Notre Dame Names 2026 Captains: Drayk Bowen, Adon Shuler, CJ Carr and Jordan Faison

Notre Dame has its captains for 2026. Linebacker Drayk Bowen, safety Adon Shuler, quarterback CJ Carr, and receiver Jordan Faison were named captains ahead of the season on Friday. Bowen and Shuler are back for a second turn. Carr and Faison are wearing it for the first time.

The quartet is a smaller group than the Irish have had in the past. Notre Dame named six captains in 2025, seven in 2021, and seven in 2019. Four is the smallest group in years, and it lines up with a roster where the pecking order was never in question. Bowen and Shuler were obvious choices inside the building and around the program, with Carr and Faison close behind them. Notre Dame has clear, established leaders. There isn’t any question who the captains are, and the program doesn’t have to go captain-by-committee to fill gaps.

That is the argument for a four-man list. Notre Dame did not need to name a fifth or sixth captain to distribute leadership, because the leadership was already concentrated in the players who were going to touch every snap anyway.

A First for Freeman

Marcus Freeman has leaned on player-led culture since day one, and he pointed to Bowen and Shuler when he opened fall camp on Aug. 4, back when those two were the only captains he had named.

“Anytime your standards and your culture, if really led by the players, it means that much,” Freeman said of Bowen and Shuler. “Coaches are supposed to be the leaders and enforce the standards. But when players do it, it means that much more, and it’s that much stronger. So to have two returning captains that understand the expectations, that not only hold themselves accountable, that’s most important, that they hold themselves accountable first, but now they’re holding others accountable. That helps you create the habits you need to be the team you want to be.”

This is the first time Freeman has had two returning captains in the same season, and both earned it on the field. Bowen led the Irish with 67 tackles a year ago, including 4.5 for loss and 3.5 sacks, with three pass breakups. Shuler put up 52 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, five pass breakups, and two interceptions he returned 46 yards. The second tour is a formality after seasons like those.

Carr Gets the Title to Match the Role

The quarterback is what separates this group from some captain slates Notre Dame has put together. Carr threw 24 touchdown passes against six interceptions last season. That came on 2,741 yards, with 195 completions on 293 attempts. He added three rushing scores on top of it. He is the best player on the offense and the unquestioned leader of the team, and now he has the title to go with it. A quarterback with that production behind him can change a protection call at the line or wave off a route without needing a coach to back him up. He can tell a veteran he was late, too, and the captaincy removes whatever was left of the question.

It is not new for Carr, either. He and Bowen were both lead recruiters, of a sort, in their own classes, working the phones and the visit weekends on Notre Dame’s behalf long before either had taken a college snap. The leadership was there from the start.

Notre Dame has had quarterbacks wear the C before, but not one like this in a long time. Brady Quinn is the last comparison that really fits – the best player on the roster, the leader of the team, and the guy the whole operation ran through. Jimmy Clausen had the arm talent, but he was a captain on a 6-6 team that got its coach fired, which is a different job than the one Carr has. Ian Book had the respect of everyone in the building and took the Irish to two playoffs, but he was never the most talented player on his own offense. Carr is both, and Notre Dame has not been able to say that in nearly twenty years.

From Walk-On to Captain

Faison walked on as a lacrosse player. Three years later he is Notre Dame’s leading receiver, a full-time football player, and a captain on a team with playoff expectations.

He led Notre Dame with 49 catches for 640 yards and four touchdowns last season, and he gave up lacrosse ahead of this year to put everything into football. He also spent the summer changing how he operates in the receiver room.

“Definitely taking that leadership role. I mean, I’m not as vocal of a guy,” Faison said earlier this month. “So, taking that next step and being vocal with my teammates, kind of picking them up when I see something wrong, kind of telling that guy that something’s wrong, is definitely a big part of my personal progress on and off the field.”

What They Signed Up For

Shuler framed the stakes at the start of camp, talking about how last season ended: “We left it to the judges last year, and that’s on us,” he said. Accountability for a finish like that falls on the players who touch every snap, and these four do: quarterback, leading receiver, leading tackler, and the back end of the secondary.

Notre Dame opens Sept. 6 against Wisconsin at Lambeau Field, and the four players who have to hold the standard are also the four the offense and defense run through, which means there is no hiding a bad month behind someone else’s snaps. Carr has to keep the interception number down when the schedule tightens. Faison has to be the target on third down whether or not he ever gets loud. Bowen and Shuler have to make the defense play to the standard they are being asked to enforce. Do that from September through the winter, and Notre Dame does not need a committee’s benefit of the doubt in December.