Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MARCH 2021 9 UNDER THE DOME 2 NFL players in the past 30 years named first-team All-Pro in their first three years: Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders (1989-91) and Indianapolis Colts left guard Quenton Nelson (2018-20), who started at Notre Dame from 2015-17 and was a unanimous All-American as a senior. The record from rookie year on is six on a row by Oakland Raiders center Jim Otto (1960-65) in the old AFL and by New York Giants outside linebacker Lawrence Taylor (1981-86). 4 Notre Dame football players — three of them offensive linemen — to grade out among Pro Football Focus' top 101 players in the 2020 Foot- ball Bowl Subdivision. • Fifth-year senior left tackle Liam Eichenberg was No. 36, highlighted by what PFF analyst Anthony Treash wrote was a "fringe-elite" grade of 89.9 (87.9 versus Alabama) and no sacks allowed a second straight year. • Senior rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, a unanimous All- American and the Butkus Award winner as the nation's top linebacker, was No. 38. PFF has him as the No. 2 linebacker in this spring's NFL Draft and No. 19 overall player. • Senior right tackle Robert Hainsey was No. 56 and earned at least an 80.0 rating in both pass blocking and run blocking. • Senior left guard Aaron Banks was No. 68, allowing less than one pressure per game, not charged with a sack, and one of two Power Five guards to grade above 80.8 as both a pass and run blocker. 7 Notre Dame football players named to the All-ACC Academic team: Fifth-year senior quarterback Ian Book, fifth-year senior wide receivers JAVON MCKINLEY and Ben Skow- ronek, freshman tight end Michael Mayer, senior right tackle Robert Hainsey, fifth-year senior left guard Tommy Kraemer and senior linebacker Drew White. To be selected, a player needed to have a mini- mum GPA of 3.0 for the fall 2020 semester and a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA. There were 95 All- ACC Academic team picks in the 15-team league. Team members were chosen by a group of ACC football players nominated by their teammates. 62-873-9 Catches, receiving yards and touchdowns, respectively, by Pittsburgh Steelers rookie wide re- ceiver Chase Claypool, who played for the Fighting Irish from 2016-19. That earned him a spot on the 2020 Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie Team. All three of those categories were the best ever by an NFL rookie from Notre Dame. The previous high for pass receptions was Michael Floyd with 45 (for 562 yards and two scores) in 2012. The previous most yards were by Tim Brown with 725 (on 43 catches), and whose five touchdown catches in 1988 also were the most by a Fighting Irish rookie. Including two touchdown runs, the 11 total touchdowns by Claypool also were the most by a first-year NFL player from Notre Dame. The previous record was seven by running back Jerome "The Bus" Bettis in 1993 while earning All-Pro honors. Claypool was selected in the second round as the No. 49 overall pick — and 11th receiver. 63 Bench points by the Notre Dame men's basketball team in its 73-59 win at Miami Jan. 24. That's because the second unit started and played the first 4:03 after a dispirited practice by the starting group preceding the game. The starters then were inserted with the Irish trailing 6-3. Those 63 points from the bench are believed to be a school record in a game — as were the all-time low of 10 by the "starters." 1953-55 The last time Notre Dame football had three sea- sons in a row with two or fewer blemishes (in- cluding ties) in a season — until the last three: 12-1 (2018), 11-2 (2019) and 10-2 (2020). The Irish never had more than two losses in the eight seasons from 1964-71 under Ara Parseghian, but there also were 7-2-1 finishes in between in 1965 and 1968, and 8-2-1 in 1969. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS