Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1246464
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com JUNE/JULY 2020 9 UNDER THE DOME 3 Straight years Notre Dame senior goaltender Cale Morris was named Team MVP on the hockey team that this season finished 15-15-7 over- all and 9-9-6-4 in the Big Ten. Since the program's start in 1968, Morris is the third player to earn team MVP honors three times, joining Matt Eisler (1994-95, 1996-97, 1997-98) and Mike McNeill (1985-86, 1986-87, 1987-88). The Larkspur, Colo., native posted the top career save percentage in pro- gram history with a .931 mark, while his career goals against average (2.17) and 58 victories (58-35-11) each rank second. As a sophomore in 2017-18, he was the Mike Richter Award winner as the nation's top goaltender when the Fighting Irish were the NCAA runner-up. 11 Tight ends from Notre Dame selected in the first or second round in the modern NFL Draft (since the NFL-AFL merger in 1967). COLE KMET was the most recent this year in round two — and the third tight end under head coach Brian Kelly to be selected first overall at his position in the draft. Miami has had seven tight ends taken in the first or second round over that same time. Particularly notable is the consistency decade after decade from Tight End U: 1970s — Hall of Fame members Dave Casper (college and pro) in the 1974 second round and Ken MacAfee (college) in the 1978 first round. 1980s — Tony Hunter in the 1983 first round. 1990s — Derek Brown in the 1992 first round, followed by Irv Smith in the 1993 first round. 2000s — Anthony Fasano in the 2006 second round and John Carlson in the 2008 second round. 2010s — Kyle Rudolph in the 2011 second round, Tyler Eifert in the 2013 first round and Troy Niklas in the 2014 second round. 2020s — Kmet. That is not including 12 other Fighting Irish tight ends drafted in that 50-year span, among them future All-Pro and fourth-round pick Mark Bavaro in 1985. 24 Years since the Fighting Irish had a wide receiver selected in the NFL Draft in three consecutive seasons. This year sec- ond-round pick Chase Claypool followed third-round choice Miles Boykin (2019) and sixth-round option Equanimeous St. Brown (2018). That had not occurred since 1994-96 with Lake Dawson in the 1994 third round, Mike Miller in the 1995 fifth round and Derrick Mayes in the 1996 second round. 511 Notre Dame players drafted by the NFL since the first one held in 1936. With the six this year and only two by USC, the Fighting Irish and Trojans are now tied for the most by one school. Through 10 NFL Drafts now in the Brian Kelly era, a total of 45 Notre Dame players have been selected, notably a minimum of six in five of the last eight years. The highest mark under him occurred in 2014 with eight, two of them juniors in defensive line- man Stephon Tuitt and tight end Troy Niklas. 1980 Marked the most recent year a pair of brothers who played football at Notre Dame also were with the same team in the NFL — with defensive ends Romeo Okwara (2012-15) and Julian Okwara (2016-19) both now with the Detroit Lions, the latter as a third-round draft pick in April. The most recent combination to achieve the distinction was defensive lineman Ross Browner and safety Jim Browner, who started together for the 1977 national champions before also teaming up with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1979 and 1980. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY ANDRIS VISOCKIS