Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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16 PRESEASON 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Julia Carr — Lacrosse The junior defenseman from Rockville, Md., became the first Notre Dame winner of the Individual Community Awareness Award — an honor given to student-athletes in la- crosse who excel in sport, aca- demics and the community. In addition to her dedication on the field and in the classroom, Carr also earned the Under Armour 25x25 Collegiate Challenge award for logging the most service hours among all Un- der Armour student-athletes nationwide. Chris Guiliano — Swimming The senior from Douglass- ville, Pa., made a big splash at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics July 27, helping the United States to its first gold medal by swimming the second leg of the win- ning 4x100 freestyle relay. Making his first-ever Olympic appearance, Guiliano qualified for three individual freestyle events and became an integral part of multiple U.S. relay teams, also earning a silver medal in the 4x200 freestyle race. Lee Kiefer — Fencing Making her second Olym- pic appearance in individual foil competition at Paris, the 2017 Notre Dame graduate became only the second U.S. women's fencer to ever win multiple gold medals. She joined Irish legend Mariel Zagunis (sabre) after dominating the field. The Cleveland native took gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and followed it up with a 15-6 win in the gold medal bout in Paris. Eszter Muhari — Fencing The junior from Budapest, Hungary, opened the Olym- pic games for 16 former and current Notre Dame athletes who competed in Paris, making a run to the women's epee semifinals before earning a bronze medal for the U.S. in the event. Making her first Olympic appearance, the 2023 epee national championship winner slipped by Estonia's Nelli Differt 15-14 in a thrilling bronze medal match. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE Notre Dame opens the season with a road tilt against Texas A&M, which is in the Southeastern Confer- ence. That doesn't happen all that often. The Irish are 36-18 against SEC teams in their 100-plus-year history, with matchups only making the tally if they involved a team in the conference at the time. For example, six wins over Tulane are included but a 9-3 record against Texas is not. The last time the Irish faced a squad from the league that "just means more," they dispatched South Carolina 45-38 in the 2022 Gator Bowl. After a back-and-forth battle, Notre Dame took a decisive lead on a 16-yard pass from Tyler Buchner to Mitchell Evans. At the time, the former was Notre Dame's starting quarterback and the latter was hauling in his fifth career reception. They'll take the field in College Station, Texas — 610 days later — as a walk-on wide receiver and a second-team preseason All-American. Of the last five Notre Dame-SEC matchups, three have occurred in the postseason. The Irish kept it closer than expected on New Year's Day 2021 against the buzz saw that was eventual national champion Alabama, but they lost 31-14 in the College Football Playoff semifinals. Three years to the day earlier, Ian Book tossed a 55-yard touchdown pass to Myles Boykin with 1:28 to go in the Citrus Bowl. It put Notre Dame up 21-17 against LSU, and the Irish would hold on to win. The season opener against Texas A&M will be Notre Dame's first regular-season matchup with the SEC since before the COVID-19 pan- demic. The Irish lost to Georgia 23-17 in 2019, but they beat Vanderbilt 22-17 in 2018. The Irish also have matchups with other SEC teams on their future schedules. They'll travel to Arkansas in 2025 and host the Razorbacks in 2028, and they have home-and-homes set with Alabama and Florida further down the line. — Jack Soble CHARTING THE IRISH FUTURE IRISH FREAKS On July 15, On3 director of scouting and recruiting Charles Power listed the 25 freakiest athletes in the 2025 class. Three of the top 10 are pledged to Notre Dame. Power's No. 1 freakiest player is none other than Irish quarterback commit Deuce Knight, who is not just an elite athlete for a high school quarterback. He would be an elite athlete for an NFL quarterback. According to A to Z Sports draft analyst Ryan Roberts, Knight's relative athletic score as an NFL pros- pect would be 9.90. That means his combination of size, speed, agility and explosiveness is in the 99th percentile of all quarterbacks to come into the draft since 1987. And again, he is a senior in high school. Knight is 6-foot-4½, and he runs a 4.53 40-yard dash. The Lucedale (Miss.) George County senior also exceeded 40 inches on his vertical jump (he's a standout basketball player as well) and 10 feet, 8 inches on his broad jump. Coming in at No. 3 — and No. 2 among com- mitted prospects — was James Flanigan, who will play tight end in South Bend. He's the son of former Irish defensive tackle Jim Flanigan, who played in the NFL for 10 years and won the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2000. James Flanigan is a three-sport standout at Green Bay (Wis.) Notre Dame de la Baie Acad- emy in football, hockey and track. He's 6-foot- 5½ with 33½-inch arms, and he ran 11.44 sec- onds in the 100 meters. Finally, Wallingford (Conn.) Choate Rosemary Hall offensive tackle Will Black was No. 9 on Power's list. Being originally from Canada, he also has a background in hockey. One has to pity the poor skaters who saw a 6-foot-7½, 283-pound monster charging at them with 4.90 40-yard dash speed. Black also has the arm length to stick at tackle, coming in at 34¼ inches. — Jack Soble NOTRE DAME'S LAST FIVE GAMES VS. SEC TEAMS Date Opponent Result Dec. 30, 2022 South Carolina* W, 45-38 Jan. 1, 2021 Alabama^ L, 31-14 Sept. 21, 2019 Georgia L, 23-17 Sept. 15, 2018 Vanderbilt W, 22-17 Jan. 1, 2018 LSU# W, 21-17 * Gator Bowl; ^ CFP Semifinal; # Citrus Bowl GRAPHIC COURTESY ON3