(Notre Dame) — Usually the first spring football practice is all about teaching, but Notre Dame has so many veterans on its 2026 team, Marcus Freeman noted they could get right to “football”.

That includes some contact even when the pads weren’t on.

A dust-up during some running game work between safety Adon Shuler and wide receiver Jordan Faison showed a feistiness from the Irish team that has something to prove after not making the College Football Playoffs last season.

“Very motivated,” tight end Ty Washington said succinctly. “We’re going by the motto ‘Leave No Doubt…LND’, so everybody was ready to get back out there. I feel sorry for the competition, to be honest.”

“We want to get better every single day,” states second-year defensive coordinator Chris Ash. “We have a list of things that each individual that has been here has to get better at, whether it’s alignment, communication, eyes, something fundamentally. There may a call or two that somebody struggled with. We want to make sure we take last year’s issues and eliminate them from the tape this spring.”

The biggest change obvious in Notre Dame’s first session was on the offensive line where Anthonie Knapp moved inside to left guard with Will Black taking the left tackle spot.

“You’re trying to find a way to get your best five football players on the field,” Notes offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock. “We’re fortunate enough with the athleticism of a lot of the guys we’ve recruited on the offensive line, there’s some versatility there. Moving the pieces around, especially in the spring, gives you the opportunity to really evaluate where certain guys are at, where they’re most comfortable in an effort to get the five best guys on the field.”

Here are some other observations from Day One.

• Neither of the contenders at backup quarterback stood out. Freshman Noah Grubbs had a sideline route jumped by freshman cornerback Nick Reddish for a pick six. In fairness, receiver Cam Williams didn’t run the best route on that ball. Blake Hebert still doesn’t show as much zip on the ball as Grubbs, but he made a nice completion flushed from the pocket to freshman Bubba Frazier along the right sideline.
• The Irish safeties looked tremendous again. Tae Johnson intercepted CJ Carr twice during 7-on-7 drills. The second one came on a deep ball, where Johnson took off from the right hashmark while the ball was in the air and made the grab on the sideline. Johnson also had a “Summit City Summit” with receiver Mylen Graham on a ball in the air. Mind you, there are no pads, and everyone held their breath as Johnson got up slowly and took a moment to get his wind back.  Joey O’Brien, Luke Talich and Ethan Long all made eyebrow-raising plays during practice.
• Graham looks very fluid running routes, as do freshmen Devin Fitzgerald and Kaydon Finley.  Elijah Burress and Jerome Bettis, Jr. both made nice grabs during team work.
• The catch of the day was from running back Nolan James, Jr., who reached low and a bit behind him to make a one-handed snare on a ball from Carr.
• You can understand why Denbrock and offensive line coach Joe Rudolph made the switch to Black at tackle. His longer arms came in handy, especially against pass rushing freshman Rodney Dunham in one sequence.
• Speaking of pass rushers…the Irish can get some pressure on you. Dunham looked particularly good in his first spring work, as did Boubacar Traore and Keon Keeley
• Former Marian player Kaleb Johnson is a walk-on tight end this spring.
• Drayk Bowen and Kyngston Villiamu-Asa were both in just t-shirts and shorts, but both were going through non-contact drills to get mental reps. It shows how players on this team want to compete and be on the field.