Notre Dame Fall Camp 2025: Pick A Narrative and Run With It

It's an interesting fall camp for Notre Dame with supreme confidence mixed with uncertainty.

Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr during the Notre Dame Blue-Gold spring football game at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, April 12, 2025, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Notre Dame Football Fall Camp 2025

Notre Dame finds itself in a very interesting position as it begins 2025. The Irish are a preseason top-five team, are trending up as a program on and off the field, but have a very tough early schedule and uncertainty at the most important individual position in all of sports, quarterback.

As a result of this odd juxtaposition of circumstances, the Irish fan base has a lot to navigate in their minds leading into game one at Miami. This unique blend of intermingled confidences and concerns will fester and linger until the first game is played and some realities, not what could be or might be, are finally revealed.

For the next few weeks, the Irish fan base's mindset can be broken up into three distinct categories, all with merit, upside, and downside.

QB CJ Carr was excellent in the Blue-Gold Game.

14-19, 170 yds, 2 TD, INT.

It's a glorified practice, but the soon-to-be sophomore looked the part. pic.twitter.com/KiBju8p7WF

— Bennett Wise WSBT (@BennettWiseWSBT) April 12, 2025

1-High confidence in the Irish program, big expectations for 2025

Folks with this mindset are believers that this Notre Dame roster is by far the deepest, most talented, and athletic one the Irish have fielded in the modern era.

On the field and off the field, there is a healthy and stable foundation that breeds confidence in what is to come in 2025, even as the team breaks in a new defensive coordinator and a yet-to-be-named quarterback.

2- Big questions combined with tough early schedule could be trouble

Irish fans in this camp like the direction of the program, but have real concerns about the integration of a first-time starting QB and new defensive leadership heading into a challenging early-season slate. Folks in this camp have major worries and fear one or more early losses as a result.

3- The wait and see approach

Notre Dame fans in this mindset are patient. They feel great about the program overall while recognizing that danger lurks all over the front half of the schedule should some key new pieces take time to come together. These folks have a reserved "wait and see" approach to the quarterback competition and overall output.

The reality is that this time of year, nobody knows how things will transpire once games start, and therefore, all of these camps have validity.

There is no concrete right or wrong way to think about what may happen in just a few short weeks, each fan is free to exist in whatever mind space comes naturally to them until we see real action.

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