Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM AUGUST 2024 19 BY TYLER HORKA N otre Dame had a really good feeling it had a three-year starter along the offensive line in its class of 2021. What it didn't know is the offensive lineman who'd end up starting the most games from that class would be Joe Alt, the ninth-ranked player in the Irish's re- cruiting haul that year, and not Blake Fisher, Notre Dame's crown jewel of the class — the top-ranked prospect. The beauty of it is Fisher probably would have started 38 straight games — from the very first one of his career against Florida State in 2021 through the regular-season finale in 2023 — had he not injured his knee against the Seminoles and missed the Irish's next 11 games. He didn't play again until the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State in December. He started that game — a rather large one considering it was the first one for the Irish being coached by someone other than Brian Kelly since 2009 — after his lengthy layoff be- cause, well, of course he did. He was that trusted. He's that talented. So is Alt. When Fisher was lost for the remain- der of the regular season in 2021, Notre Dame scuffled for a month or so try- ing to find an adequate replacement. It wasn't Michael Carmody, who started twice. It wasn't Tosh Baker, who also started twice. It was Alt, who started for the first time in his career on the road against Virginia Tech in the sixth game of the season. He started every game there- after up until sitting out last season's Sun Bowl to prepare for the NFL Draft. Not a bad decision; Notre Dame still beat Oregon State, 40-8, and Alt was the program's highest NFL Draft pick since Rick Mirer was taken second over- all in 1993. Alt went No. 5 overall to the Los Angeles Chargers, and Fisher was selected with the 59th overall pick in the second round the very next evening. "Nobody was rated higher than Joe Alt when it came to our selection," Los An- geles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said. " P l a ys s t ro n g , p l a ys p h ys i c a l , played against good competition, well coached," Houstan Texans general man- ager Nick Caserio said of Fisher. For 26 games in a row, Alt manned the left end of the Notre Dame offensive line and Fisher controlled the right. You knew what you were going to get out of them every time they went out onto the field. Alt was a bit better than his comrade. He was a bit better than everyone else at his position across the country. Fisher wasn't far behind, though. He was the ninth tackle taken in this year's draft. Had he not missed so much time at an impressionable period as a freshman, maybe he'd even have joined Alt as a first-round choice. We'll never know. What we do know is that, for the bet- ter part of three seasons, Notre Dame had everything it needed and then some at the two tackle positions. It's no sur- prise whatsoever they went to the next level after only three years in South Bend and are set up well to succeed in the NFL at their respective landing spots. AIR AUDRIC Audric Estimé had one of the best single seasons a Notre Dame running back has ever had in 2023. He rushed 210 times for 1,341 yards with 18 touch- downs plus 17 catches for 142 yards. His 1,483 all-purpose yards were more than twice as many as anyone else on the Fighting Irish roster. For his career, Estimé had 373 carries for 2,321 yards and 29 rushing touch- downs in addition to 26 receptions for 277 yards and 1 score. Most of that came in two seasons; as a true freshman, he logged only 7 carries for 60 yards play- ing behind Kyren Williams, Chris Tyree and Logan Diggs. It was more than the numbers with Estimé. Most people won't be able to call up off the top of their heads that he finished with the 11th-most rushing yards in Notre Dame history. He needed just 22 more to surpass George Gipp's 10th-place total. What they will remember is the 30- yard game-winning score with 30 sec- onds left on the road at Duke. Or the 238 yards and 4 touchdowns he had against Stanford, both of which were career highs, while everyone watching had a good inkling it'd be the final game he ever played in a Notre Dame uniform. "I definitely feel like I'm one of the best running backs in the country, if not the best," Estimé said after the game. "I definitely want other people to notice. After today, I feel like a lot of people will." Notre Dame fans did, all the time. Es- timé gave them memorable moments. He scored at least one touchdown in 10 of the 12 games he played in his junior season. He was always the type of tailback guys like Alt and Fisher have fun blocking for. Denver Broncos offensive linemen should have fun blocking for him in the NFL, too. THE DEPARTURES Alt, Fisher and Estimé are outliers. They're the only three players from their Notre Dame signing class who were drafted as juniors. Devin Aupiu, for instance, didn't even make it to one game of his freshman season. The Cali- fornia native transferred to UCLA a few weeks before the commencement of fall camp. He was the first of nine players from the class — exactly one-third — who utilized the transfer portal. The others were cornerback Ryan Barnes (UMass), tight end Cane Berrong (Coastal Carolina), quarterback Tyler Buchner (Alabama, then back again), running back Logan Diggs (LSU, Ole Miss), cornerback Khari Gee (Georgia Tech), cornerback JoJo Johnson (Iowa Western CC, Indiana), linebacker Prince Kollie (Vanderbilt) and wide receiver Lorenzo Styles Jr. (Ohio State). Some of the transfers sting more than others. That tends to be a subjective exer- cise in terms of measuring the blowback, but it was easy to see Notre Dame had big plans for Styles, the highest-ranked skill player in the Irish's class. So, to see him exit the program after two seasons, disheartening was an appropriate word. Buchner was ranked just below Styles. They were No. 3 and 4 in Notre Dame's class. The Sam Hartman rental bounced Buchner to Bama after he started just three times in a Notre Dame uniform, far fewer than anyone expected after he was named the starter entering the 2022 season. A home loss to Marshall and a shoulder injury that held him out of 10 games didn't enhance his development, of course. It'll be interesting to see Bu- chner finish his career in full-circle fashion as a walk-on wide receiver for the Irish. Head coach Marcus Freeman announced that news on May 31. "He asked if he could meet with me, Joe Alt (No. 76) and Blake Fisher (No. 54) started 26 straight games together as Notre Dame's left and right tackles, respectively. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER