Tag: jaden mickey

Notre Dame cornerback set to play after losing mother overnight

Go get em today, Mick.

If you follow Notre Dame football closely you’ve probably become familiar with the story of sophomore cornerback Jaylen Mickey and his mother who has been battling cancer since 2020.

Last night Nilka Mickey, known to some as Mama Mickey, succumbed to colon cancer.

News of such things is never easy to hear and only that much more difficult during the holidays.  It also makes Mickey’s pick-six against Pittsburgh where he immediately pointed to the sky upon entering the end zone feel that much more special.

Despite the news from overnight, Mickey is suited up and will play for the Irish today.

Go have a day, Mick.

Watch: Every interception by Notre Dame football against Pittsburgh

Relive each Notre Dame interception against PItt right here

This past weekend was a fun one for [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag], they routed Pittsburgh to a tune of 58-7.

It wasn’t just the Irish offense that made its mark, it was defensively as well. Notre Dame’s defense all day was a ball hawking, forcing five turnovers, with four interceptions on the day. Three Irish defenders got a pick, [autotag]Jaden Mickey[/autotag]’s went back to the house, [autotag]Christian Gray[/autotag] and [autotag]Xavier Watts[/autotag], twice, joined in on the action as well.

Fortunately for us, NBC Sports X account, the website formerly known as Twitter, shared a short clip of all four of the interceptions for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.

That was fun, wasn’t it?

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on X: @MikeFChen

Notre Dame corner Jaden Mickey reached an very impressive max speed on his pick-6

Mickey was flying

One of the biggest plays during [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag]’s win over Pittsburgh was when cornerback [autotag]Jaden Mickey[/autotag] picked off a pass and took it 43-yards to the house.

The amazing play put the Irish up 31-0 early in the third quarter, virtually sealing the game for Notre Dame. Like they do every week, [autotag]Reel Analytics[/autotag] took a look at which players hit the top max speed during Week 9 of the college football season.

One of their players they highlighted was Mickey on his return. They estimated that the Irish corner hit a max speed of 19.9 miles-per-hour, almost going as fast as you could in a school zone.

It was the first interception of Mickey’s career and a memorable one. Here’s to more plays like this one from the talented freshman.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on X: @MikeFChen

Notre Dame football: Mickey’s pick-six about much more than just football

Notre Dame cornerback Jaden Mickey’s pick-six was a highlight but as we’ve learned, was so much bigger than just any regular touchdown

Sports have a weird way of bringing people together.  They’re not the only thing that does as concerts, movies, and plenty else can, but the way sports tend to do it is truly unique.

One such example came in Saturday’s blowout win of Pittsburgh by Notre Dame.

Fighitng Irish sophomore cornerback Jaden Mickey intercepted a Pittsburgh pass attempt and made a house call in the third quarter as Notre Dame separated from the Panthers.

Mickey’s return made it a 31-0 score just minutes into the third quarter but the scoreboard didn’t matter in this case.  That sports bond I mentioned above however did, in a big way.

Mickey mentioned after the game that his mind immediately went to one place as he approached the end zone:

“I just was picturing my mom and my dad in the living room yelling. I said, ‘My mom gotta see this.’ I’m happy it happened today.” – Jaden Mickey

Late Saturday, Inside ND Sports revealed the news that Mickey’s mother Nilka entered Hospice care earlier this fall.  She was diagnosed with stage-4 colon cancer early in 2020 and has decided to stop her chemotherapy treatments.

Notre Dame head coach shared praise of Mickey following the game.

“And so, I’m really pleased with how he performed, how he’s been practicing, how unselfish he is. I love Jaden Mickey, man. He’s a great player, and is doing great things for us.” – Marcus Freeman

Milka shared her excitement shortly after on social media as well:

Bigger than football or the scoreboard, that’s for certain.

 

Social media reacts to Jaden Mickey interception return for touchdown

Only one in a series of big plays for the Irish.

This listicle began as one where social media reacted to [autotag]Jadarian Price[/autotag]’s touchdown to open Notre Dame’s third-quarter scoring. Here’s the play just so we have it on the site:

But just as work was beginning on the price listicle, a little-known Irish cornerback named [autotag]Jaden Mickey[/autotag] picked off Christian Veilleux for the first interception of his collegiate career. He also turned that interception into points, returning it 43 yards to the end zone, adding onto the Irish’s growing lead over Pittsburgh:

You always have to love when the players who aren’t as known get to shine in the spotlight. Even if Mickey doesn’t become a star, he’ll at least have plays like this to look back on.

Oh, and while this was being written, [autotag]Ramon Henderson[/autotag] recovered a muffed punt in the end zone for another Irish touchdown:

We could recap all of this right now, but for our purposes, we’ll focus on the play that got most people out of their seats, and that’s the Mickey pick to the house. Here’s how social media reacted to it:

Watch: Notre Dame’s Jaden Mickey gives back to California community

Jaden is making the Irish proud

For many [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] athletes, it’s not just about what you can accomplish on the field, it’s off the field as well.

