Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 SEPT. 30, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Bryan Dowd — Soccer The senior goalkeeper from Willow Springs, Ill., recorded a career-high 12 saves for No. 15 Notre Dame in a 0-0 road draw versus No. 4 Akron Sept. 19. He was especially busy in the first half, when he stopped 8 shots by the Zips. T h ro u g h e i g h t ga m e s , Dowd had allowed only 5 goals, made 29 saves and posted 4 shutouts for the 4-1-3 Fighting Irish. Leah Klenke — Soccer The sophomore midfielder from Houston tal- lied 2 assists in a 3-1 win for the No. 13 Irish over Wake Forest to open ACC play Sept. 15. She recorded her first assist in only the sixth minute of the match to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead, then added her second assist in the 75th minute that put the Irish up 3-0. Through eight games, Klenke led Notre Dame with 5 assists and was sixth on the team with 5 points. Jacob Modleski — Golf The freshman from Noblesville, Ind., shot a 4-under-par 209 in only his second career tournament with the Irish, which was good enough for a fourth-place individual finish in the three-round Gopher Invitational Sept. 10-11 at Maple Plain, Minn. The Irish finished eighth in the 14- team event. Entering the final round at 1-under, Modleski carded a team-best 3-under 68 in round three. He finished the tournament with 13 birdies. Sydney Palazzolo — Volleyball The junior outside hitter from Shelby Township, Mich., led the Irish to a two-match sweep of Toledo Sept. 15 and 17, in a home-and-home se- ries. She recorded 14 kills in a 3-1 win at home over the Rockets in the first match, and then tallied 16 kills in a 3-0 whitewash at Toledo. Through eight games, Palazzolo easily led Notre Dame with 144 kills. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE Former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly's coaching tree is actually more impressive at the NFL level. Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur and New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh were both graduate assistants under Kelly at Central Michi- gan, and LaFleur was later Notre Dame's quarterbacks coach. Notre Dame's fingerprints are still scattered around the col- lege head coaching ranks, though, starting with the most re- cent hire: former Irish defensive coordinator Mike Elko, who is set to square off against Notre Dame on Saturday as the head coach at Duke. Elko left Notre Dame for the defensive coor- dinator job at Texas A&M where he stayed until December 2021, when Duke hired him. Since then, Elko has become one of the hottest names in college football with the Blue Devils. Vanderbilt hired Clark Lea before the 2021 season. At a dif- ficult place to win — the Commodores' stadium and football pedigree are far behind the rest of the Southeastern Confer- ence — Lea went 2-10 in Year 1 and 5-7 with conference wins over Florida and Kentucky in Year 2. Things seemed to be looking good for Lea entering the 2023 season, but a 16-point loss to Wake Forest and a three-point loss to UNLV toned down any excitement in Nashville, at least for now. Beyond the Power Five, former Notre Dame running backs coach Autry Denson, who recruited Kyren Williams, among others, to South Bend, spent four years as the head coach at Charleston Southern. He's now the running backs coach with the Arizona Cardinals. Former Notre Dame de- fensive coordinator Bob Diaco lasted three years, from 2014-16, as UConn's coach. Former Irish of- fensive coordinator Chuck Martin is still going strong with Miami (Ohio), making a bowl games in three of the past four seasons. — Jack Soble CHARTING THE IRISH SUPER SHRADER Spencer Shrader didn't know he kicked the longest field goal in Notre Dame history, with a 54-yard boot against North Carolina State Sept. 9, until after the game. Irish head coach Marcus Freeman an- nounced it in front of the entire team. "It was a pretty cool moment," Shrader said. "Feeling very blessed in that instance, just to be able to be in the history books." Shrader nearly hit a 56-yarder later in the game, but it hit the left upright. It had plenty of leg, though, and Shrader's range could conceivably win the Irish games later this season. His 54-yarder tied with Texas Tech's Gino Garcia for the 10th-longest in college football so far this season. As it turns out, the graduate transfer from South Florida has a connection to the kicker responsible for No. 1. He played soccer growing up with former Iowa State kicker Andrew Mevis, whose brother, Missouri kicker Harrison Mevis, drilled a walk-off 61-yard field goal to beat No. 15 Kansas State 30-27 Sept. 16. As of Sept. 19, Shrader hadn't reached out to Mevis, but he plans on it. "They're an awesome family," Shrader said. "I'm super excited for him." — Jack Soble LONGEST MADE FIELD GOALS IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL THROUGH WEEK 3 Rk. Kicker School Yards 1. Harrison Mevis Missouri 61 2. Griffin Kell TCU 57 3. Caden Davis Ole Miss 56 Chase Contreraz Iowa State 56 Jonah Dalmas Boise State 56 John Hoyland Wyoming 56* 8. Dean Janikowski Wash. State 55 Colton Boomer UCF 55 10. Spencer Shrader Notre Dame 54 Gino Garcia Texas Tech 54 * Did it twice LAST FIVE NOTRE DAME ASSISTANTS HIRED AS HEAD COACHES AT OTHER SCHOOLS Coach School Job at Notre Dame Mike Elko Duke Defensive coordinator Clark Lea Vanderbilt Defensive coordinator Autry Denson Charleston Southern Running backs coach Chuck Martin Miami (Ohio) Offensive coordinator Bob Diaco Connecticut Defensive coordinator Does not include interim or NFL coaches Duke head coach Mike Elko was the Irish defensive coordinator in 2017. PHOTO COURTESY DUKE ATHLETICS