ND TE Mayer gets the last word, clinches consensus All-America honors

One of the more head-scratching college football award snubs in recent years was Notre Dame junior Michael Mayer missing out on the 2022 Mackey Award as the nation’s best tight end last week.

A referendum of the major All-America teams since then says otherwise.

On Tuesday Mayer was named first-team All-America by The Sporting News, his third first-team honor among the four major teams revealed so far, and thus clinched consensus All-America honors as the nation’s top tight end.

The consensus team will be officially announced on Thursday, a day after the America Football Coaches Association team is revealed. It’s the fifth and final of the organizations that determine consensus and unanimous All-Americans. The other three are the Walter Camp Foundation, the Football Writers Association of America and the Associated Press.

Mayer was a Walter Camp and AP first-teamer, and second-teamer, according to the FWAA.

SUBSCRIBE TO INSIDE ND SPORTS TO STAY IN THE KNOW ON NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS

JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON THE INSIDER LOUNGE MESSAGE BOARD

Two of Mayer’s Notre Dame teammates on Tuesday were named second-team All-Americans by the Sporting News — sophomore left offensive tackle Joe Alt and senior defensive end Isaiah Foskey.

Each of those players has one first-team mention so far and three second-team honors. It’s not impossible for a player to earn consensus honors with two first-team mentions, but it’s a narrow path and pretty rare.

They’d need to at the very least be first-teamers on Wednesday’s AFCA team to stay in the running.

Georgia sophomore Brock Bowers, the player who beat out Mayer for the Mackey Award, was a second-team selection by The Sporting News.

On Thursday, Mayer will officially become Notre Dame’s 91st-ever consensus All-American and 107th consensus selection, with 16 Irish players earning the distinction twice. Those numbers include ND’s 30 unanimous All-Americans, of which linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah in 2020 was the most recent.

Notre Dame’s most recent consensus All-American was safety Kyle Hamilton in 2021, but you’d have to go back to 1977 for its last consensus or unanimous All-American at the tight end position. That was Ken MacAfee, who was a consensus selection in 1976 and unanimous in 1977.

Tyler Eifert came close in 2011 and 2012, but lost out to Clemson’s Dwayne Allen in 2011 and Stanford’s Zach Ertz in 2012. Ironically, though, Eifert won the Mackey Award in 2012, ND’s only tight end to do so since the award’s inception in 2000.

Both Mayer and Foskey last week opted into the 2023 NFL Draft as early entries, Mayer on Wednesday and Foskey on Thursday afternoon, and opted out of 21st-ranked Notre Dame’s Dec. 30 Gator Bowl date with South Carolina in Jacksonville, Fla.

Alt will play and start for the Irish (8-4) against the Gamecocks (8-4). The Irish are taking a break from bowl practices this week until Saturday for final exams.

Mayer led all FBS tight ends in touchdown receptions in 2022 while posting a team-high 67 receptions for 809 yards — each second-best among FBS tight ends. He holds every major tight end career and single-season school record for Irish tight ends.

Foskey finished the regular season tied for fourth nationally in sacks (11) and set the Irish career record in that category with 26.5.

Alt was Pro Football Focus’ highest-ranked college offensive tackle in run blocking and No. 2 in overall play. In 370 pass block sets this season, Alt allowed five pressures and zero sacks.

1913 Gus Dorais (Chippewa Falls, Wis.)
1917 Frank Rydzewski (Chicago, Ill.)
1920 George Gipp (Laurium, Mich.)
1921 Eddie Anderson (Mason City, Iowa)
1924 Jim Crowley (Green Bay, Wis.)
1924 Elmer Layden (Davenport, Iowa)
1924 Harry Stuhldreher (Massillon, Ohio)
1926 Art (Bud) Boeringer (St. Paul, Minn.)
1927 John Smith (Hartford, Conn.)
1929 Jack Cannon (Columbus, Ohio)
1929*-30* Frank Carideo (Vernon, N.Y.)
1930-31 Marchy Schwartz (Bay St. Louis, Miss.)
1931 Tommy Yarr (Dabob, Wash.)
1932* Joe Kurth (Madison, Wis.)
1934 Jack Robinson (Huntington, N.Y.)
1935 Wayne Millner (Salem, Mass.)
1937 Check Sweeney (Bloomington, Ill.)
1938* Ed Beinor (Harvey, Ill.)
1941-42 Bob Dove (Youngstown, Ohio)
1943 Angelo Bertelli (Springfield, Mass.)
1943 Pat Filley (South Bend)
1943 Creighton Miller (Wilmington, Del.)
1943 Jim White (Edgewater, N.J.)
1943 John Yonakor (Dorchester, Mass.)
1946-47 George Connor (Chicago, Ill.)
1946*-47* John Lujack (Connellsville, Pa.)
1947-48 Bill Fischer (Chicago, Ill.)
1948-49* Leon Hart (Turtle Creek, Pa.)
1948-49* Emil Sitko (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
1949 Bob Williams (Baltimore, Md.)
1950 Jerry Groom (Des Moines, Iowa)
1952*-53* John Lattner (Chicago, Ill.)
1953 Art Hunter (Akron, Ohio)
1954* Ralph Guglielmi (Columbus, Ohio)
1955 Paul Hornung (Louisville, Ky.)
1957 Al Ecuyer (New Orleans, La.)
1959 Monty Stickles (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.)
1964 John Huarte (Anaheim, Calif.)
1964 Jack Snow (Long Beach, Calif.)
1965* Dick Arrington (Erie, Pa.)
1965 Nick Rassas (Winnetka, Ill.)
1966* Nick Eddy (Lafayette, Calif.)
1966* Jim Lynch (Lima, Ohio)
1966 Alan Page (Canton, Ohio)
1966 Tom Regner (Kenosha, Wis.)
1967 Tom Schoen (Euclid, Ohio)
1968 Terry Hanratty (Butler, Pa.)
1968 George Kunz (Arcadia, Calif.)
1969* Mike McCoy (Erie, Pa.)
1970 Larry DiNardo, Larry (Howard Beach, N.Y.)
1970 Thom Gatewood (Baltimore, Md.)
1971 Clarence Ellis (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
1971* Walt Patulski (Liverpool, N.Y.)
1972* Greg Marx (Redford, Mich.)
1973 Dave Casper (Chilton, Wis.)
1973 Mike Townsend (Hamilton, Ohio)
1974 Pete Demmerle (New Canaan, Conn.)
1974 Gerry DiNardo (Howard Beach, N.Y.)
1975* Steve Niehaus (Cincinnati, Ohio)
1976*-77* Ross Browner (Warren, Ohio)
1976-77* Ken MacAfee (Brockton, Mass.)
1977 Luther Bradley (Muncie, Ind.)
1978* Bob Golic (Willowick, Ohio)
1978 Dave Huffman (Dallas, Texas)
1979 Vagas Ferguson (Richmond, Ind.)
1980* John Scully (Huntington, N.Y.)
1980-81 Bob Crable (Cincinnati, Ohio)
1987* Tim Brown (Dallas, Texas)
1988 Frank Stams (Akron, Ohio)
1988, 90* Michael Stonebreaker (River Ridge, La.)
1989-90* Chris Zorich (Chicago, Ill.)
1989*-90* Todd Lyght (Flint, Mich.)
1990* Raghib Ismail (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)
1991 Mirko Jurkovic (Calumet City, Ill.)
1992-93* Aaron Taylor (Concord, Calif.)
1993 Jeff Burris (Rock Hill, S.C.)
1994 Bobby Taylor (Longview, Texas)
2002* Shane Walton (San Diego, Calif.)
2005 Jeff Samardzija (Valparaiso, Ind.)
2009* Golden Tate (Hendersonville, Tenn.)
2012* Manti Te’o (Laie, Hawaii)
2015 Jaylon Smith (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
2015 Ronnie Stanley (Las Vegas, Nev.)
2017 Mike McGlinchey (Philadelphia, Pa.)
2017* Quenton Nelson (Holmdel, N.J.)
2018 Julian Love (Westchester, Ill.)
2020 Aaron Banks (Alameda, Calif.)
2020 Liam Eichenberg (Cleveland, Ohio)
2020* Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (Hampton, Va.)
2021 Kyle Hamilton (Atlanta, Ga.)
2022 Michael Mayer (Independence, Ky.)
* Indicates unanimous selection

FIRST TEAM OFFENSE

QB: Caleb Williams, USC
RB: Blake Corum, Michigan
RB: Bijan Robinson, Texas
WR: Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State
WR: Jalin Hyatt, Tennessee
TE: Michael Mayer, Notre Dame
T: Peter Skoronski, Northwestern
G: Cooper Beebe, Kansas State
C: Olusegun Oluwatimi, Michigan
G: O'Cyrus Torrence, Florida
T: Alex Palczewski, Illinois
ATH: Deuce Vaughn, Kansas State

FIRST TEAM DEFENSE

DL: Tuli Tuipulotu, USC
DL: Jalen Carter, Georgia
DL: Calijah Kancey, Pitt
EDGE: Will Anderson, Alabama
LB: Jack Campbell, Iowa
LB: Jamon Dumas-Johnson, Georgia
LB: Ivan Pace, Cincinnati
CB: Tre'vius Hodges-Tomlinson, TCU
CB: Clark Phillips, Utah
S: Kamren Kinchens, Miami
S: Christopher Smith, Georgia

FIRST TEAM SPECIALISTS

K: Joshua Karty, Stanford
P: Adam Korsak, Rutgers
RET: Anthony Gould, Oregon State

SECOND TEAM OFFENSE

QB: Max Duggan, TCU
RB: DeWayne McBride, UAB
RB: Chase Brown, Illinois
WR: Nathaniel Dell, Houston
WR: Charlie Jones, Purdue
TE: Brock Bowers, Georgia
OL: Dawand Jones, Ohio State
OL: Andrew Vorhees, USC
C: Brett Neilon, USC
OL: Christian Haynes, UConn
OL: Joe Alt, Notre Dame
ATH: Zach Charbonnet, UCLA

SECOND TEAM DEFENSE

DL: Isaiah Foskey, Notre Dame
DL: Jose Ramirez, Eastern Michigan
DL: Viliami Fehoko, San Jose State
EDGE: Bralen Trice, Washington
LB: Drew Sanders, Arkansas
LB: Tommy Eichenberg, Ohio State
LB: Cedric Gray, North Carolina
CB: Emmanuel Forbes, Mississippi State
CB: Kool-Aid McKinstry, Alabama
S: Jordan Battle, Alabama
S: Kaevon Merriweather, Iowa

SECOND TEAM SPECIALISTS

K: Christopher Dunn, NC State
P: Bryce Baringer, Michigan State
RET: Lideatrick Griffin, Mississippi State

---------------------------------------------------------------

• Talk with Notre Dame fans on The Insider Lounge.

• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Podbean or Pocket Casts.

• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports channel on YouTube.

• Follow us on Twitter: @insideNDsports, @EHansenND, @TJamesND and @ByKyleKelly.

• Like us on Facebook: Inside ND Sports

• Follow us on Instagram: @insideNDsports