TRIPLE THREAT: Will Black, Bryce Young, and Khary Adams

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Everyone loves to do a player countdown for Notre Dame as we face toward the college football season, but in all fairness, the offseason is much shorter than you think. It’s really only two months in the grand scheme of things, and there will be much more to talk about in the middle of July with media days — so why not deal with the profiles before then?

Welcome to the Triple Threat series. We will profile every player on Notre Dame’s roster, but I’m going to give you three at a time to save some time. Every Triple Threat post will include one offensive player, one defensive player, and one newcomer (freshman or transfer) until we have to do some different combos down the road.

So let’s get started with today’s Triple Threat:

OL Will Black #74
DE Bryce Young #95
CB Khary Adams #21

WILL BLACK #74

HEIGHT 6-7
WEIGHT 316
CLASS FRESHMAN
HOMETOWN LONDON, ONTARIO, CANADA
HIGH SCHOOL CHOATE ROSEMARY HALL (CT)

Will Black was a massive recruiting win for the Irish. Notre Dame usually does pretty well in New England, and has some good recent history with Canadian born players, but as Black rose to be a 5-Star player — he became the object of desire by every top program in the country. Black, however, wasn’t thrown to the wolves as a freshman and was able to use his freshman year to get bigger, stronger, and smarter on the football field.

And now it’s Black’s turn. The gigantic redshirt freshman is the projected starter at left tackle, and the future of the Notre Dame offensive line (at least for the next two seasons). We’re going to have to see the difference in an actual game, but it’s fair to assume that Black will be a considerable upgrade at LT from Anthonie Knapp (no disrespect at all for that king) who will be playing next to him at left guard.

BRYCE YOUNG #95

HEIGHT 6-6
WEIGHT 260
CLASS JUNIOR
HOMETOWN CHARLOTTE, NC
HIGH SCHOOL CHARLOTTE CHRISTIAN

Bryce Young came to Notre Dame with incredible expectations. How could he not? Bryce is the son of Notre Dame legend and all-time San Francisco 49ers great, Bryant Young. More than just the name, his 5-Star ranking and his incredible size and frame all pointed toward early success in South Bend. In a lot of ways — Young lived up to those expectations as a freshman (especially on special teams).

Young’s sophomore season showed that there is still some learning and development needed — although the Irish did have to move him around a bit along the defensive front. Notre Dame added a lot of depth and a new coach for the defensive line in 2026, and the hope is that Young will be able to rotationally settle into the Vyper role and be a real terror in the pass rush.

KHARY ADAMS #21

HEIGHT 6-1
WEIGHT 187
CLASS FRESHMAN
HOMETOWN BALTIMORE, MD
HIGH SCHOOL LOYOLA BLAKEFIELD

Notre Dame (especially under Mike Mickens) has become one of the premier destinations for blue-chip defensive backs. I’m not sure if a 5-Star player like Khary Adams comes to Notre Dame five years ago, but now it feels like it was a no-brainer. Adams, of course, could have gone anywhere and Notre Dame did a great job pulling him away from schools like Michigan and Penn State.

Adams was sidelined this spring taking care of an injury, but despite that setback, there has been some chatter about him competing for rotational time this fall. We really won’t know anything of how that’s going until we get a couple of weeks into fall camp, but the talented Adams is a good enough player to make it happen as a freshman.

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