Instant Reaction | Notre Dame Blue-Gold Game

No one who watched the 93rd edition of the Blue-Gold game could possibly walk away disappointed. It was the right mix of just about everything.

An even game that came down to the last play, there were plenty of flashes from players on both sides of the football.

It’s always a disjointed competition because of the mix and match rosters, which is why no one should get carried away with mental mistakes on a day like today. That doesn’t mean there weren’t things that people can legitimately be excited about, though. There were more than a few things that stood out to me.

- I really liked what I saw from the defensive line as a whole today. It was nice to see extended action from the younger players and I thought all three early enrollees (Cole Mullins, Sean Sevillano, and Bryce Young) were noticeable because of how hard they all played.

The motor on Mullins especially stood out and it was great to see Young (forced fumble that might have been called back in a real game) and Sevillano (sack on quick swim against Joe Otting).

- What I liked from Jason Onye was that he was disruptive against whoever he was going up against and not just dominating second and third team guys.

- There were times today where the red flags were out with what I saw from the offensive tackles, specifically from the two starters this spring. Charles Jagusah and Tosh Baker had a couple of series in a row where it didn’t look too pretty in pass protection.

I softened on that a bit as the game progressed because I think most of Jagusah’s issues were dealing with RJ Oben. That’s a veteran pass rusher understanding he is giving a tackle a tough time with one thing (speed to power) and then using that to set up an outside move later on the strip sack to end the half.

I thought Jagusah did a better job outside of that, including some good battles with Boubacar Traore. Traore once again looked fantastic with his get off.

- Hopefully Gi’Bran Payne was only banged up and it’s nothing serious going forward. Before that I really liked how he ran the football. Deland McCullough mentioned how Payne had increased his vert by five inches this offseason and he looks stronger.

He had more juice when hitting the hole and was better after contact.

- Woo, Jeremiyah Love is going to be a problem for opposing teams all season. He’s so sudden and powerful when he gets some space.

- I didn’t see anything from the quarterbacks today that would make me down on any of them. They all showed why people are buzzing about the talent from the group.

Kenny Minchey had a couple of throws that he shouldn’t have made, but his ability to escape and gash a defense was evident the entire game and he was better as the game progressed.

CJ Carr probably had a couple of freshman throws that he’d like to have back as well, but he had more plays where you were left saying, “I can’t believe this kid is a freshman.”

The big thing with Steve Angeli is that throw to Jaden Greathouse to end it all. That’s the throw that matters the most for him.

- The one thing I want to add in terms of context to the days the quarterbacks had is that most of their success came against corners not named Jaden Mickey and Christian Gray.

- Kyngstonn Villiamu-Asa…ball player.

Kahanu Kia…ball player. 12 tackles and two for loss from Kia on the day.

As we’ve been saying, this linebacker group is DEEP and extremely athletic.

- After missing a good chunk of spring, it was great to see Eli Raridon catch that touchdown on that seam ball from Angeli after Adon Shuler nearly broke it up. Raridon did a nice job blocking as well.

- I think the jury is still out on the offensive line as a whole, but mixing up the groups so much means it’s difficult to evaluate them.

At first glance, I feel like it’s worth highlighting Billy Schrauth and the job he did inside. He has taken a big step.

Out of the young O-line, Sullivan Absher jumped out to me when he was working at left guard.

- Oben looked really good today.

Kris Mitchell scored on a long touchdown on a filthy double move.

The young freshmen who everyone has been excited about, add Micah Gilbert and Aneyas Williams to Carr, KVA, and Young, all made plays.

I don’t know what else people could ask for from a spring game. It was a nice way to get everyone hyped about the potential of this Notre Dame team heading into the summer with even more reinforcements on the way.

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