Print Edition for The Observer for Friday, Nov. 18, 2022

Bracy sets the ‘Golden Standard’

By MATTHEW CROW sports Writer

As a high schooler in milpitas, california, Tariq bracy strived to play on the biggest stage that college football had to offer. That’s why selecting a school became easy when notre dame came calling.

“The combination of a great education and a Power Five foot ball team is hard to resist,” bracy said. “notre dame was my big gest offer and I wanted to show the world my skills.”

he would not have to wait long for that opportunity, appearing in 11 games as a true freshman cornerback. Fast forward five years, and he is a key cog of one of the nation’s best defenses, and perhaps just as importantly, one of notre dame’s primary leaders.

“It’s my fifth year here, so I’ve been able to play a lot of football. I’ve learned from mistakes, from the good and bad,” bracy said. “The older guys pride ourselves on our leadership, being able to string some of the young guys along and create a solid defense, especially in the secondary.”

despite an impressive high school career that saw him lead milpitas to a state championship during his senior season, bracy was overlooked by many top programs because of his slight stature. seeing him on the field today, it is clear that hard work has resulted in significant im provements in his strength and physicality. however, his growth in the game’s mental aspects has played just as big a role in his development.

“being able to get in the film room a lot, watching the oppo nent, learning their tendencies and what they like to do,” bracy said about how he has improved at notre dame. “being able to build up my body from my fresh man year, because [low] weight had been a problem, that’s what the narrative was. I really honed in on trying to get my body stronger and being able to take hits and deliver hits as well.”

As part of notre dame’s de fensive back rotation for the past five seasons, bracy is among col lege football’s most experienced players. Freshman cornerbacks rarely receive significant play ing time, especially for national championship contenders. even so, bracy was an important con tributor to the 2018 Irish team that finished the regular season 12-0 and reached the college Football Playoff.

having proven his ability to compete at a high level, bracy took a huge step forward as a sophomore. he finished the 2019 season with 34 tackles and seven pass breakups while showing a knack for making big plays in timely moments, forc ing one fumble and recovering

two more. In notre dame’s third game of the season, the Irish traveled to Athens to face Georgia. despite suffering a narrow defeat, bracy describes it as the most memorable game of his career. The atmosphere was electric, college Gameday was in town and the game was a high-stakes, hard-fought battle between top-10 teams. bracy, having grown up in a small town, said he never imagined playing under such bright lights, and he rose to the occasion, breaking up two Georgia passes in his performance.

The next two seasons saw bracy play key roles for Irish teams that posted a combined regular season record of 21-1 and appeared in another college Football Playoff in 2020. he started in a memorable dou ble-overtime victory against clemson during his junior year and posted a career-high eight tackles while defeating Florida state in the same season. As a senior, bracy recorded his first career interception, a highlightreel play against virginia Tech.

After graduating in 2022 with a degree in psychology, bracy opted to return for a fifth sea son at notre dame. his play this year has made that deci sion look like a good one. Against bYU, he memorably intercepted a pass on the game’s opening play, setting notre dame up to earn a huge victory in Las vegas. Weeks later, in front of a sold-out notre dame stadium, bracy brought down clemson quarterback dJ Uiagalelei for his first career sack, a play that helped guide notre dame to one of its biggest victories in recent memory. he attributes Irish per formances like that to the high standard that every player holds themselves, and each other, to a mentality that he has helped cul tivate as a defensive leader.

“The Golden standard is what we pride ourselves on, and we don’t take anything less,” bracy said. “having that, along with great players and great coaches, it can come together very well.”

As his time at notre dame winds down, bracy remains as locked in as ever, looking for ward to the challenge of con tinuing to chase his goals at the next level.

“The nFL is my number one goal,” bracy said. “I’ll be working towards that.”

The Irish defense will soon have to adjust to not having bracy as a mainstay in the line up for the first time in over half a decade. Until then, he will try to close out his illustrious notre dame career the only way he knows how: by leading the Irish to victory.

Contact Matthew Crow at mcrow@nd.edu

Keys to victory: boston college

By NATE MOLLER senior sports Writer

The Irish are coming off of their first four game win streak of the season, and they will look to extend their late sea son surge with a win against boston college on senior day. here are the keys to an Irish victory this saturday against the eagles.

1. Play four quarters of football

At times this season, the Irish have looked like one of the best teams in the country. At other times, however, the Irish have looked incompetent on both sides of the ball. This was apparent in last week’s win over navy, where the Irish jumped out to a 35-13 lead at halftime, but then had to hold on for a 35-32 win.

The first half of that game saw junior quarterback drew Pyne and the Irish offense fir ing on all cylinders, as Pyne threw for four touchdown passes and had his way with the m idshipmen defense. In the second half, however, the Irish offense ceased to exist, totaling just two net yards the entire half. Pyne also looked like a completely different quarterback, as he took five sacks and threw an interception.

This inconsistent play has been common for the Irish this season. For example, the Irish hadn’t scored a touchdown in the first quarter until the sev enth game of the season. This inconsistent play also led to a loss against stanford this season because the Irish had failed to score in the first half

of the game.

This saturday, the Irish need to play sixty minutes of football if they want to avoid an upset against the upsethungry eagles, who are com ing off of a stunning ranked win against north carolina state. If the Irish have a lapse in play again, then they might very well find themselves on the losing end of yet another upset.

2. run the football

This has been a theme in keys to victory for the Irish, but it is still essential as ever that the Irish establish the run game and stick to it through out the entire course of the game. In the second half of the navy game, the Irish were too one dimensional in the pass ing game, which led to a com pletely ineffective half on the offensive side of the football.

boston college ranks 82nd in the Fbs in rushing de fense, and they are allowing a healthy 4.12 yards per carry. In the Irish win two weeks ago against clemson, the Irish showed that they could run the football against a high quality rushing defense team.

The Irish need to commit to running the football again on saturday against an inferior eagles’ defense that has strug gled to stop the run all season. The Irish have established a dangerous trio of running backs in sophomore Logan diggs, sophomore Audric estime and junior chris Tyree, and they should rely heavily on all three of them to lead the way for the Irish on offense come saturday.

Another reason the Irish

may have to rely on the run game is the weather forecast for saturday’s game. With the expected high hovering around 28 F with winds ex pected, it will make it even more difficult for the Irish to find success in the passing game.

3. Continue to find suc cess

on special teams

one of the strong suits of this notre dame team has been the special team units, specifically the punt block team. Through ten games this season, the Irish have record ed seven blocked punts, which is first in the Fbs

In the win against clemson two weeks ago, the blocked punt generated a special teams touchdown, and last week, the Irish scored just one play af ter the blocked punt. It seems like every time the Irish block a punt, the offense pounces on their opportunity to put points on the board. In a game where the score might be lower be cause of the weather, the Irish could use yet another blocked punt to spark the offense.

Aside from blocking punts, the Irish have excelled in the punting game this season. Graduate student punter Jon sot has been more than reliable for the Irish this season, and he is averaging 40.86 net yards per punt this season. Although the Irish will try to avoid punting the ball this weekend, in situa tions where they have to, they will lean on sot again to set the eagles’ offense up with poor field position.

Contact Nate Moller at nmoller2@nd.edu

RYAN VIGILANTE| The Observer

Sophomore running back Audric Estime dodges a Navy defender as he runs with the ball. The Irish beat the Midshipmen 35-32, Estime notched 49 yards in the matchup and 711 yards this season.

Observer staff predicts Notre Dame vs. Boston College

By AIDAN THOMAS, MADDIE LADD, NATE MOLLER, LIAM COOLICAN, EMILY DeFAZIO and MANNION McGINLEY sports editor, Associate sports editors and Assistant managinv editor

n otre d ame faces b oston c ollege to conclude their home schedule on s aturday as double-digit favorites. The o bserver s ports s taff provides their picks for the chilly showdown.

a idan Thomas, Sports e ditor

In a weird year for n otre d ame, there’s a couple of statistical trends that have proved constant. The Irish are undefeated (5-0) when the over hits, and they’re 0-5 against the spread (but 3-2 overall) when favorites of more than a touchdown.

I feel confident that n otre d ame is going to do enough to score on bc and get over the 46-point mark cur rently set for this game. I also feel confident that the e agles, with some former Irish players coming back to n otre d ame for the first time and coming off a big ranked win, will have the juice to keep this one close for a while.

n otre d ame should be able to dominate in the trenches and make b oston c ollege one-dimension al. This game feels like it will either be annoyingly stressful or one of those lazy, lackadaisical wins that are never a total blow out, but also never super close either.

Notre d ame 31, b oston College 14

m addie Ladd, a ssociate Sports e ditor h ere we go again … b oston c ollege is not a good team but n otre d ame has played down to their op position consistently this year, especially at home.

b oston c ollege is last in rushing in ALL of college football, though they have some great offensive weap ons in quarterback Phil Jurkovec (a former n otre d ame player) who has been injured but may play s aturday. Tight end George Takacs also transferred from n otre d ame, and wide receiver Zay Flowers is one of the best in the nation and is an n FL prospect.

b oston c ollege is com ing off a huge road upset of then- n o. 17 n orth c arolina s tate, and certainly will be up for this game as the traditional rival looking to play spoiler. h owever,

s aturday is s enior d ay for the Irish and they will be looking for a strong home finish. Will the Irish be able to control their emo tions and play focused? h ave they forgotten the aw ful performance in the sec ond half of n avy? c an d rew Pyne revert back to his first half efficiency from last week?

n otre d ame should have top tackler J d b ertrand back on the field, and safe ty b randon Joseph may re turn as well, which will add depth to the lineup. The Irish should be able to con trol with its running game and smart passing from Pyne. n otre d ame will con tinue its four game streak of scoring 35 points in a game, and s teve Angelli will finally make an ap pearance in this final home matchup.

Notre d ame 38, b oston College 13

Nate m oller, Senior Sports Writer

The weather on s aturday will not be ideal for either offense with the high tem perature hovering around the upper 20s and 20 mile per hour sustained winds likely. Although the Irish are much more talented on both sides of the football than the e agles, the weath er will serve as a leveling factor, allowing the e agles to keep this one interesting.

To make matters worse, I expect the e agles to have a ton of energy and excite ment coming into this one because of the multiple e agles players that used to play for the Irish.

If the Irish are going to avoid an upset in this one, they need to exploit the e agles’ poor run defense, especially with the nonideal weather conditions for passing.

Unfortunately, I think the Irish get off to one of their classic slow starts, and they will not be able to complete a comeback late in the fourth quarter. b oston c ollege will con vert a couple of trick plays in this one to pull off their second consecutive ranked road win.

Notre d ame 23, b oston College 27

Liam Coolican, a ssociate Sports e ditor

d espite the rocky second half last week against n avy, n otre d ame proved they could win games in more than one way — through the air or on the ground.

They’ll likely need to re turn to the ground game against b oston c ollege this weekend if the frigid weather forecast holds.

The e agles rank dead last in rushing offense, and neither former Irish sig nal caller Phil Jurkovec nor redshirt freshman e mmett m orehead is a particular ly inspiring option under center. m eanwhile, n otre d ame hasn’t scored less than 35 points on their four-game win streak. b oston c ollege will be for tunate if they can score double digits in this one, so the Irish offense won’t have to do too much to get the win on s enior d ay.

Notre d ame 17, b oston College 3

m annion m cGinley — a ssistant m anaging e ditor

It is going to be cold in s outh b end on s aturday. The weather alone will be a second opponent for both the Irish and the e agles in their 2:30 face-off. n ot only will the temperature be below freezing but there will be 20 mile per hour winds at random points during the day. With that said, 20 mph winds con tributed positively to an Irish win two weeks ago so who’s to say the running

back room can’t take ad vantage of it again? s till though, holding onto the ball will be signifi cantly more difficult for everyone involved, and on-target passes will be seemingly out of the question.

For the Irish to come away with this one, they cannot underestimate the fourth backup quar terback they’ll face in as many weeks. m orehead just stepped into the role, dethroning Phil Jurkovec after the former n otre d ame Q b suffered several injuries.

h e can throw but also makes enough rookie mis takes that there is room to take advantage of the young quarterback so long as the Irish defense is prop erly prepared for him.

o n the other side of the ball, it will be on the Irish offense to control the scor ing and the clock. n avy al most had enough time to control the game last week end and the Irish cannot give up that opportunity again.

m orehead has already figured out the two-minute drill, he proved that against nc s tate. b ehind the run game, the Irish pull away early and Irish fans get riled up for

the second half to keep n otre d ame in control.

Notre d ame 35, b oston College 17

e mily d e f azio — a ssociate Sports e ditor

In an anomaly of a year for the Fighting Irish, the rivalry b oston c ollege game can go either way. Let alone the winter storm brewing, significantly lim iting the offensive play to the run game, the Irish have fallen to teams they should have beaten and demolished teams people thought they never stood a chance against.

b oston c ollege has been a game to watch from the beginning because of its potential to surprise. The e agles are not an opponent to underestimate.

The Irish should fo cus on running the clock on offense, and learning the backup quarterbacks rookie shortcomings to ex ploit them on defense. The Irish cannot play down to the e agles. s hould they go in with the mentality that brought them success against c lemson two weeks ago, the Irish should end their games in s outh b end for the season with a high note.

Notre d ame 35, b oston College 21

RYAN VIGILANTE | The Observer

Graduate student lineback Jack Kiser fight for the ball in Notre Dame’s 35-32 win against Navy last Saturday. Kiser has 45 total tackles on the year, eight of which were accumulated against the Midshipmen.

Dedication and focus: Foskey celebrates culture, learning to lead

By MANNION MCGINLEY Assistant managing editor

At the close of the 2021 season, defensive end Isaiah Foskey opted to re turn to n otre d ame rather than head to the n FL. In January, Foskey gave sever al reasons why he intended to stay.

“I believe in c oach Freeman and I just believe in the whole team that we can actually win a national championship,” he said. “I believe that we can actual ly do that. The best of both worlds: I can come back, develop as a defensive end, not just as a pass rusher, but as an all-around defensive player. b ut I feel like this team can really win a na tional championship, that’s the main reason I came back.”

That reason to stay mir rored Foskey’s original rea son for joining the Irish in 2019. While visiting m ichigan, Foskey said prox imity to s outh b end was his only reason to swing down to Indiana, and he visited n otre d ame on a whim. That whim ended up a per fect fit for the c alifornia native, who chose to stay in s outh b end because of a culture he says the team still embodies today — even now under Freeman.

“I feel like everyone has been getting a lot closer be cause we’ve been carrying on FT b , For the b rotherhood, and I feel like everyone is re ally for the brotherhood,” Foskey said. “That was the same thing in my high school, which is another rea son why I came here. There was always something, and when I first visited, it was al ways about the b rotherhood and [even now] everyone’s close-knit, everyone’s tight, everyone’s always doing something for each other. Pretty much what we’ve been doing now is we just keep growing and growing. It’s been cool to actually be part of it.“

n ow, although the Irish started the season 0-2 and a championship title seems firmly out of the question, Foskey has continued play ing as a force to be reckoned with on the Irish defense. The defensive end finished last season with 52 tackles — 12.5 of them for a loss — and 11 sacks. This season, Foskey has already amassed 39 tackles, 10.5 of them for a loss with 8.5 sacks. Although he started the year a little slower than he wanted to, Foskey says dedication and

focus in practice were the keys to his improvement.

“I feel like it was just my mindset and working af ter practice,” Foskey said. “ n ot just working on the run game part of it, but working on pass rush. Going into the season, everyone was knocking me off for my run defending, so I was really working on run de fending throughout the sea son. o nce I finally worked on pass rush, that’s when it started clicking.”

Foskey has found another role on the Irish roster to boost his impressive resume and continue working: h e has become a special teams stud under b rian m ason, earning two punt blocks against U n Lv and help ing to force another in the first c lemson drive of n otre d ame’s most recent home game.

Playing on special teams has contributed to Foskey’s confidence in both himself and the defense he said, especially in terms of setting the tone.

h e said he knows it’s not just him who needs to suc ceed but the whole unit, on defense and on special teams.

“I know it wasn’t me who made that play or made that ‘perfect move,’ it was pres sure going up the middle,” Foskey said. “That’s why I give a lot of props to my teammates.”

Foskey noted the defense’s most collaborative per formance was during the c lemson game. The punt block on the Tigers’ open ing drive was the moment Foskey felt the Irish had the game in the bag.

There, he saw the c lemson offense just wasn’t as pre pared as the Irish defense mentally. s o, when b en m orrison ran the ball back for a pick-six two quarters later, Foskey said he just took it all in.

“I was on the field, I saw it happen,” Foskey said. “At that exact moment I just flipped a switch to block one guy, and then I see him just running straight down the sideline. r unning down with him was just exciting … I knew he was going to get into the end zone, so I could just jog a little bit and take in everything. I’m not the one with the ball, they’re not chasing me. s o, I saw the student section going crazy, I looked in the family sec tion, they’re going crazy, everyone’s on their feet, ev eryone’s pretty much going crazy. It’s a cool experience.”

It’s being able to switch gears in moments like that which has contributed to Foskey’s playing. From go ing after the ball to pro tecting the man who has it, Foskey has a mind for the game.

Against s yracuse, he was able to run down s ean Tucker, the star running back for the o range, and make the tackle 35 yards downfield. As a defensive end, that tackle wasn’t his responsibility, but it was a testament to his intense combination of speed, strength and skill.

Foskey credits the defen sive linemen of rosters past with shaping him into the player he is today and says he wouldn’t be who he is on or off the field without them.

“ s ince freshman year, I’ve been watching the older guys lead and been under their wing,” Foskey said. “Khalid Kareem, d aelin h ayes, Julian [ o kwara] and Ade [ o gundeji], just be ing under their wings as a defensive end and learn ing from them to be one of the older guys is some thing to look back at and see like, ‘Wow, I really came a long way.’ e specially be ing a captain now, people really look up to you, not just your position, but ev eryone on the team. It’s

just something you look forward to, even from freshman year. I would’ve never thought freshman year coming here that I’d want to be a leader, but coming here you just really want to become a leader and that’s what I became.”

Foskey continued, “The biggest thing I learned from them was taking care of the people around you. Those people that I men tioned, they always took care of the defensive line men. They always invited them over if they didn’t have a place to watch the s uper b owl or something like that. o r to watch a game, they’d always invite the young er guys over, and that’s something that I’ve been doing. I just always hang out with the younger guys nowadays. They’re al ways fun to joke around with and to hang around with them.”

o ne of the strongest rela tionships Foskey has formed with the younger guys out side his position has been with Audric e stime.

The defensive end and the running back both don number seven for the Irish and relish in that fact.

“It’s great, because we’re both wearing number seven — that’s pretty much how the relationship started, we

always say ‘ o kay, let’s go seven’ and say it back and forth to each other,” Foskey said. “ s o it’s always great we always root for each other.”

Foskey started the season oriented around a national title. While that hope has fallen out of reach for the Irish, Foskey said he has faith in Freeman and the program and is just looking to perfect his craft.

Tied with Justin Tuck for the University sack record, Foskey seems to have done just that: perfected his craft.

b ut he’s not done. With three games left, Foskey has the opportunity to break the record, but his focus is on something else.

“I think about the sack re cord, yeah, but I don’t go in the game thinking, ‘I need to get one more sack to get the sack record.’ I just go in and focus on myself and my technique and try and dominate every single play,” he said. “I don’t really go in a game and say, ‘I’m gonna work this pass rush move to try and get the sack, and once I get the sack I’ll cel ebrate and do this.’ I don’t really think about that. I just think about doing my job ev ery single play.”

Contact Mannion McGinley at mmcginl3@nd.edu

MAX PETROSKY | The Observer

Senior defensive lineman Isaiah Foskey goes for the tackle in the 35-14 win over Clemson. Foskey has 8.5 sacks on the season and 24 sacks total in his time with the Irish, one of which came against the Tigers.

murphy’s ‘full circle’ experience

By OLIVIA SCHATZ Associate s ports e ditor

In 2019, Quinn m urphy was committed to play at Princeton University. b ut, a phone call changed his course, and within weeks, m urphy was committed as a preferred walk-on at n otre d ame.

“Kind of a blessing,” said m urphy on the switch up, “ s trong faith, great educa tion. I always looked at it as, you know, the cliche 4 for 40. I believed in that pretty heavily. You know, it’s been great to me, and the op portunities and doors that have opened for me at this University.”

While m urphy has not seen a lot of the field in his time at n otre d ame, he has made sure to soak up every opportunity that was pre sented to him. While he was open to all the changes that occurred over the course of his time at n otre d ame, m urphy credits the bond with his teammates as the glue throughout his four years.

“I think just bonding over all the [stuff] we’ve had to go to, really brought us closer. s o I think my favor ite memory overall — fa vorite and worst memory — is the worst days we’ve had here,” said m urphy. “You know it sucks for a while, but having people in your support group, you know, teammates go ing through the same thing you’re going through … it’s a huge honor and a privilege.”

m urphy has been with the Irish through staff changes and the pandemic, but also through two college football playoffs. h e is honored to be on the team and has called the playoff experiences “un believable,” even if the Irish ultimately lost the games.

m urphy has not just been challenged athletically, but also academically at n otre d ame.

“[ n otre d ame] humbles you pretty quickly to realize that this is a challenge, and you are going to have to grind for the next four years, and I think you know they really let you know that,” m urphy said. “ b ut at the same time, there is so many resources here both athletically, academically, in your faith, mental health whatever you need. I think you know the University has legit everything for you, and I think people should really make sure they utilize all those resources.”

m urphy is making sure to soak up everything that he has access to while at n otre d ame. And while this up coming game against b oston c ollege will be m urphy’s last, he is hopefully not done with n otre d ame as m urphy is looking to pursue a master’s degree here.

“hoping that happens so I can get another year of edu cation here,” said murphy. “That’s kind of the goal right now, to get higher education and then from there hope fully get a job in private equi ty and kind of take a finance route.”

With that on the horizon, murphy is just focused on appreciating everything that notre d ame football has pro vided him with.

“It’s a dream come true. As any little kid growing up, wanting to be on a Power Five program, especially one as big as notre d ame, and just the history of this program,” said murphy. “Going up there, being on that field for the last time, it’s gonna suck, but it’s gonna be a full circle ending to an amazing experience.”

Contact Olivia Schatz at oschatz@nd.edu

Sun Belt to South Bend: Grupe embraces the Irish

By TYLER REIDY s ports Writer

Five years ago, b lake Grupe embarked on a challenge. c oming out of s edalia, a mid-sized m issouri town, he accept ed a walk-on offer to kick at Arkansas s tate. n ow, with five seasons in Jonesboro behind him, Grupe is tak ing on the ultimate task: starting kicker at n otre d ame.

“It’s been very unex pected,” Grupe said. “ e verything that I’ve been able to get through and ac complish in my career has been a ride that I wouldn’t trade for anything.”

b etween 2018 and 2021, Grupe amassed the most prolific kicking career in r ed Wolves history. h e finished last season as the program’s all-time leader in points, field goals made and extra points made. h owever, the All- s un b elt selection needed some thing more for his final season. When the Fighting Irish gave Grupe a call in mid-January, he shut down his search.

“I wanted to challenge myself again and get on the biggest stage,” he said. “I knew I could do it, so I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and improve myself.”

From day one on campus, Grupe expressed a willing ness to learn. The team culture, one of the differ ence-makers in his transfer

choice, helped him along from the start. Graduate long snapper m ichael v inson answered his ques tions, while senior safety b randon Joseph related to his experience of switching schools.

“A lot of different guys have been helping, but those two are my room mates in the spring as well, so us three got in here and kinda had to figure it all out,” he recalled.

Grupe’s wealth of experi ence has eased his transi tion to s outh b end as well. At Arkansas s tate, he played 47 games and made 64 field goals, developing a proven track record. Interestingly enough, he has mostly had to adjust off the field. Unlike Joseph, who simply transferred across Lake m ichigan, Grupe made a nine-hour trip north.

“I did not know about any of the snow, so that was a pleasant surprise,” he ad mitted with a chuckle. “I’ve learned to enjoy it, and I love everything about it up here.”

Amidst the cold weather, n otre d ame’s special teams unit is among the nation’s hottest. Under special teams coach b rian m ason, the Fighting Irish lead F bs with seven blocked punts.

“The year that we’re hav ing all across the board on special teams is one like I haven’t had before,” Grupe said. “ e very single unit is going out there and pretty much dominating

this year.”

Grupe has contributed regularly as well, hitting 10 of 15 field goal attempts and converting all 35 ex tra-point tries. In week three’s 24-17 victory over c al, he nailed a seasonlong 47-yarder to tie the game in the fourth quar ter. Through the highs and lows, Grupe has embraced each and every moment of the 2022 season.

“The experience this whole team gets to go through together is pretty special,” he said. “Playing in vegas, playing in the r avens stadium —every thing this team gets to do, and getting to do it with the guys you work with ev ery single day makes it that much better.”

Last weekend, the Irish delivered their finest moment yet, upsetting n o. 4 c lemson 35-14 in front of 77,662 fans at home. Grupe did not play before a home crowd larger than 20,000 last year. h e had to pinch himself as the clock hit zeros and the Irish faithful rushed the field in celebration.

“Last year, I was sitting at home watching teams storm the field, and I was thinking, ‘That’d be awe some. I really hope I get an opportunity to experi ence that’,” he recalled. “Winning the way we did against that team and seeing everybody on the

Courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics

Senior offensive lineman Quinn Murphy gets ready for a game with his teammates. Murphy has played three games under the Irish.

RYAN VIGILANTE | The Observer

Graduate student kicker Blake Grupe kicks the ball in Notre Dame’s 28-20 win over BYU in Las Vegas, Nev. on Oct 8. in Allegiant Stadium. Grupe has gone 66.7% for field goals on this season overall.

bauer inspires future of the program through grit and grace

By MADELINE LADD Associate sports editor

Graduate student line backer and captain b o b auer has been a strong presence for the Irish throughout his four years at n otre d ame. Though a season-ending knee injury cut his game play prematurely, b auer’s legacy surely will be remem bered among the team and Irish fans. As an emotional leader of the team, b auer has helped motivate and hold his teammates accountable in times of failure and doubt.

b auer came to n otre d ame after a very successful high school career where he was a finalist for the 2017 b utkus Award, geared toward the top high school lineback ers in the country. The e rie Pennsylvania native turned down offers from m ichigan s tate, Penn s tate and vanderbilt, among oth ers, to suit up for the Irish. b auer wasted no time get ting in on the action, as he played in all 13 games as a freshman. b auer started his career as a third down spe cialist as a linebacker and a major contributor on spe cial teams, but earned more playing time as his career progressed.

b auer blocked a punt as a sophomore against m ichigan and continued that trend this year against m arshall. This first blocked punt of the season set the tone for the Irish, who are now leading the nation in blocked punts. With b auer, Foskey also had game changing punts, this time against U n Lv. The two had a

running joke back and forth about who could get the most blocks for the season.

“ h e gets a couple punt blocks every year,” Foskey said post-U n Lv. “We’re go ing back and forth trying to get punt blocks, but I think I’m ahead right now.”

This “competition” be tween the two players had to come to an end after b auer’s injury, though he was still as much involved with the block game from the side lines. After his injury, b auer watched the s tanford game on crutches and predicted Kollie would get his first ca reer punt block after helping him with film study during the week.

“ h e’s a great captain. h e leads the special teams in the right way,” Foskey said. “ h e was coaching up every body, especially me, to get a punt block.”

Arguably b auer’s best sea son came last year in 2021 as he had 47 tackles, 4.5 for loss and garnered 1.5 sacks. The linebacker also had a pivotal 79 yard interception return against U sc to secure the Irish victory.

The leadership he dis played as team captain this season helped carry the Irish through devastating losses such as m arshall. b auer stressed the impor tance of self-evaluation and took accountability for the success of his team.

“The first thing I said is ‘what could I have done to, you know, get these guys to the point,’” b auer said days after the m arshall loss. “We’ve had great leaders who have not let the standard

fall. And now, that’s on my shoulders.”

These high standards made a tough loss to m arshall extra difficult for b auer as a leader.

“It’s probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life … to walk around the locker room and look these guys in the eye who’ve given me the great est gift, the greatest trust in my life to be a captain and lead these guys,” b auer said before the c al game.

Fast forward, and the Irish were on a win streak following m arshall. b auer had his sights set on for mer defensive linemen Kurt h inish’s record of 61 games played. h owever, the pur suit ended abruptly at 56 games as he also suffered a

season ending knee injury, this time in practice after the b YU game. d ick c orbett head coach m arcus Freeman and fellow teammates were devastated at the news.

“[ b auer] sustained a knee injury in practice on Tuesday, which is devastat ing just because he’s a cap tain and he provides so much more than just production,” Freeman said pre- s tanford. “Just the energy, the ability to motivate our players, it’ll be a tremendous loss for us. s o, he’s out for the year.”

Though he has not seen as much time on the field this year, b auer’s role as a lead er, motivator and beacon of hope on the sidelines as well as in the locker room has set the right example for the team.

his abilities as a leader in the locker room as well:

“I think a lot of the time that it comes down to the guys, we all love each other so much that we wanna make the play,” b auer said. “It’s ‘we want to win the game together to see our brothers happy and successful’ and we just kind of have to make the game smaller. Just, ‘look, what’s my job this play’ and do that over and over and over again.”

b auer’s senior day may not be the one he dreamed of as a freshman, but his im pact on and off the field has helped the Irish navigate a choppy season and the Irish faithful will miss having his energetic presence on the field.

Contact Madeline Ladd mladd2@nd.edu

The season after, the senior would prove indispensable, starting every game for the Irish. e ven as Freeman shuf fled his rotation at safety fol lowing Kyle h amilton’s season ending injury, Griffith would prove a constant. h is 23 solo tackles in 2021 doubled his ca reer total up until that point. Griffith has kept up his pro duction so far through his graduate season in 2022. o nce again starting every game, his 29 total tackles sit fourth on the roster.

b ut Griffith’s emergence in 2021 had a deeper impact on his game than simply being a showcase of his best onfield play to that point in an Irish uniform. Griffith cred its the enlarged role he took on with helping him develop

“Just being able to gel with all the different guys, know ing what they’re good at and what we can work on as a unit, we were able to play off each other’s strengths,” said Griffith. “It was awesome during the second half of that year being able to teach those young guys like r amon [ h enderson] and X[avier Watts] how our defense works and where to be on certain plays. s eeing them go out there and make plays was a nice confidence booster for [me] as a leader.”

Griffith credits the veter ans of the locker room from when he was an underclass man himself with laying the foundation for him to even tually step into a leadership role:

“I saw older guys like Alohi Gilman and Jalen e lliott, they

were the leaders for me in the safety room then,” Griffith said. “ s o I just continued to keep that hard hat that I had and continued to show the young guys what it’s like to be a safety at n otre d ame.”

Looking back on his ca reer, Griffith said perhaps the most memorable play he made during his time with the Irish was his first, a pass breakup in a gritty 19-14 win over Pittsburgh in 2018 that helped n otre d ame con tinue an undefeated regular season:

“It was a home game, right before fall break. Ta r iq b racy and I, I was the nickel corner and he was the field corner. We were both young guys, and on back to back plays we made plays and were able to help our team win the game. That’s something I’ll never forget and a moment I’ll al ways remember.”

RYAN VIGILANTE | The Observer

Graduate student linebacker Bo Bauer goes for the tackle against a Marshall player. Bauer had two tackles against the Thunder. Bauer was injured after the Notre Dame 28-20 win against BYU.

ALLISON THORNTON | The Observer

Graduate student safety Houston Griffith dodges a Navy blocker in the Midshipmen’s visit to South Bend in 2021. The Irish won 34-6.

hart overcomes adversity, leads on and off field for Irish program

By AIDAN THOMAS s ports e ditor

o n s aturday afternoon, se nior cornerback c am h art and his classmates will run out of the tunnel at notre d ame stadium. For many, it will be the last time they do so. For h art, it’s a second straight week of high emo tions surrounding game day. Just last weekend, h art came back home to b altimore when notre d ame played navy.

“It was very emotional. I had 35-plus people there … For some of [my family], it was their first time able to see me live action at this stage,” h art said. “And here we are coming into s enior d ay, and it could be the last time I play in notre d ame stadium ever, and it’s emotional. It’s kind of surreal, it all happened so fast.”

It’s been quite the journey for h art, who came to notre d ame as a two-way player, but he committed as a wide receiv er. At the time, he felt it was his best path to playing time. however, h art quickly transi tioned to defensive back and worked his way up the depth chart. he became a starter as a junior and delivered his breakout performance with a two-interception game against Wisconsin in the s hamrock s eries game. This season, despite a bumpy road

at times, h art has led an Irish secondary allowing just 193.8 passing yards per game. he has four pass breakups and has been a huge factor in notre d ame’s turnaround af ter their 0-2 start.

“It was tough. I’ve never been on a team that faced as much adversity. It honestly shows the character of the players on the team. I think it’s brought us closer because we’ve been through those tough months. We came to practice, and were all fight ing together, all trusting each other. This is one of the closest teams I’ve been on at notre d ame. That adversity brought us closer.”

Adversity has been a major talking point for h art and the Irish over the last few seasons.

