans?

Notre Dame fans knew this stretch of the season would be tough. Any 4 game window that starts with Ohio State and ends with USC gets your attention, adding in night road trips to undefeated Duke and now Louisville, and you have yourself a gauntlet.

While the sledding is undeniably tough, the Irish should be in a better place mentally and emotionally to handle this environment than they entered last week’s contest. Why? Winning. Winning solves almost every football problem. And that’s what the Irish did last week.

Can the Irish ramp the offense back up? Will this be yet another last-second nail-biter? Let’s examine some confidences and concerns Notre Dame fans may have entering this tough road affair.