Tag: notre dame tight ends

Happy National Tight Ends Day from Tight End U

We can’t possibly let #NationalTightEndsDay go by without celebrating. Who is the best to ever play the position at Tight End U?

Happy National Tight Ends Day to all that celebrate.

And if you’re a fan of Notre Dame football either past or present, you’re likely a fan of the tight end as nobody has produced as much talent at the position for as long as Notre Dame.

In all, 25 Notre Dame tight ends have had their names called in the NFL draft, the most recent being Tommy Tremble who went in the third round of the 2021 NFL draft.  He’s the most recent for Brian Kelly, who has seemingly put a tight end into the NFL every year.

According to ProFootballNetwork.com, National Tight End’s Day became a thing thanks to San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

 “We were on the sidelines after Celek’s score when Jimmy asked, ‘What is it, like National Tight Ends Day?.’ I was like, ‘yeah, it’s National Tight Ends Day. It’s a holiday. Tight ends all over the league are scoring touchdowns.’ That’s how it came to be. We just kind of rolled with it.”
– George Kittle, star tight end for San Francisco 49ers

So let’s take a look at just a few of the great tight ends that have played for Notre Dame aka Tight End U over the years.

Irish’s Mayer added onto Freshman 15, the good version

Notre Dame’s freshman tight end is already turning heads just one game into his Irish career. And this freshman 15 is not bad.

When you think of the freshman 15, you don’t normally think of it as being a good thing. Well, in this case it is, as Notre Dame freshman tight end Michael Mayer made Rivals freshman 15 list. It consists of the best 15 freshman playing football this fall .

The highly talented Mayer is ranked as the 10th best true freshman hitting the gridiron this fall. We already know that he is talented. I can’t stop watching his 3rd down catch, where he trucked over a defender to get the 7 yards needed for the first down.

Here it is because you can’t have enough Michael Mayer in your life.

We can expect to see plays like this for the next 3 years. Yeah, I’m saying it now, Mayer will be a 3-and-out player for Notre Dame. Talents like his don’t come around often, so we should enjoy the time that Mayer wears the Blue and Gold.

Mike Farrell, who comprised the list, had a glowing review of the freshman, saying “Mayer is too talented to be kept off the field for Notre Dame and that has already shown. He’s likely the next great tight end in that offense with his ability to stretch the field and separate.”

As long as Mayer stays healthy, he will compile some big stats for the Irish. Those stats should translate into a high draft pick as well, maybe even topping his predecessor, Cole Kmet’s early second round selection.

Four-Star ’22 Tight End Commits to Notre Dame

The good news for Notre Dame is that the Fighting Irish didn’t have to wait long for their second commitment in the ’22 class as tight end Jack Nickel made his commitment on Monday afternoon.

It took a while for Notre Dame to land their first commitment in the 2022 recruiting class as four-star offensive tackle Joey Tanona broke the seal on that over the weekend.

The good news for Notre Dame is that the Fighting Irish didn’t have to wait long for their second commitment in the ’22 class as tight end Jack Nickel made his commitment on Monday afternoon.

Nickel is listed at 6-4, 230 pounds and from Alpharetta, Georgia (Milton).  He chose Notre Dame despite having offers from 26 other schools including Iowa, Wisconsin, Penn State and LSU.

Nickel is the first tight end to commit to Notre Dame’s 2022 class but joins an incredibly talented group that features four-star Cane Berrong from the ’21 class, five-star Michael Mayer from the ’20 class and four-star Kevin Bauman, also of the ’20 class.

The Fighting Irish certainly haven’t hit on everything out of the gate in regards to the ’22 class but it’s nice to see the commitments finally start to roll in after what had felt like a pretty significant wait.

2020 Virtual Notre Dame Football Cards: George Takacs, Tight End

Card number three in the 2020 Virtual Notre Dame football set belongs to tight end George Takacs, who has his work cut out for him.

Remember how great football cards were when you were a kid?  So do we!  We unfortunately can’t print out a bunch of pictures on cardboard and send them to all of you but we have the next best thing, virtual player cards for the 2020 Notre Dame football team!  Here you’ll find all the information, stats, facts and in some cases a photo gallery and/or highlights of all of your favorite Notre Dame players ahead of the 2020 season.  Check it out as we build the complete team set throughout July!

Card number three in the set is that of tight end George Takacs as he enters his third year with the Fighting Irish.

Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Next:  Information and Stats

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

Notre Dame is Not named Tight End U?!?

A point system to establish Tight End U by 247Sports doesn’t have the Irish on top. Find out who was and where they placed Notre Dame.

Many of us have automatically assumed that every list that ranks collegiate tight ends always seems to have Notre Dame next to the number 1. Well, that wasn’t the case when 247Sports looked into the matter, in fact they named Iowa as Tight End U.

This is all based on what have you done for me lately, as Barton Simmons explains the timeframe is just for the last 5 years. A point system that awards a first round pick 7 points, a second rounder worth 6 and so on, saw the Irish finish with 11 points, good for a tie for 5th on their list.

With “just” 3 draftees in the last five years: Durham Smythe in the fourth round in 2018, Alize Mack in the seventh round last year, and Cole Kmet in the first round this past draft got the Irish to their somewhat disappointing ranking. The quantity is good however, as the Irish only trail Stanford with their four drafted players in the time span.