As a freshman, h art earned a sack in his first collegiate game, but he suffered a sea son-ending injury after three appearances. As a sophomore, h art and the Irish battled through the long cov I d sea son, playing in front of little to no fans all season. however, that season also boasts one of h art’s favorite memories — a win over no. 1 c lemson that led to notre d ame students, the only fans in attendance, storming the field.

“We had been playing in stadiums with zero fans, or a few hundred fans. To play

at home, a top-five team, we weren’t expecting much fan base-wise. We were adamant about bringing our own en ergy,” h art remembered. “b ut as the momentum started to shift our way, the fans got more into it, started to get louder. It was all a surprise for us, and with the way it ended, it was one of the most exciting games I’ve been a part of.”

Then, there was this past offseason. A coaching change briefly rocked the program, but the Irish stabilized things with the promotion of m arcus Freeman. h art laud ed Freeman’s approach to coaching.

“I have much love for c oach Kelly, but if he had to move on, c oach Freeman would be the person I would want to be in that position,” h art com mented. “There’s no hierar chy. [Freeman] puts respect as a fundamental element in the program.”

o f course, with Freeman now leading the program, that meant h art worked under his third defensive coordinator in as many years. This one is Al Golden who brought 10 years of head coaching experience to the table, along with six years of n FL coaching. h is most recent position was as a linebackers coach with the AF c champion c incinnati b engals.

“o bviously c oach Golden being an n FL cat, it’s nice to be able to play under him,” h art said. “We’re learning a lot of the stuff that hopefully we’ll get to learn at the next level.”

s o working under a new coaching staff, h art imme diately got hit with more ad versity. A slow individual start to the season, coupled with the team’s 0-2 start and a home loss to m arshall piled the pressure on h art. b ut, notre d ame has righted the ship, going 7-1 since that ugly start. That included a beat down of previously unbeaten c lemson, 35-14. h art noted the victory was sweet, but the mentality felt different.

“It was very special to have one of those big wins in my se nior year. I feel like [Freeman] has another level that he can tap into. It felt different than 2020,” he said. “I appreciated the win, but I felt like there was something more there that he can tap into.”

The ceiling is higher, and that’s in no small part due to the young talent that Freeman is bringing in. Young players like Jaden m ickey and b enjamin morrison, both freshmen cornerbacks, give h art a chance to be a leader for the Irish.

“Guys like [ notre d ame football alum] Troy Pride,

s haun c rawford, n ick mc c loud all took me under their wing and taught me tricks of the trade,” h art said. “[They] taught me how to be a leader and be a big brother. I took what they taught me and put it into effect this year and last year.”

For h art, seeing those young guys he’s taken under his own wing have their own big mo ments is just as gratifying as making big plays himself. When asked about his favor ite memory from this season, h art recalled morrison’s picksix against c lemson.

“To see that, on that stage versus c lemson, it was amaz ing for me to be a part of it. I know where we stand as brothers, as friends. It was special for me, like a big brother moment.”

o n s aturday, it’ll be h art’s moment, at least for now, as he soaks in what could be his final game at notre d ame stadium. b ut once the pre game ceremonies are over, it’ll be back to business for h art. After a career and se nior season filled with adver sity, with his days donning the blue and gold potentially coming to a close, h art is looking to close out the 2022 season with a bang.

ContactAidan Thomas at athoma28@nd.edu

MAX PETROSKY | The Observer

Senior cornerback Cam Hart lunges for the tackle in the Notre Dame 21-26 loss against Marshall. Hart has played 34 games with the Irish and has emassed 69 total tackles over his college career. This includes 24 total tackles on this season alone. Hart’s season high was in Notre Dame’s loss against Stanford: he totalled 5 tackles, 3 of which he notched alone.

ositadinma e kwonu emerges as a senior leader for Irish special teams unit

By J.J. POST sports Writer

Although senior defensive line man ositadinma ekwonu has had to endure some injuries during his time at notre dame, he has still emerged as a leader on and off the field for the Irish. ekwonu truly has embraced the notre dame spirit during his time here. he described how the people at notre dame are what sets it apart from other schools he considered during his recruiting process in high school.

“I think the most special thing about notre dame is all the really great people I have met along the way,” ekwonu said. “The people are what set notre dame apart from other schools.”

one of the highlights from ekwonu’s career came in his sophomore season against south Florida where he recorded two solo tackles and blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown by now junior linebacker Jordan botelho. ekwonu explained the emphasis on special teams at notre dame and why the unit has found so much success this year.

“The emphasis here is that we put our best players on special teams,” ekwonu said. “It really helps us change the game on that side of the ball. Practicing and preparation has helped us affect the game and get a lot of blocked punts.”

blocking punts became a fre quently-used tool for the Irish this year, especially present in the most recent home game against clemson. For ekwonu, both wins against clemson were his most memorable games.

“I would definitely say both clemson home games are the most memorable. Just coming in as un derdogs and holding our own and then storming the field. Those were both pretty good games,” ekwonu said. ekwonu tore his achilles last year which preceded a long recov ery before the lineman could be back on the field.

“Thankfully, I am healthy now, but it was a long recovery process,” ekwonu said. “right now I am just getting back into the motion and swing of things.”

In light of his injury, ekwonu has embraced his leadership role as a senior, and he has enjoyed helping out his younger teammates in ev ery aspect of the game.

“I definitely try to help the younger guys that come to me with questions on special teams, and I try to give them advice,” ekwonu said. “It’s a hard process being here because you are challenged on and off the field.”

ekwonu stepped into the “For the brotherhood” culture of notre dame after playing in high school with his brother Ikem. Ikem played college football at Unc and while ositadinma said it was different, it

didn’t disrupt their relationship not to play together.

“It was definitely an adjustment because we used to do everything together. We actually considered attending the same school, but it just didn’t work out,” ekwonu said. “We always stayed in touch and talked all the time and we still are as close as ever.”

In his time with the Irish, ekwonu saw the defensive coor dinator hat pass from clark Lea to marcus Freeman and from Freeman to Al Golden. he said the transition has never been too diffi cult for him and his focus is learn ing the new play book in those transition moments.

“It’s really just learning the play book as it comes. There have been three different defensive coordi nators since I have been here and the main difference has just been learning the playbook as it comes,” ekwonu said.

With the play book down for Golden, ekwonu hopes that the Irish can start fast in their remain ing two regular season games and bowl game to finish the season on a high note.

“We’re just trying to start fast and play hard in the remaining games we have and win out the rest of the season,” ekwonu said. “That starts with boston college and then Usc and then our bowl game.”

Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@nd.edu

‘bigger than any one person’: Graves reflects on notre dame career

By ANNIKA HERKO sports Writer

After walking on to the foot ball team in the spring of 2021, safety m ike Graves has enjoyed every moment of his collegiate career. Like many members of the notre dame community, Graves’ favorite memories were the two c lemson wins at home, in 2020 and this season.

“Just the electric atmo sphere, so loud. That was just a really good team win. [The 2020 game was a good game too] because it was so close, so back and forth. And then beat ing them again here at home in a much more dominant fashion was pretty memorable as well.” settling the debate, he did say the 2020 c lemson game was better because the Tigers were number one in the coun try at the time.

The entire notre dame com munity’s dedication to the pro gram is not lost on Graves who has learned a lot about what this program, and university, means to so many people over

the past few years. he recog nizes that any team sport will teach a player selflessness and perseverance, but this team re ally embodies those qualities.

“What I’ve learned the most about not just playing here and being a part of the pro gram, but at notre dame as a whole, is that notre dame is bigger than any one person. being on a team, it’s a collec tive effort to accomplish a goal, and everyone bonds together to accomplish that goal. but I think that it’s pretty unique at notre dame because the brand stands for [so much more].”

The notre dame coaches have also played a big role in his development, and Graves is incredibly grateful for their confidence in him.

“starting off with my posi tion coach, coach o’Leary, he always believed in me, from day one, and is always push ing me to be my best. [ coach Freeman] knows and loves ev eryone and has a belief in ev eryone. And that’s motivating. You want to play for a guy like

that. That inspires me to work hard every day and just do what I can for the team. I’m not a starter, but knowing the role that I have, and do it the very best I can.”

one of Graves’ roles that he thinks is most important is working with the younger guys on the team.

“I don’t see myself as an older guy above them, but I just try to help them with their transi tion to college as a whole. And not just how to go about them selves on the field or in practice, but also helping them with any questions they may have about navigating college. I also make sure to have a really positive at titude all the time and a really infectious energy to inspire them to play harder and play to their potential.”

