Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1506910
40 SEPT. 9, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: NORTH CAROLINA STATE Give Hartman and receiving threats like junior wideout Jayden Thomas and freshman slot man Jaden Greathouse the edge here. Hartman will pile up yards against NC State like he did at Wake Forest without committing the back-breaking turnovers. Advantage: Notre Dame SPECIAL TEAMS NC State had the best kicker in the country in 2022 in Lou Groza Award winner Christopher Dunn. It's a huge loss for the Wolfpack to be with- out him in 2023. It's a huge loss for Notre Dame to be without former special teams coordinator Brian Mason, though, too. We are still very much in the feel-it-out stage of the Marty Biagi era in South Bend. In the opener against Navy, Irish kickoff specialist Spencer Shrader booted touchbacks on all of his kickoffs except for one. That's a plus. He missed his only field goal attempt from 42 yards out, though, and that is after he only made 69.2 of his field goal attempts last year at South Florida. Chris Tyree did not show much as a punt returner in Week 0 versus Navy, and Gi'Bran Payne didn't get many chances to show what he's got in the kick return game. Until we know more about those two, and more about who Shrader is going to be — the guy who made less than 70 percent of his field OFFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. WR 83 Jayden Thomas 6-1½ 221 Jr. 0 Deion Colzie 6-4¾ 210 Jr. WR 4 Chris Tyree 5-9½ 192 Sr. 19 Jaden Greathouse 6-1 204 Fr. LT 76 Joe Alt 6-7⅝ 322 Jr. 79 Tosh Baker 6-8 317 Sr. LG 78 Pat Coogan 6-5⅛ 303 Jr. 74 Billy Schrauth 6-4½ 311 So. C 52 Zeke Correll 6-3 306 Gr. 70 Ashton Craig 6-4¼ 307 So. RG 50 Rocco Spindler 6-4⅝ 314 Jr. 73 Andrew Kristofic 6-5¼ 305 Gr. RT 54 Blake Fisher 6-6 310 Jr. 59 Aamil Wagner 6-6 288 So. TE 88 Mitchell Evans 6-5⅛ 251 Jr. 13 Holden Staes 6-4¼ 242 So. 38 Davis Sherwood 6-3 238 Jr. WR 5 Tobias Merriweather 6-4 204 So. 17 Rico Flores Jr. 6-0⅛ 205 Fr. or 29 Matt Salerno 6-0⅝ 199 Gr. QB 10 Sam Hartman 6-1⅛ 212 Gr. 18 Steve Angeli 6-2⅜ 211 So. RB 7 Audric Estimé 5-11½ 233 Jr. 3 Gi'Bran Payne 5-9⅛ 208 So. or 24 Jadarian Price 5-10⅜ 206 So. or 22 Devyn Ford 5-11 200 Gr. or 12 Jeremiyah Love 5-11⅞ 197 Fr. DEFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. Vyper 12 Jordan Botelho 6-2½ 264 Sr. 44 Junior Tuihalamaka 6-1⅞ 254 So. DT 99 Rylie Mills 6-5⅛ 306 Sr. 47 Jason Onye 6-4½ 294 Jr. NT 56 Howard Cross III 6-0⅞ 288 Gr. 97 Gabriel Rubio 6-5¼ 306 Jr. SDE 1 Javontae Jean-Baptiste 6-4½ 260 Gr. or 31 Nana Osafo-Mensah 6-3⅛ 264 Sr. Will 8 Marist Liufau 6-2¼ 239 Gr. 23 Jaiden Ausberry 6-0⅛ 224 Fr. Mike 27 JD Bertrand 6-1 233 Gr. 34 Drayk Bowen 6-2 234 Fr. Rover 24 Jack Kiser 6-1⅝ 232 Gr. 3 Jaylen Sneed 6-1⅛ 222 So. CB 5 Cam Hart 6-2½ 207 Gr. 7 Jaden Mickey 5-11½ 180 So. LS 2 DJ Brown 6-1¼ 202 Gr. or 4 Antonio Carter II 5-11¾ 207 Gr. or 13 Thomas Harper 5-10⅝ 193 Gr. RS 0 Xavier Watts 5-11¾ 204 Sr. or 11 Ramon Henderson 6-1 196 Sr. CB 20 Benjamin Morrison 6-0¼ 185 So. 29 Christian Gray 5-11¾ 189 Fr. or 6 Clarence Lewis 5-11½ 202 Sr. SPECIAL TEAMS Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. KO 32 Spencer Shrader 6-1⅜ 200 Gr. 92 Zac Yoakam 5-8 188 So. K 32 Spencer Shrader 6-1⅜ 200 Gr. 92 Zac Yoakam 5-8 188 So. P 14 Bryce McFerson 6-1½ 197 So. 43 Ben Krimm 6-1⅛ 204 Gr. LS 65 Michael Vinson 6-2 235 Gr. 51 Rino Monteforte 5-7 195 So. H 16 Dylan Devezin 6-1⅛ 222 So. 14 Bryce McFerson 6-1½ 197 So. PR 4 Chris Tyree 5-9½ 192 Sr. 29 Matt Salerno 6-0⅝ 199 Gr. KR 22 Devyn Ford 5-11 200 Gr. 4 Chris Tyree 5-9½ 192 Sr. Notre Dame Fighting Irish Two-Deep Depth Chart Graduate student linebacker Payton Wilson recorded 82 total stops and 12.5 tackles for loss last season. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP