“If you combine the MVP voting with the All-NBA teams, the playoff results, and individual statistics, you end up with a reasonable snapshot of exactly what happened that NBA season.”
Bill Simmons makes this remark in the middle of the behemoth of his 2009 release The Book of Basketball about how to represent who really owned an NBA season, but I think NCAA attempts to make a similar effort. Obviously, the sport is different in how they compare players and the analysis is a bit more nuanced since some great players don’t show up on a stat sheet at all, but attempts are made. I’ve made reference before in the HoF Series about how there are five major selectors deemed to be the definitive authorities on choosing the best at each position in football. It doesn’t feel complete, but who says college football is a fair and perfect game?
2020 has created an odd and different atmosphere about measuring these different teams playing different schedules with different amount of games and acknowledging players is no different. However difficult of a task we’re going to round up the awards collected by the players and coaching staffs and talk about the ones where we think they had a better chance of winning. So let’s take a look at what awards Irish personnel wracked up in it’s only season in the ACC.
| Conference Award/Honor | Recipient |
|---|---|
| Coach of the Year | Brian Kelly |
| Rookie of the Year | Kyren Williams |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah |
| Offensive Rookie of the Year | Kyren Williams |
| Jacobs Blocking Trophy | Liam Eichenberg |
| All-ACC First Team | Liam Eichenberg |
| All-ACC First Team | Aaron Banks |
| All-ACC First Team | Tommy Kraemer |
| All-ACC First Team | Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah |
| All-ACC First Team | Kyle Hamilton |
| All-ACC Second Team | Kyren Williams |
| All-ACC Second Team | Robert Hainsey |
| All-ACC Second Team | Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa |
| All-ACC Third Team | Ian Book |
| All-ACC Third Team | Michael Mayer |
| All-ACC Third Team | Jarrett Patterson |
| All-ACC Third Team | Nick McCloud |
Notre Dame impressed the ACC voters immensely, giving them 12 players on the top three teams, tying Clemson for the most. Everyone on the offensive line gets rewarded, with good reason for the Joe Moore Award Finalists. Liam Eichenberg added the accolades for the line by winning the Jacobs Blocking Trophy, the award for the best blocker in the conference. Other offense stalwarts Ian Book, Kyren Williams, and Michael Mayer joined in across the other two All-ACC Teams.
On the defense side of the ball, the honors are led by the unofficial captain of the defense, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. Along with his 1st team honors he won Defensive Player of the Year in a landslide vote. Kyle Hamilton continues his steady climb onto more awards team as he nabs a first team spot. Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa has his senior season rewarded with a second team nod and NC State transfer Nick McCloud gets a spot on the third team.
| National Award/Honor | Recipient |
|---|---|
| Chuck Bednarik Award Finalist | Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah |
| Bronco Nagurski Award Finalist | Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah |
| Butkus Award Winner | Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah |
| AP All-American Team (1st Team) | Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah |
| Sporting News All-American Team (1st Team) | Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah |
| FWAA All-American Team (1st Team) | Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah |
| AFCA All-American Team (1st Team) | Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah |
| WCFF All-American Team (1st Team) | Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah |
| Outland Trophy Finalist | Liam Eichenberg |
| AP All-American Team (2nd Team) | Liam Eichenberg |
| Sporting News All-American Team (1st Team) | Liam Eichenberg |
| FWAA All-American Team (1st Team) | Liam Eichenberg |
| AFCA All-American Team (1st Team) | Liam Eichenberg |
| WCFF All-American Team (1st Team) | Liam Eichenberg |
| AP All-American Team (1st Team) | Aaron Banks |
| Sporting News All-American Team (2nd Team) | Aaron Banks |
| AFCA All-American Team (1st Team) | Aaron Banks |
| WCFF All-American Team (2nd Team) | Aaron Banks |
| AP All-American Team (3rd Team) | Kyle Hamilton |
| FWAA All-American Team (1st Team) | Kyle Hamilton |
| AFCA All-American Team (2nd Team) | Kyle Hamilton |
| WCFF All-American Team (2nd Team) | Kyle Hamilton |
| AP All-American Team (3rd Team) | Tommy Kraemer |
| Sporting News All-American Team (2nd Team) | Kyren Williams |
Owusu-Koramoah becomes the first unanimous All-American since Quenton Nelson in 2017 and first on the defensive side of the ball since a certain Heisman runner-up Manti Te’o. While Wu didn’t go home with any additional awards besides his Butkus Award win, he wracked up the awards left and right and firmly places himself in the All-BK team, along with a major difference maker in the 2020 season. I personally think he had a better case than Zaven Collins for the Bednarik, but both have been neck and neck in this awards circuit, including for the Butkus Award. I do think Tulsa’s competition, while stiff at times, does not match what Wu did for the Irish in the ACC schedule, namely his performance in the regular season matchup against Clemson.
Eichenberg’s chances at being a unanimous All-American were dashed during the first reveal of the AP All-American team, but Eichernberg still racked up the awards, including being named a finalist for the Outland Trophy. While he lost to Alex Leatherwood, the unanimous tackle out of Alabama, Eichernberg clearly put himself as that #2 tackle, if not offensive lineman, on this year’s All-American team. I truly think that if the AP didn’t select their team based on position, we could be looking at Notre Dame’s second unanimous All-American, which would have been the first time that’s happened since 1990, when Rocket, Aaron Taylor, and Michael Stonebreaker all were selected. As a representative to another stellar season for the Notre Dame OL, I think Eichenberg is a great representative.
