Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 14, 2024 9 UNDER THE DOME 1st Quarterback on Yahoo Sports! analyst Nate Tice's initial 2025 NFL Draft big board top 40 was none other than Notre Dame senior RILEY LEONARD. He was listed 23rd overall, ahead of the other four signal-callers on Tice's big board: Georgia's Carson Beck at No. 24, Colorado's Shedeur Sanders at No. 31, Texas A&M's Conner Weigman at No. 32 and USF's Byrum Brown at No. 36. "Leonard is also a great athlete who is a weapon on designed runs and in the open field," noted Tice, a quarterback at Wisconsin from 2009-11 who also ranked Irish junior cornerback Benjamin Morrison at No. 13 on his big board. "That athleticism and natural feel for playing the position is why Leonard can improve rapidly and ascend with more reps (he had a strong freshman season in 2022 but battled injuries in 2023), especially in a more favorable situation in South Bend, with better talent and being in an offense that will let him drop back a bit deeper and push the ball further. "It's flashes and glimpses with Leonard, but those can be much brighter under a bigger spot- light in 2024." 1st Five-star recruit named by Inside Lacrosse, a leading lacrosse outlet in America, in the 2026 cycle was Boca Raton (Fla.) Saint Andrew's School standout Dylan Faison. He committed to Notre Dame as a football wide receiver and midfielder in lacrosse in March, following in the footsteps of his older brother Jordan, who excelled for both Irish programs in 2023-24. Unlike his brother, though, he will arrive in South Bend as a football recruit despite his lofty status in lacrosse. USA Lacrosse Magazine named Dylan an All-American as a freshman. Jordan was also an All-American last spring. Dylan attended Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Pine Crest, the school that produced Jordan, before transferring to Saint Andrew's School for his sophomore year. 6 Schools placed at least three players on Pro Football Focus' list of the top 50 players in college football heading into the 2024 season: Oregon with five, Michigan and Ohio State with four each, and Georgia, Notre Dame and Ole Miss with three each. Junior cornerback Benjamin Morrison led way for the Irish at No. 7, fol- lowed by graduate student defensive tackle Howard Cross III at No. 20 and senior tight end Mitchell Evans at No. 47. "Evans looked like one of the best tight ends in the country before a torn ACL ended his 2023 season after just eight games," PFF noted. "Before going down, his 422 receiving yards stood fourth among all tight ends in college football. Evans' 10 forced missed tackles in that span trailed only Brock Bow- ers among FBS tight ends, as well." 6 Former Fighting Irish first-year players appeared on an NFL team's two-deep heading into Week 1 of the 2024 season. That was tied for fifth among all colleges with Georgia, Texas and Washington, and behind only Oregon (7), Alabama (7), Florida State (8) and Michigan (9). LSU (5), Washington (5) and USC (5) rounded out the top 10. The six rookies on NFL two-deep depth charts were offensive tackle Joe Alt (Los Angeles Chargers), linebacker JD Bertrand (At- lanta Falcons), offensive tackle Blake Fisher (Houston Texans), cornerback Cam Hart (Los Angeles Chargers), defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste (Washington Commanders) and linebacker Marist Liufau (Dallas Cowboys). 26th Is where Baltimore Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton was slotted in Pro Football Focus' "50 best players in the NFL ahead of the 2024 season" this summer. "Kyle Hamilton's impact now exceeds conventional statistics," PFF's Sam Monson noted. "He influences how the game is actually played when he is on the field. Deployed by Baltimore as a slot de- fender primarily, Hamilton consistently shut down the short game to his side of the field for the Ravens all season, earning an 84.7 PFF overall grade in 2023. A versatile playmaker on defense, Ham- ilton is the matchup answer most teams don't have on their roster." In addition, The Athletic slotted the 23-year-old Hamilton No. 9 on its list of the NFL's top players that are 25 years old and under. 93.6 Percent of the time during its 110 years of football that Notre Dame notched a victory in its season opener, the Irish have gone on to post a winning record, per Notre Dame media relations. 246 Total yards allowed by the Notre Dame defense at Texas A&M in the season opener. It marked the lowest yardage total allowed by the Fighting Irish in a season opener versus a ranked team since they surrendered 133 to Maryland in 2002, the least amount against any ranked team on the road since yielding 175 at Pitt in 2003 and the fewest allowed to a ranked team that is currently in the SEC since giving up 237 to Oklahoma in 1999 (the Sooners were part of the Big 12 that year). ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER