Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 27, 2025 11 UNDER THE DOME UNDER THE DOME AAMIL WAGNER NAMED TO AFCA GOOD WORKS TEAM Notre Dame redshirt junior right tackle Aamil Wagner has been named to the AFCA Good Works Team, the Irish announced Sept. 16. Wagner is also Notre Dame's third straight semifinal- ist for the Wuerffel Trophy, which honors community service, leadership and performance. "Wagner leads initiatives to improve the lives of ath- letes off the field, from youth athletics to collegiate student-athletes," the Irish wrote in a press release. "He is heavily involved in the leadership of player develop- ment initiatives at Notre Dame which support in the areas of goal-setting, relationship-building, networking, leadership, financial planning and performance. "He also serves as the president of the Notre Dame chapter of Uplifting Athletes, an organization which supports the rare disease community and their families through local outreach, events and fundraising. Through the organization, Wagner has planned events and stayed in direct contact with families. "In addition, he is a regular volunteer at his local senior center, homeless shelter and church. He has also worked with Just a Pair of Shoes, which provides com- munity youth a new pair of shoes, near his hometown. On campus, Wagner is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council and Notre Dame Christian Athletes." Wagner is the 11th member of the Fighting Irish to make the Good Works Team, most recently following Jack Kiser in 2024, JD Bertrand in 2022 and Myron Tago- vailoa-Amosa in 2021. Kiser (2024) and Bertrand (2023) were also Wuerffel Trophy semifinalists. — Jack Soble TIPPING PLAYS AND THE NEXT STEP FOR CJ CARR Notre Dame quarterbacks coach Gino Gui- dugli dropped a couple of F-bombs during his Tuesday night post-practice meeting with the print/web media — and in the most positive way possible — three days after Notre Dame's loss to Texas A&M. Guidugli used them as adjectives to help him enhance superlatives when talking about the type of quarterback redshirt freshman CJ Carr showed himself to be for the Irish through two college starts and heading into the home matchup with Purdue Sept. 20. As to the rumor that Carr was tipping what kind of play was coming — run or pass — based on his pre-snap stances in Notre Dame's 41-40 loss to Texas A&M Sept. 13, Guidugli gave a G-rated, matter-of-fact answer. "There were some tendencies," the Irish third-year quarterbacks coach said. "It's been addressed, and we'll move forward. I don't think it really hurt us offensively." The Athletic's Pete Sampson tweeted about the play-tipping after the game. He then checked what he was hearing against a review of the game. "Sure enough, on 58 of 64 plays where Carr receives the snap, stance tells you run or pass," Sampson tweeted. "Feet parallel at the snap is run. Staggered stance is a drop- back pass. Every stagger was pass, save one attempt." The Irish actually ran 73 offensive plays (in- cluding those affected by penalty), but some of those were direct snaps to a running back, either Jeremiyah Love or Jadarian Price. Carr threw for 293 yards against the Ag- gies, the most by an Irish quarterback making his Notre Dame Stadium starting debut since Terry Hanratty for coach Ara Parseghian's 1966 national champs. Carr completed 20 of 32 throws with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. The Irish don't face a team ranked higher than 50th in pass efficiency defense after three games for the balance of the regular sea- son. Purdue came into Notre Dame Stadium at 67th under first-year Boilermaker head coach Barry Odom, following wins over Ball State and FCS member Southern Illinois and a 33-17 home loss on Sept. 13 to the nation's No. 1 team in total offense, Southern Cal. "CJ is the best at [taking] coaching," Guidugli said. "Like, that guy wants to be the best. He wants all the information. He wants any little, f---ing detail he can get that's going to give him an edge." And the next step? "We've just got to kind of put the whole package together," Guidugli said. — Eric Hansen In addition to earning a spot on the Good Works Team, Wagner is a semifinalist for the Wuerffel Trophy, which honors community service, leadership and performance. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER SPREAD THE WORD! When You Help Us Grow, You'll Get FREE Issues! For details, visit BlueGoldOnline.com/referrals NEW! SUBSCRIBER REFERRAL PROGRAM