Takeaways from Notre Dame’s Irish Invasion camp: Offense
Soon after the camp concluded, Blue & Gold posted an article taking a look at the top five performers from the Irish Invasion camp at Notre Dame Sunday. In this story, we’ll take a look at other notes, takeaways and musings on the offensive side of the ball from the camp.
— Glen Ellyn (Ill.) Glenbard South receiver and Notre Dame commit Cam Williams told Blue & Gold Saturday night that he was not planning to participate at all in the camp, but the staff convinced him to go through drills and routes on air before getting iced up on his knees during the competitive portion of the camp.
There was no need for Williams to do 1v1s against the defensive backs, and honestly, it didn’t make much sense for him to do any part of the camp. But with a less-than-stellar group of players this year compared to 2022, my read is that the staff wanted to show off their elite commit. And he looked as advertised.
Williams dazzled us last year at this same camp, and he looked great again Sunday. He dropped some passes in drills but overall looked superb. He’s very gifted physically.
— Charlotte (N.C.) Christian receiver and Irish pledge Micah Gilbert planned all along to go through the camp, and he was my No. 2 offensive performer on the day. He, too, dropped some passes in drills that he has no business dropping, but otherwise, he was excellent.
He’s physically imposing and has some wheels. When he gets going full steam, he’s hard to stop. He looks like a mix of Jayden Thomas and Deion Colzie with how he plays the position; Gilbert has the physicality of Thomas and the long strides of Colzie.
Gilbert’s stock is up for me. He competed his butt off as well. The four-star recruit competed in the 1v1s and won most of his reps, although the quarterbacks didn’t help out the receivers much.
— Speaking of the quarterbacks, I was watching this group a good bit, and I really liked position coach Gino Guidugli. He takes a real hands-on approach and expresses himself a lot more than Tommy Rees, who is more of a reserved figure. I’m bullish on Guidugli as a recruiter; I believe he’s going to do very well at Notre Dame.
— The quarterback group had some good talent, but last year, we saw several signal-callers who would end up at high-level Power Five programs in CJ Carr (Notre Dame), Ryan Puglisi (Georgia), Jake Merklinger (Tennessee) and Cutter Boley (Kentucky). Those are just the names I can remember off the top of my head.
Fort Wayne (Ind.) Carroll 2025 passer Jimmy Sullivan was my favorite quarterback of the group. He looked very good mechanically and threw a pretty ball. Plantation (Fla.) American Heritage 2026 quarterback Dia Bell had a good showing as well. Bell is the only quarterback I think Notre Dame would offer out of this group. He’s a rising sophomore and will grow into an impressive player.
— I’ve raved about Las Vegas Bishop Gorman 2025 wideout Derek Meadows already, including listing him as my top overall offensive performer on the day. So I won’t talk more about him and the two Notre Dame commits I already mentioned. The rest of the receiver group looked good as well.
Findlay (Ohio) Liberty Benton 2026 wide receiver Seth Elchert doesn’t have any scholarship offers, but that will change over time. He was a very smooth route runner and consistently made plays in 1v1s. He’ll be one I could see Notre Dame offering down the road.
I really liked Lexington (Ky.) Frederick Douglass 2025 receiver Aveion Chenault and thought his performance was deserving of offer consideration by the staff. He is explosive and has a clear knack at the receiver position.
— I didn’t get to watch the offensive line much; there were only a few of them. Canton (Ohio) Central Catholic 2025 lineman Jonathan Stangl was the one who looked the best to me in seeing him go through drills.
— With Notre Dame looking in strong position for three tight ends (James Flanigan, Ryan Ghea and Nate Roberts) that it has already offered, the staff didn’t offer anyone yesterday. Leo (Ind.) High tight end Brock Schott stood out the most to me and is a player who I feel that is deserving of an offer. We’ll see if the staff does that moving forward. They may offer Schott if they want to take two tight ends in the 2025 class.
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