Although Notre Dame began competing in intercollegiate football in 1887,[1] records from the early years are often incomplete and inconsistent and may not appear on this list. Notre Dame's official record book does not list a specific "modern era" beginning in a certain year, and the records listed below can go as far back as 1900, although they may not be complete.
These lists are dominated by more recent players for several reasons:
Since the 1940s, seasons have increased from 10 games to 11 and then 12 games in length.
The NCAA didn't allow freshmen to play varsity football until 1972 (with the exception of the World War II years), allowing players to have four-year careers.
Since 2018, players have been allowed to participate in as many as four games in a redshirt season; previously, playing in even one game "burned" the redshirt.[3] Since 2024, postseason games have not counted against the four-game limit.[4] These changes to redshirt rules have given very recent players several extra games to accumulate statistics.
Bowl games only began counting toward single-season and career statistics in 2002.[5] Since then, the Fighting Irish have played in 19 bowl games and three other postseason games not billed as bowl games, allowing more recent players at least one extra game to accumulate statistics. Notre Dame no longer maintains a "bowl game" record in its official football record book, instead maintaining a "postseason record" that includes bowl games as well as the 2013 BCS National Championship Game (2012 season) and two games in the 2024–25 College Football Playoff—a first-round game and the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship.[6]
