Eifert, Floyd Named Award Semifinalists

tyler eifert mackey full
Tyler Efiert is on course for a record breaking season and his efforts have landed him on the Mackey Award Semifinalist list. (Photo / Icon SMI)

A pair of Notre Dame offensive weapons were named semifinalists for awards honoring the best player at their respective positions on Monday when junior tight end Tyler Eifert was named a semifinalist for the Mackey Award while wide receiver Michael Floyd earned the same distinction for the Biletnikoff Award.

Eifert, coming off his best performance of the season this past weekend with 8 catches for 83 yards and a touchdown, is a semifinalist for the award in his first full season as a starter for the Irish.  So far this season the junior has hauled in 51 passes for 589 yards and 5 touchdowns and should easily finish this season with more catches and yards than John Carlson, Anthony Fasano, or Kylre Rudolph were ever able to record in a single season.

In fact, Eifert is already among elite company in terms of production from the tight end position.  With four more catches, Efiert will break Ken McAfee’s school record for receptions in a season by a tight end.  He also needs just 46 yards to pass John Carlson for the second most receiving yards in a single season by a tight end at Notre Dame and because bowl game stats count towards season stats, Eifert has an outside chance to break the Notre Dame single season receiving yards by a tight end record as well.  To pass McAfee for that distinction, Eifert will need to wrack up 209 yards over the next three games.

Eifert compares very favorably compared to the other finalists.  In fact, he has more receptions and yards than any of the other seven semifinalists so a strong close to the season and Eifert could very well find himself taking home some hardware this year.  Speaking of the other semifinalists, they are:

  • Dwayne Allen, Clemson
  • Orson Charles, Georgia
  • Drake Dunsmore, Northwestern
  • Coby Fleener, Stanford
  • Ladarius Green, Louisiana-Lafayette
  • Jacob Pedersen, Wisconsin
  • Nick Provo, Syracuse

Floyd has rewritten the Notre Dame receiving record book over the course of his career and owns almost every meaningful Notre Dame career receiving record.  As a senior though, Floyd has actually had an up and down season.  He’s recorded four 100 yard games and has scored 7 touchdowns, but he has also been held under 50 yards three times this season as well.

For the season, Floyd has 77 catches for 922 yards and the 7 scores and will set career records for receptions and yards this season, but will be hard pressed to top his 12 touchdowns from a season ago.  While Floyd’s numbers are very strong, he will have a hard time overcoming the gaudy stats some of the other semifinalists have accumulated this year baring a huge end of the season over the next two weeks.

  • Keenan Allen, Cal
  • Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma State
  • Patrick Edwards, Houston
  • A.J. Jenkins, Illinois
  • Sammy Watkins, Clemson
  • Jordan White, Western Michigan
  • Robert Woods, USC
  • Kendall Wright, Baylor

Right now, Eifert has the much better chance of the two to take him their respective awards in a few weeks, but both players have turned in excellent seasons for Notre Dame this year and both will leave Notre Dame with their names mentioned among the best at their positions in school history.

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25 Comments

  1. Great hire for New Mexico. Though his record at ND was not good, he had great defenses at Notre Dame. I hope for the best

  2. Breaking News!

    Former ND head coach and current ESPN analyst Bob “six & six” Davie has
    just accepted the head coaching job at the University of New Mexico.

    If the Bawl coach goes 6-6 in this first year at NM they will probably give him the keys to the freakin city!

    Word is, Davie is franticly searching for Ty Willingham to be his Offensive Coordinator, but is having difficulty locating him…

    The last rumor I heard was that TW changed his name to Jimmay Wishbone and is teaching basket weaving somewhere on the island of Pongo-pongo.

    Good luck guys…. you’re gonna need it!

    1. Shazamrock,
      I love it. Definitely liking and laughing at your journalistic style.

      I had heard that Willingham was working either for MSU in their general athletic Dept. or was assisting an NFL team in a non coaching capacity.

      Either way, He’s pocketed more than we could in his career. Almost like being the recent deposed CEO of HP.

      1. “Journalistic Style” ???

        Now there’s a stretch!

        I’ll interpet it as the typical Shaz smart ass remarks.

        I enjoy your posts as well.

        Especially when you get fired up over the drunken lowlife BC fans, or the crack-baby QB’s that often don the the Red and Gold of USC, who are occasionally seen bobbing in the scum-foam along Needle Beach!

