Category: 2023 ND Football

Notre Dame football great retires after 12 years in NFL

Congrats to a Notre Dame great on an outstanding NFL career!

One of the most talented tight ends to ever play at Notre Dame (aka Tight End U) is calling it a career.

Veteran tight end [autotag]Kyle Rudolph[/autotag] who starred at Notre Dame from 2008-2010 announced his retirement on Monday.  Rudolph was drafted in the second round of the 2011 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings and played 10 seasons with them before spending a year each with the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Rudolph’s career ends with 482 receptions for 4,773 yards and 50 touchdowns.  He was also the 98th and final different player to catch a touchdown pass from Tom Brady.

As great as Rudolph was as a player, many will remember him for his charitable work in the community.  He was a finalist for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award multiple times in his career for his fundraising efforts and volunteer work with children’s hospitals.

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Take a look at Rudolph through the years below as one of the best ever from Tight End U calls it a career.

Former Notre Dame defensive back announces transfer destination

Every Notre Dame player in the transfer portal has now announced their new homes

Just over a year ago, defensive back [autotag]Antonio Carter II[/autotag] was new on Notre Dame‘s campus, as the Rhode Island transfer picked the Irish over LSU and Florida.

Carter recorded eight tackles for Notre Dame in 2023. Following the season, he announced he was entering the transfer portal. On Monday, Carter announced his next football destination will be Jacksonville State.

Carter was one of 17 former Notre Dame players to enter the transfer portal this offseason and the last to announce his next destination.

All the best to Carter at his next stop. Hey, maybe an upset of Florida State can again be in the school’s future again one day.

Jimmy Clausen tried to charge Cam Newton $1 million for jersey number

ONE. MILLION. DOLLARS.

You hear about it often, a rookie or free agent becomes a part of a new team, and the number they’re used to wearing is already taken.  You’ll then hear stories of players offering cash, jewelry, or a present in order to get the number on their jersey that they want.

How much does that cost a player?

Well, former Notre Dame star quarterback Jimmy Clausen had a number in mind when the Carolina Panthers selected Cam Newton first overall in the 2011 NFL draft.

Cam Newton shared the story online recently.  You can see the former Auburn great tell it in full below:

As for Clausen: If he knew Newton was coming to take his job then why not try and make a couple bucks along the way?

Chargers Draft Joe Alt No. 5 Overall – Notre Dame Photo Gallery

All the best to Big Joe in Los Angeles!

It was just under three years ago that [autotag]Joe Alt[/autotag] began his Notre Dame football career.  The son of a former Kansas City Chiefs standout, Alt was recruited to Notre Dame originally as a tight end, playing there early in the 2021 season.

An injury to star-recruit Blake Fisher, who started Notre Dame’s 2021 opener at Florida State as a freshman left tackle, however changed the course of Alt’s Notre Dame career.

Alt switched to offensive tackle roughly halfway through his freshman year and by his sophomore campaign was widely seen as one of the nation’s best at his position.

Alt went into the 2023 campaign viewed by most as an almost sure-fire top-15 draft pick in 2024, something that became a reality this past weekend when the Los Angeles Chargers selected him fifth-overall.

Alt fits the mold of a downright physical force that Jim Harbaugh has made a living off of during his time at Stanford, with the San Francisco 49ers, and with Michigan.

Check out the best pictures of Alt during his three-year Notre Dame career below:

Notre Dame wide receiver headed to Pac-12 … er, Big Ten

All the best with the move

Wide receiver [autotag]Rico Flores Jr.[/autotag] became Notre Dame’s first wide receiver in nearly two full seasons to produce 100 receiving yards in a game in November when he did so against Wake Forest. Not two weeks after doing so he announced he was entering the transfer portal.

Now Flores has announced his new home: He is headed to the Pac 12.

Correction: He is headed to the Big Ten.

Flores announced Friday that he’ll continue his football career at UCLA.

Flores emerged as his freshman season at Notre Dame went on. He had 27 receptions for 392 yards and a touchdown this season. His biggest game came against Wake Forest; he had those 102 yards.

Flores shows great promise as a wide receiver at this level and was the one I was most upset to see leave the program. Considering what Notre Dame has added in the portal in recent days, it seems the Fighting Irish will be better at receiver in 2024 than 2023 despite the exits, including Flores’.

Watch: Urban Meyer shares memory of coaching at Notre Dame

Urban Meyer is back to the grind at Notre Dame this weekend

With Fox Sports in town with “Big Noon Kickoff” for the first time this weekend, a few familiar faces that don’t often make it to South Bend have come along.