Aaron Banks adds to the accolades for the offensive line by racking up another consensus All-American, the first time the Irish have had multiple consensus All-Americans in the same position since Nelson and Mike McGlinchey pulled off the feat in 2017, and the first time they’ve had three consensus All-Americans since the aforementioned 1990 season. Banks will probably be “tied” in All-American honors with Texas A&M guard Kenyon Green for the second guard spot (with Ohio State’s Wyatt Davis being unanimous in the other guard slot). But much like the CFP “debate,” Notre Dame fans will back their guy every day of the week and twice on Sundays, which we will hopefully see in 2021.
Kyle Hamilton continued to build off of his national success of the Freshman AP All-American Team by asserting himself this season, despite not as many flashy plays. The FWAA put him on their first team secondary, which now makes him eligible for a future College Football HOF slot (I know some of you are already writing his name on a plaque). Hamilton followed that up by receiving marks from the AFCA and WCFF for their second team and getting on the AP’s Third Team. In a year that looks to be in flux, Hamilton will be one of the players to watch to see if he continues to make his ascendancy to consensus or unanimous All-American.
Tommy Kraemer and Kyren Williams also received mentions, although no first team honors for either player. Kraemer, who was on a lot of these preseason lists seemingly due to his recruiting stars coming out of college (shout out whoever did his PR the past two years because they hustled hard), finished on the 3rd team AP All-American team. Williams finished as a second team Sporting News RB, which was notable since it knocked off both North Carolina RBs from those teams. Williams also was a finalist for the FWAA Freshman of the Year, which bodes well for his standing on any All-Freshman All-American honors as well. Another player who looks to be on the Kyle Hamilton path of getting Frosh All-American honors. Michael Mayer made The Athletic’s All-American Freshman Team and when more of those (AP and FWAA are two that we know to be released in the near future) Mayer’s name should be on both of those in some fashion, setting himself up to be one of the big offensive weapons going into 2021.
All in all, I think the right players were selected to represent Notre Dame’s success during the season. The strengths of Notre Dame are represented, minus Ian Book but QB is the toughest position to crack into on All-American lists (I mean Trevor Lawrence will never have the words “Consensus All-American” next to his name forever). He is properly represented in the Heisman voting, which I think shows how much he has meant for this team. What do you guys think? Was there an egregious misstep by the major selectors or by the awards this season? Sound off below!
Thanks for the summary of all of those. It is really cool to see a deserving player like Wu get recognition like this, and to see some of the o-line get recognition. I really think that Liam, while appreciated by the fans, did not get credit as being a really good anchor for the line. If I was to speculate about his future, my guess is that he will have a good 10+ year pro career.
Think Patterson would have gotten some love if he stayed healthy?
I think Patterson would have had a more difficult time breaking through these list because (and I hope to write this piece in the offseason) the voting on the OL is inconsistent except for the center position. He could have been a potential finalist for the Rimington (which awards the position) but I think Alabama’s Landon Dickerson, who was unanimous selected, would have still gotten the accolades.
Seeing the C position struggle a bit after Patterson went down made me really appreciate the job he has been doing. I’m curious to see where he might be on the line next year — does he move to tackle where there might be a big need, or do they keep him where he’s been doing really well?
For me personally I feel like because of that drop off you keep Patterson in the C position and try and potentially use Corell’s experience to put him at tackle during the spring to keep some experience on the line that is clearly losing a ton. To me it doesn’t make much sense to bench Corell when we can at least try to be creative in the spring and create cohesion with players who saw meaningful snaps this season.
The II guys were theorizing that next year you get:
Patterson – X – Correll – X – Lugg
Which makes the prospect of having four linemen drafted this year a bit less daunting looking.
Well we just made the home run coordinator hire of the offseason, out-bidding LSU to do so. Let’s go Marcus Freeman, may your recruits be five stars and your tenure be short.
I love the hire. Need to do something to revamp the O, unless we already have the playmakers in house to take it to the next level. Remarkable how CFB has gone to a dramatically offense heavy approach. Have to be able to score … a lot.
My hope is that the offense was shaped around the lack of playmakers at WR and having a veteran offensive line + pretty great RBs + a first year OC. Hope that 2021 brings a much more powerful offensive approach.
Hoping so too. I think the OL will be good, really like Kyren as well. Just need to maximize/utilize some perimeter players. Hopeful the combo of Austin/Lenzy/Johnson/Tyree can be explosive to compliment Kyren and Mayer.
I would imagine that having Austin and Lenzy healthy will be huge, and getting Johnson on the field will be too. Super pumped to see how Mayer and Tyree play next year, and Kyren will of course be Kyren. More importantly, excited to see what year 2 of Tommy calling plays is gonna look like. Tons of potential there.
wow awesome, did we really outbid LSU? Wonder how it compares to what we offered Elko?
Just saw he’s only 34 too. Let’s hope he’ll stick around for at least 3 years before he heads off to a head coaching gig after doing a stellar job at ND.
Hopefully he can ratchet up the recruiting on D – esp. in the secondary.
“Freeman’s deal, per sources briefed on negotiations, was expected to exceed that of the just-departed Lea, who had a multiyear deal that averaged $1.6 million per year.” https://footballscoop.com/news/sources-nd-charging-back-in-picture-with-freeman/
I think Freeman will be around for 2 years probably. He is known as an excellent recruiter. This is the type of move that shows that ND is serious about competing for titles, Freeman was without a doubt the hottest DC on the market…..and we beat out a defending national champion from the SEC for him.
Nice.
I wonder if it was just the money. I would think LSU would be a more attractive option with all the talent there. Though maybe ND is just more stable and so primed for continued success.
Money certainly talks. But I think this is also the result of how stable a program ND is, and the fact that we are currently one of the 5 or 6 best programs in the country.
Working for Orgeron, who might have some major investigations coming for sexual assault in the program, might have also weighed heavily in the decision.
I hadn’t seen that. I can imagine that would play a role.