Notre Dame Achievements Making December News
Final exams will be held next week at Notre Dame, but there are numerous athletes and coaches who have already graded out with an “A’ individually in recent weeks or overall in their careers with achievements and milestones.
Football: Quenton Nelson, Mike McGlinchey & Julian Love
Senior left guard Nelson is up for football immortality as one of three finalists for the Outland Trophy, presented to the nation’s outstanding interior lineman by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) at tonight’s (Dec. 7) ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show in Atlanta.
Graded on each play in every game by Pro Football Focus, Nelson’s 93.3 final mark was the second-best in the country among offensive linemen, behind only Arkansas center Frank Ragnow’s 93.7.
The three previous Outland winners at Notre Dame were George Connor capturing the first one in 1946, followed by Bill Fischer (1948), Ross Browner (1976) and Manti Te'o (2012).
Since 1964, when two-platoon football became permanent, the four greatest offensive linemen at Notre Dame have been George Kunz (1966-68), Aaron Taylor (1990-93), Zack Martin (2010-13) and now Nelson.
McGlinchey joined Nelson on the PFF first-team All-America unit with a grade of 89.4. Nelson and McGlinchey are projected to be the first pair of Fighting Irish offensive lineman selected in the first round of an NFL Draft since 1967, when Paul Seiler (No. 12 overall pick) and Tom Regner (No. 23) achieved the feat.
Finally, sophomore cornerback Love this season was credited with 20 passes defensed (17 broken up and three intercepted) — tying him for second place nationally, behind only Iowa junior Joshua Jackson’s 25.
The 20 broke the single season Notre Dame record of 17 first set by sophomore Clarence Ellis in 1969 (13 passes broken up, four interceptions) and matched by freshman Luther Bradley for the 1973 national champs (11 passes broken up, six interceptions). Both did it in 10 games.
Hockey: Cale Morris & Jake Evans
How in heavens name were the Irish going to replace the dynamic duo of Cal Petersen between the pipes and scoring machine Anders Bjork, who helped lead the Irish to the Frozen Four last spring?
So far it has been achieved beyond belief while No. 4-ranked Notre Dame has won 11 in a row, highlighted by an unprecedented 8-0 start in the Big Ten. It is the longest winning streak by the program since posting 14 from Dec. 11, 1987- Feb. 13, 1988, when it was a hockey independent playing lesser competition.
The sophomore Morris has been named the Big Ten’s First Star of the Week four consecutive weeks. Previously, no one had ever accomplished the feat even three straight.
For the year he is 13-1-0 and ranks second nationally in save percentage (.955 save percentage), goals against average (1.47) and shutouts (four).
The senior Evans ranks first nationally in scoring (28 points) and assists (21).
Women’s Basketball: Arike Ogunbowale & Marina Mabrey
In last night’s 90-59 romp over Michigan State, the junior Ogunbowale scored at least 20 points (23) for the fifth time in nine games this season for the No. 3-ranked Irish. Her 20.8 scoring average could make her only the third player to average 20 points in a season for the Irish in one season. The top mark was 20.4 by Katryna Gaither for the 1996-97 Final Four team, followed by current assistant Beth Morgan Cunningham’s 20.2 a year earlier.
Mabrey’s team high 21 points in an 80-71 loss at No. 1 UConn on Sunday made her the 38th player in program history to reach the career 1,000 points milestone. Ogunbowale became the 37th in this year’s opener.
Men’s Basketball: Mike Brey
It hasn’t been a good last week for the 18th-year Irish head coach, who between losses to Michigan State and Ball State also was ejected from a game for the first time in his career, versus St. Francis Brooklyn this weekend.
However, back at his old stomping grounds in Delaware this weekend against former Irish player and assistant Martin Ingelsby, Brey can pull to within four games of posting the most victories by a head coach in Notre Dame men’s basketball.
Brey’s career mark of 389-189 (.673 winning percentage) resembles Richard “Digger” Phelps’ 393-197 (.666) in his 20 seasons from 1971-91.
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