        Nothing like a good rivalry to get the jucies flowing!

  3. Shazamrock,
    I like your observation. I will look for that. I’ll get his number. If he disrupts plays at the line, the Irish will have a long day. Kelly and company better start learning to adjust during the game. ND needs to get over the second and third drive blah’s. They usually come out sharp, but are slow to adjust once the opponent settles in. BC could take advantage of that emotionally in a no lose situation.

    I wonder if BC will disguise double coverage on Floyd and actually put a rover on Eifert. A couple of hard hits on the other recievers could put the offense off balance. Also, Reese needs to get back in a rythm even after getting sacked. It will happen on Saturday. I might sound like a BC person scouting ND, but really I am hoping the Irish coaching staff is anticipating these problems and is coaching the team to respond to whatever BC might throw at them.

    So here is a general question: If ND wins and both Penn St. and Michigan lose, does ND jump them in the polls? Not that I care too much because with 3 losses, the Irish should be happy with any ranking and any decent bowl possibility. And then what if the Irish beat Stanford? I see possible top 15 final ranking, but not a top 15 BCS score given where ND is right now. And frankly this team hasn’t yet proven it is ready for a BCS bowl. I’d rather that invitation not be questionable. Comments?

    1. C-Dog,

      This isn’t Maryland, BC actually has a pretty decent
      defense. (offense stinks)

      Since the PITT game the rule on Floyd has been to play over the top coverage while running a corner up on him durig his route.(if you have the personel)

      I think the wild card for ND at reciever in this game is Toma.

      I think he has better hands than both Riddic and Jones.
      I think he is tougher than Jones and gives his team a lift with his style.
      Looking back, I think he should have had more playing time eariler in the year.

      If the BCS goes by strenth of schedule, ND has both PSU & Michigan beat.

      The bowls always like ND because of their loyal following, so they normally get picked over a team or two who might have a better record.(Hey, its about the money, and ND always fills the stands, can’t blame us for that!)

      I would like to see ND get a bowl agianst a higher ranked team.

      Why?

      We know that they beat themselves in the first two games of the year.
      The only team to push us around was USC, and we were clawing our way back into that game until the late turnovers.

      When ND eliminates the turn overs, and can play at a pace like we saw last week,(which should help agianst BC this week) they can be a dangerous team.
      Win this week and next, and the team is on a huge roll.

      Give them a few weeks to heal and get their legs back after Stanford, and they can be very, very, dangerous team!

      I’ll take the highest ranked team we can get, damn the neysayers!

      Like they say.. No guts, no glory!

      1. Shazamrock,
        Given that ND has beaten itself twice this year against what now look like weaker opponents, and imploded on itself in one of the three games that mattered most, I take nothing for granted. BC has their own troubles but if any team with tough defense can win any game. The ND coaching staff better be prepared prior to the game and better be prepared to adjust during the game. they also better get the players ready for a physical battle. And not to look ahead, but getting physical is a must for Stanford, so better to prepare now with benefits for both games.

        On rankings, I’d like to see ND rise up, but at this point you have to go more on wins and losses. With 3 losses, ND does have an up hill battle. However, PSU and Michigan should lose at least one more if not two more games. You really look at this season and can have one of two conclusions. Either it is the one that got away, or the one that will build character for next season. This team should be positively critical of itself, realize that it has underachieved and that it will commit itself to not let that happen again. If they played to their potential, SF and UofM are wins and the USC game at least is close if not a win. Hopefully they’ll learn the mindset for next year. AND still finish this year strong.

  4. Interesting match up this weekend.

    BC has the leading tackeler at ILB in the nation in
    Luke Kuechly with 168 tackles on the year.

    On paper it would appear that Kuechly has the advantage over the ND center, Senior Jake Golic, who will be starting only his third game.

    Kuechly is listed at 6’3″ 235lbs. Very average size for a inside linebacker. Speed and quickness are his main attributes.

    But as I understand it, Golic, at center, is pretty quick himself.
    Maybe having a quicker player at center for this game is what will be needed.

    It is something I’ll be keeping an eye on this weekend.
    (It will be Senior day so I’m hopefull of an inspired performance)

    Hopefuuly Golic will do a good job and then carry that over to the Stanford Game.

