Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1513077
10 JANUARY 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Notre Dame Well Represented On All-America Teams In early December, various outlets began releasing their 2023 All-America selections. A quartet of core Notre Dame players littered the lists. The Athletic, CBS Sports and USA Today put those three Notre Dame players in the same spots; junior left tackle Joe Alt and se- nior safety Xavier Watts made the first team, and junior running back Audric Estimé made the second team. Pro Football Focus put Alt on the first team while placing Watts on the second team with graduate student defensive end Howard Cross III. Estimé did not make PFF's team, which was also true of the Walter Camp Football Foundation's release. Walter Camp had Alt and Watts on the first team with Cross on the second team. The Football Writers Association of America had Notre Dame's representatives in the same places as PFF, with Alt and Watts on the first team and Cross on the second team. The Associated Press had Alt, Watts and Cross slotted the same way, plus it added Estimé to its second-team All-America list. As of Dec. 11, Alt had not announced his intentions to either return to Notre Dame for a senior season in 2024 or declare for the NFL Draft. He's a lock to be selected in the first round and could even be a top-10 pick. Watts said in early December he will play in the Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl Dec. 29, but he is unsure if he will come back to South Bend for a graduate season in 2024. Cross announced on Dec. 10 that he is doing both; you'll see him on the field in El Paso, Texas, at the end of the month, and he'll be suited up in blue and gold when the Fighting Irish return to the Lone Star State for the 2024 season opener at Texas A&M. Cross is locked in for a sixth collegiate season. Estimé was one of 17 FBS players to average at least 100 rush- ing yards per game. His 25 carries for 238 yards and 4 touch- downs in the regular-season finale brought him to 210 rushes for 1,341 yards and 18 touchdowns this season. Only two running backs in the FBS had more rushing scores than Estimé. As of Dec. 11, he had not made a decision on his future. Last year, Notre Dame had two consensus All-Americans in defensive end Isaiah Foskey and tight end Michael Mayer. Five outlets make up consensus status — the Walter Camp Football Foundation, the American Football Coaches Association, the As- sociated Press, the Football Writers Association of America and the Sporting News. To earn that tag, a player needs to receive first-team status from three of those five bodies. A unanimous All-American is a first-team selection by all five groups. — Tyler Horka Call Joey Tanona, a former Notre Dame offensive lineman who missed the last two seasons in medical retirement, Michael Jordan. He's back. A press release stating, "I'm back," is, of course, the way Jordan came out of his first retirement stint with the Chicago Bulls back in 1995. That's the exact wording Tanona used to start his social media message announcing a transfer to Purdue on Dec. 8. "I want to thank everyone who was involved in making this possible," Tanona continued. "My former high school coaches who broke their backs trying to make something like this possible. I love you to everyone who never gave up on me throughout this struggle. I will always remember you. "It's time to go to work, though, because I owe it to you all to put only my abso - lute best on the field. I love this game; I love competing and, more so, competing to win. I am excited about what the future may bring, but for now, I can only say is let's go win some ball games and boiler up!" Notre Dame is scheduled to take a trip down to Purdue Sept. 14 of next year, so the Fighting Irish will reunite with their former teammate in West Lafayette in 10 short months. Tanona never played a down in a Notre Dame uniform. He arrived in South Bend as an early enrollee in the class of 2022. He was the No. 10 interior of - fensive lineman coming out of high school that year per the On3 Industry Rank- ing. With Tanona's 6-foot-5, 295-pound size coming out of Zionsville (Ind.) High School, the hope was he would quickly become an option at guard. That hope was thwarted by a severe car wreck that left Tanona unable to play football. Tanona was concussed, and Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman described the accident as "a pretty bad one." "He kept trying to come back," Freeman said on Aug. 5, 2022. "Mentally and physically, he was not in a place where he was ready to play football." It's great to see that he is now. —Tyler Horka Senior safety Xavier Watts earned first-team All-America honors from The Athletic, the Associated Press, CBS Sports, the Football Writers Association of America and USA Today. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Former Irish Signee Comes Out Of Medical Retirement, Transfers