One of those is former national champion football coach Urban Meyer who is back on the panel.  Meyer spent from 1996-2000 as Notre Dame’s wide receivers coach, spending 1996 with Lou Holtz.

Meyer shared a story detailing what it was like to coach alongside Holtz during Lou’s final game at Notre Dame Stadium back in 1996.  He also shares an example of why he liked recruiting at Notre Dame as well.  Check it out below.

A couple of things to get straight, however:

  • Notre Dame beat Rutgers 62-0 in Holtz’s final game at Notre Dame Stadium
  • Notre Dame has seven Heisman Trophy winners

Still pretty cool stuff regardless of some details being slightly off.

Who wins? Notre Dame-USC staff predictions

Former Notre Dame commitment to transfer from Michigan

Should Notre Dame circle back here?

Less than a week after being a part of Michigan‘s first national championship team since 1997, a former Notre Dame commitment is entering the transfer portal.

[autotag]Amorion Walker[/autotag] was a Notre Dame commitment in the 2022 recruiting class where he was set to play wide receiver.  He flipped his commitment to Michigan late in the process and ultimately switched to cornerback.

Walker battled an undisclosed injury this year and didn’t see the field much for the Wolverines, playing in just five games.

Walker starred at Ponchatoula High School in Louisiana before heading to the Midwest for college.

Will Notre Dame circle back here?  With the switch to defensive back I wouldn’t assume so but certainly worth at least keeping an eye on.

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NFL Draft: Are Titans the ‘Perfect Fit’ for Notre Dame’s Joe Alt?

Not just a perfect fit but let’s be real – he’d be a steal here.

The 2024 NFL draft is just weeks away and the countdown is clearly on.

For Notre Dame the question isn’t if offensive tackle Joe Alt will hear his name called early but instead just how early he will hear his name called.

Alt was named an All-American but just about every outlet in 2023 and is projected by nearly everyone to be a top-nine pick this year.  Pro Football Focus put together a mock draft recently based on “perfect player fits” and had Alt going to the Tennessee Titans at No. 7.

From Pro Football Focus:

Enter Joe Alt, a gargantuan 6-foot-8 and 322-pound tackle who just recently turned 21 years old after two elite seasons of earning overall grades above 90.0 at Notre Dame. Alt allowed just eight total quarterback pressures and one sack over the past two seasons on nearly 800 pass-blocking reps. In addition, Alt is an incredibly smooth mover for his size, earning a zone run-blocking grade above 90.0 in 2023 to boot.

The left-side combination of Alt and 2023 first-round left guard Peter Skoronski could develop into one of the more formidable sides of an offensive line in the NFL. Levis needs to get his pressure-to-sack rate down and not look for the home run on every single throw, but he can stand more confidently in the pocket with this final addition to an offensive line quickly turning around.

The Titans have perhaps no greater need this off-season than left tackle and Alt looks the part of one who will anchor the left side of an offensive line for the better part of the next decade.

Personally, I think if he’s available at seven for the Titans that it’s not just a perfect fit but could very well be the steal of the draft at that spot.

Notre Dame Must Fix This Issue To Contend In ’24

Where Notre Dame needs to clear things up in 2024 to be playing in the CFP…

Notre Dame is certainly trending in the right direction as we’ve turned the calendar to 2024. Marcus Freeman is finding his footing as the head man, the assisting staff instills confidence on both sides of the ball, and the roster has a nice blend of veterans and young talent. The Irish fully intends to make a real run in the inaugural 12-team expanded CFP.

With this framework in mind, I start to think hard about what hurdles there may be for Notre Dame as they try and truly make some noise next season. One of these challenges is how the Irish performed in true road contests in 23′. Not well. Slow starts. Sluggish play. Not able to match the emotion of the home squad. This trend led directly to two losses and almost a third, ruining the high-end prospects of the season.

Let’s examine the evidence of this issue and what may be causing it.

Notre Dame football: Audric Estime photo gallery

Big Dric!

It’s been a very long time since Notre Dame was looked at as perhaps having the best running back in college football.  That was the case in 2023 however with Audric Estime.

Estime made numerous different All-American teams in 2023 after rushing for 1,341 yards and averaging 6.4 yards per carry in what wound up being his final season in South Bend.

Estime also rushed for 18 touchdowns on the year, the most ever in a single season by a Notre Dame running back – and he did so despite sitting out of the Sun Bowl.

Before he gets drafted this coming April, take a look back at one of the most impressive rushers in the history of Notre Dame football below: