Back in 2019 I embarked on an off-season journey to create a Notre Dame Hall of Fame Pyramid. You can see the results of that effort HERE for a refresher. A couple of years later we inducted Ian Book (16th best quarterback), Chase Claypool (14th best wide receiver), Cole Kmet (10th best tight end), Liam Eichenberg (14th best tackle), Aaron Banks (17th best guard), Khalid Kareem (12th best defensive end), Julian Okwara (13th best defensive end), and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (7th best linebacker).
After the current 2023 season concludes it’ll be time to induct several more players from 3 full seasons worth of football. We have a lot to catch up on!
Hall of Fame Locks:
RB Kyren Williams
RB Audric Estime
TE Michael Mayer
OT Joe Alt
DE Isaiah Foskey
CB Benjamin Morrison
S Kyle Hamilton
I wouldn’t think any of these choices will be controversial in the slightest. Of course, the likes of Estime, Alt, and Morrison are still active and have more football to play at Notre Dame. Alt is an absolute lock by every measure. Morrison–still just a true sophomore–has made a meteoric rise in such a short amount of time and could be a consensus All-American this year, and maybe next year, too. Estime may not have quite the resume as the other two current players but he’ll finish his Irish career (if he does not come back for 2024) with over 2,000 rushing yards and in the neighborhood of 30 touchdowns with a super impressive 6 yards per carry average at the moment.
The Debatable Players:
TE Mitchell Evans
OL Jarrett Patterson
LB Drew White
LB JD Bertrand
CB Cam Hart
S Xavier Watts
We have some TOUGH decisions on our hands!
At first, I didn’t include Mitchell Evans but then I looked over the numbers once again. He’s currently injured and I’m not sure what his status will be for 2024 or how many more games he’ll play for Notre Dame which complicates things. However, Kmet made it in with 691 career yards (Evans trails that mark by just 209 yards) and the stretch before Evans’ injury this year (359 yards in 4.5 games) is as elite as it gets in the sport. If he’s able to return and total 300 to 400 yards in 2024 I think that’s a good enough career for sure.
Offensive linemen are always the most difficult to judge. Patterson started a ton of games, was a 2-time captain, and had that long streak of not giving up a sack with starting ability at 2 different positions. I think he gets a nomination.
Drew White is a bit of a forgotten man but worth at least a discussion. He totaled 191 tackles and 21.5 tackles for loss over a 3-year period.
Bertrand isn’t without his detractors and some might find it difficult to think he should be inducted. If he returns for 2024 his numbers will be difficult to ignore and there’s no doubt that he’s become more consistent and turned into an excellent leader of the Irish defense. With another season, Bertrand would be somewhere between 7th or 5th all-time in tackles at Notre Dame, plus a 3-time captain.
A year and a half ago I had Cam Hart on a trajectory towards the 18 Stripes Hall of Fame and since then he’s been overshadowed by Benjamin Morrison. Still, I think he’s been a terrific cornerback and completely worthy.
Xavier Watts has blown up so much this season and is on a rocket trajectory at the moment. His career numbers are still pretty modest (he’s only been a starter for about 14 games in his career) although he currently leads the country in interceptions and might very well be named a 1st-team All-American after 2023. Does Watts get in after 2023 even if he turns pro?
Any special teams players worthy?
I’ll never forget people letting nationally televised gym class fool them into thinking kyle hamilton wasn’t good at football
we live in a silly world
I think if Bertrand comes back and plays a typical Bertrand year, it becomes a little complicated. On a pure numbers basis being between 5th and 7th in tackles would seem to get you there, but it would have taken him 6 years to amass those numbers. That has to be corrected for.
4 years of starting, though. Just 7 tackles for 2019-20.
Spindler and Talich out for the season (knee/collar bone respectively) and Correll questionable in the concussion protocol. Schrauth at RG, Craig at C if Correll can’t go.
Special teams:
Bryce McFerson currently is the leader for punting average at Notre Dame from 2000 on. He’s already 1.4 ypp better than Tyler Newsome and I don’t see why that number should go down as he gets older. Newsome did it consistently for four years though, so McFerson’s not in based on one season, but even one more season like this and I think he’s got a case for the number one punter.
And he has the wheels and football smarts to take a good angle and run down Zachariah Branch. I put him in on that tackle alone 😉
Random note: Tommy Rees and DeShone Kizer both have three punts, and Brady Quinn has two. TFR’s average is 20 ypp, Kizer and Quinn both around 40.. Which I’m guessing means Quinn and Kizer pinned their pooch punts inside the 10, and Tommy launched all his pooch punts either into the end zone or shanked. One more thing for the Tommy haters…
I guess I viewed Patterson as a cut above those other guys in that second tier because he started from day 1 as a RS freshman and stuck around four years and was solid at a number of positions… but as you say, hard to quantify it.
I suppose X Watts has the potential to become an absolute lock by sticking around next year, but it seems like he’s just had like four or five really good games? Obviously, they’ve been great but HoF-worthy? IDK.