Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 NOV. 19, 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Korbin Albert — Soccer The sophomore midfielder from Grayslake, Ill., scored a hat trick in a 3-3 tie with No. 2 seed Florida State in the semifinal round of the ACC Championship Nov. 3 in Cary, N.C. Notre Dame lost the game 4-2 on penalty kicks, though Albert scored on her PK attempt. Two days earlier, Albert was named ACC Mid- fielder of the Year. Heading into the NCAA Championships Nov. 12, Albert led the Irish with 30 points and 13 goals, both were the second-best mark in the ACC. Matt Che — Tennis The senior from Tenafly, N.J., enjoyed an impressive and undefeated weekend in the Fighting Irish Mini Dual Event at the Courtney Tennis Center on campus Oct. 28-30. Che went 4-0 in singles to claim that title, winning the championship in straight sets 7-6, 6-3. He then paired with fellow Irish senior Connor Fu in a 4-0 run to claim the doubles title as well. Caroline Curtis — Golf The graduate student from Richmond, Va., tied for the low score with a 1-under-par 71 in the second round at the Olde Stone Intercollegiate Oct. 24-25, in Bowling Green, Ky. Curtis parlayed her fine sec- ond round into a 17th-place individual finish (224, 8-over par) at the three- round event the Irish as a team finished tied for seventh. A transfer from Alabama, Curtis is fitting in nicely at her new home. Jack Hoagland — Swimming The senior from Albuquer- que, N.M., notched three wins when the Notre Dame swim- ming and diving team opened its season with a tri-meet against Pitt and Penn State in Pittsburgh Oct. 21-22. After missing his junior sea- son in 2021 because of injury, Hoagland notched wins at the meet in the 500 freestyle (4:24.78), the 1000 freestyle (9:12.53) and the 400 indi- vidual medley (3:54.23). TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE Former Notre Dame defensive tackle Kurt Hinish, he of black face paint on game days and loving all things Fighting Irish football fame, might only last a year as the program's all-time record holder for games played. There is a current Irish player closing the gap with a chance to surpass it in a bowl game. That player is graduate student safety Houston Griffith, who appeared in his 58th game in a Notre Dame uniform in the Irish's win over Clemson Nov. 5. Hinish played in 61 games for Notre Dame from 2017-21. Griffith needs to play in every remaining regular season game plus the bowl to break Hinish's record and finish his career with 62 games played. Four other current Irish players appear in the top 10 in this statistical category. They're all graduate students. Through Week 10, sixth-year offensive lineman Josh Lugg and fifth-year linebacker Bo Bauer had played in 57 games. Bauer tore his ACL in October, so his career is finished. Had he stayed healthy, he'd have not missed a game in his five-year career and finished with 65 games played if he appeared in every regular season game plus a bowl. Fifth-year defensive tackle Jayson Ademilola had played in 53 career games through Week 10. Fifth-year cornerback TaRiq Bracy had played in 52. The extra year of eligibility granted to all student- athletes who performed in the 2020 season heavily im- pacted by the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed for these sorts of records to be smashed. Former Irish defensive lineman Daelin Hayes (2016-20) tied the previous record for games played with 52 in 2020. He shared it with Romeo Okwara (2012-15) and Drue Tranquill (2014-18) for one year before Hinish and kicker Jonathan Doerer (2017-21) flew past that trio at the end of the 2021 sea- son. Doerer played in 55 Notre Dame games. — Tyler Horka CHARTING THE IRISH JON SOT PUNTING HIS WAY INTO THE RECORD BOOK The punting position was a bit of a mystery for Notre Dame entering the 2022 season. Three-year starter Jay Bramblett went closer to home to follow former Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly to Baton Rouge, La. He left a mighty big void in his wake. Bramblett averaged 41.6 yards per punt at Notre Dame, a career average that ranked fourth all time when he left. He punted 165 times from 2019-21. Only seven other players had more punts in their Notre Dame careers. Enter Harvard graduate transfer Jon Sot. He isn't going to bypass Bramblett for total boots in a Notre Dame uniform in his final collegiate season. He just might surpass his pre- decessor in punting average, though. He was well on his way through Week 10 when he aver- aged 43.7 yards per punt on 39 attempts. That figure would rank No. 7 all time for a single season at Notre Dame and No. 3 all time for a career if it held up for the entire season. The Irish record book has a minimum of 50 punts neces- sary to qualify for the statistic. If Sot continues to average 4.3 punts per game as he had through nine games, he'd hit the requirement in the final regular-season game of the year at USC Nov. 26. "Just having the biggest leg doesn't make you the best punter or the best punt team," Irish special teams coordina- tor Brian Mason said. "You have to perform in different situ- ations based on where you're at on the field, where you're at in the game and what the punt return team is giving you. There are a couple of instances we'd like to have back — especially in the BYU game — but as a whole, we've done a good job. "And he's in his fifth year. He's training at a higher level here with [strength] coach [Matt] Balis. Harvard canceled its season [in 2020], and they didn't train as much. I think all those things have allowed him [to excel]." — Tyler Horka CURRENT PLAYERS ON NOTRE DAME'S ALL-TIME GAMES PLAYED LIST Rk. Pos. Player Games Played 2. S Houston Griffith 58 3. OL Josh Lugg 57 LB Bo Bauer 57 6. DT Jayson Ademilola 53 7. CB TaRiq Bracy 52 HIGHEST CAREER PUNT AVERAGE IN NOTRE DAME HISTORY Minimum 50 Punts* Rk. Player (Years) Average 1. Craig Hentrich (1989-92) 44.1 2. Tyler Newsome (2015-18) 44.0 3. Jon Sot (2022)* 43.7 4. Geoffrey Price (2004-07) 43.6 5. Jay Bramblett (2019-21) 41.6 Sot's 43.7-yard punting average cur- rently stands as the third best single- season mark in school history. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER