Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1235613
10 MAY 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME SIX FRESHMAN PREFERRED WALK-ONS ADDED TO 2020 ROSTER During head coach Brian Kelly's first 10 seasons, three different former walk-ons have earned a captaincy: line- backer Joe Schmidt (2015), and wide receivers Austin Webster (2017) and Chris Finke (2019). Two more were placed on scholarship in December: offensive lineman Colin Grunhard and running back Mick Assaf. One never knows when the next such feel-good story occurs, but a total of six preferred freshman walk-ons are expected to join the 2020 roster. Alphabetically, they are: Bryan Dowd, 6-3, 180 — Kicker/Punter This one is the most complicated be- cause the Fenwick High product from Oak Park, Ill., will be on a soccer schol- arship, and that season coincides with football's. He ranked as Top Drawer Soccer 's No. 1 goalkeeper in the nation and played for the U-17 U.S. National Team. Dowd also was a kicker/punter for Fenwick, converting 4 of 5 field goals and all 29 point after tries. Kevin Pendergast (1991-93) did come over from soccer to kicking in his time at Notre Dame. Griffin Eifert, 6-2, 205 — WR/S The younger brother of Notre Dame's 2012 Mackey Award winner and first- round NFL pick Tyler Eifert, Griffin helped lead Fort Wayne (Ind.) Bishop Dwenger to an 11-2 record, catching 30 passes for 478 yards and seven touchdowns while total- ing 42 tackles with five interceptions on defense. He had planned to walk-on at Purdue, where his father and brother Grady both played basketball. Giovanni Ghilotti, 6-4, 225 — DE/OLB From Greenbrae, Calif., Ghilotti starred at Marin Catholic and received scholar- ship offers from San Diego and Montana State. Ghilotti Construction has been one of the leading general engineering con- tractors in the Bay Area for more than a century. Chase Ketterer, 6-1, 185 — QB The nearby New Prairie, Ind., product is an option specialist (5,494 rushing yards and 98 touchdowns in his career). Connor Schmidt, 6-5, 270 — OL The two-way player also recorded 41 tackles and four sacks as a senior during a 10-2 season at Wheaton (Ill.) St. Francis. Charlie Selna, 6-7, 215 — TE/DE He was also a basketball standout for Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton, Calif., av- eraging 11.6 points and 9.3 rebounds per game for a 23-6 team. Football To Host UNLV In 2022 The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) an- nounced March 17 it will play Notre Dame for the first time ever when it trav- els to Notre Dame Stadium on Oct. 22, 2022. The Rebels have had only one winning season since 2001 (7-6 in 2013) and are 35-89 (.282 winning percent- age) since 2010. Former Oregon offensive coordinator Marcus Ar- royo (2017-19) was hired as the new head coach at UNLV this winter. Per the release, the Fighting Irish will pay UNLV a $1.35 million guarantee to play the game. It is the highest amount Notre Dame has paid or will pay for a guarantee game on its schedule from 2018-22, and second highest when including the 2024 game versus Northern Illinois. Notre Dame has paid or will pay the following guarantee sums to these upcoming opponents, according to contracts obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests conducted by Blue & Gold Illustrated: Ball State (2018): $1.1 million Bowling Green (2019): $1.1 million Western Michigan (2020): $1.175 million Toledo (2021): $1 million Cincinnati (2021): $1.2 million Marshall (2022): $1.25 million UNLV (2022): $1.35 million Northern Illinois (2024): $1.4 million Compared to other Power Five schools, Notre Dame is paying much less to host home games against teams outside that group. Alabama's payment of $1.7 million to Arkan- sas State for a 2018 game was believed to be the highest-ever sum for a guarantee game, Foot- ballScoop.com reported in 2016, when the contract was finalized. Georgia has since topped that on multiple occa- sions. The Bulldogs paid Arkansas State $1.8 mil- lion for a 2019 game and will reportedly pay Kent State (2022), UAB (2023) and Massachusetts (2024) $1.9 million each for home games. Auburn will also pay UMass $1.9 million for a game this fall. The ACC still has to determine what dates Notre Dame will play road games at North Carolina and Syracuse in 2022, plus at home versus Boston College. That leaves room for one more game. To the right is how the 2022 slate tentatively looks so far. Date Opponent Sept. 3 at Ohio State Sept. 10 Marshall Sept. 17 California Oct. 15 Stanford Oct. 22 UNLV Nov. 5 Clemson No. 26 at USC TBD Navy TBD Boston College TBD at North Carolina TBD at Syracuse