Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1526111
38 SEPT. 7, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: NORTHERN ILLINOIS and back-end ball hawks Benjamin Morrison and Xavier Watts. The Irish will make it a long day for Rudolph and whoever's looking his way. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. NORTHERN ILLINOIS RUN DEFENSE Experience in the trenches. Northern Illinois has it. We already highlighted everyone the Huskies brought back up front on offense. Defensively, there are seven returning linemen who played at least 12 games in an NIU uniform in 2023. Defensive end Raishein Thomas, the first NIU defensive lineman to ever lead the team in total tackles with 74, also led the Huskies in run stops with 30. Nobody at Notre Dame had that many. Howard Cross III led the Irish with 29. He was joined by three others in the 20s, though, while only one other Husky accompanied Thomas with 20 or more. That was four-year team captain and two-time Northern Illinois team MVP James Ester with 22. Ester has since moved on to the next level. He leaves behind an NIU run defense that wasn't the team's strength in 2023. Despite finishing in the top 25 in yards allowed, the Huskies ranked 62nd in rushing yards allowed. That's music to the ears of a Notre Dame run- ning back contingent that's about to be unleashed in ways not possible while Audric Estimé was the bell cow of the group. Estimé is also at the next level, and he's left behind two tailbacks in sopho- more Jeremiyah Love and junior Jadarian Price who could be RB1s at just about any program nationwide. They're the type of backs who can cir- cumnavigate any shakiness provided by a young of- fensive line, which Notre Dame has in a freshman, sophomore and three juniors as starters, by simply doing their thing with the football in their hands. Oh, and Riley Leonard has been one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the country for a cou- ple years now. Leonard's PFF run grade of 86.5 was the best of any Duke ball carrier. None of the other Blue Devils even hit 80. Estimé and Price were the only Notre Dame players over 80 in 2023. Leonard plus Price plus Love equals another On Paper win for the home team. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. NORTHERN ILLINOIS PASS DEFENSE We've arrived at the thing Northern Illinois did with the best of the best in college football last season. As well as Notre Dame did it, almost. Defend the pass. The Huskies allowed 171.2 passing yards per game in 2023, which was good for No. 6 in the FBS. Notre Dame ranked No. 3 at 157.3 passing yards allowed per game. NIU head coach Thomas Hammock believes the Huskies, similarly to Notre Dame, have four corners who can viably start on the outside. Se- nior JaVaughn Byrd is to Benjamin Morrison what redshirt sophomores Jacob Finley and Amariyun Knighten are to Christian Gray and Jaden Mickey. Byrd started every game for NIU last year, while Finley and Knighten tag-teamed the other corner position. That's the exact split Notre Dame is look- ing at with Morrison on the boundary side and Gray and Mickey in the field this fall. Senior cornerback JaVaughn Byrd had a break- out season in 2023, notching career highs in interceptions (3) and passes broken up (5) while posting 32 tackles. PHOTO COURTESY NORTHERN ILLINOIS ATHLETICS Offense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. WR 5 Beaux Collins 6-2 206 Gr. or 83 Jayden Thomas 6-2 218 Sr. WR 1 Jaden Greathouse 6-1 215 So. or 2 Jayden Harrison 5-10 198 Gr. LT 54 Anthonie Knapp 6-4 294 Fr. 79 Tosh Baker 6-8 325 Gr. LG 72 Sam Pendleton 6-4 310 So. 50 Rocco Spindler 6-5 325 Sr. C 70 Ashton Craig 6-4 308 Jr. 78 Pat Coogan 6-5 310 Sr. RG 74 Billy Schrauth 6-5 310 Jr. 75 Sullivan Absher 6-7 321 So. RT 59 Aamil Wagner 6-6 291 Jr. 76 Guerby Lambert 6-7 323 Fr. TE 88 Mitchell Evans 6-5 260 Sr. 87 Cooper Flanagan 6-6 257 So. or 9 Eli Raridon 6-7 250 Jr. WR 6 Jordan Faison 5-10 184 So. or 10 Kris Mitchell 6-0 186 Gr. QB 13 Riley Leonard 6-4 216 Sr. 18 Steve Angeli 6-2 208 Jr. RB 4 Jeremiyah Love 6-0 210 So. or 24 Jadarian Price 5-10 206 Jr. Defense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. VYP 12 Jordan Botelho 6-3 250 Gr. 5 Boubacar Traore 6-4 243 So. DT 99 Rylie Mills 6-5 295 Gr. 47 Jason Onye 6-5 291 Sr. NT 56 Howard Cross III 6-1 288 Gr. 41 Donovan Hinish 6-2 278 Jr. DE 9 RJ Oben 6-3 265 Gr. 40 Joshua Burnham 6-4 251 Jr. WILL 24 Jack Kiser 6-2 231 Gr. 4 Jaiden Ausberry 6-2 216 So. MIKE 34 Drayk Bowen 6-2 239 So. 27 Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa 6-3 240 Fr. ROV 3 Jaylen Sneed 6-1 224 Jr. 4 Jaiden Ausberry 6-2 216 So. CB 20 Benjamin Morrison 6-0 190 Jr. 15 Leonard Moore 6-2 191 Fr. SS 8 Adon Shuler 6-0 200 So. 28 Luke Talich 6-4 211 So. FS 0 Xavier Watts 6-0 203 Gr. 2 Rod Heard II 5-11 195 Gr. CB 29 Christian Gray 6-0 189 So. 7 Jaden Mickey 6-0 182 Jr. NIC 1 Jordan Clark 5-10 182 Gr. 21 Karson Hobbs 6-1 192 Fr. Special Teams Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. KO 98 Mitch Jeter 5-11 195 Gr. K 98 Mitch Jeter 5-11 195 Gr. P 16 James Rendell 6-6 224 Gr. 90 Eric Goins 6-2 209 Gr. LS 49 Andrew Kros 6-3 220 So. or 39 Rino Monteforte 5-7 200 Jr. H 26 Chris Salerno 5-11 208 Sr. 81 Jack Polian 6-0 183 Sr. PR 6 Jordan Faison 5-10 184 So. or 1 Jaden Greathouse 6-1 215 So. KR 2 Jayden Harrison 5-10 198 Gr. or 4 Jeremiyah Love 6-0 210 So. or 24 Jadarian Price 5-10 206 Jr. NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH TWO-DEEP DEPTH CHART