When you have adopted me lengthy sufficient through the years, you already know that I don’t put an excessive amount of inventory into what Notre Dame soccer presents us every spring. I do know it’s thrilling to get a glimpse at subsequent season, and to start placing our hopes into one particular person or one other, however the model of the soccer we see in spring is vastly totally different than what we get within the fall.
So, having mentioned that, the Blue-Gold Sport wasn’t a lot of what followers had hoped for on Saturday — and that’s nice.
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A lot of what went on in the course of the sport was due to the way it was formatted and who was enjoying. Marcus Freeman is totally entitled to run his soccer practices any method he needs, and make no mistake about it, the sport was in the end a glorified observe.
On this observe, the protection clearly received the day regardless of the “rating” that was on the scoreboard. CJ Carr struggled a bit, however any large takeaways from what went down isn’t simply improper — it’s comical. Carr isn’t some new QB able to take the reins, he’s a seasoned vet now, and one which was fairly excellent in 2025. I’ve already seen a handful of overreactions to his play on Saturday and instantly I labeled them as random casuals.
Total offensively, the younger huge receivers performed properly. Devin Fitzgerald seems like a participant that can press for taking part in time within the rotation this fall, and Mylan Graham appeared like a legit starter as properly. It’s exhausting to gauge a lot of something within the working sport with the way it was laid out, however Jonaz Walton confirmed some good means to get upfield between the tackles.
On the defensive aspect of the ball, Jayden Sanders actually stood out at cornerback with a few cross deflections. The brand new defensive position scenario was encouraging as properly with freshman Rodney Dunham enjoying properly together with Keon Keeley. Once more, regardless of the rating, the protection just about received the day in my view.
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