Four things Notre Dame fans should celebrate this Fourth of July
The Fourth of July is a day for celebration, and Notre Dame has plenty to celebrate as the 2023 season inches closer.
Irish fans can think about a quarterback with a ROCKET (POP) arm, a cornerback who blankets (LIKE A FLAG) his receivers and two offensive tackles who can, uh… GRILL (yeah, that’s it) their competition as they enjoy the early-week holiday.
If you made through that, here are four reasons for Notre Dame fans to celebrate this summer.
Notre Dame has a quarterback
Sam Hartman is experienced — he’s thrown 1,597 passes in his career, across five seasons. Hartman is durable — he’s missed one game since 2019. He is efficient — his yards per attempt hasn’t dipped below 8.1 since his true freshman year. And he plays an exciting brand of football that will make Notre Dame fun to watch this season, if nothing else.
Hartman has been one of the most productive signal-callers in college football for three years now, and he chose to spend his final season at Notre Dame. Several early watch lists for the Heisman Trophy have him on it.
Notre Dame might have the best offensive tackle duo in the country
Joe Alt is one of the best offensive tackles in college football. Many would argue he’s No. 1. In 406 pass-blocking snaps, Alt allowed eight pressures and zero sacks, and his combination of size and athleticism makes him an incredibly valuable run-blocker.
On the other side, Blake Fisher could be a first-round pick in this season’s draft if he can hone his technique a little bit more. After missing most of his freshman season with an injury, Fisher flashed the raw tools to be a second anchor on the Irish’s front five in 2022.
If Fisher makes the progression many expect him to make, Notre Dame’s offensive tackles might be unparalleled.
Benjamin Morrison is a rising star
Morrison’s highlight reel was something — six interceptions, including a 96-yard pick six against Clemson — but his electric first season in blue and gold was more than just that. Morrison was elite in coverage, allowing only a 29.2 passer rating as the nearest defender.
The passer rating of an incompletion is 39.6.
While a spectacular freshman year plateauing throughout the rest of a player’s career wouldn’t be unprecedented, there’s no reason to expect that to happen to Morrison. He’s already on NFL teams’ radar as a top prospect in the 2025 draft, and until then, he’ll be Notre Dame’s best defensive player.
The Irish will be the talk of college football four times
A common complaint among fan bases — not necessarily Notre Dame’s, but in general — is that the national media doesn’t pay enough attention to their team. The Irish will not have that problem this year.
Notre Dame will play in the first game of the 2023 season, at 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 26. The game will be nationally televised, and football-starved fans will be very interested to see what the Hartman-led Irish look like.
After that, Notre Dame’s home games against Ohio State on Sept. 23 and USC on Oct. 14 will be marquee matchups, played in prime time. The time slot for Notre Dame at Clemson on Nov. 4 is to be determined, but if each team’s season goes at least somewhat according to plan, ABC/ESPN announcers Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit might pay a visit to South Carolina.
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