Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 SEPT. 27, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Ohio State Quarterback Will Howard Was 'Pissed' He Couldn't Commit To Notre Dame In an alternate universe, Will Howard would've had on a golden helmet in the national championship game. He wanted to go to Notre Dame. He was ready to commit to Notre Dame. But in the era of the transfer portal, sometimes it's first come, first served. "I called my agent, and he was like, 'Sorry, buddy. They just told me they took Riley [Leonard],'" Howard told the "Not Just Football" podcast. "They weren't even talking about him. So, that pissed me off." Howard didn't know what to do once he knew he wasn't going to end up in South Bend. He said he got close to just declaring for the NFL Draft. But then Ohio State came calling, and, of course, that ended up being a perfect fit for the veteran quarterback in the long run. Howard and the Buckeyes beat Leonard and the Fighting Irish in the national championship game. Howard, before completing 80.9 percent of his passes for 231 yards and 2 touchdowns and running for 57 more yards without turning the ball over in a 34-23 win, made it known he still wasn't over the way his recruitment went when he was looking for a place to finish his college career after spending most of it at Kansas State. "The [Irish] general manager [Chad Bowden] was standing on the sideline right where we were warming up, and I was just staring daggers through him the whole warmup," Howard said. "Like, I was pissed. And I'm a 'chip on my shoulder' guy. It was absolutely an extra motivation. Anything I can get, that gave it to me." Howard was a sixth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in this year's NFL Draft. — Tyler Horka Howard said he played with a chip on his shoulder against the Irish in the national championship game because he was upset Notre Dame picked Riley Leonard over him when choosing a quarterback out of the transfer portal in December 2023. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER AMIR CARLISLE DEPARTS IRISH STAFF FOR NFL PLAYER ENGAGEMENT ROLE For two and a half years, Amir Carlisle worked behind the scenes to better the Notre Dame foot- ball program where he once played. On Sept. 13, after his last day in that role — di- rector of player development — the former Irish wide receiver and running back made it a point to cheer on the players he had impacted one more time, attending the Fighting Irish's 41-40 loss to Texas A&M at Notre Dame Stadium. The 32-year-old Notre Dame grad moved into a similar position with the NFL's league office as its senior manager for player engagement and finan- cial empowerment in mid-September. Carlisle confirmed the move to Blue & Gold Il- lustrated on Sept. 13. "I'm still looking to make a difference," he said. "Just in a different setting." While head coach Marcus Freeman is looking for Carlisle's replacement, a source told BGI that there is no urgency to make a quick decision, since the job's most impactful months are in the football offseason. Perhaps Carlisle's biggest contribution was guiding players to make the most of their Notre Dame experience while at the school and after- ward. That included helping players transition beyond football once their playing careers ended, whether that be at the college or NFL level. He started a program called "Close The Gap" to do just that, and invited speakers to come to Notre Dame to share their knowledge of how to proceed with life after football. The Santa Clara, Calif., product was on the Irish roster from 2012-15 after starting his career at rival Southern Cal, then transferring. For the Tro- jans, Carlisle played running back. He rushed for 118 yards on 19 carries and caught 7 passes for 41 yards in eight games as a freshman in 2011. Carlisle petitioned the NCAA for immediate eli- gibility at Notre Dame after that season, in an age when sitting out a season was standard transfer procedure. He was granted that petition to play right away, but he then had to sit out the 2012 season anyway with an injury he suffered in the offseason. He returned to action as a running back in 2013, then transitioned to wide receiver for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Carlisle's career numbers at Notre Dame were 62 catches for 694 yards and 4 touchdowns, 284 rushing yards on 59 carries, and a 21.7-yard career kickoff return average on 46 returns. Carlisle's life after football began following a roughly four-and-a-half-month stay on the Arizona Cardinals' roster as an undrafted free agent. He dabbled in a few different ventures, but his longest was a five-year stint working with his father, Duane Carlisle, as a sports performance coach. That's where he was when he was hired by Free- man in March 2023. — Eric Hansen