Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM AUGUST 2024 27 important note is that he is a lacrosse walk-on as well, so if he did get into game action Notre Dame would not have to burn a football scholarship on him like it did for Jordan Faison last fall. Essentially, the Irish are playing with house money in having another set of quarterback-like eyes and ears on the practice field, in meetings and maybe even in games. Buchner has accounted for 14 total touchdowns in his career. Per- haps we have not seen the last of them. "He can help us at any different posi- tion," Freeman said. "He'll go into the wide receivers room. He might signal. We don't know exactly what capacity he'll be, but he will be on the team starting in fall camp as a walk-on wide receiver." FEELING THE PAYNE Notre Dame running back Gi'Bran Payne suffered a knee injury in the Blue- Gold Game and had subsequent surgery to repair a torn ACL. Freeman did not rule Payne out for the entirety of the 2024 sea- son, but the timeline of undergoing ma- jor surgery in the spring and being ready sometime in the fall does not bode well for the junior who ranked fourth on the Notre Dame roster in 2023 with 168 rushing yards. He scored 2 rushing touchdowns and added 2 more through the air. Payne's greatest asset was his dura- bility on third down, though, and that's where the Irish will miss him the most. If you use Sports Info Solutions' situ- ational filters for 2023 rushing statis- tics, select third down only, then use the Ctrl+F keyboard feature to search for "Notre Dame," you'll find one Fighting Irish running back among the top 200 tailbacks in the FBS. It's not Audric Estimé. It's Payne. Payne recorded 22 rushing attempts on third down last season. That wasn't a whole lot on a national scale; it ranked well outside the top 100 among FBS running backs. But the larger point is that Estimé, who had 211 total carries to Payne's 45, did not even rank inside the top 200 with his 16 third-down carries. Estimé is a big, burly, bruising tailback. He's got the type of body at 229 pounds that can stand up against loaded boxes in short-yardage situations. And yet, Notre Dame trusted 5-9, 203-pound Payne to run in those instances more than anyone else on the roster. He converted 45.5 per- cent of his third-down rushes into first downs. Estimé's clip was 37.5. "Physically, he's got more than what people think," Notre Dame running backs coach Deland McCullough said this spring. "As we continue to move forward, you'll see more of that from him. Short-yardage-wise, he's got a low center of gravity, he's got pad level, he knows how to get skinny in between there, different things like that. "The same things he brings to the table as a short-yardage back as far as leverage, he brings to the table as a pass protector." What Notre Dame will miss the most without Payne's services is the consis- tency, the undeniable will, the knack for just getting the job done and the trust the Irish could place in him with offen- sive drives on the line. McCullough "certifies" players in his position group when he believes that player can do everything he asks of them. Not just in one game but all the time. Of the players on this Notre Dame roster, Payne received his certification first. "I said, 'Gi'Bran, you're certified,'" McCullough said. "The whole world knows you're certified." He added, "Gi'Bran is like our silent assassin. His vertical went from a 32 inches to a 37. It shows. The guy's a more explosive player. Gi'Bran doesn't make mistakes. Gi'Bran maximizes. Gi'Bran is football smart, a situational master. He's bringing his lunch bucket to the table every day. He's the lead guy as far as details and handling his stuff." ✦ Quarterback No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 13 Riley Leonard 6-4 216 Sr./1 18 Steve Angeli 6-2 205 Jr./3 8 Kenny Minchey 6-2 207 So./4 12 CJ Carr 6-3 210 Fr./4 Running Back No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 4 Jeremiyah Love 6-0 206 So./3 24 Jadarian Price 5-10 203 Jr./3 22 Devyn Ford 5-11 200 Gr./1 20 Aneyas Williams 5-10 200 Fr./4 21 Kedren Young 6-0 229 Fr./4 3 Gi'Bran Payne^ 5-9 203 Jr./3 Boundary Receiver (W) No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 83 Jayden Thomas 6-2 218 Sr./2 or 5 Beaux Collins 6-3 202 Sr./1 14 Micah Gilbert 6-2 208 Fr./4 0 Deion Colzie 6-4 212 Sr./2 Field Receiver (X) No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 10 Kris Mitchell 6-0 183 Gr./1 11 KK Smith 6-0 178 So./4 17 Cam Williams 6-2 199 Fr./4 Slot Receiver (Y) No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 1 Jaden Greathouse 6-1 205 So./3 or 6 Jordan Faison 5-10 182 So./3 2 Jayden Harrison 5-10 198 Gr./1 19 Logan Saldate 5-11 187 Fr./4 Tight End No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 88 Mitchell Evans 6-5 260 Sr./1 9 Eli Raridon 6-7 250 Jr./2 87 Cooper Flanagan 6-6 257 So./3 85 Jack Larsen 6-3 246 Fr./4 38 Davis Sherwood 6-3 238 Sr./1 84 Kevin Bauman 6-5 260 Gr./2 Left Tackle No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 56 Charles Jagusah 6-7 330 So./4 75 Sullivan Absher 6-7 321 So./4 77 Ty Chan 6-5 327 Jr./3 76 Guerby Lambert 6-7 318 Fr./4 Left Guard No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 78 Pat Coogan 6-5 310 Sr./2 or 50 Rocco Spindler 6-5 331 Sr./2 73 Peter Jones 6-5 310 Fr./4 Center No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 70 Ashton Craig 6-4 308 Jr./3 72 Sam Pendleton 6-4 305 So./4 64 Joe Otting 6-3 303 So./4 Right Guard No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 74 Billy Schrauth 6-5 315 Jr./3 77 Ty Chan 6-5 327 Jr./3 55 Chris Terek 6-5 333 So./4 Right Tackle No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 79 Tosh Baker 6-8 320 Gr./2 or 59 Aamil Wagner 6-6 290 Jr./3 54 Anthonie Knapp 6-4 291 Fr./4 71 Styles Prescod 6-6 293 Fr./4 ^ Currently injured Summer 2024 Notre Dame Scholarship Depth Chart Here is Blue & Gold Illustrated's projection for how Notre Dame's 2024 offense scholarship depth chart looked prior to the start of fall camp.