Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 OCT. 12, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Two Irish Veterans On The Radar For Prestigious Awards For the second year in a row, Notre Dame has a linebacker in the running for the National Football Foundation's William V. Campbell Trophy, "college football's pre- mier scholar-athlete award that annually recognizes an individual as the absolute best in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership" per the Fighting Irish's official press release. Graduate student Jack Kiser is a semifinalist this year. Kiser, one of five team captains, is following in the footsteps of the Atlanta Falcons' JD Bertrand, who was a finalist in 2023. Kiser has 207 tackles and counting now playing in his sixth season with the Irish. He's been a staple rotational player for multiple years and was named the Irish's Special Teams Player of the Year in 2023 at the end-of-season awards banquet. As the unquestioned leader in the middle of the 2024 Irish defense, Kiser led the team with 22 total tackles through four games. Kiser has two degrees from Notre Dame, including a master's in accounting. He was the top-ranked student in his graduating class for that particular program. Notre Dame senior quarterback Riley Leonard, meanwhile, was named to the watch list for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award. The honor goes annually to a player who displays leadership and factors in that player's individual attitude, efforts to overcome hardship and ability to inspire others. A 2024 team captain like Kiser, Leonard is coming back from two offseason ankle surgeries. His final season at Duke was cut short in 2023 because of injury as well. Leonard guided Notre Dame to a 3-1 start to the season, largely with his legs. He had a career-high 143 rushing yards against Miami (Ohio) and 100 yards in one half against Purdue. Through Week 4, Leonard ranked fifth among all FBS quar- terbacks with 322 rushing yards and second in QB rushing touchdowns with 6. — Tyler Horka JORDAN BOTELHO COULD COME BACK FOR A SIXTH SEASON IN 2025 Jordan Botelho said he was blessed and humbled to be asked by the Notre Dame coaching staff to return for a fifth season in 2024. In his greatest time of physical peril, he ought to be blessed and humbled once more. Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said Sept. 26 that Notre Dame would welcome Botelho, who went out for the season with a significant knee injury in the first half of the third game of the year at Purdue, back to South Bend for a sixth season in 2025. "That's something we told him is an option for him if it's something that he wants to do," Freeman said. "More than anything, we wanted him to know that if he wants the opportunity to come back next year, we would love to have him back." Freeman previously said Botelho was playing the best ball of his Notre Dame career, and the numbers back it up. Through four games, only two players posted a better Pro Football Focus overall defensive grade than Botelho; freshman safety Kennedy Urlacher, who had only played 25 defensive snaps to that point, and All-American graduate student safety Xavier Watts. Also through four games, Botelho was tied for the team lead in quarterback pressures with his former backup and, as a result of Botelho's injury, current starter at vyper end, sophomore Boubacar Traore. They both had 7, but Botelho did it on 15 fewer pass-rush snaps — 46 to 61 for Traore. That coincides with Botelho's PFF win rate of 23.3 percent. Only two players on the Notre Dame defense had a better mark than that through four games, and they either A) hardly play, in the case of freshman defensive end Loghan Thomas or B) hardly rush the passer in the case of sophomore safety Adon Shuler. Thomas had a win rate of 100 percent on his 1 pass-rush snap. Shuler won 1 of his 3 pass- rush snaps in which he faced an opposing blocker for a percentage of 33.3. If Botelho does come back, Notre Dame will be loaded at the defensive end positions. Traore, junior vyper Junior Tuihalamaka and Thomas will all be back at the rush-end spot. Notre Dame is expecting to return junior Joshua Burnham and freshman Bryce Young on the strong side. Traore could be asked to fill out a bit and play the strong side to even out the numbers with Duke transfer RJ Oben exhausting his eligibility. Or Notre Dame could take on a strong-side end from the transfer portal to bolster the numbers there for the third year in a row following Oben this season and Ohio State's Javontae Jean-Baptiste in 2023. One thing has been made clear by Freeman; he wants Botelho back in 2025, especially if it's the version of him who was an unstoppable force in two and a half quarters to start this season before the injury. — Tyler Horka Graduate student linebacker Jack Kiser is up for the Campbell Trophy, a prestigious college football academic award. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER The Irish already have determined that they would like Botelho back for a sixth season in 2025. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER