CJ Carr isn't ready, the injury bug continues, and the pass rush highlight key concerns for Notre Dame entering 2025 season

Head coach Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish head into the 2025 college football season with some high expectations. The program is trending in a great direction, and they hope to take the next step this fall. The vibes around the program are at an all time high right now. 

While most believe that Notre Dame will continue their upward trajectory, it is always important to consider the best and worst case scenarios. When talking about the latter, there are some things that could potentially hold Notre Dame back in 2025.

Here are a few hurdles the Fighting Irish need to navigate this fall. 

CJ Carr isn’t ready 

As of today, most people seem to believe that CJ Carr will be the starting quarterback for Notre Dame this season. While he has to beat out another talented signal caller in Kenny Minchey during fall camp, it does feel like he has the inside track. Even though Carr hasn’t thrown a collegiate pass yet, most Fighting Irish fans have already concluded that he’s going to be sensational. The hype behind Carr is legitimate right now. 

Notre Dame supporters don’t want to even think about this, but what if the hype for Carr is too much? What if he isn’t ready? The team needs to be a more well balanced offense in order to take the next step, and Carr feels like the key to that formula. 

Injury bug continues 

Injuries aren’t easy to predict, and in many instances, they can be extremely random with some bad luck attached. Notre Dame had some really bad luck with the injury bug in 2024, missing cornerback Benjamin Morrison, center Ashton Craig, and pass rushers Boubacar Traore and Jordan Botelho for large stretches of the season. That doesn’t even count several other players who missed multiple games, including down the stretch of the playoffs. 

The hope for the Fighting Irish is that that stretch of bad luck with injuries is a freak of nature. We will know if there is a deeper issue this fall, but all Notre Dame fans should be hoping for the best. 

Notre Dame pass rush 

If fully healthy, the Notre Dame defensive end room is extremely talented. Unfortunately, as the 2024 season showed up, injuries have not always been nice to the Fighting Irish. The national championship game also showed us just how important the pass rush can be to winning. They just weren’t able to impact the quarterback enough in those biggest moments. 

There’s a world where pass rusher Boubacar Traore returns to his pre injury self, Jordan Botelho gets back later in the season, and the pass rush is really good. A breakout from sophomore defensive end Bryce Young would also be a huge help. If just two out of three of those things happen, this Notre Dame defense has a chance to be even better.