Tag: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame Football: Three-Star CB Caleb Offord Signs with Irish

Offord is a three-star recruit from Mississippi and listed at 6-1, 180 pounds. He chose Notre Dame’s offer over those from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Duke and Kentucky.

Caleb Offord was one of four defensive backs to sign their National Letter of Intent to Notre Dame on Wednesday, adding depth to a unit that figures to be incredibly strong heading into the 2020 season.

Offord is a three-star recruit from Mississippi and listed at 6-1, 180 pounds. He chose Notre Dame’s offer over those from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Duke and Kentucky.

The Southaven, Mississippi native originally committed to Notre Dame on the Fourth of July this past summer and checks in as the 37th rated cornerback nationally and 13th best prospect in Mississippi this year according to 247Sports.

Offord intercepted seven passes between his junior and senior high school football seasons and recorded 66 tackles in that time.

Offord becomes Notre Dame’s first commitment from Mississippi during Brian Kelly’s ten years as head coach.

Notre Dame Football: Four-Star DE Rylie Mills Signs with Irish

The four-star recruit chose Notre Dame over other midwestern powers Ohio State, Wisconsin, Alabama and LSU among very many others.

 

Lake Forest, Illinois product and 6-5, 275 pound defensive end Rylie Mills signed his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday and is headed to Notre Dame.

The four-star recruit chose Notre Dame over other midwestern powers Ohio State, Wisconsin, Alabama and LSU among very many others.

Mills will enroll early at Notre Dame and will likely not play in more than four games next season in order to preserve a year of eligibility.

He ranks as the ninth best strong-side defensive end per Rivals and is the fourth-rated player in this years class from the state of Illinois.

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Mills attended the same high school as Notre Dame assistant coach Tommy Rees and has trained under former Irish linebacker Kerry Neal for sometime.

Irish in the NFL: Dolphins sign Jonathan Bonner to practice squad

The Miami Dolphins signed former Notre Dame defensive tackle Jonathan Bonner to their practice squad, keeping his NFL dreams alive.

The long and winding road for former Notre Dame defensive end Jonathan Bonner has taken him to Miami.

Bonner, who nearly left Notre Dame after his senior year to pursue a career in IT, decided to come back for his fifth year and helped wreak havoc on the defensive line alongside Jerry Tillery in 2018.

Despite the stellar campaign, Bonner went undrafted in the 2019 NFL Draft. He was quickly picked up by the Redskins however, and played well for them in the preseason before getting cut.

Now, Bonner has been signed to the practice squad of the Miami Dolphins, keeping his NFL dream alive, at least for the time being.

While it won’t be easy to crack the 53-man roster, Miami might very well be the best case scenario for Bonner to make his NFL debut at some point in the final few weeks of the season.

Bonner recorded 64 combined tackles and two sacks with the Irish from 2015-2018.

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Notre Dame Football: DT Aidan Keanaaina Signs with Irish

Keanaaina chose Notre Dame over offers from the likes of Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State and USC among others.

Notre Dame continued to see the signed letters of intent pour in Wednesday as Aidan Keanaaina of Denver’s was the sixth to arrive.

Keanaaina is a defensive tackle and is listed as three-star recruit on 247Sports.

Keanaaina chose Notre Dame over offers from the likes of Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State and USC among others.

The 6-3, 292 pound defensive tackle will participate in the Polynesian Bowl on January 18, a game you can watch on CBS Sports Network.

Notre Dame Football: Four-Star OL Michael Carmody Signs with Irish

now they officially have a young man from Mars.

Brian Kelly has spoke often about being willing to play anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Apparently that philosophy also applies to recruiting. As you read earlier today, Kelly’s staff was able to land Alexander Ehrensberger from Germany in this recruiting class and now they officially have a young man from Mars.

Mars, Pennsylvania that is.

6-6, 285 pound offensive tackle Michael Carmody signed his NLI Wednesday and will enter Notre Dame as one of the most highly-regarded offensive tackles in the nation this year.

Carmody chose Notre Dame while holding offers and making official visits to Ohio State, Texas A&M and Penn State.

Carmody will enroll at Notre Dame this coming summer.

Notre Dame Football: Cornerback Landon Bartleson Signs with Irish

Bartleson is listed at 6-1, 182 pounds and originally committed to Notre Dame back in June of this year.

Signee number four of Wednesday morning was three-star cornerback Landon Bartleson of Danville, Kentucky (Boyle County High School).

Bartleson chose Notre Dame over the likes of Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan and Colorado.

If you’d like to see his speed on display the best example of that would be this touchdown run early this past September.

Bartleson is listed at 6-1, 182 pounds and originally committed to Notre Dame back in June of this year.

Notre Dame’s National Signing Day: Five Things to Know

Five-star wide receiver Jordan Johnson hadn’t announced if he was going to announce his signing on Wednesday and some took that as him not being thrilled with Chip Long’s departure and what it meant for his commitment.

 

The early period for recruits in the class of 2020 to sign their letters of intent is upon us and it promises to be a huge day for the future of Notre Dame football.

The first commitment was announced by the Notre Dame football Twitter account around 1:30 AM ET on Wednesday with the official announcement coming from German prospect, Alexander Ehrensberger, a three-star defensive end.

In what will be a huge day in shaping the landscape of college football for the next few years here are five things you should know about Notre Dame’s day:

1:  Size Matters (at least in rankings):

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6

Notre Dame Football: Star Tight End Recruit Confirms Commitment

Theoretically that is still the case with Notre Dame and Michael Mayer, a four-star tight end recruit out of Alexandria, Kentucky, but there sure don’t appear to be any issues holding him up from officially becoming part of Notre Dame’s 2020 class.

I understand it because until the ink is dry and every “t” is crossed and “i” is dotted there is always a chance something could change.

Theoretically that is still the case with Notre Dame and Michael Mayer, a four-star tight end recruit out of Alexandria, Kentucky, but there sure don’t appear to be any issues holding him up from officially becoming part of Notre Dame’s 2020 class.

With the early signing period coming Wednesday, Mayer took to Twitter to confirm his intentions later this week.

You can see the top-rated player in Kentucky participate in the 2020 Army All-American Bowl on January 4. The game will air on NBC at 2:00 pm ET.

Mayer is one of five Notre Dame commitments scheduled to appear in the game.

Notre Dame Football: John Shannon Wins Inaugural Patrick Mannelly Award

John Shannon is a name only the most doe-hard of Notre Dame fans are probably familiar with even though he has played in every Fighting Irish game over the last three seasons.

John Shannon is a name only the most doe-hard of Notre Dame fans are probably familiar with even though he has played in every Fighting Irish game over the last three seasons.

His most recent game saw him get awarded the game ball because of a huge play he made in determining the victorious outcome at Stanford.

That wasn’t the only hardware Shannon would bring home in 2019 however as Saturday night he was awarded the inaugural Patrick Mannelly Award for being the best senior long snapper in the nation, edging out Liam McCullough of Ohio State and Steven Wirtel, Iowa State.

Taken from the official award website is the following:

Long Snappers don’t make the cover of the program. They’re rarely asked to sign autographs. You don’t typically see them being interviewed before the game. But Long Snappers aren’t driven by these things. Quiet, selfless, focused and courageous, the Long Snapper is content to trade conventional superstardom for the opportunity to do one job very well.  – PatrickMannellyAward.com

Upon reading that I find it fitting Shannon won the award on Saturday of all days. Just hours earlier Brian Kelly announced that Shannon would be passing up his fifth year of eligibility at Notre Dame. It wasn’t because he is trying to make it on an NFL roster, however, it’s because he’s beginning his career in law enforcement.

Notre Dame Football: Tight End U Product Up for Man of the Year Award

But it’s something much bigger than football that has Kyle Rudolph in the headlines this week.

Kyle Rudolph was one of many Notre Dame tight ends in recent memory to go from playing under the golden dome to playing on Sunday.

Since his NFL career began in 2011 he’s caught more than 420 balls for over 4000 yards and 47 touchdowns. He’s been a mainstay with the Minnesota Vikings for almost a decade now and will be headed to the playoffs this January for the fourth time in his career.

But it’s something much bigger than football that has Kyle Rudolph in the headlines this week.

As successful of career as he’s had, snagging first down and touchdown receptions like they’re going out of style, Rudolph may very-well go down being remembered more for his contributions off the field, which is saying something because he’s one helluva football player, too.

Rudolph was nominated for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for the third time in his career this past Thursday.

I have no doubt if we were to examine the nominees from all 32 teams we would find 32 inspiring stories worthy of praise.

But since this websites name is Fighting Irish Wire, why don’t we take a look at exactly what Rudolph has done to again earn a nominee.

Here is the video the Vikings came up with last season. Honestly if he didn’t win it after this I don’t know how he ever will but it’s that good so take the seven or so minutes and watch this:

Then here is the video they used this year – clearly an incredible job using his platform to better the cause for the less fortunate.

Every nominee will receive up to $50,000 for a charity of their choice will the eventual winner will receive $250,000 to go to their desired charity.

For information on all 32 nominees you can check out the NFL website who has compiled all of the information.

The winner will be announced at the NFL Awards Show on the eve of Super Bowl LIV.