Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 SUMMER 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Caitlyn Early — Softball The sophomore infielder from Santa Barbara, Calif., slammed a two-run home run, walked once, and scored three runs in a 10-2 run-rule victory at home over Boston College April 26. The blow- out win capped a three-game sweep of the Eagles and clinched the Irish a spot in the ACC Softball Championships May 6-9. Through games as of April 30, Early was hit- ting .343 with 3 home runs and 14 RBI. Luke Miller — Lacrosse The sophomore attacker from Severna Park, Md., re- corded a hat trick and led the No. 1 Irish with 6 shots on goal in a 16-11 comeback win at home over No. 5 Syracuse April 25. He scored 1 goal during a 5-0 run to open the second half that gave Notre Dame a 12-8 lead. Miller ranked first with 23 goals and was sec- ond with 32 points for the outright ACC regular- season champions. Lila O'Brien — Lacrosse The sophomore midfielder from Bedford Corners, N.Y., earned ACC Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors April 21, after helping Notre Dame to an 18-3 win at home over Louisville April 16. She tied her career high with 6 caused turnovers to help hold the Cardinals to their lowest scoring game of the season. O'Brien was second on the Irish with 24 caused turnovers and also added 13 ground balls during the regular season. Ben Pable — Track & Field The Waukegan, Ill., native set a Notre Dame school re- cord in the hammer throw with a toss of 67.27 meters (220 feet, 8 inches) at the Penn Relays outdoor meet April 23-25 in Philadelphia. The throw was the best of the season for the graduate transfer from Dart- mouth, and ranked as the No. 23 best in the nation this year and the 10th best on the 2026 NCAA Division I East Outdoor List. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE The NCAA women's basketball teams that fans saw the most of last year were, to no surprise, the four teams that reached the Final Four. Plus Notre Dame. Nielsen released television numbers for the most- watched women's basketball teams of the 2025-26 season, and the Fighting Irish cracked the top five. The statistics were based on average viewers, not a raw total for every game, meaning it wasn't en- tirely dependent upon how far into the postseason a team went. It mattered more if the team played compelling games. While the postseason obviously helps on that front — more than three million people watched Notre Dame face off against Connecticut in the Elite Eight — you don't become one of the five most watched teams in any given season without attract- ing eyeballs all season. Notre Dame played attractive regular-season games against those same Huskies, Southern Cal, Michigan and Ole Miss, to name a few. There is also the superstar factor to take into ac- count. Fans across the country tune in to watch a player like Hannah Hidalgo, no matter who they root for. The Naismith Defensive Player of the Year as well as the two-time ACC Player of the Year and three-time ACC Defensive Player of the year became the first player this century to average at least 25 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals in a single season. — Tyler Horka CHARTING THE IRISH CJ CARR AMONG 2027 DRAFT-ELIGIBLE QUARTERBACKS TO KEEP AN EYE ON Notre Dame had multiple first-round NFL Draft picks this year in running backs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price. It could end up being the same first-round tally for the Fighting Irish in 2027, but CJ Carr not being a potential first-round pick would make achieving the feat in consecutive drafts pretty difficult. And, according to 10 NFL scouts polled by ESPN this spring, Carr's got work to do to enter his name into that conversation. ESPN released its poll from those anonymous 10 scouts ranking their top quarterback prospects for the 2027 draft. A first-place vote was worth three points, a second-place vote was worth two points and a third-place vote was worth one point. Carr only accumulated two points in the poll, meaning one scout ranked him second or two scouts ranked him third. No scouts ranked him first. Yes, it should be a more loaded contingent of quarterbacks coming out next year in compari- son to the crop of signal-callers who were vying to be picked this year, but five quarterbacks received more votes than Carr: Dante Moore (Oregon), Arch Manning (Texas), Julian Sayin (Ohio State), Brendan Sorsby (Texas Tech) and LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina). The player most often mentioned by the anon- ymous scouts enlisted by ESPN was Moore. He received 24 votes. The chart shows a look at the nine quarterbacks the scouts came up with as their surefire picks to be a part of the 2027 NFL Draft. — Tyler Horka MOST WATCHED WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAMS OF 2025-26 Rk. Team Average TV Viewers 1. UCLA 1.67 million 2. South Carolina 1.57 million 3. Texas 1.17 million 4. UConn 835,000 5. Notre Dame 818,000 TOP 2027 NFL DRAFT PROSPECTS AT QUARTERBACK Rk. Quarterback Points 1. Dante Moore, Oregon 24 2. Arch Manning, Texas 16 3. Julian Sayin, Ohio State 5 Brendan Sorsby, Texas Tech 5 5. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina 3 6. CJ Carr, Notre Dame 2 Sam Leavitt, LSU 2 Drew Mestemaker, Oklahoma State 2 Darian Mensah, Miami 2 Hannah Hidalgo helped Notre Dame become one of the five most watched teams in wom- en's basketball last season with her dazzling performances. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER