Halfway through spring football, Notre Dame is putting things together

Yes, it’s been a pretty quiet first half of the spring practice season for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Despite there being a bit of shock reveal with the injury report at the beginning of spring, the current depth charts (as they’ve been revealed in various ways at practice) are intriguing — but not a big surprise. Running back, Aneyas Williams, was one of those listed as “limited” during spring as he wears a red jersey, but he’s been very active so far.

Maybe he won’t be as much during the jersey scrimmages and the Blue-Gold game, but Nolan James looks like a player ready to make a big impact this year. The reshuffling of the offensive line has remained consistent so far with (from left to right) Will Black, Anthonie Knapp, Joe Otting, Sullivan Absher, and Guerby Lambert. Regardless of what happens with a return of Ashton Craig and/or Charles Jaguar, this group looks solid and ready to compete.

The experiment of Christian Gray moving to nickel looks less and less like an experiment and more of what will likely happen this fall, but that could still be up in the air come August. At any rate, the Irish could (and should) have Gray and Dallas Golden ready at nickel as the Irish try to make what was going to be one of the best defensive backfields in the nation — even better. The defensive line is a position group which saw some major additions this winter from the transfer portal and the early enrollee freshman, as well as a new coach in Charlie Partridge.

This is a different Notre Dame defensive line room than we are familiar with, and it’s an easy thing to see. There is also a noticeable difference with the Irish wide receivers as well. A lot of this is because of Mylan Graham and his quickness and athleticism on full display — but the whole group looks like a stable of playmakers.