Talking Notre Dame 2023 Expectations From An Outsider's Standpoint
Expectations for Notre Dame vary depending on who you read, or who you talk to. That is clear when you look at preseason rankings for the Notre Dame team as a whole, certain position groups, and individual players.
Bill Bender of Sporting News had Notre Dame ranked No. 13 when he did his first Way-Too-Early Top 25, which came in January immediately following the season. After the spring, however, Bender moved Notre Dame up to No. 10. He joined the most recent Irish Breakdown show to discuss his view on the Fighting Irish.
There were plenty of topics to discuss with Bill, who views Notre Dame as a clear Top 10 program and potential College Football Playoff team. Early in the show we spent time talking about head coach Marcus Freeman, from what he showed last season and expectations for him in year two. During the show Bill also discussed the concerns he has about Note Dame, and what he likes that could lead to the Irish fulfilling their potential.
Of course, a key topic of conversation was the addition of Wake Forest transfer quarterback Sam Hartman. In a different segment of the show we discussed where Hartman should be ranked among the nation's top quarterbacks, but there is no doubt that he is expected to make the offense much better.
During the show we also discussed the targets that Hartman will have in 2023. Bill wanted to talk about freshman Jaden Greathouse, who had an outstanding Blue-Gold Game performance, but we also discussed sophomore Tobias Merriweather.
There are questions about the Notre Dame defense, and of course we briefly discussed All-American cornerback Benjamin Morrison. The return of veteran linebackers JD Bertrand and Jack Kiser were also players that Bender thinks are important for Notre Dame.
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