Simmons looks at this current unit and sees “some good tight ends left on the roster in Brock Wright and Tommy Tremble but true freshman Michael Mayer is the next guy that could sniff a first-round level career.” Although they weren’t named the best group in the last five years, the future looks bright when you also add in 2021 commit Cane Berrong to the lineage.

There is much debate when it comes to assembling these kinds of lists, arguments are surely to arise when trying to rank positional groups. The great news for the Irish is that these numbers should only improve within the next five years as the current and future group should continue the great tradition in South Bend.

Kyle Rudolph Donates 82,000 Meals in Wake of COVID-19 Outbreak

Point number two played itself out yet again Monday as it was announced that Kyle Rudolph is yet again helping out his community.  This time the former Pro Bowl MVP is donating 82,000 meals to families hit the hardest by the COVID-19 outbreak in the Minneapolis area.

If you have paid any attention to former Notre Dame tight end Kyle Rudolph since he left campus you’re probably aware of a couple things:

1. He’s still a red-zone weapon now nine years into his NFL career, having scored 47 touchdowns to date, six of which came this past season.

2. He’s an infinitely better person off the field.

Point number two played itself out yet again Monday as it was announced that Rudolph is yet again helping out his community.  This time the former Pro Bowl MVP is donating 82,000 meals to families hit the hardest by the COVID-19 outbreak in the Minneapolis area.

“Growing up, I never had to worry about not having meals if we didn’t have school, and that’s not the case for a lot of kids around our community,” Kyle told Vikings.com. “There’s a lot of families who are going without meals because mom and/or dad aren’t able to work right now … so we wanted to do something here for the families in our community that we know are being directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.” – Kyle Rudolph to Vikings.com

Rudolph is also heading “Rudy’s Meal Plan” where he hopes to raise $200,000 dollars for Second Harvest Heartland, a foundation with the goal of eliminating hunger.

If you’d like to help Rudolph reach his $200,000 goal you can do so here.

It’s not why he does it but I really do hope that Rudolph ends up winning a Walter Payton Man of the Year Award at some point.  That’s not to take anything away from the great work countless NFL players do annually but you can see how much giving back means to Rudolph and his family regularly.

Now enjoy this picture of Rudolph back in his high school days that the All-American Bowl tweeted out Monday evening.

Notre Dame Latest to Offer Texas Star Tight End

Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish staff addressed that Wednesday as they became the 19th different program to offer a scholarship to 6-4, 210 pound tight end Donovan Green of Dickinson, Texas.

Notre Dame has been Tight End U for about as long as tight end has been a position in college football.  Whether it be Dave Casper, Mark Bavaro, Ken MacAfree or some of the latest greats like Tyler Eifert, Anthony Fasano, Kyle Rudolph or even Cole Kmet, the position has been nothing short of loaded for Notre Dame for quite some time.

Now 2020 signees Michael Mayer and Kevin Bauman appear to have the position headed for just as strong of near-future.

What about after them?

Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish staff addressed that Wednesday as they became the 19th different program to offer a scholarship to 6-4, 210 pound tight end Donovan Green of Dickinson, Texas.

247 and Rivals both don’t have a star rating yet for the current high school sophomore but a look at the schools who have offered him tell you he’s a hot commodity.  Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and Washington are just a handful of the other 18 schools to have offered Green.

6-4, 210 looks monsterous for a high school player but it’s not just his size that sticks out, its his strength as well for a sophomore playing against young men a year or two older than him.

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We may not know where Green decides to attend college for literally years but Notre Dame is in and if I’m a top tight end in the country, I certainly couldn’t help but be interested in them.

Stay tuned to Fighting Irish Wire all year long as we’ll continue to keep you updated on all happenings with not just Green but all things Notre Dame and Notre Dame recruiting.

Notre Dame Football: Tight End U Finds New Tight Ends Coach

former Rutgers offensive coordinator at Penn State analyst, John McNulty is expected to be named Brian Kelly’s new tight ends coach

Notre Dame has had a ridiculous run of talent for decades and decades at tight end and with a loaded class at the position in the 2020 recruiting class, that doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Now, the Fighting Irish appear to have a new tight end coach to lead the traditionally loaded position.

Bruce Feldman of The Athletic and Fox Sports reported Saturday morning that former Rutgers offensive coordinator at Penn State analyst, John McNulty is expected to be named Brian Kelly’s new tight ends coach.

McNulty is a football-lifer. He was a safety at Penn State from 1988-1990 before beginning a coaching career as a graduate assistant at Michigan. Since then his stops have included Connecticut, the Jacksonville Jaguars, Dallas Cowboys, Rutgers, Arizona Cardinals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers and again at Rutgers before joining James Franklin’s staff at Penn State as an analyst late in 2019.

247Sports & Irish Illustrated reported last week that McNulty was highly recommended by Nick Saban who once pursued him as an assistant.

I won’t pretend to know anything about him besides what his resume says but the fact Saban and Franklin speak highly of him, not just in words but in pursuing him speaks highly to me.

I doubt this hire makes or breaks the future of the position but I have trouble thinking the traditionally loaded position for Notre Dame doesn’t continue to produce at an extremely high level.