Second-year cornerback [autotag]Jaden Mickey[/autotag] does exactly that. He’s coming off a season where he was able to earn his way onto the field, registering 9 tackles, with expectations growing about his on-field success especially after an interception during the Blue and Gold game.

Off the field Mickey is all about giving back to his community, especially home in Eastvale, California. Over the summer, Mickey has hosted a youth football camp at his high school and even wrote a book titled: The Win Isn’t Always On the Scoreboard.

Mickey giving back to the community caught the eyes of Good Day LA and they did a feature on him giving back to the community. Take a look below at the clip about his off the field community work.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5]

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen

Mother of Notre Dame football player battling stage 4 cancer – how to help

We’re all pulling for you, @nmicknilka!

The mother of a Notre Dame football player needs your help.  Nilka Mickey, the mother of Fighting Irish cornerback [autotag]Jaden Mickey[/autotag], has been battling stage 4 colon cancer since February of 2020 and unfortunately, insurance isn’t doing her any favors.

Family and friends of Nilka and Jaden set up a Go Fund Me to help cover expenses of the rigorous treatment that Momma Mickey faces.  From the Go Fund Me page:

Hello, I am Shelbi Walker. In February 2020, my dear friend, Nilka Mickey, was diagnosed with stage 4 Colon Cancer. The Cancer has metastasized, and she has exhausted all treatments that are covered by her insurance. Nilka has been fighting for three years and is now in a position to go to a treatment center outside of California to fight even harder. The treatments offered at this center include traditional and alternative medicine. In order to maximize its effectiveness, Nilka has to undergo treatments every day, for 12 weeks. These treatments are expensive and because she is currently unable to work, and must relocate to Arizona, she and Lamar need your help. The Mickey’s are pillars of our community and they have always been there to support others. Now, it’s our turn to rally around them and help them raise the funds to save Nilka’s life and fight Cancer.

As of this posting, the Mickey’s have been able to raise just over $66,000 of their $150,000 goal.  You can help them get closer to that goal number by donating here – and if you can’t donate monetarily a retweet or share of their story certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Certainly all of the best to Nilka, Jaden and the entire Mickey family as not just the Notre Dame family but the entire college football family is pulling for you all.

[lawrence-related id=67992]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]

Notre Dame-UNLV: Injury update ahead of kickoff

This should bode well for the Notre Dame defense overall.

The final injury reports are in for Notre Dame and UNLV’s tilt this afternoon as we approach kickoff in South Bend.

An absolute chamber of commerce day in Michiana will serve as the backdrop as Notre Dame tries to get back in the win column after a disastrous showing against Stanford a week ago.

A few injury updates to be aware of on both sides ahead of kick-off:

For Notre Dame, freshman cornerback Jaden Mickey has officially been ruled out for the contest.

For UNLV, two of their best offensive weapons won’t play as quarterback Doug Brumfield and running back Aidan Robbins have both been ruled out.

Brumfield was knocked out of UNLV’s loss against San Jose State early and didn’t play their last time out against Air Force.  In that time the Runnin’ Rebels have scored just 14 points to the 82 they’ve given up.

Robbins leads UNLV with 591 rushing yards and eight rushing scores on the year.

Kickoff is set for 1:40 p.m. ET at Notre Dame Stadium.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=none image=https://fightingirishwire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Related: Should Notre Dame be on upset alert yet again?

Thoughts on Notre Dame’s depth chart ahead of Ohio State

Plenty of take aways from the seasons first depth chart

As in each year of college football, a new group of stars emerge from one season to another. This season will be no different and for Notre Dame, there are more then a few players who could make a significant leap in the eyes of college football fans everywhere. Here are a few observations on Marcus Freeman’s first regular season depth chart.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen

Goshen News publishes story about Notre Dame cornerbacks

Do you have high hopes for this unit?

With spring practice in full swing at Notre Dame, now is the time to write about pretty much everything related to the program. After all, the first game of the season is months away, so it’s nice to read about the team without having to look at it through the lens of game performance. The Goshen News realizes is and decided to look at one of the units the Irish have. Specifically, Evan Lepak has written about Mike Mickens’ cornerbacks.

Significant attention is given to veterans TaRiq Bracy, Clarence Lewis and Cam Hart. Lepak also notes that the Irish have a bunch of freshmen after those three on the depth chart. There are redshirt freshmen Ryan Barnes, Philip Riley and Chance Tucker. The Irish also have early enrollee Jaden Mickey in camp.

We don’t know how effective the Irish will be at cornerback in 2022, but this cast of characters will be interesting to watch if for no other reason than to see how deep they can go with such a drop-off of experience.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89