Notre Dame Caps Off Elite 2026 Recruiting Class – Irish Defensive Ends Could Be Elite
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We're almost at the end of another week of the offseason, and there was more breaking news this morning. Notre Dame's annual Blue Gold game has been set for April 25, 2026 at 2:00 PM inside of Notre Dame Stadium. National Signing Day was also yesterday and the Irish finished one of their most impressive recruiting cycles under fifth-year head coach Marcus Freeman.
It was also time for us to continue our position room previews and dive into the defensive end rotation for the Fighting Irish heading into this offseason. There's a lot of proven talent that returns. What kind of impact will they have in 2026? There's a lot of unproven, but highly talented depth behind them. What kind of impact will they have in 2026? We breakdown all of that and more in today's episode of the Irish Breakdown Podcast.
You can watch the entire show here:
Here are some of the main topics we discussed on today's show:
On The 2026 Recruiting Class…
"We talk all the time on this channel about closing the gap, and this is absolutely a gap-closing type of a recruiting class. Really, there's only one step left in Notre Dame officially closing the gap, and that's to win a championship. Hopefully this class helps accomplish that goal. This is by far the best recruiting class Marcus Freeman has brought to South Bend, and that's not a slight to the other recruiting classes. But this is an extremely talented and deep group of guys and I think it's the best recruiting class in the entire country."
On Boubacar Traore's Impact In 2026…
"He was a really good player in 2025, but he was a year removed from the knee injury and was handicapped by some issues with the defense, overall, in the first few games of the season. There's another level he can get to in 2026 and the defensive line is going to need that, especially at the end position. Boubacar has the potential to be a day one NFL Draft pick, but there's another step he has to take this season. Charlie Partridge will have to continue developing him into the player he has the opportunity to be."
On The Depth Of Notre Dame's Defensive End Room…
"The depth in the room is the biggest question. You have solidified starters returning in Boubacar and Bryce [Young] but what's behind them is the question. Keon Keeley has the opportunity to be an impact player this upcoming season, but he'll need some work before he gets there. We need to see a healthy offseason from Loghan Thomas, someone who was on the field on the final drive of the game against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl as a true freshman. On paper, this is a loaded room and it is, talent wise. But the other players in the room will have to have a big offseason."
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