Tag: Tom Zbikowski

Happy birthday to Notre Dame football great Tom Zbikowski

An all-time Notre Dame favorite!

Few players in the last 30 years have been as beloved of members of the Notre Dame football team as [autotag]Tom Zbikowski[/autotag].  The product from Buffalo Grove High School in Illinois was responsible for as many memorable highlights as any Irish player from 2004-2007.

He might not have been the fastest but when the ball was in his hands as a defensive back or as a returner, good luck getting him down.

But not only did he make big plays, he did them in the biggest of games.  When you look at a list of who he scored his seven career touchdowns against (all on punt or turnover returns) and you see the likes of Michigan State, USC, Penn State, and Tennessee.

He did against the biggest of opponents with none of them being bigger than his electric punt return in the 2005 thriller against USC.

Zbikowski went on to play in the NFL from 2008-2013 while also keeping a foot in his boxing career and at one point being a Chicago fire fighter.

Happy birthday to Zibby who turns 39 today!

Enjoy some of the best photos from his career below!

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Notre Dame great gets assistant job in Ivy League

Zibby!

Former Notre Dame safety and punt returner Tom Zbikowski has put in work since he took off his shoulder pads the last time.  Notre Dame fans are well aware of his boxing career, he spent time as a Chicago fire fighter, and most recently served as a quality control coach at Western Michigan.

Zbikowski is now on the move to the Ivy League.  Zbikowski will coach the safeties at Brown University this year.  He obviously starred at that position during his time at Notre Dame before playing for the Ravens and Colts in the NFL.

Zbikowski will be looking to help Brown bounce back as they’re coming off a 2022 season that saw them go just 3-7.

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Watch: 2004 highlights of Notre Dame win at Michigan State

Remember this game?

One week after Notre Dame won its 2004 home opener over Michigan, it was time to head to East Lansing and take on Michigan State. With an opportunity to go over .500 for the first time that season, the Irish didn’t have the cleanest game as the special teams allowed two touchdowns. But the Spartans turned the ball over six times, one of which led to a [autotag]Tom Zbikowski[/autotag] 75-yard fumble return for a touchdown, in a 31-24 Irish victory.

Here’s how ESPN covered the highlights of that game:

[autotag]Brady Quinn[/autotag], completed less than half of his throws, but he threw for 215 yards. [autotag]Matt Shelton[/autotag] received 123 of those and caught Quinn’s lone touchdown pass. Quinn also ran for a touchdown himself and handed off to [autotag]Ryan Grant[/autotag] for another score. [autotag]Darius Walker[/autotag] ran for a game-high 98 yards on 26 carries.

While the season ultimately ended in disappointment, on one night in East Lansing, all was right for the 2004 Irish.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame appearances at MLB ballparks through the years

The Irish have been well-represented during ceremonial first pitches.

This is an exciting week for Notre Dame. Not everyone can say they’ve been at MLB’s two oldest ballparks during the same week, but this year’s Irish will be able to make that claim. They’ll face Northwestern at Wrigley Field on Tuesday before meeting Boston College at Fenway Park on Friday. The best part for us at Fighting Irish Wire is that we’ve been credentialed for both games, so we’ll be reporting the action directly from these historic venues.

With these two games taking place during the final week of the regular season, we thought it would be nice to take a look back at Notre Dame figures making appearances at MLB ballparks over the years. We’re not talking about when the football team has played games there or former Irish players who have made the big leagues. We’re talking about when figures have made appearances on behalf of the university. If you have a really good memory, maybe you can recall at least one of these:

Every Notre Dame NFL draft pick since 2000

There have been 102 Notre Dame players drafted since 2000. How many more will hear their names called this week?

Notre Dame’s 21st century didn’t start the way anyone would have liked as the Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham, and Charlie Weis eras all left something to be desired but the ship changed course under Brian Kelly who led the Irish back to the brink of the greatness that is expected for Notre Dame football.

Since 2000, more than 100 different Notre Dame football players have had their names called in the NFL draft.  Several others have signed as undrafted free agents but we’ll focus on those who were drafted for now.

Last year saw Kyle Hamilton and Kyren Williams have their names called.  This spring Michael Mayer and Isaiah Foskey will certainly hear theirs early, and others will join them in days two and three of the draft.

So who are the 102 who have had their names called since 2000?

Who wound up having the best careers and who didn’t have the career they or you were hoping?

You can almost certainly name plenty but there are some former Notre Dame greats you’ve likely forgotten about as well.  Here are the 102…and counting.

Every Notre Dame player ever drafted by the Baltimore Ravens

Who is your favorite player to have played at both Notre Dame and for the @TheRavensWire?

The Baltimore Ravens only came into existence in 1996 but in that roughly quarter century they’ve developed some roots with Notre Dame.

When safety Kyle Hamilton was announced as the Ravens’ first-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft, he became the ninth former Notre Dame player to have his name called by the Baltimore Ravens.

That makes it less than every three years that the Ravens take a Golden Domer.

Hamilton paid instant dividends for the Ravens in 2022 as he graded out as one of the top safeties in the entire NFL according to Pro Football Focus.  Could another former Notre Dame star be joining the Ravens soon?  We’ll know later this month when the 2023 NFL draft takes place in Kansas City.

Tom Zbikowski – Future Notre Dame coach?

An extremely candid interview with one of Notre Dame’s all-time favorites

Could one of the most beloved and most celebrated players in recent Notre Dame history be on the path to one day coaching under the golden dome? If everything goes according to plan, the answer would appear to be yes for [autotag]Tom Zbikowski[/autotag].

If you’re a certain age, which I am, you will recall the stardom Zbikowski brought to Notre Dame, especially from the 2004-2006 seasons. Not only was he an outstanding boxer away from the football field, but he was an All-American safety and one of the best punt returners Notre Dame has ever had.

Zbikowski, who keeps a fairly low profile these days, joined his former teammate Mike Goolsby on “The Mike Goolsby Show” on Sunday night.  During the roughly hour long discussion some very interesting things were brought up, including the former Irish stars discussing their biggest rivals, spilling some beans on a former head coach’s love for PowerPoint presentations, memories of the big upset at Tennessee in 2004, thoughts on name, image and likeness and plenty more.

It’s worth checking out in full, but worth noting is that Zbikowski recently interviewed for the special teams coordinator position at Western Michigan.  Zbikowski spent this past season serving as a volunteer defensive analyst for the Broncos. The former Notre Dame star admits he doesn’t follow the Irish too closely these days, but he has been impressed from what he’s seen and heard of Marcus Freeman from afar. He also added that he’d like to help improve Notre Dame’s punt return game one day.

It’s the work of Goolsby and his co-host Mike Singer at Blue and Gold Illustrated, so I don’t want to give away everything that’s discussed but instead want to encourage you to check it out. If you were a big follower of Notre Dame football for the first five or six years of the 2000s then it’s certainly worth an hour of your time.

In the meantime, check out some of the best photos of Zbikowski’s time at Notre Dame below:

Watch: Notre Dame commitment’s insane punt return on national TV

Best play you’ll see all weekend even if it happened on a Thursday.

Current Notre Dame commitment, five-star safety [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag] has seen his stock rise in the recruiting ranks in recent months.  He was ranked as a four-star talent when he announced his commitment on New Year’s Day and has only enhanced his ranking since.

If he ends up with Notre Dame remains to be seen as Oklahoma and Texas A&M are both charging hard for his talents and his commitment hasn’t been the strongest in public.

Thursday night saw Bowen and his Denton (Guyer) teammates playing on a national stage as ESPN2 showed their contest against in-state Allen.  Before some of you try to downplay this let’s get ahead of it and let you know that Allen is a Texas football power, was ranked 67th in the entire nation according to Max Preps, and had just one loss entering play, that coming in Week 1 against the team Max Preps has rated top nationally at the time and has fourth in their most recent rankings, Bellflower (St. John Bosco, Calif.).

Guyer just happens to be rated 16th and showed why Thursday night, routing Allen 49-7.

Bowen had a punt return for a touchdown in the contest that brought back memories of [autotag]Tom Zbikowski[/autotag] for Notre Dame fans of a certain age.  Take a look at this:

Related:  Twitter reacts to Bowen’s insane punt return for a touchdown

That is prime time and having already lost five-star [autotag]Keon Keeley[/autotag]’s commitment, keeping a ridiculous talent like Bowen’s is a top-priority as we near the finish line to the 2023 recruiting cycle.

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Notre Dame’s 2006 Home Games Now Available Online

2006 was supposed to trump that.  They entered the season ranked second in the nation behind only Ohio State it was supposed to be the year that returned Notre Dame to glory.

Instead it was the final run for some memorable Notre Dame players but never did it ever sniff the levels we were all hoping.  Notre Dame escaped Atlanta with a win in Week One before blowing out Penn State a week later.  Michigan would put an end to title dreams in Week Three before Notre Dame would win eight straight to make it to 10-1, only to get blown out by both USC and LSU to close the year.

2006 was the first year I entered my Notre Dame fandom since I probably nine (1995) that I had legit hopes for the Fighting Irish to make a run at a national championship.  2005 was a surprise season that saw the likes of Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija, Tom Zbikowski and plenty of others burst onto the scene en-route to a BCS berth in the Fiesta Bowl.

2006 was supposed to trump that.  They entered the season ranked second in the nation behind only Ohio State it was supposed to be the year that returned Notre Dame to glory.

Instead it was the final run for some memorable Notre Dame players but never did it ever sniff the levels we were all hoping.  Notre Dame escaped Atlanta with a win in Week One before blowing out Penn State a week later.  Michigan would put an end to title dreams in Week Three before Notre Dame would win eight straight to make it to 10-1, only to get blown out by both USC and LSU to close the year.

It was a memorable season even if it was disappointing compared to pre-season expectations.  Notre Dame re-aired the comeback win over UCLA this past Saturday and posted all of the other home games from that season to YouTube.

Here they are for future reference:

Week Two – No. 4 Notre Dame 41, No. 19 Penn State 17
In a five minute span (game time) Notre Dame went from up 6-0 to up 27-0 in what wound up being a rout of the defending Orange Bowl Champions.

Week Three – No. 11 Michigan 47, No. 2 Notre Dame 21
I’ve never left a sporting event as mad as I was when I left this one.  No further comment besides fire this thing into the sun.

Week Five – No. 12 Notre Dame 35, Purdue 21
A huge afternoon from Darius Walker finished with 209 total yards and rushing touchdown accompanied by a pair of Rhema McKnight touchdown receptions lifted the Irish on a pretty ho-hum afternoon.

Week Six – No. 12 Notre Dame 31, Stanford 10
Darius Walker had another huge day with nearly 200 yards of total offense and another score while Brady Quinn threw for 232 yards and three touchdowns in a rout of the then-winless Stanford Cardinal.

Week Eight – No. 10 Notre Dame 20, UCLA 17
It wasn’t pretty but it was a win that kept BCS dreams alive as Notre Dame made it four straight with a last second, Quinn to Samardzija touchdown hookup that helped the Irish avoid an upset.

Week 10 – No. 11 Notre Dame 45, North Carolina 26
Brady Quinn threw the ball all over the yard for 346 yards and four touchdowns as Jeff Samardzija pulled down 177 yards and a score.  Tom Zbikowski returned a punt for a touchdown for good measure in a game that was really never close against Carolina.

Week 12 – No. 6 Notre Dame 41, Army 9
Notre Dame donned the green jerseys for the final home game of 2006 which happened to take place the same afternoon as the One-versus-Two, Ohio State/Michigan game in Columbus.  Quinn, Walker and Samardzija all shined in what wound up being the final home game of real relevance for a handful of years.

2006 didn’t end the way any Notre Dame fans really wanted.  USC would wipe the floor with the Irish a week later before a BCS berth that was generous ended with a 41-14 massacre in the Super Dome against a far-superior LSU squad.  It was a disappointing year but it was also the closest to relevant football Notre Dame fans would have until really 2012 when the stars aligned for a 12-0 regular season.

WATCH: My Favorite Notre Dame Football Play, Ever

Quick – what is your absolute favorite play ever in Notre Dame football history?

Quick – what is your absolute favorite play ever in Notre Dame football history?  Heck, if you’re a bigger basketball fan you can share that as well but I’m legit curious as we sit here avoiding contact with each other and trying to pass the time until better days are upon us.

An up-start and top-ten Notre Dame team welcomed defending champion and No. 1 USC to Notre Dame Stadium.  It was the biggest game at Notre Dame in a dozen years and a classic wound up playing out.

A Brady Quinn pass found Jeff Samardzija for a 32 yard touchdown pass to tie things at 14 and Notre Dame’s defense answered the call forcing a three-and-out immediately after.

Then entered Tom Zbikowski:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t89zYrTfJ5w]

Forget for a second how things ended that afternoon and instead remember just that exact moment.  In the dozens of games I’ve been too I’ve never heard it louder, not even when Quinn gave the Irish the lead late in the fourth quarter.

From the Tom Malone punt nearly being blocked initially to Chase Anastasio’s block at the 37-yard line (seriously, go back and watch again and appreciate it) and finally Zbikowski breaking three tackles at the end to finish the return.

Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart and soon-to-be Heisman winner (before it was taken away) Reggie Bush coupled with Pete Carroll and everything USC was at the time, I thought for the life of me that Tom Zbikowski shifted the tide in what was to be a monumental win.

We all know it didn’t end that way and maybe it’s just me looking back at wide-eyed me in my very late teens. For a team I’ve always rooted for but never seen win a championship though, I don’t know if things have gotten much better for me as a Notre Dame fan than at that very moment.

So what’s yours?  Share it on our Facebook page or send us a tweet explaining which play and why, and maybe yours will be chosen for a future post here at FIW.