Notre Dame football’s young stars could fuel 2025 title run, analysts say

The Notre Dame football team is, unsurprisingly, one of the dark horse candidates to win the national title next year. And of course, the reason they are considered a contender is because there is so much talent on the roster.

A lot was made of the fact that the Irish had a ton of veteran players, especially on the defense. Not nearly as much was made about the fact that Notre Dame had a ton of youth as well. While some of the big names like Riley Leonard in their last year, there was plenty of first year impact players like Leonard Moore.

Notre Dame football is stacked with young talent 

PFF’s Max Chadwick and Dalton Wasserman recently discussed all the things that make the Notre Dame football team so attractive heading into the 2025 season. And Chadwick was first up, espousing how many difference makers the Irish have.

“When I was looking at Notre Dame, they made the national championship game last year because of their rushing attack and because of their defense, both of those should remain phenomenal next year,” the analyst pointed out. “Leonard Moore, true freshman corner, last year, I think he's the best corner returning in college football. You still have one of the best linebacker units in the nation even with Jack Kaiser leaving”

Notre Dame football youth movement impresses

Wasserman was mostly on board with that assessment, though he did drill down to the point of this spring and fall practice: “It's really just about the quarterbacks at this point, this Notre Dame team.”

The analyst also points out that where things get really attractive is that the Irish have an offensive line that is qutie a bit better and a bit more of a veteran presence than the team had since the start of last season.

It’s clear that the Notre Dame football team has a ton of talent. They’re reloading rather than rebuilding and the PFF analysts are very high on where Marcus Freeman has this team as 2025 really kicks off.