Tag: Drew White

Notre Dame earns seven All-ACC Academic team members

For the first time in program history, Notre Dame Football student-athletes have earned selections to the All-ACC Academic team, following their first season as a conference member. Seven Irish players earned the honor, including: 

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NOTRE DAME, Indiana — For the first time in program history, Notre Dame Football student-athletes have earned selections to the All-ACC Academic team, following their first season as a conference member. Seven Irish players earned the honor, including:

  • Graduate student quarterback Ian Book (graduate studies)
  • Senior offensive lineman Robert Hainsey (finance)
  • Graduate student OL Tommy Kraemer (graduate studies)
  • Freshman tight end Michael Mayer (undeclared, First Year of Studies)
  • Graduate student wide receiver Javon McKinley (graduate studies)
  • Graduate student WR Ben Skowronek (graduate studies)
  • Senior linebacker Drew White (science-business)

 

Ian Book 

The winningest quarterback in Notre Dame history (30-5), Book has completed 228 passes for 2,830 yards and 15 touchdowns, also adding 116 rushes for 485 yards (ranks third on the team). The graduate student and team captain won the 2020 Pop Warner National College Football Award, and was named third team All-ACC by the conference. He is a finalist for the Manning Award, as well as a semifinalist for the Maxwell, Davey O’Brien and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm awards, while finishing in the Top 10 in Heisman voting.

Robert Hainsey

Hainsey, a mainstay on the Irish O-Line and selected by the conference as All-ACC Second Team, was a rare two-time team captain, and was a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award, also being named Senior CLASS Award First Team All-America. He was named ACC co-Offensive Lineman of the Week for his performance vs. South Florida, and has totaled 34-career starts. Also returning from a season-ending injury in 2019, Hainsey is a member of a line that has paved the way for a 1,000-yard rusher in Williams, and two additional players who have totaled more than 480 rushing yards on the season (RB Chris Tyree  – 496, QB Ian Book – 485).

Tommy Kraemer

Kraemer owns the most career starts by an Irish offensive player in 2020, ending the season with 39 under his belt. Returning to the field in 2020 after a season-ending injury in 2019, Kraemer produced at a high level, even after missing a game due to injury. Named ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week at Boston College, and selected to the All-ACC team chosen by the conference, Kraemer was a member of a unit that helps move the chains at a high level on third down. The Irish led the ACC and ranked ninth in the FBS in third down conversion percentage with a remarkable 49.4 success rate.

Michael Mayer

True freshman Michael Mayer ties for the lead on the Irish offense with 42 receptions, totaling 450 yards, adding two touchdowns. His 42 receptions in 2020 are the most in a single season by a Notre Dame true freshman tight end in Irish history, and rank tied for seventh among all Notre Dame tight ends for single-season receptions. He was named to the Pro Football Focus Team of the Week at Pitt and to the FWAA Freshman All-American Watch List, and was selected by the conference to the All-ACC Third Team.

Javon McKinley

McKinley led the Irish in receiving yards (717), while tying for the lead in receptions (42) in 2020. He added three receiving touchdowns. Noting All-ACC Honorable Mention recognition from the conference, he was named ACC Receiver of the Week for his performance against Syracuse in the regular season finale. McKinley also posted one rush for 15 yards.

Ben Skowronek

Skowronek led the Irish in receiving touchdowns in 2020 with five, as he caught 29 passes for 439 yards in 10 games. With three receiving touchdowns at Boston College, no other Notre Dame player has ever recorded more receiving touchdowns in a single game vs. a Power 5 opponent than Skowronek’s three. He also noted his first-career rushing touchdown in 2020 on the first rush of his career (at North Carolina).

Drew White

White tied for third on the team in tackles with 57, also posting 9.0 TFL (loss of 27 yards), and 1.5 sacks. He totaled two pass breakups and two QBH in 2020, starting all 12 games of the season, and notched his first solo sack of the season in the ACC Championship, bringing his career total to 3.5. White was awarded the game ball for his performance at North Carolina, in which he posted five tackles, 2.0 TFL (-8 yards), 0.5 sacks (-4 yards) and one pass breakup. White combined for a sack, his first of the season, pushing his career total to 2.5.

