Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 APRIL 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Josh Bottelberghe — Swimming The senior from Vancouver, Wash., excelled during the ACC Championships Feb. 16-19 in Atlanta. He placed second in the 100 breaststroke, posting a personal-best time of 51.61 to break his own Notre Dame record. The next day, he broke the 200 breaststroke record as well with a time of 1:52.44. In addition to the individual accomplishments, Bottelberghe was part of the 200 and 400 medley relay teams that also set new school records. Bridget Deehan — Lacrosse The graduate student goaltender from Milton, Ga., got off to a great start for the Fighting Irish in 2022. She was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week after post- ing a career-high 16 saves to help Notre Dame top No. 13 Virginia 12-10 March 6. Through March 22, Deehan was 4-5 with a 11.19 goals against average — but ranked second in the ACC in saves per game (8.67) and fourth in save percentage (.451). Max Ellis — Hockey The junior forward from Canton, Mich., earned second-team All-Big Ten honors for the 2021-22 season after notching a team-high 16 goals, including two shorthanded tal- lies. He also added 12 assists. The peak of the 5-9, 165- pounder's season came against Michigan Nov. 20 when he posted the first hat trick at Yost Ice Arena in 15 years. The Michigan native's final goal of the three was the game-winner in overtime. Page Freeman — Tennis The junior from Ashland, Mass., earned her first career ACC Player of the Week honor — and the first for the Irish in 2022 — on March 1. She finished the week 3-1 with two wins over top-20 competition. Through March 22, Freeman had compiled a 10-4 record while seeing all of her action at No. 1 (4-2) and No. 2 (6-2) singles. She was also 10-2 in doubles while playing with five different partners. — Ashton Pollard TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman's first coaching staff will be among the youngest in the country with an average age of just 40.4 years old. Of the 36-year-old Freeman's 10 assistant coaches, six are 38 or younger. Offensive coordina- tor Tommy Rees is 29, while wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey is 38. In between those two are 30-year-old safeties coach Chris O'Leary, 34-year-old cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens, 35-year-old special teams coordinator Brain Mason and 37-year-old defensive line coach Al Washington. Of- fensive line coach Harry Hiestand, who is in his second stint at Notre Dame, is the oldest coach on the staff at 63. Notre Dame's staff became significantly younger when former head coach Brian Kelly departed for the same role at LSU. Six coaches left the program when Kelly did, and they had an average age of 48. For the record, the current average age of Kelly's first LSU coaching staff is 45.5. The Irish have had some younger coaching staffs in the last few decades, but Freeman's staff is younger than any group Kelly or legendary head coach Lou Holtz ever had. Kelly's youngest staff (42.1) was in 2017 and part of a reboot that sent Notre Dame back into the national conversation. Holtz's youngest staff was his 1991 group with an average age of 41.7. Here is how the Irish compare to some of the nation's top programs: Head Coach, School 2022 Average Age Of Staff Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame 40.4 Kirby Smart, Georgia 41.8 Dabo Swinney, Clemson* 42.9 Nick Saban, Alabama 44.9 Ryan Day, Ohio State* 46.5 * 2022 Fighting Irish opponent Note: This is not a ranking of the five youngest Power Five coaching staffs. According to Blue & Gold Illustrated's own Todd D. Burlage, Boston College — another Notre Dame opponent in 2022 — boasts the youngest staff among Power Five programs with an average age of 37.2. — Ashton Pollard CHARTING THE IRISH PHIL STEELE IDENTIFIES NOTRE DAME AS A PRESEASON AP TOP-10 TEAM As spring football plays out across the country, predictions for the 2022 season will start to pile up from numerous experts. College football analyst and guru Phil Steele got out in front of everyone, releasing his predictions for the preseason Associ- ated Press Top 10 six months before the poll will come out in August. Steele believes Notre Dame will end up in the No. 6 spot before the 2022 campaign kicks off. The expert, famous for his extensive college football preview magazine each summer, noted the ranking is not his personal preseason ranking, rather what he believes the AP poll will look like come August. The initial prediction came without a long expla- nation, but Steele plans to explain his rationale as spring practices progress. However, having faith in the rankings should come easy as Steele's track re- cord is nearly flawless. Over the last 13 years, Steele has predicted 96.2 percent of the top 10 teams cor- rectly in February, and he has gone 10 of 10 in the last four years. Two of Notre Dame's 2022 opponents appear on the list as well: No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Clemson. The Irish open with the Buckeyes Sept. 3 in Columbus, while the Tigers visit South Bend Nov. 5. — Ashton Pollard Clemson will visit South Bend Nov. 5 for the first time since Notre Dame defeated the No. 1-ranked Tigers during the 2020 regular season. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS Rk. School 1. Alabama 2. Georgia 3. Ohio State 4. Clemson 5. Texas A&M Rk. School 6. Notre Dame 7. Michigan 8. Utah 9. Oklahoma 10. Oregon PHIL STEELE'S PROJECTED AP PRESEASON TOP 10