Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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10 DECEMBER 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME NOTRE DAME LINEBACKER JACK KISER A FINALIST FOR COVETED AWARD Notre Dame graduate student linebacker Jack Kiser is a finalist for the Wuerffel Trophy, which is dubbed college football's premier honor for community service. Kiser is one of three finalists, along with Penn State offensive lineman Nick Dawkins and Washington State kicker Dean Janikowski. Notre Dame has had one player win the award before: linebacker Drue Tranquill in 2018. Current Atlanta Falcons linebacker JD Bertrand was a finalist for it last season. Since the trophy's inception in 2005, Notre Dame has had a finalist five times — linebacker Brandon Hoyte in 2005, Tranquil in 2017 and 2018, Bertrand in 2023 and now Kiser in 2024. Kiser was previously named a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, commonly referred to as the "Aca- demic Heisman." He is also a finalist for the Freddie Solomon Community Spirit Award. Kiser has played in more games in a Fighting Irish jersey than anyone else in program history with 65 appear- ances. Through 11 games in his sixth season, he led the Irish with 56 total tackles. No other Irish linebacker saw the field for more than his 425 defensive snaps in those 11 games, which ranked sixth among all Notre Dame defensive participants. — Tyler Horka Defensive Coordinator Al Golden Is Up For Major Award Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden was nominated for the Broyles Award, which honors the top assistant coach in college football, Nov. 26. Golden is one of 65 nominees for the award, which will be whittled down to a handful of finalists in early December. The third-year Irish defensive coordinator has built a strong Broyles case this season. Notre Dame's defense led the team to a 10-1 record. It allowed just 11.6 points per game in those 11 contests, which ranked second in the country to Ohio State. Golden's group has become famous for the things it does to opposing quarterbacks. That started in Week 1, when the Irish held Texas A&M signal-caller Conner Weigman to just 12 completions on 30 attempts and intercepted him twice. It continued through Week 13, when Notre Dame battered and bruised triple-option Army quarterback Bryson Daily, limiting him to just 3.6 yards per carry, the run-heavy signal-caller's worst mark of the season in that statistic. The Irish had the No. 2 pass defense in the nation in yards per attempt at 5.3 through Week 13, just behind Texas at 5.1. No defense in the country allowed a lower completion percentage than Golden's unit at 47.6 at that time — a full 4.8 percentage points ahead of second-place Texas A&M at 52.4. Notre Dame also had the No. 1 pass efficiency defense in the country heading into rivalry week as well. Some other key areas in which the Irish defense ranked in the top five nationally heading into the game against USC: turnovers forced, defensive touchdowns, plays of 10-plus yards allowed, yard per play, total yards, first downs allowed and opponent red zone scoring percentage. Golden has certainly made his case as the best defensive coordinator in the country, and perhaps the best assistant coach in all of college football. — Jack Soble and Tyler Horka NOTRE DAME HAS SEVERAL BANGED-UP PLAYERS LATE IN SEASON Notre Dame football coach Mar- cus Freeman's pregame injury report ahead of the Fighting Irish's Week 14 game against USC was quite extensive — a bit lengthier than such reports had been in the few weeks prior. Freshman linebackers Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and Bodie Kahoun were both ruled out with a right knee sprain and a lower-leg injury, respec- tively, and graduate student defen- sive lineman Howard Cross III went into the week as questionable with an ankle sprain, which was also the case for him in Notre Dame's two previous games against Virginia and Army. Freeman also said sophomore wide receiver KK Smith will be out for four to six weeks due to a clavicle injury. He did not play in the 49-14 win over Army Nov. 23. The Notre Dame ruled Smith out during the pregame. While an official update was not provided, Fighting Irish senior defen- sive tackle Jason Onye remained out with a personal matter. He has not been listed on the team's depth chart lately and has not appeared in a game since Sept. 28 versus Louisville. "He's just taking some personal time right now to get some things that he needs," Freeman said Nov. 4. "If there's a chance for him to return, we would love to have him back. But right now, we just have to support Jason getting the help he needs." The biggest loss of the handful of players highlighted in Notre Dame's most recent injury report, not includ- ing the obvious No. 1 choice of Cross, is Viliamu-Asa. He only played 6 snaps against Army before leaving the game with his knee injury. He played at least 21 snaps in all 10 of Notre Dame's games before the Shamrock Series contest. Viliamu-Asa has been an integral rotational player for the Irish all sea- son. Kahoun has been buried on the depth chart in his freshman cam- paign, meanwhile. The same can be said for Smith in the wideout room, and Notre Dame has been playing without Onye for a couple months. Playing without Viliamu-Asa will be uncharted territory this season if his ailment persists into the postseason. — Kyle Kelly and Tyler Horka Golden was nominated for the Broyles Award, which honors the top assistant coach in college football. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER