Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1220706
14 APRIL 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME UNDER THE DOME THEY SAID IT "KEVIN AUSTIN is going to be a star. I've been saying it all along, he's a super good player." — Former Notre Dame pass catcher Chase Claypool on the rising junior wide receiver, who was suspended in 2019 "It gave you a good perspective of what was going on at that time within college football. It definitely gives you a better insight into the demands and the lack of time you have with your players at that level. It's a whole new ball game when you get to the National Football League and this is your job." — Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur on how his year at Notre Dame in 2014 helped prepare him "This was not the season that any of us were expecting, but there have been lessons galore along the way. A lot of experiences, a lot of great life lessons, a lot of teachable moments. We learned about perseverance, we learned how to pick ourselves up after we got knocked down time after time after time. We learned how to fight, we learned how to be resilient. But there's one thing that we all need in our lives — the most important thing that you gave us, and that's hope. Hope that tomorrow's going to be better, next week and next year is going to be better. "We've had so many great moments and seasons and wins that I have been so thankful to have you be part of the journey. But every night when I walked out of the tunnel and saw all of you here, I've never been so grateful for the support that you've given me and this team. It means so much to all of us. So from the bottom of my heart from all of us — staff, players — from the ushers who take such great care of us, the police, the best band in the land, but most of all to you. Thank you." — Notre Dame women's basketball head coach Muffet McGraw addressing the Fighting Irish crowd after the final home game Feb. 27 "I think we're going to be addressing all of these things contractually to make certain that all the work we did to get to this point wasn't just so we could get in the [championship] game. Let's continue to move this in the direction, and get it to the point where we win a national championship. [It has been] a lot of hard work to get here." — Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly on the changes Notre Dame needs to make, including to facilities, in order to return to the upper echelon of college football (Yahoo) "From the ashes of a 4-8 debacle in 2016, the Irish have risen up to go 33-6 over the past three seasons, the program's best run since 1988-90 (which included their last national title). Kelly is recruiting as well or better than at any time in his 10-year tenure despite quite a bit of staff turnover the past several years." — The Athletic's Steward Mandel on why Brian Kelly is the sixth-best coach in college football "The combine can be most impactful for players trying to remake their bodies to play a different position. Claypool not only gained nearly 10 pounds (weighed in at 238), but he also kept the same explosiveness with a 4.42 40-yard dash and a 40.5-inch vertical. My biggest pre-combine worry was his ability to get off press on the outside and run a full route tree." — Michael Renner of Pro Football Focus on why Chase Clay- pool shot up NFL Draft boards after his performance at the Indianapolis Combine PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom Miriam Grady — Fencing The sophomore from Bloomfield, Colo., earned Most Valuable Fencer honors at the ACC Championships Feb. 22 in South Bend. She claimed her second consecutive con- ference title in the epee and then notched an 8-1 mark dur- ing team competition to help Notre Dame win its second straight league championship and fifth in six years. Grady, who finished 15th in the epee at the 2019 NCAA Championships, had a 52-25 re- cord heading into this year's national meet March 19-22 in Detroit. Gerek Meinhardt — Fencing The San Francisco native became the second Notre Dame fencing alum to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (joining his wife, Lee Kiefer). Meinhardt, who will be making his fourth Olympic appearance, became the youngest athlete to compete on a U.S. Olympic Fencing Team in 2008 at the age of 18 and earned a bronze medal in men's team foil at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. He is cur- rently ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 3 in the world in the men's foil. Tommy Sheehan — Baseball The junior left-hander from Brielle, N.J., was named the ACC Pitcher of the Week Feb. 17 after tossing seven scoreless innings and striking out a career-high nine in a 4-2 victory over UAB in the season opener Feb. 14. In his first four starts of the season, Sheehan was 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA. He allowed just 18 hits and five walks while striking out 22 in 23 1 ⁄3 innings. Abby Sweet — Softball The junior outfielder from Newhall, Calif., was tabbed as the ACC Player of the Week Feb. 25, following her performance in the Mary Nutter Classic. The team cap- tain Sweet posted 10 hits, six runs, eight RBI, four doubles, a home run and four steals dur- ing a weekend that saw wins versus No. 16 Arizona State, Seattle and BYU. Sweet was hitting .364 with two homers, 21 RBI and seven steals through 21 games. TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE MONTH ➤ "NFL Network wrapping up its Combine coverage, and they note that #NotreDame safety Alohi Gilman just cleaned up all the plastic bottles and tape in the end zone before leaving. He's just a good dude." — The official account of Matt Randall (@mattrandall_) March 1