Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM PRESEASON 2023 13 "This is a dream come true. With the exception of my family, nothing means more to me than Notre Dame. I don't have a memory in my lifetime, quite literally, where Notre Dame wasn't a part of it." — Pete Bevacqua on his appointment as the new Fighting Irish athletics director in 2024 "I feel like after playing last year, getting into the regimen and understanding of college football, now the game has slowed down a lot for me, and I've just been able to go back to who I am. And that's just being a dominant freak on the field and helping others around me be better." — Notre Dame junior right tackle Blake Fisher "Notre Dame features the best offensive tackle duo in the country, Joe Alt and Blake Fisher. As a sophomore last season, Alt was both the highest- graded (91.4) and most valuable tackle in college football, according to PFF's wins-above-average metric. He is the best offensive lineman in college football and could be a top-five pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Meanwhile, Fisher is a projected sec- ond-round pick in 2024 and earned an impressive 78.3 grade across the final 10 games of the sea- son." — Pro Football Focus analyst Max Chadwick on ranking Notre Dame's offensive line as the sixth- best in the country heading into the 2023 season "[Cooper] Flanagan enters college with plenty of experience doing dirty work in the trenches. At roughly 6-foot-6 and 262 pounds, he has the size, fundamentals and aggressive demeanor to dominate as an inline blocker. Many viewed departing Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer as the top blocking tight end entering the NFL Draft, and Flanagan looks like an ideal candidate to fill this vital role for the Fighting Irish." — ESPN on tabbing Notre Dame's Cooper Flanagan as the "best blocker " among 2023 true freshman tight ends "The expectation is that [Sam] Hartman is good enough to elevate those weapons around him so long as the hosses up front provide that expected protec- tion. Having a running back like Audric Estimé, who is primed for a breakout year after rushing for 920 yards and 11 touchdowns last season, is also a plus." — CBS Sports on tabbing the Notre Dame offense among its "most improved units" for the 2023 season "The schedule is a 'see whatever you want' ex- periment. If you think Notre Dame has top-10 potential, then there might be only two games all season in which the Irish are underdogs: Ohio State on Sept. 23 and at Clemson on Nov. 4. But if you think this is more of a transitional, top-30 team, then suddenly road trips to NC State, Duke and Louisville are all losable, as are visits from USC and maybe Pitt or Wake Forest. SP+ projects an average of nine wins but gives the Irish at least a 10% chance of going 10-2 or better or going 6-6 or worse. A more consistent run defense could be key to making the former more likely than the latter." — ESPN analyst Bill Connelly "With Notre Dame, their problem last year, first of all, they had a first-year head coach. Secondly, they had a backup in Drew Pyne at the quarterback spot. This year, they've got Sam Hartman, one of the best quarterbacks in college football. He's got a deep stable of running backs. One of the top offensive lines in the country. Marcus Freeman knows defense. He's got eight starters back on the defensive side of the ball. "When you look at their schedule, they get Ohio State at home. They get USC at home. I think both of those are winnable games. The one game I've got them an underdog all year is at Clemson. If they go 11-1, I think they have a legitimate shot at the play- off." — Phil Steele on including Notre Dame among his three under-the-radar teams for the 2023 college football season (along with Wisconsin and Clemson) THEY SAID IT THEY SAID IT "Sam is a different guy. He uses those setbacks that he's had in his life as reminders, as motivations, as reasons to continue to fight and move forward. When you talk about a guy having part of his rib removed, having his mother — who's just as fierce as he is — make it into a neck- lace. It's almost like a scar for him. It's tattooed … reminds him of those difficult times that he's overcome." — Head coach Marcus Freeman on Irish quarterback SAM HARTMAN having surgically removed rib turned into a necklace by his mom PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER TOP TWEETS