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Where Notre Dame ranks in Ari Wasserman's post-spring top 25

IMG_7504by:Jack Soble•05/12/25•

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Jaden Greathouse
Notre Dame wide receiver Jaden Greathouse. (Chad Weaver, Blue & Gold)

Notre Dame is No. 2 in Andy Staples‘ post-spring top 25. His counterpart at On3, Ari Wasserman, is slightly lower on the Fighting Irish.

Wasserman has Notre Dame at No. 7 in his post-spring rankings, which he dropped Monday morning. He put Penn State, Clemson, Ohio State, LSU and Georgia ahead of the Irish, with Alabama, Oregon and Illinois rounding out the top 10.

“Notre Dame broke through last year and proved to the world that it was capable of doing what everyone has universally doubted — beat the best teams in the sport in the postseason,” Wasserman wrote. “And Notre Dame did it last season with a banged-up roster.”

Staples’ ranking is more of an outlier as far as post-spring top 25 rankings are concerned. Most, like Wasserman, have the Irish in the 5-7 range.

Like many college football analysts, Wasserman believes sophomore quarterback CJ Carr will beat out junior Kenny Minchey for the QB1 job with the Irish. He’s also high on the offensive supporting cast in South Bend.

“Notre Dame will have the best offensive line in college football, which will make the transition to quarterback CJ Carr much easier,” Wasserman wrote. “Also, receiver Jaden Greathouse could emerge as a star this year and we know Notre Dame is going to have a tough and physical defense.”

Offseason hype continues to build for Greathouse, who ripped off back-to-back 100-yard games with a combined 3 touchdowns in the Orange Bowl against Penn State and the national championship game against Ohio State.

Wasserman has also been high on new Notre Dame defensive coordinator Chris Ash, whom he covered at Ohio State from 2014-15. The Buckeyes won the 2014 national championship, and Wasserman believes Ash was a significant part of that.

“His collaboration with Fickell allowed Ohio State’s defense to keep the ball in front of it, and never allowed [offenses to] come in and just torch it over the top like it had been the previous year,” Wasserman told Blue & Gold. “The year before, they could’ve gone to the BCS championship game. They didn’t, because their defense was talented but not efficient.

“He was like a stabilizing force who was brought in the previous offseason to fix Ohio State’s defense, and then Ohio State won a national championship as a result of his arrival.”

Ari Wasserman’s post-spring top 25: Notre Dame at No. 7

  1. Penn State
  2. Texas
  3. Clemson
  4. Ohio State
  5. LSU
  6. Georgia
  7. Notre Dame
  8. Alabama
  9. Oregon
  10. Illinois
  11. Florida
  12. BYU
  13. Arizona State
  14. South Carolina
  15. Auburn
  16. Texas Tech
  17. Oklahoma
  18. Michigan
  19. Ole Miss
  20. Miami
  21. SMU
  22. Louisville
  23. Kansas State
  24. Tennessee
  25. Texas A&M

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