Notre Dame football: 3 reasons to buy stock in Irish in 2023

Year one of Marcus Freeman can be considered a success as Notre Dame football rebounded from a dreaded 0-2 start to finish 9-5 and ranked in the final AP Top 25.

The Irish struggled with poor quarterback play all season long along with injuries to Week 1 starter Tyler Buchner. They addressed that issue this offseason with one of the best quarterbacks in the transfer portal, Sam Hartman.

The offense should have no problem improving.

Outside of just the offense, here are three reasons you should buy stock in the Irish this season.

3. Defense is reloading

Isaiah Foskey is gone along with a couple of other veterans up front and Brandon Joseph was signed after going undrafted by the Detroit Lions. That means the Irish will have some big shoes to fill.

The defense does bring back JD Bertrand, Jack Kiser, Cam Hart, Marist Liufau, Benjamin Morrison, and DJ Brown to go along with talented underclassmen like Jaylen Sneed, Nolan Ziegler, and Jaden Mickey who will likely grace the two-deep.

On top of that, the 2023 recruiting class is loading up with talent on the defensive side of the ball and the transfer portal will bring in Javontae Jean-Baptiste, Antonio Carter II, and Thomas Harper who will all contribute and fill the shoes left by the departing veteran stars.

Defense will be back and as good as it was last year, and maybe even better.