Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 SEPT. 7, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Izzy Engle — Soccer The freshman midfielder from Edina, Minn., made a big impact with her new team, scoring 5 goals in the first three games of the sea- son for Notre Dame. In a 6-0 win over Samford Aug. 18, Engle became the first Irish player to record a hat trick since 2008. A week later in a 4-0 win over TCU, Engle tallied 2 goals. Her 5 goals were tied for the most in the country through Aug. 27. Sam Grewe — Track and Field The 2021 Notre Dame graduate from Mid- dlebury, Ind., was named to the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Team Aug. 22 and will com- pete in the T63 men's high jump in Paris. An amputee from the knee down on his right leg, this will mark the third Paralympic Games appearance for Grewe. He earned a silver medal in the event at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, then struck gold at the Tokyo Paralympics. Matthew Roou — Soccer The senior midfielder from Germantown, Wis., got off to a good start with a goal in the Fighting Irish's 1-1 draw against Ak- ron Aug. 22. Ro o u s t a r t e d a l l 2 0 matches and was tabbed as a first-team All-ACC selec- tion last season. He scored a career-high 10 goals and finished the 2023 campaign with 23 points, which was tied for the team lead. Garrett Sundra — Basketball The true freshman from Ashburn, Va., made his case for some early playing time during Notre Dame's overseas trip to Spain from Aug. 5-15. In three games against Spanish teams, the versatile 6-foot-11 forward helped the Irish to a 3-0 re- cord by recording 18 points and 24 rebounds in the three outings. In an 89-65 win against the Madrid All-Stars Aug. 8, he put together a 9-point, 9-rebound performance. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE It might not seem like it, but Notre Dame is in its best run of pre- season respect since the mid-1990s. The Fighting Irish have been ranked in the top 10 of the preseason Associated Press poll in five of the past six years. That includes the 2024 poll that dropped Aug. 12 and had Notre Dame at No. 7. Seventh is Notre Dame's third-highest preseason AP ranking since 2000, with the two best being No. 2 in 2006 and No. 5 in 2022. That's a good thing for the Irish and head coach Marcus Freeman, whose third season is kicking off with massive expectations. According to Action Network's Brett McMurphy, only twice in the last 20 years has the national champion not ranked at least No. 7 in the preseason AP poll: Florida State in 2013 (No. 11) and Auburn in 2010 (No. 22). Before their current run, the Irish had opened as a top-10 team only twice since the turn of the century. Notre Dame pulled off a string of eight straight seasons in the preseason top 10 from 1989-96, before the end of the Lou Holtz era brought forth a decade of mediocrity in South Bend. Since 2000, high expectations have not necessarily brought results. The only Fighting Irish team to make a national championship game in that time frame is the 2012 edition. That team was coincidentally Brian Kelly's third season at the helm. Notre Dame was not ranked in the preseason AP poll that year. In 2006, Charlie Weis' second team finished 10-3 with a loss in the Sugar Bowl despite being ranked second in the country before the season. In 2022, Freeman's first group dropped its first two games and finished 9-4 after winning the Gator Bowl. The 2019 and 2021 Irish both landed at No. 9 in the pre- season AP poll, and both wound up with an 11-2 record. — Jack Soble CHARTING THE IRISH INSTANT IMPACT Notre Dame will rely on its freshman class more than it anticipated on National Signing Day — and more than most college football teams in 2024. The Irish are one of four programs to place more than one player on the 22-man On3 Preseason True Freshman All-American Team, with offensive tackle Anthonie Knapp and linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu- Asa both making the list. The other three are Alabama, Miami and South Carolina. Notre Dame did not place anyone on the postseason FWAA Freshman All-American team in 2023, but it had done so in each of the previous four seasons. Safety Kyle Hamilton in 2019, Kyren Williams in 2020 and Joe Alt in 2021 and Benjamin Morrison in 2022 each earned the honor, although Williams was a redshirt freshman at the time. Irish fans could have seen Viliamu-Asa's inclusion coming when head coach Marcus Freeman called him the most college- ready player in the 2024 recruiting class. That being said, the top-45 prospect known as "KVA" has some- how exceeded those ex- pectations since he joined the program. Coming out of Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco, Viliamu-Asa immediately showed he can defend the run, cover and rush the passer from multiple positions as well as a veteran starter. He will play significant snaps in Year 1, and it's easy to see him becoming a superstar sooner than later. Most expected Knapp, on the other hand, to redshirt when he enrolled early out of Roswell (Ga.) High. Knapp is slightly undersized for a tackle at 6-foot-4, 294 pounds — offensive line coach Joe Rudolph has said there's a good chance he winds up at guard — but his athleticism and nastiness in finishing blocks opened the coaching staff's eyes. When sophomore left tackle Charles Jagusah suffered a season-ending pectoral injury, Rudolph said graduate student Tosh Baker would take his place. But less than a week later, Knapp was running with the first-team offensive line. — Jack Soble SCHOOLS WITH MULTIPLE PLAYERS ON ON3'S PRESEASON TRUE FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICAN TEAM School Player, Pos. Player, Pos. Alabama Ryan Williams, WR Zabien Brown, DB Miami Jordan Lyle, RB Justin Scott, DT Notre Dame Anthonie Knapp, OL Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, LB South Carolina Josiah Thompson, OL Dylan Stewart, Edge NOTRE DAME'S TOP FIVE PRESEASON AP POLL RANKINGS IN THE 21ST CENTURY Rk. Year Rank Final record 1. 2006 No. 2 10-3 2. 2022 No. 5 9-4 3. 2024 No. 7 ? 4. 2021 No. 9 11-2 2019 No. 9 11-2 Head coach Marcus Freeman's Irish squad was ranked No. 7 in the first Associated Press Top 25 of the 2024 campaign. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER