Tag: Jeff Samardzija

Happy birthday to a Notre Dame football great!

Which sport was he better at?

In the long history of Notre Dame football, one of the very best wide receivers to ever wear blue and gold never played on Sundays.

Well, football at least.

Jeff Samardzija played at Notre Dame from 2003-2006, earning All-American status in his junior and senior seasons. He totaled 2,593 receiving yards for the Irish; 2,266 of those came in his junior and senior seasons.

Samardzija also starred on Notre Dame’s baseball team as a pitcher and he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 2006. He bypassed a career in the NFL, instead making his way to Major League Baseball in 2008 and lasting there until 2020.

Looking back there is a case to be made that Samardzija was the MVP of the first two years of the Charlie Weis era when Notre Dame wound up in back-to-back BCS games.

It’s hard to believe, but the former two-sport star for the Fighting Irish turns 39 today.  Happy birthday to The Shark!

Celebrate by checking out the best photos of him at Notre Dame below:

 

See it: Notre Dame two-sport great poses with future Notre Dame two-sport great

It’s probably too late for Samardzija to be any help to the Bears, isn’t it…

Notre Dame has had its fair share of multisport star athletes over the years.  During World War II, Edward “Moose” Krause starred in football and basketball while also lettering in track. Dick Arrington finished third nationally in wrestling in 1965 while earning All-American honors for helping protect Heisman Trophy quarterback John Huarte.

Bob Golic doubled up as an All-American wrestler while also starring on the football team. Raghib “Rocket” Ismail earned All-American honors in both football and track.

Perhaps the most well-known multisport star at Notre Dame in recent years was wide receiver and star pitcher, [autotag]Jeff Samardzija[/autotag].  Samardzija helped lead Notre Dame’s turnaround in 2005 and 2006 before opting to play professional baseball instead of taking his shot at the NFL.  The Valparaiso, Indiana, native crossed paths with incoming freshman [autotag]Drayk Bowen[/autotag] in a photo that was shared on social media Wednesday night.

Bowen was recently named the 2022 High School Butkus Award winner as the nation’s top high school linebacker.  Bowen plans to play baseball for the Irish in addition to football.

Related:  The best photos of Jeff Samardzija at Notre Dame

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

ChatGPT ranks top 10 receivers in Notre Dame history

Please note that tight ends are not included on this list.

We’ve been asking AI writing tool ChatGPT to give its opinions of the top 10 Notre Dame players by position. It’s been a great way to generate discussion and debate amongst our readers. So far, we’ve asked it to list the top quarterbacks and running backs. Now, we move onto the receivers.

Please note that this list will not include tight ends but rather pure receivers. Even though it’s becoming more difficult to differentiate between receivers and tight ends these days, they still are different enough that they need to be separated. So please don’t ask why Michael Mayer or Cole Kmet aren’t on this list, but we also will get more into that when we ask ChatGPT about Irish tight ends.

Please also note that ChatGPT’s last knowledge update was in September 2021, and this list is based on historical data that was available at that time. Also, some entries have been edited for clarity and accuracy:

Notre Dame all-time single game receiving leaders

Will any member of the 2022 Notre Dame football team crack this list eventually?

In the over 130 seasons of Notre Dame football there have only been seven players to ever go for 200-plus receiving yards in a single game.

Quick – before you scroll down and see the all-time top ten single same receiving leaders in program history, how many can you guess?

There are some obvious ones from more recent times while there are a few throwbacks during some memorable seasons and one from a championship season as well.

So what are the 10 all-time single game receiving records in Notre Dame football history?

Let’s take a quick walk down memory lane to find out.J

Notre Dame football just 83 days away

Under 12 weeks til kickoff!

Notre Dame football returns in 83 days as the Irish are set to open the 2023 season abroad, taking on Navy in Dublin, Ireland.

As we like to do, we’re counting things down as we get set for the long-awaited return of Notre Dame football. Will the Irish be a threat to crash the College Football Playoff party in 2023? Time will tell but with the addition of transfer quarterback [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag], expectations are high in South Bend.

With today being day 83 in the countdown it’s a proper day to look back at the Notre Dame with a couple of the best receivers the program has ever know.  Of course I’m talking about [autotag]Jeff Samardzija[/autotag] and [autotag]Chase Claypool[/autotag].

