Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2020 Notre Dame Football Preview
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1264448
138 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2020 FOOTBALL PREVIEW 1. WR Chase Claypool — He repeatedly was the get-out-of-jail card for the offense and quarterback Ian Book with his acrobatic, jump-ball receptions at 6-4 that earned him Team MVP honors. His 1,037 receiving yards more than doubled everyone else, as did his 13 touchdown grabs, and his physicality as a blocker, toughness and consistent excellence in special teams coverage as a gunner were traits to emulate. He also played effectively with three dislocated fingers. 2. DE KHALID KAREEM — The defense's rock from games one through 13, he had the team's top over - all grade from Pro Football Focus (83.0). Kareem graded out better than 80 against both the run and pass, no easy feat. His 561 snaps were nearly 100 more than anyone else along the line — despite suffering a torn labrum at Duke Nov. 9 and playing the final three regular-season games and refusing to sit out the bowl game to better prepare for the NFL. "I couldn't look at myself in the mirror knowing that I had something left in the tank and I didn't give it to my team," Kareem said. 3. QB Ian Book — He was one of two just quarterbacks nationally in 2019, along with Oklahoma's Jalen Hurts, to pass for more than 2,500 yards and 30 touchdowns and also eclipse 500 rushing yards. Book also was the first to do so at Notre Dame, and one of only five in the Football Bowl Subdivision since 2017. Steering clutch fourth-quarter touchdown drives versus USC and Virginia Tech were even more pertinent. 4. LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah — In his first full season of action, the junior rover kept elevating his all-around play while showcasing freakish skills. He paced the team in tackles (80), stops for lost yardage (13.5), sacks (5.5) and fumbles recovered (two, while forcing two more), while his pass coverage skills, quickness and instincts enabled him to stay on the field as a "big nickel." T5. LT Liam Eichenberg and TE Cole Kmet — A second-round pick as a junior, Kmet excelled as a receiver after missing the first two games with an injury. Eichenberg's 77.6 grade by PFF was second on the offense, behind only Claypool. A main issue to clean up is Eichenberg's 11 penalties, which led the team. 1. Offensive Line, Tony Jones Jr. Dominate USC — Oft-maligned for its lack of push, the Irish front line in this hard-fought 30-27 victory asserted itself with 308 rushing yards and 6.4 yards per carry. The hard-charging Jones barreled for a career-high 176 yards on 25 carries. 2. Julian Okwara, Pass Rush Overwhelm Virginia — The Cavaliers, who would go on to play in the Orange Bowl, led 17-14 at halftime before Okwara led a ferocious charge in which he recorded three sacks, two hurries and two forced fumbles, the latter resulting in fellow end Ade Ogundeji scoring for a 28-17 lead in the 35-20 win. The performance earned Okwara Walter Camp National Player of the Week honors. 3. CHASE CLAYPOOL LEAPS PAST NAVY — Determined to shut down the run, the Midshipmen gambled by playing man coverage on the 6-4, 229-pound Claypool. He was targeted nine times, many of them jump balls, and came down with seven for 117 yards and a single-game school-record-tying four touchdown catches — from seven, 47, three and 20 yards out — in the 52-20 rout. 4. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah Blows Away Cyclones — In the 33-9 rout of Iowa State in the Camping World Bowl, the junior opened with a strip and fumble recovery. He finished with a game-high nine stops, four for loss and three of them quarterback sacks, and added a QB hurry. 5. Ian Book Bedevils Duke — In the 38-7 blowout of the Blue Devils on the road, Book became the first Irish quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in one game while also rushing for more than 100 yards (139 on 12 carries), highlighted by 53- and 45-yard scampers. Honorable mention: Cole Kmet's nine catches in the loss at Georgia (for 108 yards) tied a single-game record by an Irish tight end. Junior kicker Jonathan Doerer converted all three of his field goal attempts in the three-point win over USC, joining Dave Reeve from the 1977 season as the lone Notre Dame kickers to make three attempts from 40 or more yards in one game. Defensive end Khalid Kareem posted the team's top overall grade from Pro Football Focus (83.0). PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER Wideout Chase Claypool had several standout performances while serving as Notre Dame's go-to pass catcher, including a seven-reception, 117-yard and sin- gle-game school-record-tying four-touchdown effort in the 52-20 win over Navy. PHOTO BY ANDRIS VISOCKIS TOP FIVE PLAYERS TOP FIVE GAME PERFORMANCES