Two years we ago we debuted the 18 Stripes Hall of Fame Pyramid for Notre Dame football and its extensive history of wonderful talent. You can read the final rankings from 2019 HERE with links to the previous levels of the pyramid linked therein.
We’re now adding players who have left Notre Dame since the conclusion of the 2019 season. Next up to be inducted is another addition to the home of Tight End University.
*Players are listed in order by their position with overall rankings to the left.
193. Cole Kmet, TE, Lake Barrington, Illinois (2017-19)
189. Anthony Fasano, TE, Verona, New Jersey (2002-05)
170. Kyle Rudolph, TE, Cincinnati, Ohio (2008-10)
165. John Carlson, TE, Litchfield, Minnesota (2004-07)
145. Derek Brown, TE, Merritt Island, Florida (1988-91)
126. Mark Bavaro, TE, Danvers, Massachusetts (1981-84)
107. Dave Casper, TE, Chilton, Wisconsin (1971-73)
81. Tony Hunter, TE, Cincinnati, Ohio (1979-82)
65. Tyler Eifert, TE, Fort Wayne, Indiana (2009-12)
15. Ken MacAfee, TE, Brockton, Massachusetts (1974-77)
Kmet had a weird career that didn’t necessarily make him a lock for the 18 Stripes Hall of Fame Pyramid. As a true freshman he saw the field enough as the 4th tight end and then made a decent impact as a sophomore catching 15 passes. Heading into his junior year there were whispers that Kmet was ready for a big year and an exit to the NFL. But, he hadn’t even caught a touchdown pass yet in his career!
In terms of pure talent it could be argued Kmet should be higher on this list. Maybe not much (there have been some great tight ends at Notre Dame!) but his tools were perhaps greater than someone like John Carlson, for example.
However, Kmet’s career achievement just don’t merit a higher ranking. For sure, his final 2019 season was really impressive. Among the trio of Fasano, Rudolph, and Carlson the 43 receptions for Kmet in 2019 is 3rd best for a single season. Despite not catching a touchdown pass through 2 seasons, Kmet grabbed 6 in his junior year tying the single-season school record held by Ken MacAfee.
One more year from Kmet would’ve been something to watch. Of course that would’ve meant less of a spotlight on freshman All-American Michael Mayer (basically a lock for induction already) but Kmet could’ve broken 100 catches, 1,000 yards, and 10 touchdowns for his career and hit some really big milestones for a tight end at Notre Dame.
Book’s aversion to throwing the seam route always surprised me with so many big targets. I do wonder if Kmet’s production would have been more impressive with a different QB. That being said, he didn’t have the speed to turn those kinds of routes into massive gains, so maybe it would have just highlighted how different he was from the truly elite TEs we’ve had in some recent years.
If Mayer puts up 2 more years of exactly the same stats as last year, no more no less, where would he slot into the TE rankings here?
That would be: 126 recs, 1,350 yards, 6 TD for Mayer then. (Which, I’ll take the over on all of those, but just to play along)…
Eifert had 140/1,840/11 TD
Rudolph had 90/1,032/8
So I’d split the difference and put Mayer at about 115-120 if he’s able to keep going. But, except for TD, I think Mayer has a really good shot to pass Eifert level stats if he stays healthy. I’d say he’s a lock to get 55+ receptions this season which will put him around 100 after two years, and basically statistically passing the Rudolph level with a big year this season.
I rarely take the over on projections of ND players (in my view, they are typically overly optimistic), but in Mayer’s case I’ll take the over on that production.
True. And it makes sense to shade positive, Mayer should take steps forward from his freshman level, a more optimistic projection should be likely. He’s going to have a monster year this season and probably be a Mackey frontrunner for 2022, if not in 2021. A&M has a good one and the kid from Iowa State feels like he’s been there forever, but I don’t really see a Kyle Pitts or anything in CFB this year.
Arik Gilbert is a freak athlete, but he is allegedly playing WR at Georgia. I’ll believe that when I see it. If he plays TE, I think he might be 80-90% of Pitts, which would be absurd.
Yeah, Gilbert could be something. New school and all, I’m not skeptical of his talent but would want to see how it goes before anointing him. Mayer also had more receptions, yards, yards/catch and same number of TDs as Gilbert last season (in a few more games of Mayer). Gilbert is probably a more explosive athlete, but Mayer is on his level as a player.
I wouldn’t really put either in Pitts’ class though. He had 12 TD in 8 games and averaged nearly 100 yards per game last year over the whole season, and that was while being banged up and playing through injury at times. UF’s offense was ridiculous last year
I’m downvoting this article because of the use of a picture from That Game in 2019.
Agreed with the major sentiment of this article. Cole was a player who had all of the potential in the world, but then his production was simply “meh”. He sometimes dealt with injuries and seemed to go down fairly easily when tackled.
He reminds me a little of Troy Nicklas, a guy with a body that looks like it was crafted out of a TE laboratory, but whose production at ND was only so-so (compared to other talented TEs).
Yeah I’m genuinely surprised he made the Pyramid. Just never seemed to be a wow player, though you could see the potential.
For the record, it would be like not including a receiver who posted 85 receptions, 1,100 yards, and 15 touchdowns in their final junior season.
You guys haven’t put out a commit post in like 5 days. So lazy.
Crap, did we miss the Arch Manning commitment??
Fire Tommy. He’s had more than enough time to show us he can be an elite coach.
As a Bears fan, I started worrying every time Kmet caught a ball. He became very good at straight up just dropping a possessed ball. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I feel like last year he had at least 600 fumbles with 250 of them being lost. I don’t remember him having those yips while at ND.
He had and lost one fumble last year so that’s a bit overkill.
Edit: also two dropped passes. Mooney had four, for comparison.
Oh, he didn’t actually have 600 fumbles last year?
seems odd to “worry every time Kmet caught a ball” based on one fumble and two drops but I’m well aware my fellow Bears fans can be real meatballs, so I shouldn’t be surprised
He had a fumble against the Packers that got nullified. I think he had another one where he fumbled but was also questionably called down first. Regardless, he had 28 catches in the regular season and if 3 of those he fumbled, not great. Also, he holds the ball way too far out there when he’s running – gonna get some more stripped if he doesn’t tuck better.
#BearssssTalk
Dis is Carl from Itasca, firss time long time