Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1510565
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 4, 2023 11 UNDER THE DOME "The 6-4, 260-pound grad transfer started only four games in his five years at Ohio State but has made a big impression as a starter for the No. 15 Fighting Irish. Jean-Baptiste has a career-high 33 tackles, 22 pressures, 3 tackles for loss and a pass breakup on 347 snaps." — Max Olson on including Notre Dame graduate student defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste on The Athletic's college football midseason All- Transfer Portal team "Marcus Freeman has had to learn on the job over the past year and a half, and no doubt there have been some rocky moments, but I get the sense he's building something pretty special there. The Irish have a lot of athletes on both sides of the ball. Can they do what Jim Harbaugh has eventually gotten Michigan to, and elevate this program from very good to great? Maybe. That was the sticking point that the Brian Kelly regime never was able to get past in South Bend. "The recruiting and development piece of all that takes a lot of time, as it has in Ann Arbor. I am curious to see where this program goes now that it has some real momentum — and some time to catch its breath." — Bruce Feldman of The Athletic on Notre Dame football "It's a fairly radical notion, but if we could find a way to reach binding agreements with our student- athletes, most of [the problems with NIL go] away. We don't have a mechanism to [collectively bargain] without them becoming employees. It would require a new mechanism that would recognize the rights of student-athletes to negotiate for the terms and conditions of their participation as athletes without being employees. I think it's worth considering. "There is a challenge here. Are they bargaining with the NCAA or the conference? It can't be school by school. You need some competitive equity. You couldn't have one group of student-athletes negotiate for a 10-game season and another a 12-game season." — Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick in an interview with Yahoo Sports "If I'm blessed to have kids, I hope I can bring them back, and they play a highlight. Probably won't be as cool as [former Notre Dame and NFL legend] Joe Montana … I met Joe Montana today. That was pretty sweet. USC victory, Joe Montana." — Notre Dame graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman after the 48-20 win over USC Oct. 14 "Hannah Hidalgo is a Marina Mabrey. She's a dog. She has those characteristics." — Notre Dame women's basketball head coach Niele Ivey on who will fill the enforcer role on the team that the departed Marina Mabrey had the past few seasons "Just come and watch us. Don't come in with any preconceived notions about what this team is, what this team might be, what people say this team is. "… You might come in and you'd be like, 'Man, I don't know what Notre Dame basketball is going to be.' But you sit and watch us for 40 minutes, you're going to be like, 'If that's Notre Dame basketball, I'm going to be proud of that group. I can come back to the next game.'" — Notre Dame men's basketball head coach Micah Shrewsberry THEY SAID IT THEY SAID IT "At 6-foot-2 and 207 pounds, Hart is a tall corner who shows savvy in cov- erage. His instincts are routinely on display, as he's quick to react and dis- rupt throwing windows. Coming into the weekend, Hart had allowed only a 20 percent completion percentage on throws into his coverage, the sec- ond-best mark in the FBS. Preseason evaluations had him in the Day 3 range, but he's trending up, and a zone-heavy team might be intrigued by him in the third or fourth round." — ESPN NFL Draft analyst Jordan Reid on tabbing Notre Dame gradu - ate student cornerback CAM HART as a draft sleeper to keep an eye on following Week 7 PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP IRISH ON SOCIAL MEDIA