Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/651219
UNDER THE DOME ✦ GIMME FIVE Former Notre Dame wide receiver Will Fuller created a buzz at Indianapolis' NFL Combine with his 4.32 clocking in the 40- yard dash, which ranked as the fastest among wideouts and put him into first- ro u n d co n s i d e rat i o n fo r t h e N F L D raf t April 28-30. Just as impressive during his Fighting Irish career was the figure 4.8, his aver- age number of receptions between touch- downs, which easily ranks as the best aver- age among the more than one dozen Notre Dame players who had grabbed at least 100 passes. Most, of course, have come in the last 20 years. From an earlier era when passing wasn't as emphasized, 1949 Heisman Trophy winner Leon Hart had 13 touchdowns on his 49 career catches (one every 3.8 catches). Here are the top five at Notre Dame: Player Rec. TD Avg. 1. Will Fuller 144 30 4.8 2. Derrick Mayes 129 22 5.9 3. Golden Tate 157 26 6.0 4. Jeff Samardzija 179 27 6.6 5. Michael Floyd 271 37 7.3 IRISH MAKE ADDITIONS TO STAFF Notre Dame benefited from the rare offseason in which its coaching staff remains completely intact, but it has made some hires to the support staff. According to FootballScoop.com, the Irish hired Central Arkansas outside linebackers coach Harland Bower as a defensive graduate assistant. Bower coached the last two seasons at Cen‑ tral Arkansas and also spent time on the coaching staff at Troy, Rutgers and Murray State. He played for both Brian Kelly at Central Michigan and current Irish defensive coordinator Brian Van‑ Gorder when he was a head coach at Georgia Southern. Bower replaces former Irish line‑ backer Maurice Crum Jr., who served as a graduate assistant last season be‑ fore accepting a job as the cornerbacks coach at Indiana State. The Sycamores are coached by Irish offensive coor‑ dinator Mike Sanford's father, Mike Sanford. FootballScoop.com also reported that Notre Dame added former South Da‑ kota cornerbacks coach and Southern University special teams coordinator Marty Biagi as a special teams analyst in an off‑field role. Notre Dame is also targeting former Irish safety Jeff Burris to be a defensive analyst, per a source. He served as a defensive assistant with the Miami Dol‑ phins from 2013‑15 before he was not retained by a new coaching staff this past offseason. During Notre Dame's one‑loss sea‑ son in 1993, Burris was a captain and earned consensus All‑America honors. — Andrew Owens 2016 NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (2015 Record) Sept. 3 at Texas (5-7) Sept. 10 Nevada (7-6) Sept. 17 Michigan State (12-2) Sept. 24 Duke (8-5) Oct. 1 vs. Syracuse* (4-8) Oct. 8 at North Carolina State (7-6) Oct. 15 Stanford (12-2) Oct. 29 Miami (8-5) Nov. 5 vs. Navy# (11-2) Nov. 12 vs. Army^ (2-10) Nov. 19 Virginia Tech (7-6) Nov. 26 at USC (8-6) * at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.; # at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Fla.; ^ at the Alamodome in San Antonio