Welcome back, everybody, everybody to another episode of the Irish Breakdown podcast, brought to you by our friends over at Fandul. Happy Tuesday. We just got done doing a great buy-sell hold yesterday. Now it's time for some more off-season content where it's the blue-gold game is on Saturday. We saw a lot in the jersey scrimmage. Spring is coming to an end. And before you know what, Brian, we're going to be previewing fall camp.

But a lot to get to in between that time. And what we're going to do is almost kind of revisit something that we've talked about before. At the start of the off season, we talked about Notre Dame becoming a line-driven program. Now, what they've done up to this point, what we needed to see from them, and it started with spring practice. And we got to see a lot.

And they're taking steps in the right direction to be a line. And it started with spring practice. And we got to see a lot.

And they're taking steps in the right direction to be a line-driven program, both on offense and defense. And that's where we're going to start today's show, folks. We're going to be talking about what Notre Dame is kind of done in the steps that they've taken and what gives us confidence to Notre Dame becoming a line-driven program. And then after that, the rest of the show today,

we're talking about the 2026 NFL draft preview for Notre Dame becoming a line-driven program. And then after that, the rest of the show today, we're talking about the 2026 NFL draft preview for Notre Dame players specifically. We're going to be diving into the guys that we have, you know, we think have the best chances to be drafted. We're going to dive into, you know, their careers at Notre Dame. We're going to talk some drafts that have came out, how they project to the league. It's going to be a really fun conversation today, man. It is. And, you know, it, it's a,

it's a fascinating conversation because I think there's a perception that Notre Dame is already a

line-driven team. And the perception exists from a couple things, Treve. Number one is, you know,

Marcus Freeman said, hey, this is what we're going to be.

And I think schematically, they've done things in recent years to make it seem like, you know, they just, you know, potentially could produce two first round draft picks of running back, running back, which we're going to talk about. So obviously, they run the football. and there's this perception,

but I don't know that I would say that they have been so far.

And obviously,

Marcus Freeman talks about it a lot. obviously they run the football and there's this perception but i i don't know that i would say

that they have been so far obviously marcus freeman talks about it a lot and and mentions his

desire to be a run driven team or line driven team but i i don't think that they have been to the

degree that they need to be or in the way that I think Marcus Freeman wants them to be.

And the reason that I say that, Trev, is because I watch this team perform and I say,

when has Notre Dame had like a truly elite offensive or defensive line? You and I could debate

2024. Now, I know that you believe that there was times that year, that defense that your pride in the injuries was elite. I think that's debatable, but I think I could be willing to get with that. But I would be willing to bet that you're not going to drive. Like, here's why they were elite and it was all about the D line. It was more so about, man, what a great secondary. You know, obviously scheme was good.

Line was good.

It was more about some of the parts made something elite as opposed to just your D-line

is that 2021, 2021, 2022, Georgia group, the 24 Ohio State group in the postseason.

It hasn't been that. I mean, the 2012 Notre Dame team, I think you could argue, was a line-driven team, especially on defense. So I don't know that I would say that this team has done that. And it's not just because, well, they haven't won a title yet, so they're not line driven. No, you can be line driven and still not want a title.

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