Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 23, 2024 9 UNDER THE DOME 1 Duo in Notre Dame football history has notched a rushing touchdown in eight or more consecutive games at the same time: senior quarterback Riley Leonard and sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love in 2024. Heading into the Virginia game Nov. 16, Love has scored in nine straight contests to open the season, while Leonard had hit paydirt in each of the last eight contests. 3 Fighting Irish women's basketball guards were among ESPN's top 25 women's college basketball players entering the 2024-25 season: sopho- more Hannah Hidalgo at No. 3, graduate student Olivia Miles at No. 13 and senior Sonia Citron at No. 14. LSU was the only other team to place three players on those rankings. Not surprisingly, the Irish trio was also among the 50 names included on the Naismith Player of the Year watch list, making Notre Dame one of seven programs — South Carolina, UConn, USC, UCLA, Texas and LSU were the others — that has three or more players on that list. "Whether it was Olivia Miles in 2023 or Hidalgo last season, Citron has been overshadowed throughout her Notre Dame career," ESPN's Charlie Creme noted. "It hasn't made her any less impactful. She has been the steadying force on Irish teams that have made three Sweet 16 appearances, while winning an ACC regular-season and tournament title. Citron was the ACC Freshman of the Year in 2022 and made first-team All-ACC the following season, and last year she hit career highs in scoring, assists and free throw shooting. The length of the versatile Citron allows her to play and defend four positions." 4 Notre Dame men's soccer players have earned ACC Offensive Player of the Year honors, with senior forward MATTHEW ROOU being the lat- est to take home the award following his outstanding 2024 campaign. He joined Harry Shipp (2013), Patrick Hodan (2014) and Jon Gallagher (2016). Through Nov. 13, Roou led the ACC in points (32), points per game (1.88), goals (14) and goals per game (0.82). His 14 goals are the most in a season by an Irish player since Jon Gallagher scored 14 during the 2016 campaign. Roou is tied for 10th on the Fighting Irish's all-time goal scoring list with Sami Kahale at 35 goals. Roou now has 84 career points on 35 goals and 14 assists. Roou was also named first-team All-ACC, while his teammate, senior mid- fielder Bryce Boneau, was named to the third team. No. 5 Was where Notre Dame's men's basketball 2025 recruiting class was ranked in the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rank- ings — the school's highest-ranked haul in the modern era — as of Nov. 14. The class also was ranked fourth in the nation by 247Sports, fifth by ESPN and fifth by Rivals. It is the top-rated class in the state of Indiana and was the second-best haul in the ACC. The Irish were one of only two schools that had four commits that were four-stars or better in the latest 2025 On3 150 update in early November. Duke, which had the No. 1-ranked class in the 2025 On3 Team Recruiting Rank- ings, was the only other school with that many. The Fight- ing Irish's No. 5 class was highlighted by small forward Jalen Haralson (On3's No. 31 overall prospect in the 2025 class). In addition, they signed center Tommy Ahneman (No. 51), small forward Ryder Frost (No. 93) and power forward Brady Koehler (No. 96). 9 Career games with a 25-5-5 stat line for sophomore guard Hannah Hi- dalgo, with the most recent being her 28-point, 7-rebound and 6-steal outing in Notre Dame's 102-58 win over Purdue Nov. 10. Per ESPN, no other Irish player has more than three such games since 1999-2000. 25 Contested catches for the Fighting Irish through nine games this season, per Pro Foot- ball Focus. That matches last year's total, but at a better percentage rate. Notre Dame had a contested catch percentage of just 51.0 percent (25 of 49) in 13 games last season but has improved that to 64.1 (25 of 39) percent through nine games this season. Irish wide receivers accounted for only 13 contested catches in 2023 but already have 18 this season, led by graduate student Beaux Collins with 5. 29 Seniors participated in Notre Dame's Senior Day pregame ceremony before the Virginia game (in alphabetical order): cornerback Marty Auer, offensive lineman Tosh Baker, tight end Kevin Bauman, safety Jordan Clark, wide receiver Beaux Collins, wide receiver Deion Colzie, offensive line- man Pat Coogan, defensive lineman Howard Cross III, tight end Mitchell Evans, running back Devyn Ford, kicker/punter Eric Goins, wide receiver Jayden Harrison, safety Rod Heard II, cornerback Max Hurleman, kicker Mitch Jeter, linebacker Jack Kiser, quarterback Riley Leonard, defensive lineman Rylie Mills, wide receiver Kris Mitchell, defensive lineman RJ Oben, wide receiver Jack Polian, defensive lineman Grant Ristoff, kicker Chris Salerno, tight end Charlie Selna, tight end Davis Sherwood, offensive lineman Rocco Spindler, wide receiver Jayden Thomas, safety Xavier Watts and tight end Andrew Yanoshak. 40 Points, 33 rebounds, 8 assists and 15 blocks for freshman center Kate Koval in her first three games with the Fighting Irish women's bas- ketball team this season. Per OptaSTATS, the last Division I freshman (male or female) to reach all of those numbers over any three-game span was Anthony Davis in the final three games of Kentucky's run to the NCAA title in 2012. 83.9 Percent of last year's returning minutes are back for the Notre Dame men's basketball team in 2024-25. That is the most among high-major programs and the second most overall — behind only Wofford (84.3). According to Bart Torvik, the Irish had the 39th-most talented roster in the country — one spot ahead of Kentucky — and entered the season at No. 69 in his overall preseason ratings ("Barthag," which is an estimate of what a team's chance of winning would be against the average Division I team). ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS