Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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16 APRIL 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY JACK SOBLE AND TYLER HORKA B lue & Gold Illustrated wasn't perfect in our preseason rank- ing of the top 25 most impor- tant Notre Dame football play- ers of 2024. For example, we had two gradu- ate transfers in RJ Oben (10) and Kris Mitchell (11) too high. We had another in Jordan Clark (22) too low. Some of the names we left off the list are silly in hindsight; neither Adon Shuler nor Leonard Moore received a single vote. However, we did get some things right. We correctly guessed that Aamil Wagner (17) and Christian Gray (12) would win preseason competitions. We knew that Jeremiyah Love was set to explode. All of the names on the back end of the list were legitimate contributors (or they would have been if healthy), which was an improvement from last year. Here's a look back at all 25 players who made the cut. As a reminder, voters were told to place a pre- m i u m o n t wo key questions: 1) If you subtracted this individual from the ros- ter, how much of a setback would it be? And 2) If this less proven player emerges and makes an impact, how much does it raise the ceiling (or lower it, if a breakout does not happen as expected)? 25. OL PAT COOGAN Coogan seemed destined to ride the bench all season until starting center Ashton Craig went down with a torn ACL in Week 3. The senior stepped in and played the best football of his career, allowing only 8 quarterback pressures and frequently springing ex- plosive runs up the middle with second- level blocks. In addition to his strong play, Coogan provided a veteran presence that sta- bilized the offensive line. He was the emotional leader, too. Notre Dame would not have made the national championship without him, and while it was impossible to know it in July, he should've been much higher on this list. VALUE PICKS VALUE PICKS Revisiting BGI's preseason ranking of Notre Dame's top 25 most important players for 2024