Notre Dame Football - What's Next? (2024)

John Kennedy

April 27, 2024 7:00 am ET

After what was a very intriguing buildup and an exciting Blue & Gold game, Irish fans may ask themselves a basic question. What comes next? After the rush of seeing Notre Dame play football last week, everyone is starting to come back to earth and think about all the time between now and opening night at Texas A&M. Camp may not crank up again until August, but there is still much work to be done.

If Notre Dame navigates the summer months effectively, they will enter August ready to maximize every minute of practice time they are allowed. Marcus Freeman’s vision for what he wants this team to look like is beginning to take shape. Is the present roster the finished product? No. There’s still work to be done but the Irish roster looks very different physically than it has in the recent past. Faster, longer, and leaner & more athletic overall.

Let’s examine 5 of Notre Dame’s top priorities for the summer months.

Transfer Portal Activity

Michael Reaves/Getty Images

How active do you expect Notre Dame to be in the portal? How many players do you expect the Irish to lose on top of Micah Bell? Do all of the quarterbacks stay? These are some big questions that don’t have clear answers at the moment.

Is there a secondary depth player the Irish like? What are the odds of Notre Dame landing a portal offensive tackle that is of starter quality in the wild west of the present NIL landscape? One thing is for certain. There will be movement. Who and where to and from? We shall see.

Heal Up

Recruiting

The summer recruiting window for Notre Dame tends to swing up and down vastly from long periods of no news to multiple splashes of big news all in a row. Such is life in the days of modern college football.

Can Notre Dame wrap up 2025’s class this summer with some premier players at key positions such as defensive line and receiver? Can they get more of a jump start on building up the 2026 class as well? You can bet this staff will be trying to do just that. They just keep grinding. I respect it.

Planning for Fall Camp

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

The Notre Dame offense has a lot of work to do when they resume football activities in early August. Due to injury and so many new moving parts with both the personnel and staff, they aren’t where they want to be.

I trust Mike Denbrock to put together a plan to be able to get the most out of camp as possible to best prepare the team to beat the Aggies. Is Leonard healthy? How quickly does he gel with the team? Is the offensive line rotation settled? And also, is it good enough? How are the receivers progressing? There’s just a lot to sort out in a short period. Denbrock is uniquely qualified to navigate this dynamic.

The Fans Outlook

Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

As for the Irish fan base, it’s going to be a long summer without any football. And this will lead Irish minds and hearts to wander. These thoughts may range anywhere from “when can I buy home playoff game tickets” to “what if we lose week 1” to everything in between.

As for me, I’m going to worry. I just am. I’m wound tight when it comes to Notre Dame, as many of you may already be well aware. This year is critical for Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman, and his vision for the future. Notre Dame must be included in the playoff for the season to be deemed a success. Lots of pressure, welcome to life under the bright lights of Notre Dame.

For more Irish news & notes follow John on Twitter@alwaysirishINC,Always Irish on Youtubeand or your preferred audio podcast provider.