Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 NOV. 6, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Matthew Galajda — Hockey One night after suffering a disappointing 3-2 overtime defeat to RIT, Notre Dame bounced back in a big way at Compton Family Ice Arena to take down the same team 6-0. The graduate student from Aurora, Ontario, made 22 saves to record the 20th shutout of his career and his first for the Fighting Irish. The Cornell transfer was 3-0 with a 1.33 goals against aver- age and a .943 save percentage as of Oct. 27. Tyler Shea — Soccer On his senior night, the Dallas native scored No. 20 Notre Dame's lone goal in a 1-1 draw against No. 18 Duke Oct. 22. Shea registered his second goal of the season and the third of his career against the Blue Devils. The draw snapped a six-game Irish winning streak but still put Notre Dame (9-4-2) in a position to win the ACC Coastal Divi- sion with a victory in the regular-season finale against North Carolina Oct. 29. Kelly Straub — Diving Straub swept both of her diving events for the second straight meet when the Irish matched up against Purdue Oct. 22. The graduate stu- dent from Omaha, Neb., scored a 328.65 in the three- meter event and a 308.55 in the one-meter event. She recorded those victo- ries one week after being named the ACC Wom- en's Diver of the Week with scores of 347.55 in three-meter diving and 325.25 in one-meter diving in Irish wins over Pitt and Cleveland State. Cason Wilburn — Swimming The freshman from Chesa- peake, Va., helped Notre Dame beat Purdue at the Rolfs Aquatic Center Oct. 22. He tied senior Josh Bot- telberghe with four wins in the meet. Wilburn broke the pool record in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 47.16. He also took home a victory in the 200-meter freestyle (1:37.21) and was a part of the Irish's win- ning relay teams in the 200-meter medley and 400-meter freestyle. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE It took more than half the season, but Notre Dame junior running back Kyren Williams finally had one of those types of games. You know, one of those nights when opposing defenses look completely incapable of tackling him on the first try. One of those nights when Williams just cannot be stopped. He ran for 138 yards and racked up 42 more yards through the air in Notre Dame's 31-16 victory over USC Oct. 23. He scored two rushing touchdowns as well. Williams has only accounted for more yards from scrimmage twice in his career. The 31 touches he accumulated against the Trojans were a career high. That had to feel good for Williams, who couldn't get much going behind Notre Dame's struggling offen- sive line in the first five games of the season. Outside of a 91-yard rushing output aided by a 51-yard touch- down run and a 47-yard receiving performance due in large part to a 39-yard touchdown catch and run against Purdue, Williams hasn't been the offensive powerhouse he was in 2020 until the last two games. Williams has averaged less than 5.0 yards per carry in five of Notre Dame's seven games, the only two outliers coming against Purdue and USC. Again, the Purdue total was inflated by the long score. The USC game was a true throwback to what Williams did in the Irish's run to the College Football Playoff last season. He had a 38-yard scamper, but even if that was taken away, he would have run for 100 yards. No Irish pass catcher reeled in more than Williams' six receptions, either. The USC game was the first in 2021 in which Williams registered 20-plus carries. He set a then-season high with 19 carries in the previous game against Virginia Tech. Last season, he had 19 or more carries six times. The running game was too unreliable to feed Williams in the first half of the 2021 season. But if the offensive line continues to improve, Williams will likely have more opportunities to shine like he did against the Trojans. KYREN WILLIAMS' TOP FIVE YARDS FROM SCRIMMAGE GAMES* Rk. Date Opponent Total Yards (Rushing/Receiving) 1. Sept. 12, 2020 Duke 205 (112/93) 2. Oct. 10, 2020 Florida State 196 (185/11) 3. Oct. 23, 2021 USC 180 (138/42) 4. Nov. 27, 2020 North Carolina 144 (124/20) 5. Dec. 5, 2020 Syracuse 143 (110/33) * Through week eight of the 2021 season — Tyler Horka CHARTING THE IRISH NOTRE DAME BOASTS FOUR ELITE 2022 NFL DRAFT PROSPECTS Notre Dame has produced more NFL Draft picks than any other program in the country. The nine Fighting Irish players selected in the 2021 draft pushed the program's all-time total to 520. For context, USC ranks second with 516 while Ohio State ranks third with 473. Oklahoma (402) is the only other program that has had 400 or more players picked in the history of the draft. So it should come as no surprise Notre Dame has four elite players positioned to be taken in the 2022 NFL Draft. ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper released his latest big board Oct. 26, and there was plenty of Irish representation. It started with junior safety Kyle Hamilton. Kiper rated Hamilton as the No. 2 overall draft eligible prospect behind Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux. Kiper said Hamilton is "one of the most versatile defenders in the country." "Hamilton has the size to move up to the line of scrimmage and help in the run game and the speed and range to cover pass catchers out of the slot," Kiper noted. "He's exactly what NFL teams want in their first-round safeties." Kiper rated Notre Dame junior Kyren Wil- liams as the No. 5 draft-eligible running back, senior Jarrett Patterson as the No. 2 draft-eligible center and junior Isaiah Fos- key as the No. 5 draft-eligible outside line- backer. It's likely all of those players will leave Notre Dame at the end of the season and turn professional. Hamilton, Williams and Foskey have more leeway to return as true juniors, but all three have already put together quite the résumé at their respective positions and have been important contributors for the Irish this season. — Tyler Horka TOP 10 2022 NFL DRAFT PROSPECTS PER ESPN'S MEL KIPER Rk. Player, Position School 1. Kayvon Thibodeaux, DE Oregon 2. Kyle Hamilton, S Notre Dame 3. Derek Stingley Jr., CB LSU 4. Drake London, WR USC 5. Evan Neal, OT Alabama 6. Aidan Hutchinson, DE Michigan 7. Charles Cross, OT Mississippi State 8. Devin Lloyd, LB Utah 9. Trevor Penning, OT Northern Iowa 10. DeMarvin Leal, DL Texas A&M