Grading Notre Dame’s positional groups for the 2020 season

Letter grades for Notre Dame football during their 2020 season, which saw them go undefeated in regular season play, only to lose their final two games.

The season has now ended and we can start to look back on what was a very odd 2020 season of college football. Two of 247Sports analysts Brad Crawford and Bud Elliott, broke down each team in the ACC and gave out grades for their performances.

Both, Crawford and Elliott gave the Irish A’s for the 2020 season, but I wanted to dig a bit deeper and give grades out for each position group and coaching. So here it is, my grades for each Notre Dame unit from this past season.

Notre Dame 31, North Carolina 17: FIW Game Ball Winners

Who were the biggest stars in Notre Dame’s 31-17 victory at North Carolina? The Fighting Irish Wire staff has spoken with their game balls.

When you play as well as Notre Dame did against North Carolina on Friday you have plenty of players worthy of praise and it makes handing out the game balls after a decisive victory that much more difficult.

That said, the Fighting Irish Wire staff has compiled theirs from Friday’s victory, which is Notre Dame’s 15th straight dating back to late October of last year.

So who gets the awards for being the biggest stars in the Notre Dame win?

Here is who the Fighting Irish Wire staff decided, starting with Geoffrey Clark:

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

Notre Dame vs. Clemson: Positional breakdown advantages

A breakdown of each position for Notre Dame and Clemson and who has the advantage.

This is the game of the year in the ACC, if not all college football, at least in the regular season. No. 1 Clemson travels to South Bend to take on No. 4 Notre Dame. This highly anticipated game will feature a number of future NFL stars.

A look at each position and which team has the advantage in Saturday’s huge contest.

Don’t forget to take a look at each of our tales of the tape as well (wide receivers, running backs, and quarterbacks)

(Some photo’s courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics)

Notre Dame Football: Irish all over PFF’s Preseason All-ACC Team

What is particularly interesting to me here is that by simply counting, Notre Dame has three more members on the First Team than Clemson, with only Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne receiving that honor for the Tigers. 

This is weird to write.

Looking at Pro Football Focus’s Preseason All-ACC Team and seeing Notre Dame players listed is strange.  I’m used to seeing Notre Dame listed as an independent and not really looking much at it.

But it’s 2020 and Notre Dame is playing in the ACC as a full-time member this season.  The Irish are all over the list with five players earning First Team status, a pair more making the Second Team, three more being named to the Third Team and one player earning an Honorable Mention.

Notre Dame’s First Team Selections:

OT – Liam Eichenberg
Eichenberg already earned the 18th-best pass-blocking grade among FBS tackles over the entire season, but his grade from Week 7 on actually cracked the top-10 (7th).

C – Jarrett Patterson
Patterson finished as the 19th most valuable player in the FBS at the position and produced an above-average pass-blocking grade on his true pass sets.

OG – Aaron Banks
He allowed zero pressures in seven of his 13 games and dominated against Power 5 competition. He actually produced an 85.6 pass-blocking grade in those matchups, third in the country among those with at least 175 such snaps.

LB – Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah
From Week 10 on, Micah Parsons and Isaiah Simmons were the only Power 5 linebackers who earned a higher PFF grade.

S – Kyle Hamilton
The 6-foot-4 safety allowed only seven catches on 23 targets in coverage while making four interceptions and breaking up another five passes en route to a 1.3 passer rating allowed.

Notre Dame’s Second Team Selections:
OG – Tommy Kraemer
K – Jonathan Doerer

Notre Dame’s Third Team Selections:
OT – Robert Hainsey
Edge – Ade Ogundeji
LB – Drew White

Notre Dame’s lone Honorable Mention:
QB – Ian Book

What is particularly interesting to me here is that by simply counting, Notre Dame has three more members on the First Team than Clemson, with only Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne receiving that honor for the Tigers.

Clemson had four players on the Second Team, six on the Third Team and one player receive honorable mention.

Notre Dame actually has more players combined on the first and second teams than Clemson does but the Tigers have 13 players mentioned in total to Notre Dame’s 11.

Brian Kelly supports Ian Book and Notre Dame Captains Desire to Play

Notre Dame’s SWAT captains released a statement Monday night that their head coach quickly got behind and supported. Read it all here.

Each day over the last four or five has brought news in regards to the 2020 college football season being played.

One day it was the MAC cancelling its season while yesterday it was the Big Ten shutting its doors, only to have them reopened a few hours later.

Notre Dame’s 2020 SWAT Team captains released a statement Monday night that essentially begged for a chance to play football this fall.  You can read the complete statement below:

The SWAT Team leaders are the captains for Notre Dame’s off-season workouts and members include: quarterback Ian Book, offensive linemen Liam Eichenberg, Robert Hainsey and Tommy Kraemer, defensive lineman Daelin Hayes, Kurt Hinish, Ade Ogundeji and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa, tight end Brock Wright, linebacker Drew White and cornerback Shaun Crawford.

Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly endorsed his players desire to play shortly after they released the statement Monday night.

It by no means guarantees anything in terms of games being played but it’s certainly nice to see a coach going to bat for his players wishes like this.

I don’t know if there will be college football this year as this morning Massachusetts has cancelled their season, which brings the total now to 27 of the 130 FBS teams.  However, at least the idea of college football in 2020 isn’t going away without a fight at this point.

Owusu-Koarmoah, White on Watch List for Bronco Nagurski Trophy

Hopes are high for Notre Dame’s defense in 2020, especially in the case of the linebacker corps.

Hopes are high for Notre Dame’s defense in 2020, especially in the case of the linebacker corps. Irish seniors Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Drew White have been named to this year’s Bronco Nagurski Trophy Watch List. The award goes to college football’s top defensive player.

Owusu-Koramoah and White tied for the team lead in tackles last season (80), and both played in every game. Owusu-Koramoah had three nine-tackle games and was named to the ESPN All-Bowl Team after recording three sacks in the Camping World Bowl. He led the Irish with 13.5 tackles for loss in 2019.

White’s 11 tackles against Michigan were a Notre Dame high for last season. He also recorded 10 tackles apiece vs. Boston College and Navy. He finished 2019 with eight tackles for loss.

The watch list for the award can change throughout the season. In the end, five finalists will compete for the right to be named the National Defensive Player of the Year. The winner will be voted on by the FWAA All-America Committee.

Notre Dame Football: Future Rankings Very Good, Not Great

ESPN released their future college football rankings and Notre Dame checked in high but still behind the usual powers.

ESPN has released their annual college football future rankings for the outlooks of teams over the next few years.  They take rosters, current and future into the equation as well as coaches and their staffs.

Good news for Notre Dame fans is that they appeared in the rankings top ten.

Bad news for Notre Dame fans is that they’re three spots behind where they were a season ago.

Worse news for Notre Dame fans is that the Irish barely check in the top ten, coming in at ninth overall.

Now how did ESPN get to this conclusion and who does Notre Dame fall behind?

Based off of evaluations of quarterbacks, the offense as a whole as well as the defense, ESPN ranks each time by those groups while factoring in coaching stability as well.

Ninth ranked Notre Dame checks in with the seventh overall group at quarterback, ninth best offense and 13th ranked defense.  A couple of things to take away from that:

  1. Based off recruiting numbers Notre Dame is in an incredibly strong place at quarterback compared to about 95% of the country.  That gap between the top five or so percent is significant, here’s to hoping Tyler Buchner, who factors into this, helps bridge that gap.
  2. How much does ESPN like Notre Dame’s 2020 offensive recruits?  Must be a ton with the offense out-ranking the defense in this system, especially when you factor in recent results.
  3. Clark Lea being sought after as a head coach counts against him but that should be a similar thought for almost any program with a proven coordinator.  Brian Kelly’s potential retirement and Tommy Rees’s inexperience at the coordinator spot were also held against Notre Dame here.

The rest of the top ten went as follows:
1. Clemson
2. Ohio State
3. Alabama
4. Georgia
5. LSU
6. Oklahoma
7. Florida
8. Oregon
9. Notre Dame
10. Penn State

If you’re looking at the tiers of college football the last couple of seasons this plays out about as perfectly as you could imagine.  Notre Dame could perhaps have an argument to be ranked above Florida and Oregon but recruiting numbers have favored the others more recently.

Whatever the case, it’s a good, strong showing on this future outlook.  However, it’s still the same five or six schools up top that the rest of the college football world continues to try and chase down.