Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1496419
UNDER THE DOME 14 MAY 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Kasey Choma —Lacrosse The senior midfielder from Manorville, N.Y., earned ACC Player of the Week honors March 20, af- ter leading Notre Dame to consecutive wins over Vir- ginia Tech and Liberty. In the 14-1 win over Virginia Tech March 16, she scored a career- high 8 goals. Two nights later in a 19-8 victory over Liberty, she notched her team-high sixth hat trick this season. Through 11 contests, Choma paced the Irish with 36 goals and ranked second with 45 points. Pat Kavanagh — Lacrosse The senior attackman from Rockville Cen- tre, N.Y., tallied 4 goals and 6 assists to match his career single-game career high of 10 points in an 18-8 win over Michigan March 18. The 6 as- sists matched his season high and was just one shy of the all-time single-game program record of 7 that Kavanagh already shares. Kavanagh had 14 goals through eight games, and led the Irish with 29 assists and 43 points. Joley Mitchell — Softball The senior third baseman from Rose Bud, Ark., earned the first ACC Player of the Week honors in her career after a huge weekend in mid- March. In three games against North Carolina State, she bat- ted .636 (7 for 11) with 2 home runs and a team-best 6 RBI. Through 31 games, Mitchell was tied for first on the team with a .371 batting average, and she ranked second in both hits (33) and RBI (25) plus third in home runs (6). Carter Putz — Baseball The graduate student first baseman from Belton, Mo., tallied 3 hits, 1 run and 3 RBI in consecu- tive wins over No. 2 Louisville in late March, giving the Irish their first-ever three-game home series win over the powerful Cardinals. His three-run homer in the second game lifted Notre Dame to a 5-4 victory and the biggest series win of the season. Through 25 games, Putz led the Irish in bat- ting average (.297), hits (27), home runs (5) and RBI (18). TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE Notre Dame was one of the worst teams in the country in 2022 at passes defended. The Fighting Irish recorded 34 passes de- fended according to CFBstats.com for an average of 2.62 per game. That ranked No. 125 out of 131 teams in the FBS. But by way of that low total and a breakout season for fresh- man cornerback Benjamin Morrison, who had 6 interceptions, Notre Dame ranked third in the nation in interceptions-to-passes- defended ratio. Per ESPN, Notre Dame was one of five teams nationally to hold onto at least 30 percent of all passes defended. ESPN had the Irish good for intercepting 32.3 percent of their passes defended. Notre Dame had 10 interceptions as a team. Some outlets register passes defended in different manners which results in discrepancies in the actual number of passes de- fended. But even by CFBstats.com's totals, Notre Dame intercepted 29.4 percent of its passes defended. Being top-five in this category isn't necessarily a sign of success. The other teams that picked off at least 30 percent of passes defended per ESPN were Southern Mississippi (32.7), Connecticut (32.5), USC (30.6) and Western Kentucky (30.2). Southern Miss, UConn and Western Kentucky combined to go 22-18. USC was the outlier in going 11-3. Generating turnovers was about the only thing the Trojans could consistently do defensively. That eluded them in their hiccup games. In their three losses, the Trojans gave up an average of 45.3 points. They did not intercept any passes in that trio of defeats despite ranking tied for third nationally with 19 interceptions. Notre Dame ranked tied for 68th nationally with its 10 total interceptions. That was the lowest total among teams ranked in the top five of ESPN's interception-to- passes-defended ratio. It's a metric that shows how much Notre Dame needs to improve in getting to the football. Interceptions are game changers, but not every pass defended can be an INT. Sometimes simply getting the ball on the ground is more than enough. — Tyler Horka CHARTING THE IRISH NOTRE DAME HAS NO. 13 QB ROOM IN COUNTRY PER ESPN Every year, ESPN releases a ranking of the best quarterback contingents in the country based on current rosters and committed recruits. Notre Dame landed at No. 13 on the hierarchy going into the 2023 season. The addition of Wake Forest graduate transfer Sam Hartman vaulted the Fighting Irish up from last year's ranking of No. 20. ESPN called Hartman "the biggest prize of this winter's quarterback transfer cycle." Hartman was set to work with offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, but Rees left his alma mater and where he had been coaching since 2017 to become the OC at Alabama. Instead, it'll be Hartman and tight ends coach turned offensive coordinator Gerad Parker teaming up to lead the Irish offense. "How Hartman meshes with Parker and Notre Dame's offense will go a long way toward determining how successful the team will be in coach Marcus Freeman's second season," ESPN's Adam Rittenberg wrote. Rittenberg said junior Tyler Buchner "could be Notre Dame's answer for 2024 and 2025," but he mentioned "strong recruiting" will have Buchner fending off other worthy options at signal-caller. The 2024 Notre Dame roster is slated to boast four scholarship players, including Buchner, from four different recruiting classes. The others will be junior Steve Angeli, sophomore Kenny Minchey and freshman CJ Carr. Notre Dame has taken a graduate transfer QB from the portal in two of the last three offseasons, but if Buchner sticks around it doesn't seem it will be necessary to make that three of four. Had Buchner not injured his shoulder and missed 10 games as a sopho- more, he'd have likely started all 13 games in 2022 and made a case to not take in Hartman this year. But the injury hindered Buchner's development, and Notre Dame didn't want to go into the season with a corps of quarter- backs with three total starts in the ledger. So the Irish did take Hartman, and they jumped up the annual ESPN quarterback rankings as a result. — Tyler Horka Sophomore cornerback Benjamin Morrison led the Irish with 6 interceptions in 2022. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER BEST QB ROOMS IN THE COUNTRY PER ESPN Rk. School 1. USC 2. Ohio State 3. Oklahoma 4. Georgia 5. Alabama 6. Michigan 7. Texas 8. Tennessee 9. Florida State 10. Oregon 11. Washington 12. LSU 13. Notre Dame 14. Utah 15. Penn State THE HIGHEST INTERCEPTION- TO-PASSES DEFENDED RATIOS Per ESPN Rk. School Interception % 1. Southern Mississippi 32.7 2. Connecticut 32.5 3. Notre Dame 32.3 4. USC 30.6 5. Western Kentucky 30.2