Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 MAY 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME UNDER THE DOME THEY SAID IT "I don't have any regrets. Even though it was a month or two, I still feel like I got a good start and was able to bond with my teammates and the other freshmen that are midyear guys." — Freshman wide receiver and 2020 early enrollee Xavier Watts on his first semester at Notre Dame getting cut short (The Omaha World-Herald) "I don't want to create the impression that we're engaged in sophisticated modeling. We're not. There are just too many unknowns. We're more in discussion about: What are the critical dates on the calendar? What might the decision-making look like? I remain optimistic. I don't know that you have any other choice. Other than being prudent in planning, there's not a lot of benefit in assuming the contrary. So our operating assumption is that there will be a full college football season. You don't want to take your eye off that ball and get too consumed with the alternative. We'll have enough time, as we get to critical dates down the road, if we need to shift course. But our focus is very much on playing a full season." — Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick (The South Bend Tribune) "The progression has to be slow and steady. But also heart rate, heart rate variability, I think that's going to be huge on what guys have done up to that point. So you're looking at certain guys who will be in better condition than other guys. We need to get to 90 percent of max speeds at some point before we start train- ing camp. How long will it take for our guys to get to that point? We feel like as Coach [Brian Kelly] said, four weeks, at the minimum, will allow us to do that. Take us into training camp." — Notre Dame strength and conditioning coach Matt Balis on ramping up his workout program through May (The Athletic) "It's bittersweet. I want to be back [in South Bend] working out with my teammates, but being home with the family, you've just got to take advantage of it." — Notre Dame fifth-year senior quarterback Ian Book on being home during the novel coronavirus pandemic (KRCA-TV) "If anybody can really predict what can happen next week, they should be in the stock market. I heard Kirk Herbstreit come out and say, 'No way.' Kirk does not know what he's talking about. Really? For him to talk in those terms, he's not a scientist. He's a college football analyst. We'll let the scientists determine those things." — Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly on people saying there will not be a college football season in 2020 (WSBT Radio Sportsbeat) "As good as it looked on the field, it was even better off the field. He is my brother and that will be my brother for life. That's how the whole defense, the whole team, was. We really prided ourselves on being a close and tight-knit group. It makes it easy when you're playing with somebody that you would go to war with and you would go to war for. Playing with him and knowing that he had my back through the adverse situations really helped me on the field." — Former Notre Dame safety Jalen Elliott on his relationship with fellow safety Alohi Gilman (The Jim Rome Show) PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER OF THE MONTH ➤ "Cincinnati has landed a big-time transfer in former Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Young • 27 games, 179 receiving yards, 2 TDs • A high 3 star recruit out of high school and top 50 receiver • Had 22 offers He will be eligible to play immediately" — The Bearcat Outsider (@BearcatOutsider) on April 12 Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom Kasey Choma — Lacrosse The freshman from Manorville, N.Y., scored a team-high 22 goals for No. 2 Notre Dame, which was 7-0 before the season was can- celed. She had four goals in head coach Christine Halfpen- ny's 100th career win, a 13-9 victory versus Duke March 1. Choma scored four goals once again in a 16-6 win over Vanderbilt March 11, which became the Irish's last game of the season. Her 23 points ranked second on the team. Alexis Holloway — Softball The junior from Crown Point, Ind., was the win- ning pitcher in Notre Dame's first ACC victory, tossing a complete game while allowing six hits in a 6-2 triumph over Duke Feb. 28. She threw a five- inning, three-hit shutout in the Irish's last game, a 2-0 road win at UC Santa Barbara March 10. Holloway ended the year with an 8-6 record, a 1.09 ERA and .196 opponent batting average. Notre Dame finished with a 13-9 overall record. Spencer Myers — Baseball The junior outfielder from Tampa, Fla., was of- fering a fine encore after lead- ing Notre Dame in four major offensive categories last year. He led the country in stolen bases per game (1.25, 15 in 12 contests) and was on pace to sprint by A.J. Pollock's 28 steals in 2008, which no Irish player has topped since. Myers was hitting a team-best .431 with a .492 on-base percentage and a seven-to-five walk-to-strikeout ratio. Yared Nuguse — Track and Field The junior from Louisville was named the Great Lakes Region Men's Track Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCCA March 6. He was the anchor for Notre Dame's indoor distance med- ley relay team that clocked the second-best time in the history of the NCAA (9:25.80). Nuguse also had top-five national times in the mile and 3,000 meters. He was set to com- pete at the NCAA Indoor Championships be- fore it was canceled. TOP OF THE CLASS