Notre Dame Lands Five Positions In The Athlon Top 10 List

When breaking down the Top 10 position groups in the Athlon Sports College Football Preview magazine, you quickly notice the Notre Dame Fighting Irish has a number of different position groups held in high regard. In fact, Notre Dame ranks 5th in the breakdown, which ranked seven different position groups.

Notre Dame had five different position groups ranked in the Top 10 lists, which tied them with Ohio State, Penn State and Texas. The Irish trailed only Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Michigan.

NO. 6 OFFENSIVE LINE

Expectations are high for the Notre Dame offensive line, which is consistently ranked among the nation's top group of blockers heading into the 2023 season. Junior left tackle Joe Alt is on Athlon's preseason All-American list, and he's the headliner of the group. Athlon is also high on classmate Blake Fisher.

"Left tackle Joe Alt is first-round draft material, and right tackle Blake Fisher may not be far behind," Athlon wrote in its Notre Dame preview.

None of Notre Dame's 2023 opponents were ranked among the 10 best offensive lines. Duke (ACC) and USC (Pac 12) both ranked third in their conference offensive line rankings.

NO 7 QUARTERBACK

Athlon is clearly high on transfer quarterback Sam Hartman, who had their sixth highest Heisman Trophy odds. Hartman is without question the most prolific returning quarterback in 2023. He currently ranks 18th all-time in NCAA history in career passing yards (12,967) and 19th all-time in touchdown passes (110). Only Alabama star Bryce Young and Ohio State standout CJ Stroud passed for more touchdowns the last two seasons than did Hartman, and no quarterback had more total touchdowns.

Notre Dame's backup quarterback situation is a bit more concerning due to a lack of experience and the departure of Tyler Buchner, but that is true for multiple teams in the Top 10 quarterbacks list.

Notre Dame's biggest rival - USC - has the nation's No. 1 ranked quarterback group, which isn't a surprise due to the return of 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams. Notre Dame has certainly closed the gap at quarterback with the addition of Hartman. USC is the only Fighting Irish opponent to have a top ranked quarterback group.

NO. 9 LINEBACKER

Notre Dame is getting some linebacker love heading into the 2023 season. Pro Football Focus ranked the group in their Top 10 list, and Athlon Sports did as well. Reading through the season preview for the Irish and you'll see this appreciation has to do with the return of JD Bertrand and Jack Kiser, as well as a talented group of young players.

It's interesting to see the linebacker discussion for Notre Dame, with many Irish fans more down on the linebackers than what you'll find from national observers. While the unit must certainly play better than it did a season ago, there is talent returning and potential for it to be a unit that earns this kind of ranking.

Two Notre Dame opponents were also ranked in the Athlon Top 20, with Clemson being in the No. 3 spot and Ohio State ranking No. 6.

NO. 10 SECONDARY

The Irish secondary is in this ranking primarily because of the talented cornerback tandem of Benjamin Morrison and Cam Hart. Morrison was a preseason third-team All-American by Athlon after earning Freshman All-American honors a season ago.

Athlon correctly recognizes the potential that safety Xavier Watts adds to the defense, but the rest of the safety position is a question mark. This magazine clearly went to print before a lot of the spring transfers happened, so Rhode Island transfer Antonio Carter II is not part of this conversation. I am also a bit surprised that Oklahoma State transfer Thomas Harper isn't getting more attention after his outstanding - albeit injury shortened - 2022 campaign.

Ohio State (No. 8) is the only Notre Dame opponent to rank in the Top 10 secondary list. This brings up an interesting discussion to have about the Notre Dame offense. Ohio State ranked in the Top 10 in all three defensive position groups (DL, LB, DB), but Clemson's linebackers were the only other group of a Notre Dame 2023 opponent to make the Top 10 list.

NO. 10 RUNNING BACK

I'm not sure Athlon would rank the Notre Dame backfield as a Top 10 group if it came out after all the transfer movement around the country. I would argue Notre Dame still has a Top 10 running back room, but this ranking included Athlon believing Logan Diggs would still be part of the team. Athlon even listed Diggs as the starter on the depth chart, although Audric Estime was the team's leading rusher in yards (920), yards per carry (5.9) and touchdowns (11).

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