Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1511802
8 NOV. 25, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME 0 Games with a 100-yard receiving performance by Notre Dame wide receivers since the start of the 2022 campaign through Week 11 of this season. Wake Forest produced 18 100-yard efforts by wide receivers during quarterback Sam Hartman's final two seasons with the Demon Deacons. 1.57 Percent — 35 of 2,227 points — of the Notre Dame's scoring from the 2022-23 season returned to this year's roster, which featured seven newcomers. That is the fourth-fewest in the nation: Men's College Basketball Returning Production School Points Rebounds Assists New Mexico State 0% 0% 0% Utah State 0% 0.004% 0.003% Northwestern State 0% 0.08% 0.02% Notre Dame 1.57% 2.92% 0.003% Penn State 5% 3.7% 0.003% 2 Notre Dame class of 2024 linebacker pledges — Bodie Kahoun of Roanoke (Va.) Patrick Henry and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa of Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco — were included among the 12 semifinalists for the 2023 High School Butkus Award. The Butkus Award will name the finalists Nov. 21 and then an- nounce the winner Dec. 7. Last year, Notre Dame freshman linebacker Drayk Bowen won the award after an outstanding senior season at Merrillville (Ind.) Andrean. Former Fighting Irish linebackers Manti Te'o (2008), Jay- lon Smith (2012) and Prince Kollie (2020) previously earned the honor in high school. Since 2012, Notre Dame has had three linebackers win the collegiate version of the Butkus Award: Manti Te'o (2012), Jaylon Smith (2015) and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (2020). Smith and Te'o are the only players to win both the high school and collegiate awards. Current Irish graduate student Marist Liufau was tabbed as a semifinalist for this year's college award. 4 Five-star players signed by the Notre Dame women's basketball program in the 2023 and 2024 recruiting classes. Head coach Niele Ivey inked guard Hannah Hidalgo, guard Emma Risch and forward Cassandre Prosper in the 2023 class, and all three are contributing to this year's team. The most recent addition is Long Island (N.Y.) Lutheran center Kate Koval, who signed her National Letter of Intent Nov. 15. She is the No. 5 overall player in the 2024 class, per the espnW HoopGurlz recruiting rankings. 6 Notre Dame men's soccer players were named to All- ACC teams, tying a program record that was set in 2013. Senior goalkeeper Bryan Dowd and junior forward Matthew Roou received first-team accolades, junior forward Eno Nto earned second-team recogni- tion, and the trio of junior midfielder Bryce Boneau, junior defender Kyle Genenbacher and senior for- ward/midfielder Daniel Russo were placed on the third team. In addition, forward Nolan Spicer picked up All- Freshman Team accolades, while Dowd was named the ACC Goalkeeper of the Year and Chad Riley took home ACC Coach of the Year honors. 7 Top-five prospects have been signed by the Fighting Irish women's basketball program since espnW HoopGurlz started its rankings in the 2008 recruiting cycle: guard Skylar Diggins (No. 3 in the class of 2009), guard Jewell Loyd (No. 4 in 2012), forward Taya Reimer (No. 4 in 2013; transferred to Michigan State after two years at Notre Dame), forward Brianna Turner (No. 2 in 2014), Erin Boley (No. 5 in 2016; transferred to Oregon after one year with the Irish), guard Hannah Hidalgo (No. 5 in 2023) and center Kate Koval (No. 5 in 2024). 14th Was where ESPN NFL Draft analyst Jordan Reid ranked Notre Dame's Sam Hartman among the top 16 quarterbacks on his 2024 draft board. He is projected as a late-Day 3 pick. "While he has had plenty of success in the pocket, pressure has rushed him into making pre- mature decisions," Reid said of where Hartman needs work. "When under duress and hit this season, Hartman has only completed 31.7 percent of his throws, which ranks outside the Football Bowl Subdivision's top 100. He doesn't have the play-making ability to create extra opportunities outside of the normal structure of plays with any consistency." 29 Points scored by men's basket- ball point guard Markus Burton in his debut for Notre Dame in a 70-63 win over Niagara Nov. 6 — a school record for a freshman in his collegiate debut. The previous best was 27 tallied by forward LaPhonso Ellis in 1988. Burton is now one of five Irish rookies that have scored 29 or more points in a game, joining Adrian Dantley (1973-76), Troy Murphy (1998-2001), David Graves (1998-2002) and Chris Thomas (2001-05). There have been only two other 20-point games by Irish freshmen over the last three decades: Thomas tallied 24 — to go along with 11 assists and 11 steals — in 2001 and Blake Wesley scored 21 in 2021. Burton made 11 of 20 shots, while adding 4 assists and 4 rebounds. The Irish scored 20 points in the final nine minutes, and the first-year point guard accounted for 16 of them. 57 Points and 15 steals for freshman point guard HANNAH HIDALGO in her first two outings at Notre Dame — the first Division I player to post at least 50 points and 15 steals in the first two games of a season in the last 25 seasons, per ESPN. Hidalgo scored 31 points — while also contributing 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals — in the season-opening 100-71 loss to then-No. 6 South Carolina Nov. 6 in Paris, France. It was the most points by an Irish freshman — male or female — in their collegiate debut and is tied for the third-most points ever scored by a rookie in program history. In her second game, Hidalgo led Notre Dame to a 104-57 win over the New Jersey Institute of Technology by compiling 26 points, 12 steals, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. The 12 steals tied the program record for a single game (Marina Mabrey had a dozen thefts in a 110-54 win over Valparaiso on Nov. 23, 2015) and was also the first 12-steal game for a Division I player since February 2021. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER