Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM PRESEASON 2023 23 11. LB JD BERTRAND It almost feels disingenuous to leave Bertrand out of the top 10. Perhaps the panel of five Blue & Gold Illustrated staffers is a bit jaded by Bertrand's tack- ling totals. Diving into the nitty gritty, though, there are reasons for him not to be closer to the top. First of all, he's not Hartman, Alt or Morrison. Hartman is a top 10 quarter- back in college football. Alt is the best tackle in the country. Morrison was a Freshman All-American. Bertrand is a tackling machine, leading the team in tackles in each of the last two years, but he's not an all-out game wrecker or in- fluencer like others ranked above him on this list. 12. DE JAVONTAE JEAN-BAPTISTE Notre Dame needed help at the strong-side defensive end position after the 2022 season. Justin Ademilola, Rylie Mills and Nana Osafo-Mensah mostly manned the position, and they combined for 6.5 sacks. Osafo-Mensah is the only one of those three who remains a Notre Dame strong-side end, and while the coach- ing staff loves his reliability against the run and leadership, he does not provide much pass rush. Enter Jean-Baptiste, a graduate transfer from Ohio State. In 132 pass rush snaps with the Buckeyes last year, behind eventual third-round pick Zach Harrison and five-star sophomore J.T. Tuimoloau, Jean-Baptiste totaled 4.5 sacks. Notre Dame hopes he can be more than a rotational player in his final college season. 13. LB JACK KISER Kiser received the third-best sea- son-long Pro Football Focus grade of any Notre Dame defensive player who played at least 10 snaps in 2022. His mark of 75.2 was behind only Benjamin Morrison's 77.3 and Howard Cross III's 76.3. That's good company; Morrison was Notre Dame's best defensive back, and Cross had a case for being the best all-around defensive lineman — even ahead of second-round NFL Draft pick Isaiah Foskey. There aren't many holes in Kiser's game. He had the third-best PFF run defense grade on the team, the No. 1 tackling grade and the No. 1 pass rush- ing grade. In that last category, it wasn't close; Kiser posted a figure of 88.2. Sec- ond best among players who logged at least 10 pass-rushing snaps was Jordan Botelho at 74.7. 14. DT RYLIE MILLS Want a non-Botelho breakout can- didate on Notre Dame's defense? Try Mills, who in fall camp looks bigger, stronger and more powerful, while still exactly as athletic as he was before. He also has positional clarity: Mills is all three-technique, which is his natural position, after splitting his time be- tween tackle and end in 2022. The three-technique is the engine of a four-man defensive front. At just more than 6-foot-5 and now 306 pounds (he was 296 last season), Mills is perfect for it. If he blossoms into a super-disrup- tive player, it could have ripple effects throughout the defense. 15. TE MITCHELL EVANS Evans was the last man standing of sorts both in the Gator Bowl last De- cember and in spring practices a few months ago. Senior Kevin Bauman and sophomore Eli Raridon were rehabbing ACL injuries. Evans was only flanked by fellow scholarship tight ends Da- vis Sherwood, a former walk-on, and Holden Staes, who played 83 snaps as a true freshman in 2022. Evans played 326 in just eight games. He missed the first five contests while coming back from a foot fracture. With Bauman and Raridon still recovering in fall camp, Evans has the best shot to be Notre Dame's TE1 as the program moves on without Michael Mayer — the best tight end in Fighting Irish history. 16. WR CHRIS TYREE Speed wins football games. There is a reason the 40-yard dash is every- one's favorite event at the NFL Scout- ing Combine. Speed helps teams attack downfield, which in turn makes oppos- ing linebackers and secondaries back off the line of scrimmage. That opens up windows for yardage underneath, something great for speedsters who can get up field after the catch. Notre Dame does not have enough speed on offense if Tyree, a running back the past three years, can't be an impact receiver. Early in fall camp, though, Tyree has practiced with the first-team offense and looks more nat- ural at his new position than anyone could have imagined. Route running, hands, all of it. Suddenly, the Irish look more balanced than ever at receiver. 17. C ZEKE CORRELL An experienced starting center is one of the 25 most important play- ers on any team, especially one with a new quarterback. Correll, with his 887 snaps in 2022, will be an invaluable as- set for Hartman in getting comfortable in Notre Dame's offense. The center and quarterback are in THE POLL The top 25 was put together by five Blue & Gold Illustrated staffers who each sent in their own personal top 25 ballots. It was tabulated the same way as the Associated Press Top 25: a first-place vote received a value of 25 points, a second-place vote received 24 points and so on until a 25th-place vote received one point. The players with the 25 highest point totals made the list. The lone tie was broken by awarding the player with the highest indi- vidual vote the better placement. Rk. Name, Position Points 1. Sam Hartman, QB 125 2. Joe Alt, OT 120 3. Benjamin Morrison, CB 110 4. Blake Fisher, OT 100 5. Audric Estimé, RB 97 6. Jordan Botelho, DE 93 7. Jayden Thomas, WR 89 8. Cam Hart, CB 76 9. Xavier Watts, S 68 10. Tobias Merriweather, WR 66 11. JD Bertrand, LB 65 12. Javontae Jean-Baptiste, DE 62 13. Jack Kiser, LB 54 14. Rylie Mills, DT 50 15. Mitchell Evans, TE 48 16. Chris Tyree, WR 45 17. Zeke Correll, C 45 18. Howard Cross III, DT 43 19. Antonio Carter II, S 33 20. Andrew Kristofic, OL 32 21. Thomas Harper, DB 30 22. Billy Schrauth, OG 29 23. Deion Colzie, WR 29 24. Marist Liufau, LB 20 25. Jaden Greathouse, WR 18 Others receiving votes: S DJ Brown (15), CB Clarence Lewis (13), LB Jaylen Sneed (12), DE Nana Osafo-Mensah (9), DE Junior Tuihala- maka (9), TE Eli Raridon (8), RB Jadarian Price (6), K Spencer Shrader (4), TE Holden Staes (4), QB Steve Angeli (2), WR Rico Flores Jr. (1) and RB Gi'Bran Payne (1).