Looking back, it’s easy to make a case that Samardzija was the best player on the successful 2005 and 2006 teams while Claypool fit Samardzija’s track record a bit, taking time to develop on campus but having an outstanding final two years.

Check out the best pictures of both Samardzija and Claypool during their  times at Notre Dame below!

[lawrence-related id=67402,67992,65260]

Top 10 Notre Dame baseball players according to ChatGPT

How many of these players do you recognize?

So Notre Dame will not make the College World Series for a second straight season. In fact, it didn’t make the NCAA Tournament at all. So what are Irish fans left to do? Look into the past, of course.

Not long ago, we took the liberty of asking ChatGPT, the AI information bot that supposedly is threatening to put all of us writers out of work, its opinion on Notre Dame athletic history. Specifically, we asked it to rank what it believed were the top 10 Notre Dame football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball players. Now, we’re bringing it back to seek its opinion about Irish baseball players.

Keep in mind that ChatGPT gives this disclaimer:

“As an AI, I don’t have access to real-time information or the ability to provide subjective opinions. However, I can tell you about some notable baseball players who have had successful careers at the University of Notre Dame. Keep in mind that this list is not exhaustive and does not rank them in any particular order.”

There’s also this:

“Please note that this is not an exhaustive or ranked list, and there have been many other talented baseball players who have represented the University of Notre Dame.”

So with all of that said, let’s see who ChatGPT came up with. Please note that some of these have been edited to remove inaccurate or outdated information:

Notre Dame offers Georgia 2024 two-sport athlete

Could he be the next Irish two-sport star?

Some of the best football players don’t always specialize in college, see former [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] stars [autotag]Jeff Samardzija[/autotag] and recently tight end [autotag]Cole Kmet[/autotag].

Each of them played baseball in South Bend along with football and showed they weren’t one-dimensional athletes. Irish head coach [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] is looking for that next Irish two-sport star as Georgia athlete [autotag]Isiah Canion[/autotag] was offered a scholarship.

Also a baseball star, Canion stands 6-foot, 4-inches and 190 pounds and his football recruitment is really starting to heat up.

Within the last week, the athlete has gotten offers from UAB, Jackson State, Georgia Tech and now the Irish. He is unrated in the 247Sports composite at the current moment.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5]

[mm-video type=video id=01gr2tx5hzyjsff5k9g8 playlist_id=none player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gr2tx5hzyjsff5k9g8/01gr2tx5hzyjsff5k9g8-c5ad88ce911816b457f603a83e1c48d1.jpg]

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

The time Urban Meyer tried recruiting LeBron James to Notre Dame

Who would have been Brady Quinn’s favorite target: Jeff Samardzija or King James?

While scanning some college basketball news Friday evening I came across the story that Bronny James, the oldest son of NBA great LeBron, is said to be down to three potential colleges.  It appears it’ll be between Ohio State, Oregon, and USC for Bronny.

I recalled something about LeBron once speaking about Notre Dame and didn’t recall the context.  So I did what we all do these days – performed a Google search of “LeBron James Notre Dame” and found out that he was once a recruiting target of the Irish.  It wasn’t for basketball though and it wasn’t just any run-of-the-mill assistant that offered him a scholarship.

According to a 2012 story written by Melissa Rohlin in the Los Angeles Times, it was Notre Dame wide receivers coach [autotag]Urban Meyer[/autotag] that extended LeBron a football scholarship all the way back in 2000.  James was coming off a sophomore football season where he secured 42 receptions for 820 yards and seven touchdowns.

“Thank you very much, I’ll consider it” is what Meyer said in 2012 about how James reacted to the offer.  It didn’t take long for his high school football coach to laugh it away, however.

“I didn’t know what he was laughing at,” Meyer said, “so we went down and sat in a room and he said, Do you know who that is?’ and I said, ‘No’ and he said, ‘LeBron James’ and I said, ‘Who’s LeBron James?’ and he said, ‘He’ll be the next Michael Jordan’ and I go, ‘Come on.'” – Los Angeles Times in 2012

James obviously didn’t take Meyer up on the offer. He played just one more year of high school football, catching 61 passes for over 1,200 yards and scoring 16 times as a junior.  The soon-to-be top-overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft didn’t play football as a senior.

Meyer didn’t argue about James choosing the right path, but had he gone football then Meyer thinks he would have been great at that, too.

“A first-round draft pick, a Hall of Famer,” Meyer said. “Obviously he’s a winner.”

James obviously made the right call but for a second just think about how he may have looked along with [autotag]Jeff Samardzija[/autotag], [autotag]Maruice Stovall[/autotag], and [autotag]Rhema McKnight[/autotag] while [autotag]Brady Quinn[/autotag] threw them all passes in Charlie Weis’ offense.

Check out a few pictures below from LeBron and Bronny’s Ohio State visit during Notre Dame’s season opening game against the Buckeyes this past September.

[lawrence-related id=59641,27265,22290]

 

Notre Dame double dips with latest offer to 2023 Arizona two-sport star

Could the Irish see another gridiron and diamond star on campus?

The Irish aren’t shy about letting some of their athletes play multiple sports, especially when they don’t overlap each other. Former Irish football and baseball star [autotag]Jeff Samardzija[/autotag] is a perfect example while recently we saw current Chicago Bear tight end [autotag]Cole Kmet[/autotag] doing the same as Samardzija.

[autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] and new Irish baseball manager [autotag]Shawn Stiffler[/autotag] have another potential future Irish athlete that could do the same in Arizona’s [autotag]Roch Cholowsky[/autotag]. The six-foot-two-inch and 180-pound athlete plays quarterback and is a shortstop and third-baseman as well, is currently committed to UCLA to play baseball. The opportunity to play both sports in South Bend is certainly enticing for Cholowksy however.

It seems like the Irish are really going hard after a 2023 quarterback, as they currently do not have one committed in the class. This offer is a bit different as it is not known if it’s just a baseball scholarship (which usually aren’t full-rides) or if it is a full football scholarship. Either way, the search to fill the quarterback hole is in full effect and judging by Cholowsky’s highlights, he’s got the skill set to play both at the next level.

[lawrence-related id=62606]

[lawrence-related id=62603]

[listicle id=29791]

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

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

Notre Dame’s long history of dominating North Carolina

Is there any ACC team you consider to be an actual rival of Notre Dame’s?

When you think of Notre Dame rivals the obvious teams come to mind.

Southern Cal, or USC as they prefer to be called, is probably first while next would be Michigan, who has bounced on and off the Irish schedule for decades because of the general dislike between the two.

Michigan State and Purdue from the Big Ten both have incredible histories with Notre Dame as does Pitt, who have taken on Notre Dame 69 times over the years.

North Carolina might not show up on the list of great Notre Dame rivals, but believe it or not they’re one of the most frequent opponents the Irish have ever played.  The two first met in 1949 and will play this Saturday for their 23rd football meeting all-time.

Related:  Notre Dame’s all-time results vs. each ACC team

In those previous 22 games Notre Dame has dominated to a 20-2 record, including last season’s Halloween eve victory over Carolina that didn’t feel nearly as close as the final score indicated.

Notre Dame and North Carolina met in 12 of 14 seasons between 1949 and 1962 with the Irish taking all but the 1960 contest, a 12-7 Tar Heels victory.

The two then met four times between 1965 and 1975 with Notre Dame taking each contest, the final being a comeback which rookie (freshmen were ineligible then) quarterback by the name of [autotag]Joe Montana[/autotag] came off the bench with eight minutes to play to lead a 21-14 comeback victory despite trailing 14-6 upon entry.

As exciting as that one was it’d be the last of Notre Dame and North Carolina anyone would see for over 30 years.  The two didn’t meet again until 2006 when the Irish won going away, 45-26, on a day that [autotag]Jeff Samardzija[/autotag] set the Notre Dame record for career touchdown receptions.

Notre Dame would then make the trip to North Carolina two years later and fall for just the second time to the Tar Heels, 29-24, in a game that went down to the final seconds.

Since Notre Dame’s football affair with the ACC began in 2014, the Irish and Tar Heels have met three times, all of which Notre Dame has been ranked for and ultimately won.

Next:  All-time game-by-game results

Pages: Page 1, Page 2