Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1506454
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 2, 2023 11 UNDER THE DOME No. 1 Most impactful transfer in college football — out of the more than 1,500 players that transferred to FBS teams this offsea- son — for the 2023 college football season will be Notre Dame graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman per The Athletic, which solicited feed- back from college football coaches and staffers across the country on which newcomers have the potential to not just become starters but emerge as all-conference performers and possibly NFL Draft picks. Notably, the No. 1 player on The Athletic's list last year was USC quarterback Caleb Williams, who went on to win the Heisman Trophy. "Notre Dame finished No. 98 in the FBS in passing yards per game last sea- son and addressed that by beating out a bunch of SEC schools for the former Wake Forest star, who has thrown 110 career touchdown passes and started 45 games over five seasons," The Athletic noted. "Irish staffers love what they've seen, both on and off the field, from the three-time Demon Deacons team captain. They say he has immediately brought his new teammates great leadership while showing he can really distribute the ball. Hartman will be a big upgrade from what the Irish have had at quarterback the last few years." Hartman also was slotted at No. 2 on ESPN's list of the top 50 newcomers for this season — "a combination of high school players and transfers who are coming into the right situation at the right time to help make their team better." Only Colorado sophomore cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter was listed ahead of Hartman. 2 Notre Dame football players were included in ESPN's ranking of the top 100 players in college football heading into the 2023 season: junior left tackle Joe Alt at No. 11 and graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman at No. 25. The one notable snub? Sophomore cornerback Benjamin Morrison. "Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison should be on the list," ESPN writer Mark Schlabach said. "He was a Freshman All-American after picking off six passes, which tied for seventh in the FBS." 3 Notre Dame players were named to The Athletic reporter Bruce Feldman's annual "Freaks List," led by senior defensive tackle RYLIE MILLS at No. 10. "The 6-5, 306-pound senior has the tools to be a disruptive force in 2023," Feldman noted. "Last year, Mills made 24 tackles, 6 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. He looks primed to take things up a notch based on his off-field work after packing on 14 more pounds. Mills benched 450 pounds, did 225 for 30 reps, squatted 635, and he's also hit 20.64 miles per hour on the GPS (up from 19 last year), vertical- jumped almost 33 inches and did 31 pull-ups." Joining Mills on this year's Freaks List were graduate student cornerback Cam Hart at No. 32 and gradu- ate student defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste at No. 82. This marks the third straight year the Fighting Irish placed three players on the list. Last year, Mills (No. 56) and Hart (No. 38) were joined by wide receiver Lorenzo Styles (No. 79). In 2021, safety Kyle Hamilton (No. 3), defensive end Isaiah Fo- skey (No. 45) and running back Chris Tyree (No. 75) made the list. 13th Was where Notre Dame finished in CBS Sports' "Best in College Sports" 2022-23 rankings, which uses a weighted formula that puts 2.5 times as much emphasis on football and 2.0 times as much on men's basketball compared to the rest of the sports unlike the traditional Direc- tors' Cup rankings by National Association of College Directors of Athletics. Every FBS program is rated in three sports — football, men's basketball and women's basketball — along with two "wild cards" among the school's most successful spectator sports: baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, lacrosse, hockey and wrestling. The Irish, buoyed by its men's lacrosse team's national championship and a NCAA quarterfinal appearance by the women's soccer squad, tied with Pittsburgh to lead the way for the ACC. Here is the full top 15: Rk. School Points 1. Tennessee 536.75 2. UCLA 524.50 3. Alabama 496.50 4. Texas 482.50 5. TCU 472.00 6. Penn State 463.00 7. Michigan 455.50 8. Ohio State 429.80 9. Georgia 414.00 10. LSU 396.25 11. Utah 390.75 12. Connecticut 389.00 13. Notre Dame 377.00 Pittsburgh 377.00 15. Duke 375.50 27½ Is the over/under set this summer by BetOnline for the number of touchdowns Notre Dame graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman will throw during the 2023 regular season. BetOnline also listed Hartman's over/under for passing yards at 3,100½. $285 Is the average cost of a football game day at Notre Dame Stadium — the most expensive in the na- tion — per Oddspedia in a study released during the summer. The website researched "400 sources for information on the prices of tickets, parking, beers, sodas and hot dogs for 69 of the top NCAA Division I football programs across the United States." "It comes as little surprise that some of the biggest teams in college football also have the biggest bill for the game-day experience," Odd- spedia noted. "Notre Dame came out on top at almost three times the cost of the cheapest college reviewed, and $100 over the average game day cost. "Notre Dame Fighting Irish were amongst the most expensive in every category reviewed, with two tickets costing over $200 a pair, a space in the parking lot coming in at $35, two beers at $12 a piece, two sodas at $5 each and two hot dogs a whopping $16." ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER