Tag: Blake Fisher

Notre Dame players named to preseason award watch lists

Will anyone win this year?

It’s the time of year when we start seeing award watch lists come out in anticipation of the college football season. With Notre Dame expected to be highly ranked once again, there are plenty of players who are ripe for watching. Whether or not any of them actually take home any of this hardware is anyone’s guess right now, but they’re at least on the radar of those who know college football best.

In some cases, more than one Notre Dame player is on the watch list for the same award. Also, as different award watch lists come on different days, it can be difficult to keep track of them all. Rest assured, we will be doing just that as these lists continue to come out.

At season’s end, we’ll find out if any of them or maybe somebody different becomes the first national award winner for the Irish since [autotag]Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah[/autotag] won the Butkus Award in 2020:

Watch: Notre Dame’s game-winning touchdown in Gator Bowl from field level

Because even if it wasn’t from a unique camera angle you’d still want to watch right now

It’s been over a month since this took place but while sitting on my computer knocking out work today I had a playlist of a couple football related shows running on YouTube.  After one finished the next video that followed was one I hadn’t seen and one I thought you might like to watch for a few reasons.

  1. It’s the game-winning touchdown from the most recent Notre Dame game played and who doesn’t want to relive the moment [autotag]Mitchell Evans[/autotag] gave the Irish the lead for good?
  2. It’s from a different angle than most of us are used to watching Notre Dame games at and you can track Evans cleanly the entire time
  3. The loudness of the crowd and the defining silence suddenly brought upon the South Carolina fans (make sure you have your speakers or headphones up because…)
  4. This is perhaps the best part – listen to what then-sophomore [autotag]Blake Fisher[/autotag] (No. 54) yells once he reaches the end zone to celebrate with teammates

Hey, we’re under seven months until Notre Dame-Navy in Dublin for those wondering.

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Watch: Marcus Freeman, Blake Fisher, Joe Alt ride New York carousel

Do you like amusement park rides?

Much has been made about the Notre Dame football team’s excursion to New York City. Of course, it being the summer, this is the perfect time to get out and explore all the Big Apple has to offer. That includes riding a carousel, which [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag], [autotag]Blake Fisher[/autotag] and [autotag]Joe Alt[/autotag] did while a few others watched. Luckily, the Irish put out a video of the experience for the rest of us to see:

It’s rather interesting to see that while they all clearly are having fun, they’re a little freaked out by some aspects of the ride. Why would offensive linemen in particular be afraid of this when they have to protect their quarterback and running backs against fellow 300-pound men every Saturday? Basically, they’re doing a job nobody else would dare to do, and this is what causes them tension? The human experience really is something to behold.

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Notre Dame football stars take in Mets game with Kate Upton

There are worse ways to spend a Friday night.

If you’ve been paying attention to any national sports media this week you’re aware that Notre Dame football has taken over the city of New York.  Appearances by Notre Dame head coach [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] and a handful of players on ESPN, NFL Network, and other outlets has been pretty regular the last few days.

To cap off the week Marcus Freeman threw out the first pitch at Friday night’s New York Mets game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Pitching for the Mets was future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander who is married to supermodel and former Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition cover-girl Kate Upton.

As it turns out, the likes of [autotag]Benjamin Morrison[/autotag], [autotag]Joe Alt[/autotag], [autotag]Blake Fisher[/autotag], [autotag]Audric Estime[/autotag], and [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] were able to meet Upton during the game.  Check it out below.

Well look at that, Notre Dame steals another fan originally from the state of Michigan.

The luck of the Irish wasn’t in the building for Verlander or the Mets on Friday night though as the Dodgers beat them 6-0.

Also worth noting is that Blake Fisher is listed at 6-6, 310-pounds yet looks like a fullback compared to Alt.

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Notre Dame trending to add 2024 top 50 offensive tackle

There might be good news later in the summer

One of the nations best offensive tackles, [autotag]Guerby Lambert[/autotag] has narrowed down his commitment date to August, according to this report by 247Sports Brian Dohn.

[autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag], along with Ohio State, Harvard and Boston College are the finalist for the 6-foot, 6-inch and 280 pound lineman. Lambert is rated as the 2nd offensive tackle and 47th overall player according to the 247Sports composite.

Adding more fuel to the Irish leading his recruitment fire is this report by On3’s Chad Simmons, Lambert told him “Notre Dame, they just say how much it means to get me on their team.” If you look at his finalists, Notre Dame has the best mix of academics and athletics of the final four.

The Irish will need some offensive lineman to step up, especially if both junior tackles, [autotag]Joe Alt[/autotag] and [autotag]Blake Fisher[/autotag], opt to leave early after this coming season.

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Notre Dame football: Blake Fisher’s new look means good things

Scale down but stock up on Big Blake

You can’t teach size and that’s something Notre Dame offensive tackle [autotag]Blake Fisher[/autotag] certainly had upon entering college two springs ago.  The 6-5 mountain of a man was listed at 336-pounds on his recruiting pages but those could have been leaving a few off.

Whatever the case, Fisher is reshaped entering his junior season as Notre Dame’s starting right tackle checks in at 310-pounds this spring.

“It was about getting my body right, eating the right things and just moving better,” Fisher said of his transformation. “I feel I still had some baby fat on me and now, this offseason, I feel I got a lot of that off me. I’m getting bigger from here. It’s getting bigger, stronger and faster.” – Blake Fisher

That means good things for both Fisher and Notre Dame.  It’s not like the weight loss means a loss of muscle.  It likely means for more agility, quickness, speed, and likely endurance.

That on top of what was already a pretty good starting right tackle as a sophomore should mean good things in 2023.  Having Joe Alt who very possibly will be the best returning offensive lineman in college football this fall, paired with a likely improved and more toned Fisher sets the floor and ceiling both really high for what Notre Dame’s offensive line should be able to do.

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Three Notre Dame players named to Athlon Sports All-American teams

The Irish are well represented

We are less than 100 days away from the start of [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] and college football’s season starting.

There will soon be more and more outlets putting out their All-American teams and recently Athlon Sports released theirs.

It’s much more comprehensive than most, going four teams deep, which makes plenty of sense given the vast amount of high-end talent across the country.

For the Irish, they had three players make the list, and it should be pretty obvious which ones made it. Find out below which Notre Dame stars make Athlon’s list along with my take on where each of them landed.

College football: Pro Football Focus names top returning offensive tackles for 2023

Mt. Alt appears at the summit

It’s hard to find a place that compares to Notre Dame when it comes to putting elite offensive line talent into the NFL. [autotag]Zack Martin[/autotag], [autotag]Quenton Nelson[/autotag], [autotag]Ronnie Stanley[/autotag] and [autotag]Mike McGlinchey[/autotag] are some of the NFL stars (and well-paid ones at that) who once called Notre Dame home.

It would appear we’re not far off from another Notre Dame offensive lineman joining that club. Earlier this month our very own Mike Chen looked at the 2024 NFL mock drafts. Almost unanimously, left tackle Joe Alt was a projected top 10 pick.

Pro Football Focus shared its 10 highest-rated returning offensive linemen for 2023 over the weekend and wouldn’t you know it, Alt was atop the list.

Below are the 10 highest-rated returning offensive tackles according to Pro Football Focus. You’ll likely be interested to know that Notre Dame right tackle [autotag]Blake Fisher[/autotag] did not make the list. He checked in with a 72.9 grade over 13 games.

All of Harry Hiestand’s NFL draft picks at Notre Dame

A legend at his craft.

I’d be curious to know when talking to maybe a slightly above average fan from each Power Five college football program, how many could name their school’s offensive line coach.  I know there are passionate fans everywhere that can name the last preferred walk-on from a class that passed through a decade ago, but I’m talking the more average fans.

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I’m not saying it’s better or worse but Notre Dame is clearly different.  But I suppose that’s what happens when you produce offensive linemen like the Irish have.  And you produce that number of star NFL linemen because of coaching – and having Joe Moore and Harry Hiestand for as long as the program did formed quite the haul of offensive line talent.

Hiestand announced his retirement Sunday in a press release that came out literal moments before the ball was kicked off for Super Bowl LVII.  That means he retires with nine former players at Notre Dame being drafted, a number that will certainly rise with Jarrett Patterson, Joe Alt and Blake Fisher, if not more in the next couple of years.

Here are all nine offensive lineman to play for Hiestand at Notre Dame who had their names called at the NFL draft.  He averaged more than one a season for the time he spent under the Golden Dome.

Is Notre Dame a top 10 team entering 2023? 247Sports doesn’t think so

A bit low don’t you think?

As the college football season is set to finish this evening with [autotag]TCU[/autotag] facing [autotag]Georgia[/autotag] in the [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag] finale, it’s that time to look ahead at who will challenge to be in the game next year.

For [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag], they are losing some stars (tight end [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag], defensive end [autotag]Isaiah Foskey[/autotag] and safety [autotag]Brandon Joseph[/autotag]) while they found a big time up-grade at quarterback with Wake Forest transfer [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag].

The player movement has many believing that the Irish will contend for a CFP spot but it seems like 247Sports isn’t thinking the same way. They released their way-too-early top 25 today and they ranked [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] and Notre Dame 13th.

It seems a bit low considering they have made an upgrade at the most important position with plenty of returning stars (cornerback [autotag]Ben Morrison[/autotag], offensive tackles [autotag]Joe Alt[/autotag] and [autotag]Blake Fisher[/autotag]). The highest vote they received was 10th, with is right around where they should have been rated.

[autotag]Tennessee[/autotag] has more questions than the Irish, they were ranked 12th. [autotag]Clemson[/autotag] had an up-and-down year and “return” their starting quarterback who just started his first game. The Tigers were 11th while [autotag]Oregon[/autotag] did make sense to me at 10.[autotag]Bo Nix[/autotag] returning helps while a big time recruiting class is on their way to Eugene.

It’s obvious that this could change, with the second signing period and more player movement in the transfer portal but having Notre Dame at 13, even right now, is too low.  Find out below where every team 247Sports ranked ended up.

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