After completing his master’s of Finance, Graves will look to get into the financial services industry, specifically invest ment banking.

Contact Annika Herko at aherko@nd.edu

mike graves

COURTESY OF NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS

Senior defensive lineman Ositadinma Ekwonu smiles at the scoreboard. Ekwonu has played in 15 games for ND in his four years.

COURTESY OF NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS

Graduate Student safety Mike Graves hypes himself and his team up before the Irish take the field against the Clemson Tigers on Nov. 5.

University mourns the loss of student

Community and family grieve the loss of James “Jake” Blaauboer

By BELLA LAUFENBERG a ssociate news editor

James “Jake” blaauboer passed away unexpectedly on Friday, nov. 11. blaauboer was a sopho more at notre dame, veteran of the u s a rmy and avid runner, but most importantly, he was a brother, a son and a friend.

born in december 1995, blaauboer grew up in upstate new york in a small town called clifton park. he lived with his loving parents, mary and James “Jim” blaauboer, and younger sister molly blaauboer.

molly blaauboer, only 20 months younger than blaauboer, said she was always the “proud younger sister,” following behind Jake throughout their schooling.

“molly is very outgoing and so cial, and Jake was very reserved and would keenly observe,” their mother, mary blaauboer, explained.

right out of high school, blaauboer enlisted in the u s a rmy, and then spent the next few years of his life in active and reserve duty, during most of which he was stationed in Fort carson, colorado.

a fter his service, blaauboer started community college and applied to a myriad of other universities and colleges — one of which was the university of notre dame. a lthough his par ents said they had no personal connection to notre dame, the family grew up watching notre dame’s Fighting irish win

football games.

blaauboer first transferred into the university in the fall of 2019, where he was a sophomore english major in st. edward’s hall, according to priest-in-resi dence Fr. Kevin sandberg.

his family explained that al though blaauboer loved to read and write, he didn’t know what he wanted to accomplish with an english degree— which was why he took a leave of absence from the university in 2020 before the covid-19 pandemic hit.

w hen he left notre dame, blaauboer went directly into technical school where he learned to be a welder. working with his hands was something

Town hall debates u.s.c hina relations Study shows ND fanbase size

By GRACIE EPPLER news writer

despite an undergraduate stu dent population far smaller than that of other traditional college football powerhouses, a study from this past summer found notre dame to have the second largest fanbase in college football at an es timated 8.21 million.

By ISA SHEIKH a ssociate news editor

as president biden flew back to washington d c. from the g20 summit, where he met with Xi Jinping, members of the notre dame community stepped out of the snow into Jenkins-nanovic hall on wednesday night for a conversation about u s.-china relations.

notre dame was one of 80 locations to partake in the china Town hall, a project of the non-profit national committee on u s.-china relations hosting local conversations across the

country around the american approach to china, followed by a livestreamed address to all the gatherings delivered this year by Jon hunstman, former u s ambassador to singapore, china and russia.

“The national committee on u s.-china relations is an organization that for decades has been trying to promote understanding of china in the u s.,” michel hockx, director of the liu institute for asia and asian studies, told The observer.

sponsored by the liu insitute, notre dame’s panel event featured isheika cleare, a notre

dame political science doctoral candidate, Joshua eisenman, a professor of politics in the Keough school and Tengfei luo, a professor in the college of engineering.

“The relationship between china and the u s. is extremely worrying,” hockx said. “one thing we can do at universities is to try and use our brains to come up with potential solutions and to be willing to have debates and dialogues.”

eisenman delivered remarks on why rapprochement — an

The study, put together by strat egy consultant Tony altimore at altimore collins & company, ranked the top-16 largest college football fanbases. it found ohio state to have the largest fanbase in the country at 11.26 million fans. Texas trailed notre dame at num ber three, followed by penn state and michigan.

altimore, who attended usc and has worked with consulting com panies such as deloitte and booze allen, as well as the cia, used sources such as FiveThirtyeight, The new york Times and vivid seats to draw his conclusions. he normalized his findings with data from the census and google. although he admits the data is “not perfect,” altimore said he was able to document insightful findings about loyalties toward college foot ball programs.

“what i really wanted to do was

help sports fans see how the teams they rooted for aligned with the college’s institutional strategy,” altimore said. “sports are just a small chunk of what a university is.” notre dame differentiates itself from most universities by how it es tablishes a unique identity outside of football, altimore explained. many of the colleges with top fan bases have a strong “sense of place” and encapsulate “the essence of its people,” he said. Football teams like ohio state, west virginia and usc align their branding and image with their respective state and re gions and subsequently draw many fans simply due to geography.

“someone in southern indiana might not necessarily always root for the Fighting irish. They may be a purdue fan, or even an iu (indiana university) fan,” altimore said. “but for the majority of people in ohio, they feel a connection to osu and feel as though they can root for it.”

according to altimore, notre dame doesn’t necessarily shine in the proximity of its fanbase or even the size of its alumni network. altimore said what makes notre dame such a national fanbase is its unique and successful branding, along with its track record and deep

Courtesty of Mary Blaauboer

James “Jake” Blaauboer, a sophomore history major at Notre Dame and U.S. Army veteran unexpectdly passed away on Friday, Nov. 11.

ISA SHEIKH I The Observer

Notre Dame experts Michel Hockx, Joshua Eisenman, Isheika Cleare and Tengfei Luo (from left to right) partook in the debate on the relations between the United States and China on Wednesday evening.

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Today’s Staff

Friday

Nepalese Fair Trade Sale

Corrections

The Observer regards itself as a professional publication and strives for the highest standards of journalism at all times. We do, however, recognize that we will make mistakes. If we have made a mistake, please contact us at editor@ndsmcobserver.com so we can correct our error.

2148 Jenkins Nanovic 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Selling items handcrafted in Nepal.

Building an AntiRacist Vocabulary

Andrews Auditorium 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Lecture on Canadian First Nations.

Flaherty Hall

Saturday

Saturdays with the Saints

Andrews Auditorium 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Game day spirit and Catholic faith.

Game Day

Alternative Stapleton Lounge 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. Make a fun craft or take it to go.

Sunday

Global Celebration of Young People Mass Basilica of the Sacred Heart 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. All are welcome.

Yoga Class

Angela Athletic Center Studio 2 8 p.m. - 9 p.m. Yoga club led class to relax before break.

Want to be featured in the next issue? Email your name, year, hall and answer to “What app makes you procrastinate the most?” to photo@ndsmcobserver.com

Holly Hruskoci sophomore Lyons Hall “TikTok.”

Monday

Mind and Heart Lecture Driscoll Auditorium 7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m. Lecture on virtuous leadership.

Western Film Discussion 145 Spes Unica 9 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. Discuss the film “Little Big Man.”

Tuesday

Men’s Basketball: ND v. Bowling Green Purcell Pavilion 6:30 p.m. Request free ticket by Sunday, November 20.

Need To Talk?

113 Coleman-Morse 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. Campus minister available to talk, no appointment needed.

MAX PETROSKY | The Observer

Emma Uremovic senior Johnson Family Hall

SMC talent show celebrates culture

By KATELYN WALDSCHMIDT News Writer

On Thursday night, Saint Mary’s students and com munity members gathered in Haggar College Center for ‘Arts Around the World’, a talent show highlight ing different cultures. The show was part of the week-long celebration for International Education Week.

Spectators saw dancing, poetry, singing, folk tales and pieces of history from cultures across the globe. Most presenters were stu dents of Saint Mary’s modern language classes, especially Spanish, French, Arabic and Mandarin.

One such presenter was Mishelle Yepez who pre sented an original poem in both Spanish and English about being a Latinx in the United States.

“Social media creates such beauty standards for us. You have to fit into all these white standards” Yepez said.

She also talked about feel ing the need to represent especially as a first-year student and first generation college student in a promi nently white institution.

The show ended with a drum performance from professor Charles Lawrence of the Modern Languages department, who has 50+ years of percussion experi ence. Before he began, he asked the audience to think about the beats he would be playing and how they relate to other songs heard throughout the night. The similarities seen show that all cultures are connected, especially through music.

Assistant professor in

the Modern Languages de partment Marelys Valencia was key in organizing the event. Having just revived the event last year, Valencia jokingly referred to last year’s show as “the first ep isode of the second season, and now this year is the second episode.”

However, Valencia also voiced a bit of disappoint ment at the turnout and her desire for a broader scope of both talents and repre sented cultures.

“I would like to see more cultural manifestations, artistic expressions.” She hopes to have more instru ments and group perfor mances in the future.

Valencia also wants to get more involvement from the tri-campus community.

“We are trying to attract more students, not only from Saint Mary’s,” she said. “I mean, there are three campuses that can all be involved.”

This is related to the de sire to get more diversity in the talents and languages seen.

“We want all the talents that are out there, and that represent different cultures and languages,” she said. Valencia also wants to see more faculty from other regions involved to better represent the amount of different world cultures.

But the performers and audience didn’t seem as disappointed.

“I loved seeing all the dances and hearing the poems and songs. It was very interesting to learn about music I wasn’t famil iar with,” sophomore Ruby Meza said, who present ed a Chilean movie from her Spanish Conversation class.

Yepez echoes those thoughts.

“It was a good way to encapsulate intercultur al education, especially

different cultures I didn’t even know about,” she said.

Valencia says that the talent show is hosted by the Modern Language de partment every November during International Education. While many of this year’s participants were from College lan guage classes, it’s not a requirement.

“We want to make vis ible this international presence and anyone who wants to be involved can just email me,” she said. “If you have any talent, may be you can present a piece from Italy or China or any country.”

The eventual dream in Valencia’s eyes is to have International representa tion more than once a year.

“I think that it should go beyond International Education Week, she said. “Maybe we will do some sort of festival in the spring.”

football history.

“Notre dame has a great com bination of national recognition, relevance and strong brand iden tity,” Altimore said. “Notre dame fans are everywhere.”

Whereas colleges like USC ap peal to a large population of fans, they are mostly concentrated in Los Angeles, with fans that tend to “fully lean into L.A. stereotypes,” Altimore said. Notre dame fans are so spread out across the na tion that they do not have to live in South Bend or graduate from the University to feel a part of the fanbase, he said.

Notre dame’s Catholic identity and reputation as a premier aca demic institution create an invit ing brand image that appeals to a wide variety of fans across the U.S., Altimore said. Notre dame also brings in fans who attend ed small Catholic schools with no football teams. Notre dame has such a large fanbase, he ex plained, that it is the leading col lege football fanbase in New York City.

But it’s not just the University’s Catholic heritage and academic rigor that make Notre dame an attractive fanbase.

“Winning matters,” Altimore said.

This is why football teams from the Ivy League have deteriorated in recent decades, he explained, because although they draw a lot of national recognition and have large alumni bases, they do not experience much success on the gridiron. Because of their poor track records, children of Ivy League fans tend not to become fans themselves, Altimore said.

While Notre dame has not won a national championship since 1988, they have consistently stayed relevant with successful regular seasons.

Altimore said he was surprised to find that fanbase size did not affect television and streaming ratings as much as he assumed it would.

“People who watch college football don’t just watch their team,” Altimore explained. “They also tune in to watch their com petition. People will watch Notre dame games whether or not they like Notre dame because Notre dame is a relevant team who are fun to watch.”

drawing from this data also al lowed Altimore to make predic tions about the future of college football fanbases and viewings. Altimore believes the sport might start to see a split in fanbases, sim ilar to British football teams.

“In Britain, fans cheer for local teams just based off of proxim ity, as well as cheer for one of the globally recognized teams like Manchester United or Chelsea.”

Altimore thinks that college football might be headed that way as well.

“Fans might cheer for Southern Illinois because they live close to it but also cheer for Notre dame be cause they like the Irish.”

Contact Gracie Eppler at geppler@nd.edu

KATELYN WALDSCHMIDT | The Observer

Saint Mary’s junior Hannah Bruckman performs a song in Arabic during the ‘Arts Around the World’ show to celebrate the culture along with her peers during International Education Week in Haggar.

that blaauboer began during his time as the a rmy when he was randomly selected to be a me chanic, molly blaauboer said.

“We’re getting outreach now about how great he was at be ing a mechanic and what a great soldier he was, which we totally believe, but it’s interesting to see the ripple,” she noted.

a fter he finished technical school, the family said blaauboer moved to maine to work as a welder, far away from his home town in new York.

While the family was in maine celebrating easter 2022, molly blaauboer mentioned that blaauboer announced his in tention to return to notre dame unexpectedly.

“This is completely out of the blue,” she said. “[he said,] ‘i have something to tell you guys … i’ve applied to be unparoled from notre dame.”

molly blaauboer noted that this wasn’t unlike blaauboer and that he often changed his mind about what he wanted to accom plish with his life.

“i would joke about how i wonder what he wants to do this week,” she laughed.

mary blaauboer explained that blaauboer wasn’t happy as a welder because he needed something more intellectually

stimulating. The family said he loved to debate politics, philos ophy and history with anyone who would listen.

“he’s an intellectual person, you know, he was a deep thinker. he was a reader,” mary said.

blaauboer had to go through an entire re-entry process, molly said, and finally found out he was retuning in July. so, in august 2022, now 26 year old blaauboer moved to notre dame for the second time but as a history ma jor instead.

because adjusting to college life can be hard — especially the second time — notre dame’s care and wellness consultants in the center for student support and care put together a support group filled with re-admitted students, including blaauboer and fellow sophomore Ua Tom.

Tom, a theology major and na tive of the bronx in new York city, said he was originally a Gateway student, but he took time off from the University because he didn’t want his first semester at notre dame to be controlled by the covid-19 pandemic. While away, Tom returned to n Yc and was a teacher in chinatown.

“a ll of us re-admits, we have our mental health issues, for sure, every single one of us. but that’s also what got us close,” Tom noted.

The support group, colloqui ally named “we back” by the

members, met every Wednesday at 4 p.m., according to Tom.

“self-deprecation was the highest form of humor that we have for ourselves in that group. We dropped out but we’re back,” he joked.

Tom explained that blaauboer stood out as a natural mentor and leader of the group.

“When Jake spoke, people lis tened, he was just so earnest and genuine. Jake always checked up on me and was a wonderful influence on myself and the rest of the readmitted students,” Tom said. “he happily and naturally took on the role of an older broth er and mentor, and whenever i saw him it would totally make my day. it was clear from the mo ment that i met him that he had a big heart. his positivity and compassion was contagious.”

Tom said he would never for get one moment when blaauboer helped Tom during a difficult pe riod of time.

“i’ll never forget when i was re ally having a tough time [at the beginning of the semester] when i was in the thick of [transition ing] and really struggling to fo cus on class,” he explained. “Jake gave me a hug. he told me he was there for me, and i wasn’t alone.”

a lthough he had only known blaauboer for a short time, Tom noted how much of an impact blaauboer had on him, saying that he wished they had spent

more time together.

“he really was a light of a hu man being. he was such an easily likable guy who was re ally gentle and kind,” he said. “in some ways, he knew us better than we knew ourselves.”

apart from classes and the support group, blaauboer was also active in the notre dame running club. race coordina tor for the club and stanford hall junior Jonathan Karr said blaauboer was an active mem ber of the group and often volun teered to drive the team to and from meets.

“he was very supportive of the entire team. he took pictures when we ran, he wanted us to succeed, and he cheered for all the runners,” Karr said.

Karr emphasized how deeply grateful he was for blaauboer’s positive influence on the team and for him personally.

“i was a very close friend with Jake, and he really helped the team,” Karr noted. “he really, re ally embodied what it means to be a Fighting irish.”

The family also emphasized how important running, par ticularly the routine of the sport, was to blaauboer.

“he was strict with himself,” mary blaauboer said. “routine and ritual were important to him in every aspect. so, there was a routine for food and exercise and friendships and then the school

and work and everything. For him, overlapping those things was uncomfortable.”

They said he also loved com edy and was a huge fan of mov ies. overall, the blaauboers said the outpouring of love they have received from family, friends, teammates and anyone who knew blaauboer has meant a lot to them.

“That’s an amazing blessing and comfort — to know that he’s remembered and prayed for,” mary blaauboer said.

Tom emphasized that anyone, who knew blaauboer personally or not, can honor his memory by living fully and not being afraid to reach out to others.

“Live with the same spirit that he did,” Tom said. “reach out and ask someone how they are doing, like he did for us.”

Fr. Pete mccormick, the inau gural assistant vice president for campus ministry, echoed Tom’s sentiment during notre dame’s mass of remembrance on nov. 16.

“sometimes words fail and can’t always communicate the depths of sorrow,” he said. “be unafraid to reach out to a mem ber of hall staff, the University counseling center (Ucc) or campus ministry. Know that you are never alone.”

