Buying or selling early Notre Dame defensive hot takes with Marcus Freeman and the Irish kicking off spring practice recently
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Notre Dame football just started spring practice last week, yet the high expectations for the 2026 team are already rising quickly. There is no doubt that head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish are bringing back a lot of talent from last year’s team, and they added even more in the transfer portal. This feels like a group with championship aspirations and upside going into next year.
As is typically the case in the world of offseason hype, there are a lot of hot takes that are already beginning to circulate. Some of those takes have some validity, while others are just way too hyperbolic right now. Here are some of those hot takes and my opinion on whether we should be selling or buying it this early.
Christopher Burgess will start in 2026
With the transfer portal additions of Francis Brewu (Pitt) and Tionne Gray (Oregon), as well as the returns of Armel Mukam and Jason Onye, most thought that would be the top four defensive tackles for Notre Dame going into the 2026 season, with Elijah Hughes also mixing in. There has been a lot of buzz for redshirt freshman Christopher Burgess for what he is doing this offseason. The amount of good weight he has put on his frame has been outstanding to see.
I am buying the hype for Burgess, who is just a freak athlete on the interior of a defense. If he doesn’t begin the year as a starter, I believe he will at some point next season.
Notre Dame has the best secondary in CFB
I will save everyone a bit of time on this “hot take”: I am fully bought in. With a secondary that includes Leonard Moore, Tae Johnson, Adon Shuler, DJ McKinney, Luke Talich, and Christian Gray, among others, this is the deepest secondary in all of college football. Barring injury or something else unforeseen, this should be an elite back end of the defense for the Fighting Irish. There are several NFL players in the secondary, not even including the younger guys.
The defensive tackle room will be substantially better than the 2025 group
Yes, this is another take I am fully backing going into the season. Jared Dawson, Gabriel Rubio, and Donovan Hinish were all quality football players, but I will take the trio of Gray, Brewu, and Burgess over them as “replacements”. With Onye and Mukam also returning, this group is just more talented overall than last season.
Leonard Moore will win the Jim Thorpe Award
Even though Notre Dame has had some tremendous defensive backs over the years, they have never had a player with the Jim Thorpe Award, which is given to the top defensive back in college football each year. Heading into the 2026 season, All-American cornerback Leonard Moore has to be the frontrunner to take home the award. The 6-2, 197-pound cover man is considered to be one of the top overall players in the country, so that hype is validated. He should have a great chance to get that award to South Bend next season.
I am buying the hype for Moore going into next season. Not only is he incredibly talented, but Moore also has the hype and name recognition necessary to win that type of award. Moore is, and should be, the heavy favorite to win it.
This story was originally published by A to Z Sports on Mar 25, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add A to Z Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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