SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - This year’s NFL Draft is still one week away, but the Notre Dame football team held its Blue-Gold Game Draft on Thursday morning ahead of Saturday afternoon’s spring game.

Unfortunately, 16 News Now was not allowed inside the war room this year, as the draft was closed to the media. But we do know it was a similar format to last year.

We’ll again see running backs coach Deland McCullough leading one team, while defensive line coach Al Washington leads the other. Draft rounds were split by position just like last year, but quarterbacks Sam Hartman and Tyler Buchner were pre-assigned to ensure they’d go head-to-head on Saturday.

This will be a great chance for Irish fans to make their own evaluations on the ongoing quarterback battle. Both signal-callers have been very complimentary of each other so far.

“It’s been great. That room has been incredible,” Hartman said. “It’s been a lot of fun to kind of have that connection, have those guys have your back. I’ve enjoyed it a lot.

“Tyler has a mastery at it, so it’s been fun to learn from him, watch him,” Hartman added. “He’s a lot more smooth than I am. Admittingly, he’s a better athlete than I am as well. So, he’s kind of got me on a lot of those. But it’s been cool to watch. I watch his footwork every time.”

Buchner responded to that by saying Hartman is selling himself short.

“He doesn’t need my help,” Buchner said. “Sam’s done an unbelievable job of getting himself prepared from the moment he got here. He works his tail off, he’s always in the building, studying all the time. So, he doesn’t give himself enough credit. He works his butt off, and I learn from him just as much as what he said.”

Meanwhile, their coaches seem to be enjoying their compliments for each other.

“We think as a staff that’s probably the best part, that they really bonded, which you have to in that room to get things solved,” said Gerad Parker, offensive coordinator. “So, the development has happened well off the field, which really helps it. . . That’s what Notre Dame is about. We want to put special people in this program from the head coach down.”

The 2023 edition of the Blue-Gold Game takes place on Saturday afternoon at Notre Dame Stadium. Meanwhile, the rosters for each team are listed below (courtesy of sportsillustrated.com):

BLUE TEAM

QB Tyler Buchner

QB Kenny Minchey

RB Audric Estime

WR Chris Tyree

WR Tobias Merriweather

WR Deion Colzie

WR Rico Flores Jr.

WR Braylon James

TE Holden Staes

TE Andrew Yanoshak

OT Blake Fisher

OT Tosh Baker

G Andrew Kristofic

G Sam Pendleton

G Brennan Wicks

C Ashton Craig

C Pat Coogan

DE NaNa Osafo-Mensah

DE Kobi Onyuke

VYP Junior Tuihalamaka

DT Rylie Mills

DT Gabriel Rubio

NG Jason Onye

LB Marist Liufau

LB Nolan Ziegler

LB Drayk Bowen

LB Preston Zinter

LB Jerry Rullo

S DJ Brown

S Marty Auer

CB Benjamin Morrison

CB Clarence Lewis

CB Ryan Barnes

CB Isaiah Dunn

K/P Bryce McFerson

LS Rino Montaforte

GOLD TEAM

QB Sam Hartman

QB Steve Angeli

QB Dylan Devezin

RB Gi’Bran Payne

RB Sam Assaf

WR Jayden Thomas

WR Jaden Greathouse

WR Matt Salerno

WR Leo Scheidler

WR Alex Whitman

WR Chase Dixon

TE Davis Sherwood

OT Joe Alt

OT Aamil Wagner

OG Billy Schrauth

OG Rocco Spindler

OG Quinn Murphy

C Zeke Correll

DE Javontae Jean-Baptiste

DE Alexander Ehrensberger

DE Aiden Gobaira

VYP Jordan Botelho

VYP Josh Burnham

DT Donovan Hinish

DT Tyson Ford

NG Howard Cross III

NG Aidan Keanaaina

LB JD Bertrand

LB Jaylen Sneed

LB Jaiden Ausberry

LB Tre Reader

S Xavier Watts

S Ramon Henderson

CB Jaden Mickey

CB Chance Tucker

K Zac Yoakum

K Chris Salerno

LS Michael Vinson

INJURED PLAYERS

RB Logan Diggs

RB Jadarian Price

RB Chase Ketterer

RB Chris Velotta

WR Jack Polian

TE Mitchell Evans

TE Eli Raridon

TE Kevin Bauman

TE Justin Fisher

TE Charlie Selna

TE Barret Liebentritt

OL Ty Chan

DT Devan Houstan

LB Jack Kiser

LB Prince Kollie

CB Cam Hart

CB Christian Gray

S Thomas Harper

S Ben Minich

S Adon Shuler

S Eddie Scheidler

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