Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM FEBRUARY 2022 11 UNDER THE DOME More National Honors Roll In For The Fighting Irish College football expert Phil Steele was kind to Notre Dame in assembling his 2021 postseason All-America teams. The Fighting Irish had five selections across Steele's four teams — junior safety Kyle Hamilton (first team), senior center Jarrett Patterson (third), sophomore tight end Michael Mayer (third), junior defensive end Isaiah Foskey (third) and graduate student guard Cain Madden (fourth). It's the latest honor for Hamilton, who locked up consensus All-American status in December despite playing in just seven games. He totaled 35 tackles (2.0 for loss), four passes broken up and three interceptions. Mayer's team-high 64 catches heading into the Fiesta Bowl went for 768 yards and five touchdowns. Sporting News named him a second-team All-American, while the Associated Press put him on its third team. Foskey led Notre Dame in sacks, with 10.0 through 12 games. He also posted a team-high 11.5 tackles for loss and five forced fumbles. He recovered two fumbles and registered 28 quarterback pressures. Patterson and Madden started all 12 regular season games at center and right guard, respectively. No Irish player logged more snaps in that span than Patter- son's 827. Madden was third with 811. In three seasons as a starter — spanning 33 games and 2,244 snaps in pass protection entering the bowl — Patterson has not allowed a sack. He surrendered just nine quarterback pressures in 12 regular-season games. His 85.8 Pro Football Focus pass-blocking grade pre-bowl game was the highest among Notre Dame players and best among FBS centers with at least 350 pass-blocking snaps. Madden, meanwhile, gave up just three pressures in his last seven regular- season games after allowing 12 with two sacks in his first five starts. The gradu- ate transfer from Marshall concluded the regular season with a team-best 84.4 run-blocking grade from PFF. — Patrick Engel NOTRE DAME PUTS LONG SNAPPER MICHAEL VINSON ON SCHOLARSHIP Michael Vinson earned a nickname. He earned a name, image and likeness deal. Now, he has earned a scholarship. Notre Dame put Vinson, its senior long snapper, on scholarship Dec. 16, according to a tweet from his high school coach. He will return in 2022 for a fifth season at Notre Dame. Vinson is in his second season as the Irish's primary long snapper. The man nicknamed "Milk" won a 2020 training camp battle over scholarship freshman Alex Peitsch and has played in 24 straight games since. He was a 2020 nominee for the Burlsworth Trophy, which goes to the best college football player who began his career as a walk-on. "He's got so many fans in our locker room because they see how hard that kid has worked," former Irish special teams coordinator Brian Polian said in August. "He's got an incredible skill to throw a ball between your legs 15 yards in 0.7 seconds and do it accurately. That's a pretty elite skill. He has improved himself so much athletically so he can get out there and cover a kick." Vinson's moniker precedes all of that. Former Notre Dame punter Tyler Newsome, a senior in 2018 when Vinson was a freshman, referred to the specialists as the "Cheese Unit." As a first-year, Vinson had to earn his "Cheese status." Newsome called him "Milk" — a temporary nickname while he waited to age into cheese. Former head coach Brian Kelly used the nickname in a September 2018 game at Wake Forest, and it stuck. Eventually, it led the American Dairy Associa- tion to sponsor him. Vinson has two seasons of eligibility remaining and is set to graduate in May. — Patrick Engel TWO NOTRE DAME PLAYERS EARN SHRINE BOWL INVITES Notre Dame quarterback Jack Coan and defensive end Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa will play one more game in front of NFL evaluators after the Fiesta Bowl. The graduate student starters have accepted in- vitations to play in the 97th East-West Shrine Bowl Feb. 3 in Las Vegas. It's the most notable college All-Star game outside of the Senior Bowl. Coan started all 12 regular-season games for Notre Dame, throwing for 20 touchdowns against six interceptions in that stretch. He came to Notre Dame as a graduate transfer from Wisconsin. Ta- govailoa-Amosa started at defensive tackle from 2019-20 and moved to defensive end this season. He made 20 tackles (6.0 for loss) and notched two sacks. Coan was out of eligibility following this season. Tagovailoa-Amosa decided not to use the COVID-19 blanket waiver that would have allowed him to return for a sixth season. — Patrick Engel Junior defensive end Isaiah Foskey is one of five Notre Dame players who earned a spot on Phil Steele's All-America teams. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER