Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1514064
12 FEBRUARY 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Paddy Burns — Soccer The senior defender from Crum- lin, Northern Ireland, capped his impressive season as a student- athlete when he was named to the College Sports Communica- tors Academic All-America second team. The Irish team captain is a double major in political science and sociology with a GPA of 3.77. On the pitch, Burns anchored one of the best de- fenses in the country this season and finished with 3 goals and 1 assist. Chelsea Delsoin — Fencing The freshman sabre Jersey City, N.J., helped the Notre Dame women to a 5-1 record at the Elite Invitational Nov. 20 in Columbus, Ohio. With an 11-4 record in her 15 bouts, she paced a Notre Dame women's sabre team that went an impressive 38-16 at the event. The Irish men went 4-1 at the invitational, bringing Notre Dame's program record at the highly competi- tive meet to 9-2. Bryan Dowd — Soccer The senior from Willow Springs, Ill., earned National Player of the Year honors from TopDrawerSoc- cer.com, becoming the first goal- keeper to ever earn the award. He also earned first-team All-America honors from the United Soccer Coaches and became a Hermann Trophy semifinalist after totaling 11 clean slates, while allowing just 0.699 goals per game and posting a .824 save percentage. Dowd help Notre Dame reach the 2023 national championship game. Olivia Markezich — Track & Field The graduate student from Woodinville, Wash., opened her 2023-24 indoor track season in familiar fashion with a dominat- ing win in the 3,000-meter race at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener Dec. 2 in Boston. She finished the race in 8:40.42, shattering her own school record of 8:50.8 that she set last season. Markezich's 3,000-meter time in Boston was the second-fastest posted in the NCAA this season to date. — Todd D. Burlage TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE Scoring margin doesn't get teams into the College Football Playoff. But if it did, Notre Dame would have a chance at a national championship. The Irish came in fourth in the country in scoring margin this season, behind only Michigan, Oregon and Georgia, respectively, and just ahead of Penn State. It's a credit to Notre Dame win- ning the games it should have in blowout fashion, but it also prompts "What if?" questions about the games it lost. After four weeks, the Irish were riding high after four blowout wins, including a 21-point road victory over a North Carolina State team that would eventually finish the season 9-4. The Irish also beat USC 48-20 in what looked like an upset at the time (however, the Trojans would lose four of its final five regular-season games) and blasted weaker Power Five teams such as Pittsburgh, Wake Forest and Stanford. The point differential indicated a Notre Dame team that could compete with the nation's best, but it just didn't show up in road games against Louisville and Clemson. After the former, head coach Marcus Free- man admitted that his team wasn't prepared to play. Earlier, the Irish couldn't make plays in their last pos- session on either side of the ball in a heartbreaking loss to Ohio State. Notre Dame was, most agree, the better team that night. But the Buckeyes stopped the Irish from running out the clock and converted fourth-and-7, third- and-19 and a score-or-lose play from the 1-yard line. In the end, the story of Notre Dame in 2023 will be of missed opportunities for a team whose scoring margin said it was destined for something greater. — Jack Soble CHARTING THE IRISH WHICH NOTRE DAME FRESHMEN BURNED THEIR REDSHIRTS? Notre Dame is willing to burn its freshmen's redshirts if it believes they can help the team. That's true if the given player is a starter, if they play limited snaps in a rotational role or even if they can help on special teams. Eight Irish freshmen burned their redshirts in 2023, starting with a few key offensive players. Running back Jeremiyah Love and wide receivers Jaden Greathouse and Rico Flores Jr. were integral skill position players this season and were never going to redshirt, but even the Irish coaching staff might not have anticipated those three playing as big a role as they did. Greathouse and Love are in line to start or at least compete for a starting job next year, while Flores would have been but instead transferred to UCLA shortly after the season. The decision to play cornerback Christian Gray was made before the season, too, after he won a fall camp competition to be the team's No. 4 cornerback. Notre Dame was on the fence about tight end Cooper Flanagan for a few weeks, but it found him valuable in tight end-heavy personnel packages and decided to play him, too. The Irish inserted wide receiver Jordan Faison into the lineup in Week 6, and it became clear then that he'd play the rest of the way. Finally, on special teams, linebacker Drayk Bowen and safety Luke Talich played on mul- tiple units in 11 and 8 games, respectively. Three freshmen — defensive lineman Bouba- car Traore, linebacker Jaiden Ausberry and safety Adon Shuler — maintained their redshirts de- spite participating in five games each. Their fifth games were all the Sun Bowl, and postseason play no longer counts toward a player's eligibility. — Jack Soble NOTRE DAME FRESHMEN THAT BURNED REDSHIRTS Player Position Games played Rico Flores Jr.* WR 12 Jeremiyah Love RB 12 Cooper Flanagan TE 12 Jaden Greathouse WR 11 Christian Gray CB 11 Drayk Bowen LB 11 Luke Talich S 8 Jordan Faison WR 6 * Transferred to UCLA TOP FIVE FBS TEAMS IN SCORING MARGIN Rk. School Margin 1. Oregon 27.7 2. Michigan* 25.8 3. Georgia 24.5 4. Notre Dame 23.2 5. Penn State 22.8 * Through the College Football Playoff semifinals Wide receiver Jaden Greathouse played in 11 games for the Irish during the 2023 season. PHOTO BY MARCELL GORDON