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Notre Dame 2018 Opponents Draft Review & State Of Union

Notre Dame and USC each had four players drafted, although running back Josh Adams (above) was not.
Notre Dame and USC each had four players drafted, although running back Josh Adams (above) was not. (Angela Driskell)

While Notre Dame continued to churn out its share of NFL prospects with four more taken overall through last weekend, the disparity that about 98 percent of college football has with Alabama was once again highlighted.

The Crimson Tide had an SEC-record 12 players selected this year, four of them in the first round. This came the year after it had 10 players chosen — four of them again in the first round. Plus, three were selected in the second round, two in the third and one in the fourth in 2017.

An “Ebb Tide” year for them now is 2016, when Alabama had merely seven players chosen. Even then, all of them were in the first three rounds.

Head coach Nick Saban’s outfit remains a dynasty because even with the dozen picks lost this past season, Las Vegas SuperBook has Alabama the 2018 odds-on favorite at 7/4 to win its sixth national title in 10 years. Next in the pack are Clemson (5/1), Georgia (7/1) and Ohio State (8/1). Notre Dame is tied at 17th with Stanford at 50/1.

Long-time Fighting Irish faithful can recall the 1988-93 era when Notre Dame posted such numbers in the draft. In the five years from 1990-94, Lou Holtz’s program produced nine, 10, eight, nine and 10 players in the NFL Draft.

More impressive is that among those 46 players, nine were first-round, 10 in the second and four in the third, or exactly half in the top three rounds.

In the ensuing 17 drafts from 1995-2011, Note Dame had only four first-round selections.

The pace has picked up with eight in the last seven drafts. Plus eight players were chosen overall in 2014 — the most produced by the school since 1994.

So while Notre Dame has gradually worked itself into top-15 type status since 2012, including No. 11 finishes in the Associated Press in 2015 and 2017 to slightly mitigate the baffling 4-8 meltdown in 2016, program-like status still has not been attained because of all the ebbs and flows, including no back-to-back 10-win outputs since the three-year stretch from 1991-93 and no major bowl victory in a quarter century.

Positive news includes that of the three schools that finished tied for second in the 2018 draft with seven players taken — North Carolina State, Ohio State and LSU — Notre Dame defeated two of them: the Wolfpack 35-14 and the Tigers 21-17 in the Citrus Bowl.

Tied for third in the draft with six players taken apiece were Penn State, Georgia, Florida State and Miami. Georgia eked out a 20-19 win at Notre Dame in game 2 en route to the national title showdown with Alabama, while Miami’s 41-8 demolition of the 8-1 Irish quickly knocked head coach Brian Kelly’s troops out of championship conversation.

Next year, Notre Dame should produce about a half-dozen NFL prospects, not including juniors. On paper, and for now, they could include lineman Jerry Tillery and linebackers Te’von Coney and Drue Tranquill on defense, and then linemen Alex Bars, Sam Mustipher, plus tight end Alize Mack and maybe receiver Miles Boykin on offense.

That should match any opponent on the 2018 slate, although development and progress of players can never be predicted because of various factors, including injury.

Here’s a glance at the 2018 schedule and how many NFL products each opponent produced this spring:


2018 Schedule

Sept 1: Michigan (8-5) — 2

This came the year after a program record 11 were drafted in 2017 (the most in the country, ahead of Alabama’s 10).

The Wolverines lost center Mason Cole (third round) and defensive tackle Mo Hurst (fifth round). This sort of mirrored Notre Dame’s own up-and-down tendencies in the draft.


Sept. 8 Ball State (2-10) — 0

Joins Navy as the two 2018 foes that did not have anyone drafted.


Sept. 15 Vanderbilt (5-7) — 1

Lone selection was linebacker Oren Burks in the third round.


Sept. 22 at Wake Forest (7-6) — 2

Standout safety Jessie Bates III was the No. 54 overall pick in the second round, while defensive end Duke Ejiofor was taken in the sixth, a continuation of the solid play developed on that side of the ball by the Mike Elko/Clark Lea combination that moved to Notre Dame in 2017.


Sept. 29 Stanford (9-5) — 4

The Cardinal defense took a hit with junior safety Justin Reid and lineman Harrison Phillips both picked in the third round, while linebacker Peter Kalambayi was taken in the sixth. Tight end Dalton Schultz was selected in the fourth.


Oct. 6 at Virginia Tech (9-4) — 5

Hokies lost the Edmunds brothers in the first round — linebacker Tremaine Edmunds with the No. 16 pick and then safety Terrell Edmunds at No. 28. They made NFL history as the first pair of brothers selected in the first round of the same draft.

The defense lost a couple of other mainstays with tackle Tim Settle and cornerback Greg Stroman. Guard Wyatt Teller was chosen in the fifth round.


Oct. 13 Pitt (5-7) — 3

Top pick was tackle Brian O’Neill in round two, and then the secondary lost safety Jordan Whitehead and corner Avonte Maddox in the fourth round.


Oct 27 vs. Navy (7-6) — 0

Military commitment and style of offense generally will not generate pro prospects at service academies (part of why former Midshipmen safety Alohi Gilman is at Notre Dame), but they maximize what they have.


Nov. 3 at Northwestern (10-3) — 1

Running back Justin Jackson, who rushed for 1,311 yard and caught 44 passes last season, was the lone Wildcat drafted.


Nov. 10 Florida State (7-6) — 6

Despite the underachieving campaign in 2017, the Seminoles’ pipeline to the pros continued, led by safety Derwin Jones in the first round. The defensive line lost tackle Derek Nnadi and end Josh Sweat in the third and fourth rounds, respectively.

Two of the final seven picks in the draft were tight end Ryan Izzo and receiver Auden Tate. Just as noteworthy is former five-star corner recruit Tarvarus McFadden was not even chosen.


Nov. 17 vs. Syracuse (4-8) — 1

Linebacker Zaire Franklin was the 235th overall pick among the 256 total.


Nov. 24 at USC (11-3) — 4

This was the fourth straight year a minimum of four Trojans were drafted. Quarterback Sam Darnold was the No. 3 overall pick (New York Jets). In the second round Ronald Jones II was the fifth running back chosen overall, and linebacker Uchenna Nwosu also heard his name called in the second.

Defensive tackle Rasheem Green followed in the third round, foregoing his senior season.

Look for more previews this next month on Notre Dame’s 2018 opponents.

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