Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 10, 2026 13 UNDER THE DOME Four games into his freshman season at Notre Dame, former five-star prospect Grayson McKeogh finally got his first col- lege snaps as an offensive lineman. His seven-snap debut came in a 49-10 beatdown of host Purdue at a less- than-full Ross-Ade Stadium, with many fans already gone before the 6-foot-7, 303-pound Perkasie, Pa., product made his cameo. But Marcus Freeman noticed. In the Notre Dame football culture Freeman has shaped in five seasons as head coach, even something this small and seemingly inconsequential matters. Trust is built and banked. Same thing for sophomore safety Bran- don Logan, who got his first taste of play- ing that position in the game against the Boilermakers, getting 19 snaps and mak- ing 3 tackles. Logan received the second- best tackling grade (80.5) in that game of any player on the nation's No. 1 team in total defense. In the Pro Football Focus film grades for the Purdue clash, the 5-11, 202-pound aspiring two-sport athlete landed just ahead of preseason All-American line- backer Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa (79.2), who played nine more snaps than Logan. The part-time Irish outfielder was just behind tackling-grade leader Joey O'Brien (83.9), who logged a team-high-tying 51 plays in making his first collegiate start. "That's why those game reps are so valuable as coaching tools and teaching tools," Freeman said. "… Those game reps are valuable, but those are two ascending players that will continue to get reps if the opportunity presents itself." Sometimes those opportunities come from injuries. Sometimes players cre- ate them themselves. Someone will almost certainly emerge that way for Notre Dame in October. Maybe more than one. This isn't baseball's version of Mr. October — the established star who owns the biggest stage. For this exercise, it's a Notre Dame player who logged fewer than 50 offensive or defensive snaps in September, wasn't held back primarily by injury and could emerge into a meaningful role during the CFP push by the Irish. Here are five candidates who could give the Irish an unexpected boost in October: Defensive End Rodney Dunham Dunham feels like a cheat code when it comes to the "unexpected" part of the equation. The 6-4, 242-pound freshman sneaks under the 50-snap cutoff with 49. In those 49 snaps, he's collected 7 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and 1 sack, 1 QB hurry, 1 pass broken up and 1 fumble recovery. His PFF season grade of 82.0 ranks fifth among Irish defensive players, with the top six all playing positions in the defensive front seven. In other words, the production is already there. October may simply bring more opportunities to produce it. Running Back Jonaz Walton The case for Walton isn't that he needs to displace junior Aneyas Williams or sophomore Nolan James Jr. It's that a third back with a home run gear could add something different, especially as the rest of Walton's game catches up to his ability with the ball in his hands. As it stands, the 5-9, 214-pound fresh- man ranks No. 4 in PFF's grades for Notre Dame offensive players (80.9), in 31 snaps. Translated from PFF grades to the box score: 108 rushing yards — third-best on the team — on 16 carries. He's averaging a team-best 6.8 yards a carry (including only players with more than 1 attempt), and his 44-yard run against Purdue marked Notre Dame's first run of more than 25 yards since Williams ran for a 51-yard touch- down in the fourth quarter at Stanford on Nov. 29, 2025. Wide Receiver Jerome Bettis Jr. The son of Hall of Fame NFL running back Jerome Bettis Sr. is Notre Dame's fifth-highest-graded offensive player (80.3), per PFF, one spot behind Walton. Bettis is one of three players competing to be junior Micah Gilbert's top under- study at boundary receiver. In 32 snaps, he has 3 catches for 87 yards. Only Gilbert, Jordan Faison and Jaden Greathouse on the Irish roster have more. With another Ohio State transfer, sopho- more Quincy Porter, declared out for the season due to a setback with his chronic left knee injury, Bettis' opportunities don't figure to shrink anytime soon. Tight End Ian Premer The 6-6, 245-pound freshman figures to get more opportunities as the mental game slows down around him. So far he's played 21 offensive snaps in two games and 44 more on special teams in four games. While his modest 54.2 cumulative film grade on offense ranks 40th among Irish offensive players, he's ahead of two of the tight ends in front of him on the depth chart — fifth-year Ty Washington and junior Jack Larsen — for now. Premer's special teams grade (68.8) puts him in the top 10 Irish performers this season in that phase of the game. His receiving skill set gives him a trait that could accelerate his climb in the tight end rotation. Cornerback Ayden Pouncey Of the five, Pouncey may have the most obstructed path to meaningful snaps. He also keeps making himself harder to ignore. The 6-3, 189-pound freshman made his collegiate debut at cornerback against Purdue, played 19 snaps, collected 2 tackles and fashioned a PFF grade of 67.5. In limited special teams exposure, Pouncey is ranked as Notre Dame's No. 2 performer (77.8), behind only wide receiver Matt Jeffery (90.5), who ranks as one of the top special teams players in any role in the nation. None of the five needs to become a star in October for this to matter. On a team with Notre Dame's big aspirations, finding another trustworthy pass rusher, a running back who can flip the field, another receiving option or a freshman who can make a difference on special teams can be enough to change a game — and perhaps more than one. September gave Freeman and his staff the first handful of pluses and minuses to evaluate from this group. October is when some of those accumulated reps can become accumulated trust. That's when somebody who barely played in September can start to matter a lot more. — Eric Hansen Five Irish Players Who Could Turn Trust Earned Into Bigger Roles Freshman defensive end Rodney Dunham's PFF season grade of 82.0 through Week 4 ranked fifth among Irish defensive players. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER