Another week of Notre Dame’s 2026 offseason is underway and there was some breaking news this past weekend. Illinois defensive coordinator Aaron Henry has accepted the position to be the new defensive backs coach for the Irish. Henry was promoted to defensive coordinator for the Fighting Illini in 2022; he was their defensive backs coach in 2021 and 2022. Over the last two seasons, Illinois won 19 games which is the best two-year span in program history. Henry’s defense played an integral role in that happening.
We talked through his qualifications for the position, his former relationship with Ash and the situation he’s walking into with Notre Dame’s defensive backs room. It’s also Monday in the offseason, which means Buy-Sell-Hold! We answered numerous great submissions this afternoon ranging from stat projection and spring practice to the Heisman race and the 2026 defense.
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You can watch the entire show here:
Here are some of the topics we discussed during today’s show:
On Aaron Henry Being Named The New Defensive Backs Coach...
“It was a strong hire. He develops and recruits talent at a high level. He brought in some NFL caliber players to Illinois; image what he can do with the backing of Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman. He’s walking into a winning situation in South Bend with guys like Leonard Moore, Christian Gray, Tae Johnson and Adon Shuler coming back. And I didn’t even mention the 2025 or 2026 guys or the portal guys they brought in. This was a strong hire.”
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CJ Carr Will Break Brady Quinn’s Single Season Record For Passing Yards…
“As much as I would love to buy this, 3,919 passing yards is a lot. Remember, Quinn did that in 13 games and, most likely, CJ will be playing more than 13 games in 2026. There’s a possibility he breaks that record in the season in it’s entirety, but doing it in 13 games would require him to throw for over 300 yards a game. Is that possible? Sure, but how many 4th quarters do we think he’ll be playing in? That’s always a factor when talking about this team. It’s definitely possible, but if we’re talking regular season I’ll have to sell this.”
Spring Practice Will Determine Who Notre Dame’s No. 2 Quarterback Is…
“I think it will lay the foundation, but I think that competition will carry over into fall camp. For one, there’s no need to have to name a No. 2 guy until fall camp. Heck, they didn’t even name a starter until fall camp was half way over. Second, the talent is extremely young. Blake Hebert will be a redshirt freshman, Noah Grubbs will be an incoming freshman and Teddy Jarrard should be a senior in high school. It will most likely carry over into fall camp so I’ll sell it.”
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