Notre Dame’s 2026 schedule has already drawn the usual attention for its headliners, but the Irish are also going to run into a wave of players who could be a lot more dangerous by the time fall rolls around. Some of them are quarterbacks with the kind of juice that changes a game in a hurry. Others are the sort of under-the-radar difference-makers who don’t always get preseason buzz, even when the production is already there.
The quarterback group is where the upside really jumps off the page.
One of the biggest reasons there’s optimism about Wisconsin in 2026 is the Old Dominion transfer Joseph. There’s always some caution involved when projecting a quarterback who moves from the G6 to the P4 level, but Joseph has already shown he can deliver on a big stage.
He rushed for 179 yards and two touchdowns in the 2025 season opener at Indiana, then followed that up two weeks later with 276 passing yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, 63 rushing yards and another score on the road against Virginia Tech. He’ll be a difficult opening-week test for Notre Dame and could end the year as one of the Big Ten’s better quarterbacks.
BYU’s Bachmeier is another name that deserves more preseason noise. Even after leading the Cougars to a 12-2 record as a true freshman, he still isn’t getting the level of attention you might expect.
At 6-2, 230-pounds, he’s one of the biggest quarterbacks Notre Dame will see in 2026, and he flashed his running ability against Colorado on the road, Arizona on the road, Utah at home and TCU at home. His development as a passer also showed up against West Virginia at home, TCU at home, UCF at home and in the bowl win against Georgia Tech in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
Some outlets have him as a Heisman dark horse at +6500 odds on FanDuel, and by season’s end he could be a name everybody knows.
Navy’s Woodson brings a different kind of problem. He started against Notre Dame last fall and ran for 101 yards, the only 100-yard rusher the Irish allowed all season.
The next week, he came off the bench again at home against USF and piled up 103 rushing yards and two touchdowns in an upset win. He is not the passer Blake Horvath was, but he is a strong runner and, at 6-3, 215-pounds, he has the size to handle the workload in a more traditional-looking Midshipmen offense.
Woodson could put himself in the conversation with Navy quarterbacks like Horvath, Ricky Dobbs and Keenan Reynolds.
Then there’s Angeli, back in the spotlight at Syracuse after an injury cut short his 2025 season. At one point last year, he led the nation in passing yards, and now the New Jersey native is looking to pick up right where he left off.
The pieces around him are not as strong on paper as they were a year ago, but Angeli has already shown he can handle the moment. The moment was never too big for him starting against Oregon State as a redshirt freshman in a bowl game, and it wasn’t too big on the road against Clemson in 2025, when Syracuse won 34-21.
It was only too big against Penn State in the Orange Bowl.
The non-quarterback list has plenty of impact players too.
Michigan State linebacker Jordan Hall is stepping into his final year with a new staff in East Lansing, and that setup gives him a real chance to explode. In 2025, the 6-3, 238-pound defender posted 88 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, one pass defended, three forced fumbles and one interception. Now he’s working under former Notre Dame linebacker coach Max Bullough and defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, and he could put together an All-Big Ten caliber season.
North Carolina edge rusher Melkart Abou-Jaoude belongs in any serious discussion of breakout defenders on Notre Dame’s schedule. The former Delaware transfer finished last season with 47 total tackles, 12.0 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks, one forced fumble, 42 total pressures and 28 run stops.
At 6-5, 260-pounds, he’s one of the best defensive ends the Irish will face all season, even if he hasn’t landed on any Preseason All-American lists. He looks like a player who will start drawing real NFL attention as 2026 goes on.
BYU corner Evan Johnson also fits the breakout mold, even if he’s already produced at a high level. He finished 2025 with 47 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, seven passes defended, five interceptions and 1.0 sack.
Targeted 74 times, he allowed 33 receptions and had one of the lowest missed tackle rates on the Cougar defense. The problem is visibility, not talent.
If he played for one of the top teams in the Big Ten or SEC, he’d be a much bigger preseason name. At 6-0, 185-pounds, he’s one of the best corners Notre Dame will see.
Miami’s Jackson Cantwell is a different kind of watch item. The Hurricanes have to replace four of their five starting offensive linemen from the 2025 team, and Cantwell is likely to step in at left tackle.
He was a consensus five-star recruit in the 2026 class and the No. 1 player in the country according to Rivals Industry rankings. At 6-8, 330-pounds, he’ll have plenty of in-game reps by the time Miami comes to South Bend on November 7, and he’s on the watch list for Freshman All-American honors.
SMU wideout Jalen Cooper rounds out the group. He doesn’t get talked about much nationally, but the production is real.
In 2025, the 6-2, 180-pound receiver averaged 16.9 yards per catch and finished with 19 receptions for 321 yards and two touchdowns. He has room to grow, and he did drop four passes on 34 targets, but if he makes the expected jump, he has the talent to become one of the best receivers Notre Dame sees this season outside of Miami.
And with one of the best quarterbacks on Notre Dame’s 2026 schedule throwing him the ball, the opportunity is there.
In Other News...
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Charles Jagusahs road back has been one of the quieter Notre Dame storylines to watch this offseason, but it carries obvious weight for a program that values stability in the trenches. The offensive linemans recovery has stretched well beyond the usual timetable after a severe arm injury in a UTV accident, and the process has required multiple surgeries and a long rehab grind before anyone could even start talking seriously about football again.
Now, the updates coming out of Notre Dames training staff at least give the Irish something concrete to hold onto. Jagusah has reportedly reached a point where he is fully healed, and even if the final step back onto the field still sits ahead, the fact that he is trending back toward availability for the 2026 season changes the feel of his comeback from uncertain to genuinely promising. For a team that leaned on him in major moments before the injury, that is no small development. [Read more 🡒]
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Boubacar Traore has been framed as one of the most important returning pieces up front, and Drayk Bowen is another name the Irish believe belongs in the discussion more often than it has been. Add in the receiving help Notre Dame brought in from the portal and the picture gets even more interesting, because the program appears to have difference makers spread across the roster without all of them getting their due just yet. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame's Quarterback Plan Just Took A Brutal Recruiting Turn
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The twist is familiar to anyone who has followed Tagliaferris recruitment. Oklahoma has long been in the conversation, and the Sooners had already made a strong impression on him thanks in part to Brent Venables and the way he views that program. After committing on the field on Fathers Day in South Bend, Tagliaferri now appears to be weighing a path that could send him in a very different direction. [Read more 🡒]