Tag: Anthony Fasano

ChatGPT’s top 10 Notre Dame tight ends not including Michael Mayer

Remember any of these guys?

ChatGPT is a useful AI writing tool, but it’s not without its flaws. You have to be specific in what you want when you enter a prompt. Otherwise, it will assume things that aren’t true, and you have to enter the prompt again to account for the things that weren’t correct initially. While it doesn’t take much time to edit and regenerate prompts, it still can be mildly frustrating.

Another problem, at least at the moment, is that it only accounts for information through September 2021. Since then, [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag] became arguably the best tight end in Notre Dame history. So when we asked ChatGPT to generate what it believes is the program’s top 10 tight ends, Mayer wasn’t included.

The point of this particular introduction is to explain why Mayer isn’t on this list. But hopefully, you have fond memories of the 10 names ChatGPT did generate. Without further adieu, here it is, edited for accuracy:

Every Notre Dame NFL draft pick since 2000

There have been 102 Notre Dame players drafted since 2000. How many more will hear their names called this week?

Notre Dame’s 21st century didn’t start the way anyone would have liked as the Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham, and Charlie Weis eras all left something to be desired but the ship changed course under Brian Kelly who led the Irish back to the brink of the greatness that is expected for Notre Dame football.

Since 2000, more than 100 different Notre Dame football players have had their names called in the NFL draft.  Several others have signed as undrafted free agents but we’ll focus on those who were drafted for now.

Last year saw Kyle Hamilton and Kyren Williams have their names called.  This spring Michael Mayer and Isaiah Foskey will certainly hear theirs early, and others will join them in days two and three of the draft.

So who are the 102 who have had their names called since 2000?

Who wound up having the best careers and who didn’t have the career they or you were hoping?

You can almost certainly name plenty but there are some former Notre Dame greats you’ve likely forgotten about as well.  Here are the 102…and counting.

Notre Dame’s all-time tight end touchdown reception leaders

Mayer is the king of this list.

If there was any doubt before, you can vanquish it away. [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag] is the greatest Notre Dame tight end who ever lived. Heading into Notre Dame’s 35-14 upset win over Clemson, he already had the program records for receptions and receiving yards by a tight end. The only thing left for him to grab sole possession of was receiving touchdowns for a tight end, and he did that on this 17-yard reception from [autotag]Drew Pyne[/autotag]:

We can celebrate Mayer all we want, but let’s not forget all the Irish tight ends before him who gave him something to shoot for. It’s important to know that Mayer breaking all of these records does not diminish their places in program history. Notre Dame is built upon tradition as much as any other prominent program, and the Irish always will have a special place for them.

In the spirit of that sentiment, here are the all-time program leaders in touchdown receptions by a tight end:

Notre Dame football: All-time tight end receiving yard leaders

It’s not a matter of if but when for Baby Gronk at this point. See how close he is to setting another Notre Dame record…

Few college football programs can lay claim to producing top-level tight end talent quite like Notre Dame.  Dave Casper, Ken MacAfee, Tyler Eifert, and Kyle Rudolph are just a few of the best to have played the position for the Irish before moving on to NFL careers.

As we sit in the middle of the 2022 season it’s not crazy to think we’re all watching the best of the bunch right now in junior Michael Mayer.  Mayer set the program record for career receptions by a tight end in Notre Dame’s win over BYU in October and will only expand on that.

He’s not at the top of the all-time receiving yardage list by a tight end but that should be coming in a matter of weeks.  Here are the top-ten receiving yardage leaders in Notre Dame football history (through Oct. 10, 2022).

Happy National Tight Ends Day from Tight End U

We can’t possibly let #NationalTightEndsDay go by without celebrating. Who is the best to ever play the position at Tight End U?

Happy National Tight Ends Day to all that celebrate.

And if you’re a fan of Notre Dame football either past or present, you’re likely a fan of the tight end as nobody has produced as much talent at the position for as long as Notre Dame.

In all, 25 Notre Dame tight ends have had their names called in the NFL draft, the most recent being Tommy Tremble who went in the third round of the 2021 NFL draft.  He’s the most recent for Brian Kelly, who has seemingly put a tight end into the NFL every year.

According to ProFootballNetwork.com, National Tight End’s Day became a thing thanks to San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

 “We were on the sidelines after Celek’s score when Jimmy asked, ‘What is it, like National Tight Ends Day?.’ I was like, ‘yeah, it’s National Tight Ends Day. It’s a holiday. Tight ends all over the league are scoring touchdowns.’ That’s how it came to be. We just kind of rolled with it.”
– George Kittle, star tight end for San Francisco 49ers

So let’s take a look at just a few of the great tight ends that have played for Notre Dame aka Tight End U over the years.

2021 mock draft ships Cowboys TE with Rob Gronkowski comps

A mock draft gives the Dallas Cowboys a tight end at the back end of the first round.

The Dallas Cowboys tried to find, if not a replacement, a suitable facsimile of tight end Jason Witten for years. The front office drafted Gavin Escobar, Anthony Fasano and Martellus Bennett a round earlier than the future Hall of Famer. They tried finding hidden gems in the later rounds, hoping to steal some talent. Ultimately nothing they tried mattered, as Witten was able to outlast and outperform them all.

In Brent Sobleski’s most recent 2021 mock draft at Bleacher Report, he has the Cowboys trying their luck at the tight end position again, drafting Pat Freiermuth from Penn State with pick No. 28. Says Sobleski, “The 6’5″, 259-pound target, who caught 43 passes for 507 yards last season, continues to draw Rob Gronkowski comparisons.”

That’s high praise, to be sure. It would also be the first time that Dallas used a first-round pick on a tight end since David LaFleur in 1997. It’s not impossible to think that the Cowboys would continue to throw resources at weapons for quarterback Dak Prescott, but the team may already have their tight end of the future in the fold with Blake Jarwin, who signed an extension in March.

The team will likely have further pressing needs, particularly on the back end of the defense. And while Dallas eschewed the same needs for an offensive weapon in CeeDee Lamb in 2020, it’s hard to imagine them doing that in consecutive years when the sheer number of defensive backs scheduled to hit the free-agent market next off-season is mind boggling.

Four of the Cowboys’ projected contributors are free-agents-to-be. Cornerbacks Jourdan Lewis and Chidobe Awuzie as well as the projected starting safety tandem of Xavier Woods and Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix could all be in different uniforms come next year. That’s without mentioning the rest of the depth the team could be losing.

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Notre Dame Players Meet with Another Former NFL MVP

Running game coordinator Lance Taylor who we’ve discussed for his connections at length already this week, arranged another meeting Friday, this time with his stable of running backs.  

Notre Dame players have recently had the benefit of meeting with a couple of former NFL stars.  New tight ends coach John McNulty arranged a meeting with Hall of Famer Kurt Warner a week or so ago and earlier this week he had a video conference arranged for his tight ends with former Irish great, Anthony Fasano.

Running game coordinator Lance Taylor who we’ve discussed for his connections at length already this week, arranged another meeting Friday, this time with his stable of running backs.

A couple thoughts here from Shaun Alexander talking to a room of Notre Dame running backs.

I wasn’t able to legally drink when Alexander won his MVP in 2005 and am now 34. I wonder if the players on this call are aware of how great he was considering they were all probably about six or seven years old in Alexander’s prime.

How great would it be to be able to have a giant poster of yourself on the Madden cover to put up in your home office?  Power move.

If you’ve forgotten, go check out Alexander’s career numbers.  He averaged more than a touchdown a game over a five year span.

Also noteworthy is the former Notre Dame running back who is looking to get drafted next week that regrets not jumping on the call today.

It’s cool to see Notre Dame taking advantage of this strange time and making the best of a bad situation.  Now we’re curious what former NFL star will be next to meet with a one of the 2020 squad’s positional groups.