  5. And I thought we had some tough losses!

    NC State held Boston College to minus-2 yards of total offense in the second half of last week’s game, but somehow managed to lose to the Eagles. (14-10)

    The Wolfpack limited BC to 10 total first downs, 73 yards rushing, 118 yards passing, had an interception and sacked BC’s QB 3 times.

    How did they lose?

    Red zone turnovers and 8 penalties.

  6. If Floyd had been at Oklahoma or Oklahoma St or Stanford he wins this award Unfortunately he played with a QB with 40 yd max throwing arm so was never going to get yds per game Also in games when he was thrown to only 4-5 times it makes it very hard to put up numbers compared to guys getting 12-15 throws per. Just reality. Eifert could also have probably another third as many catches if he was at Stanford with Luck throwing to him but that is just a fact of life. Maybe next year Eifert puts up some numbers that will stand for many years if he gets a Golson to throw to him. I just hope Golson can stay healthy for the whole year. I would hate to see him put up some Denard Robinson like numbers in first 3-4 games and then go down with an injury and PRESTO Kelly goes back to T Turnover again and the season goes down the toilet once again

      1. I think Koyack is going to be a lot like Eifert. But certainly it would hurt if he split, although as a TE, even though the position has changed in the NFL, I still think he needs some more meat on his bones.

    1. Ahhh, the assumption is either AH or EG will be the starting QB next year. I really, really, really hope EG is as good as advertised & wins the starting position, because if the fair haired wonder boy (TR) beats out both EG or AH next year, it will be a llloooooonnnggggggggggg season due to the strength of the schedule. No way does TR lead ND to a 13-0 or at worst, 12-1, BCS championship in 2012. If that happens, I will run naked in the street & proclaim the fair haired wonder boy’s greatness. I don’t think either is going happen with TR back as starting QB. Just my opinion.

      Go Fighting Irishhhhhhhh

      1. College football is a funny animal.

        When a kid goes from Sophmore to Junior (or Junior to senior) their classroom work load normally lessens.

        They are aforded a little more time for football.

        They gain more physical growth, personal maturity, as well as an additional year in the weight room.

        They now have an ample supply of game film in which they can review their play and make adjustments.

        Most of the better college players (not saying Rees is one of them) don’t hit their stride untl their Junior and Senior years.

        Jonas Gray is a perfect example.

        Remember, it takes a hell of a lot of raw talent to make up for game experience.

        As far as running naked in the streets, may I suggest you just buy a round for the house?

      2. Yeah, I know what you mean about the game experience factor, Shazamrock, regarding the fair haired wonder boy and how that may factor in come next year. I’m not counting on big changes from TR, but, I could be wrong. Buying a round for the house would probably be better than running naked in the streets if ND wins the BCS NC qb’d by Rees. My neighbors would probably toss footballs at me, hahahahahahaha.

        Go Irish

      3. More self-inflicted agony next year for sure with the pine riders contest coming soon?

        Missed opportunities for back-up QB game experience ignored this year, will more than likely will translate into negative issues for next?

        I believe by the time the QB science project is over we will have a new coach. Urban Meyer anyone?

        OK, go ahead and throw stones! Atleast I’m NOT threating to run naked like storespook on my prediction!
        Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

      4. Unless EG or AH are stellar in the Spring get use to TR for next year. This team responds well to TR. Kelly has shown he likes using two QBs so I think we would have seen the backups if they were ready.

        Do you think ND would offer UM the job? I seriously hope not!

      5. How about if I at least wear a gold helmet & run the street naked IF ND wins BCS title game next season with the fair haired wonder boy still the starting qb, hahahahahahahahaha.

        Go Notre Dame

      6. Well, TR will start next year because he’s 11-2 right now! But, get use to another 3-4 loses! More importantly, back-up QB’s have virtually no game experience to speak of; training wheels all next year for them!

        Yes, Urban would be offered with out a doubt. It’s never a popularity contest! The question is always: “Can you win Championships?” Further, six years under Holtz gives Urban the inside track to ND; regardless of contentious debate.

        Bottom line: Urban 2 BK 0

        Does BK get a 4th year? That remains to be seen.

  7. Congrats to Eifert and Floyd, unfortunately for Michael the deep ball was non-existent this year. On the other hand, Eifert benefited greatly with the constant short pass game.

  8. Eifert for the Mackey and 1st team All American. He deserves it by what he has done on the field and more importantly, how that effort has contributed to the team in a positive manner. I don’t think Floyd will earn the Biletnikoff award.

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