Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 AUGUST 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom Jessica Harris — Track & Field The fifth-year senior from Cockeysville, Md., finished her career by re- cording a season-best time of 4:11.96 en route to a third- place finish and All-America accolades in the 1,500 me- ters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Harris, who also earned All- America honors in cross country during the fall, was named the ACC Women's Track Athlete of the Year and was one of 585 nominees for the NCAA's Woman of the Year award. Trevor Janicke — Hockey The incoming freshman forward from Maple Grove, Minn., was selected 132nd overall in the fifth round by the Anaheim Ducks on the second day of the 2019 NHL Draft June 22. Janicke is the 85th member of the Notre Dame hockey program to be drafted. He compiled 48 points (22 goals and 26 assists) while captaining the Central Illinois Flying Aces of the USHL this past year. Niko Kavadas — Baseball The junior third baseman from Granger, Ind., has excelled while playing for the Harwich Mariners of the prestigious Cape Cod League this summer. Through July 15, he was batting .277 with team highs in total hits (26), home runs (seven) and RBI (22) in 27 games. Kavadas, who led the league in home runs and was tied for the lead in RBI, was named an All-Star starter for the East Division and will participate in the home-run hitting contest. Joley Mitchell — Softball The incoming freshman from Rose Bud, Ark., earned a spot on USA Today's All-USA High School Softball Team and was tabbed as the National Player of the Year. Mitchell, a third baseman/ catcher, led Rose Bud High to a 35-1 record en route to the Class 3A state title in 2019. She hit .717 with 13 home runs and 55 RBI, while setting state records for runs scored (85) and stolen bases (34). TOP OF THE CLASS ✦ GIMME FIVE From 2003-06, Brady Quinn started 46 con- secutive games — a Notre Dame quarterback record that shattered the previous mark of 34 straight by Tom Clements from 1972-74. (Rick Mirer started 36 of 37 from 1990-92, missing only the first series versus Purdue in 1991.) Quinn's successor, Jimmy Clausen, had 28 starts in a row in 2007-09, including all 25 his final two seasons. However, in the nine years since the start of the Brian Kelly era in 2010, no Notre Dame quar- terback has started every game two consecu- tive years. DeShone Kizer was the closest when he started the final 11 contests in 2015 after a season-ending injury to Malik Zaire and all 12 during the 4-8 fiasco in 2016. During the seven-year stretch from 2011-17, a different quarterback started each opener, and senior Ian Book is expected to make it eight out of nine Sept. 2 at Louisville. This year Book will attempt to become the third Irish quarterback under Kelly to start every game (Tommy Rees in 2013 and Kizer in 2016). Here are the five with the most starts under Kelly: Rk. Quarterback (Years) Starts (Record) 1. Tommy Rees (2010-13) 31 (23-8) 2. DeShone Kizer (2014-16) 23 (12-11) Everett Golson (2011-14) 23 (17-6) 4. Brandon Wimbush (2015-18) 16 (13-3) 5. Ian Book (2016-present) 10 (9-1) Note: Dayne Crist (2010-11) also had 10 starts (4-6), but played only one series in one and one half the other. CHARTING THE IRISH ESPN released its first Football Power Index for the 2019 campaign July 7, and it provided optimism among Notre Dame fans who are hoping for another run to the College Football Playoff. The FPI is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team's performance going forward the rest of the season. FPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Projected results are based on 10,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI, results to date and the remaining schedule. The ESPN analytic has the Fighting Irish 18.2 points better than the average college football squad heading into the season, which ranks seventh nationally. Only Clemson (29.2), Alabama (27.9), Georgia (22.3), LSU (21.7), Michigan (21.2) and Oklahoma (19.6) were rated higher. The FPI projects the Irish to finish with 9.4 wins and 2.6 losses, and gives them a 2.6 per- cent chance to finish the regular season unde- feated. It also ranked Notre Dame's schedule 51st in the country. The Irish slate features a pair of very dif- ficult road contests at Georgia and Michigan, but otherwise is filled with highly winnable contests. In fact, the FPI gives Notre Dame at least an 80 percent chance to emerge victori- ous in eight of its games, with another at 79.7 percent. At right is a look: — Steve Downey Opponent FPI ND's Projected Opponent (National Rank) Win Pct. Bowling Green -15.2 (122) 98.6 New Mexico -13.4 (115) 98.6 Navy -13.6 (116) 98.3 Boston College -0.3 (65) 92.4 at Louisville -1.0 (66) 88.1 Virginia +5.7 (43) 86.7 at Duke +1.2 (56) 82.5 Virginia Tech +8.1 (32) 80.8 USC +10.0 (25) 79.7 at Stanford +7.6 (33) 67.8 at Michigan +21.2 (5) 37.1 at Georgia +22.3 (3) 29.7 Current Notre Dame quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees has made the most career starts at the position in head coach Brian Kelly's nine sea- sons, and he is one of only two signal-callers to start every game in a single season. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL