In the pre-season a few of us ranked the top 25 players on Notre Dame’s roster. At the slightly more than half way point of the season and with Notre Dame on the bye weekend, Matt from Sportscrack decided to take a look at revisiting these rankings based on the first 7 games of the year.
1. Julian Love, CB – Love is on everybody’s midseason All-American team after leading the nation in pass breakups with 12. He’s been the most consistent defender and even has a returned strip sack for a TD.
Preseason Rank: 3
2. Jerry Tillery, DT – 7.5 sacks. Constant double teams freeing up the LBs and DEs to pressure the QB and make tackles in the backfield. Tillery has been everything we expected if not more.
Preseason Rank: 1
3. Te’von Coney, LB – 56 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss. Coney’s return for his senior season has been huge for ND and like Tillery both are playing themselves into first round NFL money.
Preseason Rank: 2
4. Khalid Kareem, DE – I had Kareem at #15 on my preseason list so this is a big jump but not completely unexpected. The junior has been a terror off the edge all season both against the run and the pass.
Preseason Rank: 13
5. Ian Book, QB – Book wasn’t on my preseason list because Brandon Wimbush was the starter. Now one could make an argument Book is the most important player on this list after his stellar four game performance while leading the nation in completion percentage.
Preseason Rank: Not Ranked (Only Frank had Book among the top 25 players)
6. Drue Tranquill, LB – The senior captain is the steady soundboard for Clark Lea‘s defense. He makes every tackle and is a great example of knowing his role and excelling at it.
Preseason Rank: 4
7. Julian Okwara, DE – I said before the season if ND was gonna have a great defense they needed guys like Okwara, Kareem and Hayes to step it up going into their junior seasons. Okwara like Kareem has done it. He’s got 24 pressures and was unstoppable vs Pitt on the edge.
Preseason Rank: 18
8. Miles Boykin, WR – Boykin was basically non existent with Wimbush at QB the first 3 games after his breakout performance in the bowl game vs LSU last year. With Book in there Boykin has become his favorite target and he’s exploded for 32 catches for 512 yards and 4 TDs.
Preseason Rank: 9
9. Alohi Gilman, S – The Navy transfer has been tremendous. He’s let a few balls slip through his hands but he’s gonna be a turnover, tackling machine in the 2nd half. The sky is the limit with Gilman.
Preseason Rank: 17
10. Dexter Williams, RB – FREE DEX, FREE DEX, FREE DEX! After standing on the sidelines for the first 4 games because of a “suspension” Dexter finally got starting reps at tailback and has averaged over 100 yards per game with over 7 yards per carry. He’s even picking up blocks now. It’s great to have him back.
Preseason Rank: 20
11. Robert Hainsey, OT (Preseason: 12)
12. Chris Finke, WR (Preseason: 3)
13. Troy Pride, CB (Preseason: 7)
14. Chase Claypool, WR (Preseason: 11)
15. Jalen Elliott, S (Preseason: NR)
16. Daelin Hayes, DE (Preseason: 10)
17. Sam Mustipher, OC (Preseason: 5)
18. Asmar Bilal, LB (Preseason: NR)
19. Tony Jones Jr., RB (Preseason: 22)
20. Liam Eichenberg, OT (Preseason: 24)
21. Justin Yoon, K (Preseason: 15)
22. Brandon Wimbush, QB (Preseason: 10)
23. Jafar Armstrong, RB (Preseason: 23)
24. Alize Mack, TE (Preseason: 21)
25. Tommy Kraemer, OG (Preseason: 14)
Please note that Alex Bars didn’t make the list because he’s out for the season with his knee injury. If Bars was still playing he would be in the top 5 easy.
Next 5 games are all about who steps up. Who wants it bad enough. Who’s willing to put in the work to be the best. Can Notre Dame play all out 60 minutes play in and play out. I want to see improvement in offensive line play, wr, and db. That will determine for me if Notre Dame is ready to play with the big boys.
Pete Calco has the worst grammar I’ve seen in years. Grammar like that negates your points.
ThisBrohm needs to be Notredames next coach. I love his creativity. I never seen Kelly attack a defense like that. That screen pass was a thing of beauty.
It isn’t so much Book is there, its that Winbush isn’t. All those skilled great players were there all along. Nobody would pass the ball. In basketball they call a guy like that a ball hog. ND may not have needed Book, but they needed a passing quarterback, you know, like on a football team’s offense.
I think Notredame is a very good team this year but not one of the top 4 teams more like top 10 for sure. Alabama is the best all around team and in order to beat them your going to have to outscore them.They will score 35 to 40 or more against any team in the country imo.Notredame doesn’t have enough playmakers to do this. Imo the only offense in the country that can win in a shootout with Alabama is Oklahoma .Kyler Murray is unbelievableTheir skilled players are all track star speedsters
OKLAHOMA”S DEFENSE WILL GIVE UP 100 pts TO BAMA, THEY CAN”T STOP ANYBODY!! THEY HAVE NO DEFENSE, MAYBE YOU HEARD THEY FIRED THE D COORDINATOR!! THEY ONLY TEAM THAT CAN BEAT BAMA IS BAMA!!
OBTW IT TOOK OVERTIME FOR OK. TO BEAT ARMY!! CMON REALLY??
So what am I supposed to do on an October Saturday when the Irish aren’t playing. That’s the article I need to read.
Go Irish!!!
Consult with a ouija board.
The bye week is a great time to hone your textual analysis skills. For example, you can discern the redaction chronology of “The Didache,” “The Didascalia,” and “The Apostolic Constitutions.”
You can also make Plan B preparations for whenever they might come in handy.
Or finally, combat the always present ND bias running throughout mankind.
It’s also a great time to polish up on your banalities, Ronny boy! Time to put that grade school learning to proper use, dumb nuts.
How sad for you that little Davy boy is actually right about you!
I wonder if the he reason lame Ron constantly banters about Plan B is because B is as far as he’s gotten in learning his alphabet?
Bwahahaha!
I have found a voluminous self-styled expert on the matters you discuss.
He is a , well, sort of, self-styled academic, but that issue remains with the jury.
His information, contact information and phone number are being beta tested right now, prior to being furnished to you.
I am busy today checking out a report that there was a document found in the trashcan of the Buckeye Locker Room down there on the Banks of the Ol’ Wabash.
It was entitled:
Stopping the spread offense by superior Safety Play:
Positioning
Tackling angles
Playing in space
The authors were Brian Van Gorder and Ron Hudson.
I could make the argument that without Book, the ones rated above him would be irrelevant
No reason for Mustipher to drop!
More importantly is the Irish are ranked #4, having started the season #12 or 13.
I disagree, and always have. Ranking systems are pimps, parasites, maggots feasting on the host of football, man’ legalized inhumanity to man..
What counts is the quality of play.
Notre Dame’s level of play has exceeded is expectations.
What counts now is whether or not the Irish have plateau’d or have a nother rung or two they can climb.
Let the football team play well and better.
Everything else will take care of itself.