Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM APRIL 2023 37 ball, being the best person I can be just like I've done the last three years at ND." The best on-field selling point is, without question, his receiving skills. Mayer consistently won contested- catch situations. The 6-foot-4½, 249-pound Mayer was too quick for most linebackers and too physical for most safeties. That's how you lead Notre Dame in targets and catches for two straight years and post consecutive years with more than 800 receiving yards. "I can block anyone you need me to block," Mayer said. "But I feel like red zone, third down, I can go up and get the ball. I can make contested catches. "I can have a connection with a quar- terback. He knows where I'm going to be, where I'm going to run my route. I know where the quarterback is going to put the ball." There's nothing he needs to sell that isn't already out there or isn't already clear. Nothing that he thinks is over- looked — as he stated when asked to name an underrated aspect of his game. "I don't think any part of my game is," he said. Mayer's blocking is no longer a ques- tion mark after three seasons of growth there. He was a staple of Notre Dame's run game in 2022, sometimes taking on defensive ends one-on-one. Notre Dame ran behind him often. Find a clip of a Notre Dame running back darting through a wide hole in 2022, and it's more likely than not you'll see No. 87 helping seal it. The blocking can, though, still im- prove. But that's more about technique than strength or willingness to block, as NFL teams have told him. "I have to work on my blocking tech- nique, there's no doubt about that," Mayer said. "I feel like this past year, it's something I took a jump on. I started working on it way more than I did my freshman and sophomore years at Notre Dame. At this point, it's going to keep getting better. My technique is going to keep getting better. I'm going to keep learning things from veterans. I'm going to keep learning things from coaches who have been around the game for 20, 30, 40 years. It's only up for my blocking." A team that spends a first-round pick on Mayer will likely be one that loves the receiving skills and doesn't believe a lack of high-end athleticism will hinder him. It also might be the one who agrees with him that he has much more to offer than receiving traits. "I can be in the backfield, and I can block," Mayer said. "I can be a fullback and block. I can be at the end. I can be out by the numbers. I can be in the slot and run routes. I can do it all, and that's really how I feel. "I think there's a lot of teams here that believe the same thing." ISAIAH FOSKEY STICKING TO THE PLAN Isaiah Foskey's pre-draft process has brought more scrutiny about his pass- rush skills than would be expected for a player who set the Notre Dame ca- reer sacks record. Nobody amasses 26.5 sacks in three seasons by accident. It's not doable for an ordinary athlete. Any- one with sloppy technique or a one- move pass rush arsenal won't reach it. Foskey's Senior Bowl practice perfor- mance, though, highlighted a deficiency as much as it showcased his strengths. At least in the eye of some astute observers. "The foundation is there, with his speed, length and hammer hands, but you wish there was a semblance of a pass rush plan," The Athletic draft analyst Dane Brugler wrote after the Senior Bowl. The Senior Bowl reviews on Foskey were mixed, with questions about his plan popping up a few times. Maybe three college all-star game practices aren't the place to best demonstrate one. It's not the same as a normal game week. Maybe he was overly reactionary or improvised too much post-snap. Whatever the reason, his plan was apparently hard to decipher during Senior Bowl practices. At the same time, though, consecutive 11-sack seasons at Notre Dame don't hap- pen without a plan. Foskey, asked about pass rush plans at the NFL Combine, of- fered a look into his. It does exist, and he thinks his game tape is a reflection. "Creating a pass rush starts in the be- ginning of the week," Foskey said. "A lot of my pass rushes started out with bull rush. You start with a bull rush and see how they take that. My go-to move is a long-arm, so stick with the long-arm or do stab-club depending on how the tackle sets. That's my pass-rush game plan. But you adjust for every tackle and see what tackles have been beat with." The long-arm move is a staple. It's never out of the plan. Even if a tackle is sound against it, Foskey will stick with it. Strength on strength. At the NFL Combine, Foskey was tied for ninth among 28 defensive ends in 40-yard dash time (4.58 sec- onds), tied for ninth out of 31 in the standing broad jump (10 feet, 5 inches) and tied for 11th out of 31 in vertical jump (34 inches). PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER