Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1528584
10 NOV. 9, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME A former Notre Dame defensive lineman once viewed as a consistent future contributor has entered the NCAA transfer portal according to a report from On3's Pete Nakos Oct. 22. Aiden Gobaira will look for another place to finish his college career. In June, Notre Dame confirmed with Blue & Gold Illustrated that Gobaira — and fellow class of 2022 defensive line signee Tyson Ford, who also entered the portal earlier this month — had been placed on medical scholarship, essentially removing him from the Fighting Irish football program. Almost exactly four months to the day, Nakos broke the news that Gobaira is looking to get back into college football at a new program. Gobaira tore his ACL in fall camp 2023 and missed the entire ensuing sea- son plus 2024 spring practices. That amounted to valuable time lost in trying to assert himself as an option for position coach Al Washington along the Notre Dame defensive line. Gobaira arrived in South Bend as a four-star talent and the No. 177 overall prospect in the 2022 recruiting class. He also was the No. 5 player in Virginia and the No. 20 edge rusher in the class per the On3 Industry Ranking. In 2021, Gobaira was a Maxwell Football Club National High School Defen- sive Player of the Year Award semifinalist. He played in the spring that year because of COVID, and he had 16 sacks in eight games. He was the Regional Defensive Player of the Year for head coach Sean Curry at Chantilly (Va.) High School. In the lone season Gobaira was healthy for while at Notre Dame, his fresh- man year in 2022, Gobaira played one defensive snap. That was it. He got on the field for one play in a blowout win over Boston College. Some high-level recruits never pan out. Injuries often have much to do with that, and that was the case for Gobaira. He leaves the program with- out having fulfilled lofty expectations, ones he might still attain at another institution. — Tyler Horka Sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo was named one of five Preseason Associated Press All-Amer- icans Oct. 22. The other four are all on the Fight- ing Irish's schedule in 2024-25. Hidalgo, a 2023-24 first-team AP All-American as a true freshman to become one of just five freshmen AP All-Americans in the sport's his- tory, is joined on this year's preseason list by USC sophomore guard JuJu Watkins, Connecticut senior guard Paige Bueckers, Texas sophomore forward Madison Booker and USC graduate stu- dent forward Kiki Iriafen. Notre Dame plays USC in Los Angeles Nov. 23. The Irish host Texas Dec. 5 and UConn Dec. 12. Watkins, like Hidalgo, is one of the five fresh- men who has ever been named a postseason first-team AP All-American. She's the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, just like Hidalgo is the ACC Preseason Player of the Year. Booker, meanwhile, is the SEC Preseason Player of the Year. The Big East had not released its pre- season accolades as of Oct. 22, but Bueckers was named the 2023-24 Preseason Player of the Year in that conference. She went on to win the award as predicted after missing the entire 2022-23 season because of an ACL injury. Hidalgo and Bueckers went head-to-head last season in Storrs, Conn. Notre Dame's superstar stole the show, dropping 34 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists in an 82-67 Fighting Irish victory. Bueckers had 17 points on 5-of-17 shooting with 4 steals, 2 rebounds and 2 assists. For her career, Bueckers is averaging 19.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.1 steals in 85 appearances and 80 starts. She's a career 53.0-percent shooter from the field. Hidalgo had a dazzling first season at Notre Dame with 22.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 4.6 steals per game as a starter in all 35 of the Irish's tipoffs. She shot 44.6 percent from the field. Booker turned into a do-it-all point forward for Texas as a starter in all 37 of the Longhorns' games after point guard Rori Harmon went down with an injury. Booker put up 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game on 45.7 percent shooting. Watkins, though, seems to be the biggest threat to Hidalgo as the game's biggest star mov- ing forward. She averaged 27.1 points, 7.3 re- bounds, 3.3 assists and 2.3 steals per game for the Trojans as a freshman. She is now joined by Iriafen, a transfer from Stanford. Iriafen posted 19.4 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in her final season with the Cardinal. — Tyler Horka More National Honors For Hannah Hidalgo Former Irish Defensive End Enters Transfer Portal Hidalgo was named to the preseason Associated Press All-America team in advance of the 2024-25 season. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Defensive end Aiden Gobaira, who was placed on medical scholarship by Notre Dame this summer, plans to continue his football career at another school. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER