Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 JANUARY 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Every year, the Notre Dame football program holds an "Echoes" Awards banquet in South Bend. This year, it took place the Friday night of confer- ence championship weekend. The university announced a full list of award winners on Dec. 7. Senior quarterback Riley Leonard was named Notre Dame's Most Valuable Player. In his one season as a transfer portal rental from Duke, Leonard has accounted for 234 total yards per game with 30 total touchdowns (16 passing and 14 rushing) and just 5 interceptions. He has tied Notre Dame's single- season record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback and will likely set a new record during the College Football Playoff. Graduate student safety Xavier Watts took home defensive MVP honors. Watts has been even better than he was as a Bronko Nagurski Trophy win- ner in 2023. He's seeing the field as well as any safety in the country and has 6 takeaways — 5 interceptions and a fumble recovery. He's also forced a fumble and has the fourth-most total tackles (49) of anyone on the Notre Dame roster. Sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love is this year's offensive MVP. Love is one of the best tailbacks in college football. He's one of two players in the nation who has scored a touchdown in every game he's played in. He has 17 total scores, and he's averaging more than 7.0 yards per carry. Just a sophomore, he's started a 2025 Heisman Trophy campaign in earnest in his second season in South Bend. Freshman defensive end Bryce Young is the Irish's Special Teams player of the Year. Young has blocked three kicks this season, one of just three players in the country with that many or more. He's an absolute brute force when rushing the punter and kicker. Jack Kiser, a graduate student linebacker who leads Notre Dame with 64 total tackles, is Notre Dame's Man of the Year. He's one of the most stand-up men on the team. He's in the running for many humanitarian-based awards, including the William V. Campbell Trophy — which is often dubbed the "Aca- demic Heisman." Junior offensive tackle Aamil Wagner, clearly a "Notre Dame man" on and off the field, won the Scholar-Athlete Award. The Iron Cross Award is given to a player who embodies constant improve- ment and leadership. Graduate senior defensive tackle and captain Rylie Mills, a fifth-year player who leads the Irish with 6.5 sacks, earned the Iron Cross Award. Colgate graduate transfer Max Hurleman won the Irish's starting punt re- turn job, and through his performance on special teams he earned Walk-On of the Year. Junior running back Justin Fisher is a walk-on from Mishawaka, Ind., and freshman defensive tackle Sean Sevillano Jr. is on the verge of breaking into the usual Notre Dame defensive line rotation as a sophomore next season. They're the Irish's Scout Team Players of the Year. — Tyler Horka Seven schools shared 2024 Academic Achievement Award honors from the American Football Coaches Association, as it was announced Dec. 5. Notre Dame was one of them, along with Air Force, Clemson, Liberty, Virginia, Wake Forest and Wisconsin. The award goes out to the universities with the highest graduation rate for members of the 2017 freshman football student-athlete classes, according to a press release from Notre Dame. Notre Dame has received the honor 11 times, more than any of the six other schools that hit the mark this year. The Irish's Marcus Freeman and the other head coaches of the winning schools will be recognized at the 2025 AFCA Convention Jan. 12 in Charlotte, N.C. Award winners are chosen based on the graduation success rate (GSR), a formula based on a six-year graduation window. The GSR takes into account transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. It also accounts for mid-year enrollees and non-scholarship students at schools that do not offer monetary aid for athletics. GSR does not knock outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. The school where those student- athletes transfer to take on their GSR contribution. The College Football Association began presenting the Academic Achieve- ment Award in 1981. Notre Dame's 11 award wins ranks third all-time behind Duke's 14 and Northwestern's 12. — Tyler Horka 2024 NOTRE DAME "ECHOES" AWARD WINNERS • Most Valuable Player: Riley Leonard • Defensive Player of the Year: Xavier Watts • Offensive Player of the Year: Jeremiyah Love • Special Teams Player of the Year: Bryce Young • Man Of the Year: Jack Kiser • Scholar-Athlete Award: Aamil Wagner • Iron Cross Award: Rylie Mills • Walk-On of the Year: Max Hurleman • Scout Team Players of the Year: Justin Fisher (offense) and Sean Sevil- lano Jr. (defense) Sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love was named the Fighting Irish's Offensive Player of the Year at the annual "Echoes" Award Banquet. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER Notre Dame Wins 2024 AFCA Academic Achievement Award Notre Dame Names 2024 'Echoes' Award Banquet Winners