Tag: Ben Koyack

Notre Dame Football: ‘14 Stanford game hero gets tryout with Colts

If you’re a Notre Dame football fan chances are strong that when you hear the name Ben Koyack, one play in particular comes to mind. Down 14-10 with just over a minute left and forcing a 4th and 10 at the Stanford 23 yard line, Everett Golson took …

If you’re a Notre Dame football fan chances are strong that when you hear the name Ben Koyack, one play in particular comes to mind.

Down 14-10 with just over a minute left and forcing a 4th and 10 at the Stanford 23 yard line, Everett Golson took the snap, moved to his left and found a wide open Ben Koyack for the game-winning touchdown.

The catch and win moved No. 9 Notre Dame to 5-0 and kept their College Football Playoff dreams alive before what was a November to forget for the Fighting Irish.

Koyack finished his collegiate career with 44 receptions for 532 yards and five touchdowns, none bigger than that one against Stanford.

Koyack became a seventh round draft pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2015, where he spent five seasons.

Now an NFL free agent, Koyack was in Indianapolis for a tryout with the Colts.

Koyack has recorded 25 NFL receptions for 208 yards and one score in his professional career.

Lions worked out 3 players including 2 tight ends on Saturday

Former Jaguars TE Ben Koyack highlights 3 players who auditioned on Saturday

The Detroit Lions continued to search for potential roster additions on Saturday. The team held workout auditions for three players, including two tight ends.

Former Notre Dame standout Ben Koyack is the most notable name. A seventh-round pick by the Jaguars in 2016, Koyack has 25 receptions in 44 career NFL games, all with Jacksonville.

The other two players who tried out are TE Hunter Thedford and DT Josh Avery. Thedford is an undrafted rookie from Utah who also played collegiately at SMU. Avery is also an undrafted rookie who was previously with the Seattle Seahawks. He played in college for Southeast Missouri State.

Watch: Notre Dame’s Top 10 Catches by Tight Ends

In the midst of the sports abyss we currently sit in the Notre Dame Athletics YouTube Page has been posting top-ten lists of various events over the years and counting down some of the best plays we’ve seen from Notre Dame athletes.

Their latest honors the great tight ends that have come through Notre Dame and the best plays they’ve made over time.  Without spoiling the list go ahead and watch it and then we’ll react.

Nobody does the tight end position better than Notre Dame.  Year in and year out you look at the NFL Draft and another Notre Dame tight end is getting their name called.  In a few short weeks Cole Kmet will become the latest on that list.

In the midst of the sports abyss we currently sit in the Notre Dame Athletics YouTube Page has been posting top-ten lists of various events over the years and counting down some of the best plays we’ve seen from Notre Dame athletes.

Their latest honors the great tight ends that have come through Notre Dame and the best plays they’ve made over time.  Without spoiling the list go ahead and watch it and then we’ll react.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA-H3rV47Y8&w=560&h=315]

My immediate thought is without the impact of the play, the most impressive is Irv Smith’s at three.  What Smith did to those pour Hoosier souls sent football back three decades in Bloomington.

The two ahead of it obviously led directly to a national championship being won so even if they weren’t the most impressive plays like Smith’s was, I can’t argue for a second against either being ranked ahead of it.

The Rudolph play against Michigan in 2010 was one of the most-exciting I’ve been in attendance for, it’s just too bad nobody could tackle Denard Robinson that afternoon.

You could really put five through nine in any order and I don’t think anyone would be too upset.  The Rudolph game-winner at Purdue saved things from going south that season.  Well, for a few weeks, anyway.

If there was one that didn’t make the list that I always remember it’s the Jabari Holloway fumble recovery to take the lead against USC in 1999.  It didn’t save a memorable season by any means but it did help complete an epic comeback against Notre Dame’s biggest rival.

Then again, it wasn’t a catch.

Notre Dame Football: Tight End U Past, Present and Future – A Conversation

This conversation began moments after Cole Kmet declared for the NFL Draft.  It was entirely conducted through Twitter DM’s which may as well be the modern-day AOL Instant Messenger.

What a week to be a Notre Dame tight end, whether it be from past, present or future.

It began with Cole Kmet declaring for the 2020 NFL Draft after previously saying he’d be around for his senior season.  It’s impossible to fault the top-rated tight end in the class but still stings when you wanted to see him in blue and gold and as the ultimate weapon for Ian Book in 2020.

The week continued into the Saturday when Michael Mayer, part of Notre Dame’s latest recruiting class playing in the Adidas All-American Game.  Not only did he play but he provided one of the biggest highlights of the afternoon, going 37 yards on a touchdown reception.

Finally, perhaps one of the best to ever play tight end at Tight End U sent the Vikings to the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs as Kyle Rudolph pulled down a Kirk Cousins pass in overtime to send Minnesota to the second round and the Saints home.  We’ll leave the pass interference debate for a later date.

With that in mind, Nick Shepkowski and I had a conversation.  It includes a bunch of former tight ends at Notre Dame and discussion as to what the future of the position may hold.  I hope you enjoy a slightly different post than you’re probably used to at Fighting Irish Wire.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

Notre Dame/Stanford: Get Ready By Reliving Two Classics

Enough with the negative ends, how about we get ready for game day and a chance at another ten-win regular season with something positive that’s happened against Stanford instead?

No. 16 Notre Dame finishes up their regular season at Stanford today in a game that should feature plenty of rain, wind and a sloppy track.  As we discussed earlier this week, Stanford has been a house of horrors for the last decade with Notre Dame losing each of their last five games there.

Enough with the negative ends, how about we get ready for game day and a chance at another ten-win regular season with something positive that’s happened against Stanford instead?

Or, even better than that  – how about two classic finishes against Stanford?

We all remember the 2012 season.  5-0 and No. 7 Notre Dame was hosting No. 17 Stanford in a match-up the Irish had lost the last three meetings between.

Trailing late the Irish rallied to send things to overtime where an all-time finish awaited:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpK7QUG3cbE&w=560&h=315]

Two years later the Irish were off to another hot start, sitting at 4-0 and No. 9 when No. 14 Stanford returned to South Bend.

Although 2014 didn’t end with a 12-0 regular season like two years previous did so this one gets more forgotten about in Irish lore, but for one afternoon Ben Koyack was a legend.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWEJy5hUZfc&w=560&h=315]

Here’s to hoping today’s game ends that five game losing streak out there, but doesn’t require any last second heroics, either!