Contact

Bella Laufenberg at ilaufenb@nd.edu

THE THOMAS H. QUINN LECTURE SERIES PRESENTS:

TOM V. MORRIS

Bestselling author, philosopher and renowned speaker

Quinn Lecture

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establishment of cordial or harmonious relations — with China is unlikely in the current moment. Tracing a history of growing extremity in the top ranks of the Chinese Communist Party over the past decade as one of the obstacles to a positive relationship. He said that the U.S. would need to wait for leaders in China who might be more open to a relationship.

“Look at the leadership right now. These are hardcore guys, man… These are not people who want rapprochement for the United States,” Eisenman told the audience. “You have to have a tango partner, you got to have someone who wants to dance. And I just don’t see anybody in the Chinese leadership who can dance, because Xi Jinping is the chairman of all things.”

Cleare spoke to the effects of the U.S.-China rivalry on the region, a focus of her ongoing dissertation research.

“What about the other nations in Asia? It’s not all China and the U.S. There are other nations, I assure you,” she said.

Cleare identified a push-andpull between the need for security and economic development, and how the two superpowers impact those priorities. She said that American disengagement in Asia, particularly with regard to trade, has weakened our alliances.

“There’s worry about U.S. commitment. The United States tends to struggle with

maintaining focus on Asia.

Singapore’s former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew criticized American policymakers for treating international relations as though it was a movie, where they could press pause when they got distracted and then simply press play when they were ready to reengage,” she said.

Closing her remarks, she harkened back to Lee’s metaphor.

“So America needs to be able to show that it’s willing to fulfill its obligations and promises, that it’s able to do so, and that it intends to concentrate on Asia for the long haul, instead of coming back to press play, and hoping that the movie is just where they left it,” she said.

Luo spoke to American policies “made with the intent to enhance use the U.S.’s position to compete with China,” arguing that they did more damage than harm.

In particular, Luo made reference to the Department of Justice’s China Initiative, which sought to target espionage, particularly in academic settings, and intellectual property theft. The project was ended earlier this year, but he argued that the attempted prosecution of Chinese scientists for collaborating with colleagues in China under the initiative was damaging to the United States by scaring ChineseAmerican scientists and scaring away potential talent that would seek to come to the U.S.

“You don’t start a fight by stabbing yourself in the hands, no matter how strong you are. I think the policy is changing,

fortunately, but the damage is done,” he said.

Luo’s comments on the China Initiative sparked debate on the panel, and throughout the room. Eisenman shoehorned in a response while answering a separate question, citing a Chinese proverb which he translated as “one piece of s*** spoils the pot of porridge.”

“We should not pretend as if the China Initiative fell out of space, guys. A lot of sneaky nasty business was going on. A lot of stuff was walking out the door. And I’m sorry, but the way you presented is like classic selection bias. Because you forgot all the cases when people really were up to nasty business and you selected only the ones where they’re doing the good,” Eisenman said.

“I think it’s important to recognize that U.S. policy is not formulated based on the desire to destroy U.S.-China relations. It’s formulated because there’s a response to a certain behavior that may go too far or may do things that are wrong, but it doesn’t come in a vacuum,” he elaborated.

In a response to a separate audience question, Luo added his defense.

“I actually want to take this opportunity to respond,” he said.

Eisenman interjected to say, “Good, that’s how we debate.”

Luo disagreed, saying, “No, this was not a debate. You said that I selected cases if you look at the stats, all of the charges are not about the technology transfer. Okay, so the China initiative

is supposed to catch Chinese spies … there’s strong empirical evidence that like the rate of bad cases being bought by the FBI is very high.”

The room also debated the merit of internment camps in Xinjiang province, where the U.N. has accused the Chinese government of human rights abuses against more than a million Uyghur Muslims. The United States has declared the situation a genocide, as have a number of other countries. An audience member originally from the province stood to argue that prior to 2008, Uyghurs “actually lived pretty good,” and that the Chinese government was compelled to establish the camps over concerns of terrorism.

Eisenman said that China values its domestic priorities over its international ones, and because the camps in Xinjiang are a domestic issue, the government would not allow the international alarm to curb its actions.

“So it was a choice between the U.S.-China relationship, and China’s Xinjiang policy, it’s gonna be prioritized, and this is what we’ve seen,” he said.

Much of the room cleared out for the hour-long Hunstman address, streamed via a YouTube live video. In his talk, the former ambassador who has served in every administration from Reagan to Trump, addressed the current situation with China, identifying ways to move forward, and levels of collaboration that are possible while challenging China’s aggression.

Hunstman also spoke to the connection and conflict between China and Russia, both countries he has served as an ambassador.

“Being large border states — Russia and China — they’re not natural friends and allies because border states typically are not. If you look at the late ‘60s, you know how close they came to nuclear war over border disputes. This is not a match made in heaven,” he said.

Hunstman added that he believes the relationship is superficial due to Putin wanting legitimacy in the eyes of Chinese.

“I’ve watched this relationship for a very long time. And I’m asked a lot about, well, ‘What about this relationship?’ And you know, ‘Is it really as deep as we’re led to believe?’ I don’t think it’s that deep,” he said. “I think it’s very superficial. I think that it’s very transactional. So what does Putin want? Putin wants to be seen in the presence of Chinese leadership. It brings in what he craves, which is legitimacy and credibility. I hate it every time I see it, because I don’t want Putin to get legitimacy and credibility.”

Hockx reflected on the evening’s town hall. He pointed out “the exchange of opinions, with our panelists coming at the question of U.S.-China relations from different angles, which is exactly we at the Liu Institute like to do.”

Contact Isa Sheikh at isheikh@nd.edu

Swing Club dances to their own beat

By PETER BREEN News Writer

Amidst the bustle of student activities, any undergraduate is going to struggle finding a more dedicated crew than the Notre Dame Swing Club.

Three days a week, club presi dent Ryan Mantey alongside vice presidents Anna Schmidt and Megan Sherry teach an hour-long lesson on the jazzinspired social dance and some of its derivatives: East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, Lindy Hop and Charleston.

Less formalized than Old

World ballroom dancing, swing dance developed out of the Harlem Renaissance, Schmidt said. The accompanying music can totally vary.

“It’s actually a deeply African American dance and it has spread across the country,” she said. “Social dancing is really big in Europe so ballroom danc ing there is popular, [but] swing is a little bit more loose.”

The easiest swing style to learn is east coast, the club ex ecutives agreed. If “you’ve ever seen old people” swing danc ing, Schmidt said, it’s likely west coast. This year, the club

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is focusing on Lindy Hop, the original style of swing dancing.

“Lindy Hop requires a lot of energy,” Schmidt said. “It’s the historical young people’s dance. If you’ve seen swing dancing aerials, where people are get ting thrown around, that’s a Lindy Hop.”

The club meets on Mondays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. in the Smith Center and at 6 p.m. Thursdays in “The Rock.” After an hour of instruction, there’s a second hour for open dance.

“Much of the actual learn ing happens when we have our open dance,” Schmidt said. “We play music, and you dance with people—like that’s pretty much all that happens—and you get really comfortable with it.”

It can be intimidating to pick up social dance without prior exposure, Schmidt added. The typical club meeting, about a handful of couples, provides a relaxed environment for twist ing and turning.

“I first learned [how to social dance] here at swing club a year ago and now I’m teaching,” she said. “You get close with every one that you’re working with, you learn everyone’s dance style and everyone feels really com fortable asking us questions. It’s not like you’re in a huge group.”

In social dances like swing, there is a lead and a follow. Basic moves incorporated specific footwork routines and maybe a spin thrown in the middle, but Schmidt said it’s important not to get too caught up on these details.

“[Experts] talk of swing danc ing as a sort of language, where the lead is speaking, and the fol low is listening. Your dancing is quite literally a form of commu nication,” Schmidt said. “The footwork is sort of secondary to the communication you have going on. You’re usually con nected at each of your hands.”

Mantey underscored this fondness for communica tion between dance partners through tension and pressure, and through the ways each partner maintains his or her frame and follows through on momentum.

“Even slight shifts [in pres sure] tell my follow, ‘I want to go forward, or I want to go back.’ I raise my hand and that’s an in vitation to a turn of some kind,” Mantey said. “The structures and the footwork patterns get to be swept away […] you really do focus on just rocking, commu nicating with your partner.”

The swing dancing club puts together a signature dance

every semester. Last weekend, the club held their fall dance in the LaFortune Student Center ballroom.

“Though we don’t have a com petition, that’s kind of like our big event that we do so people can come and get to do every thing they’ve learned,” Schmidt said.

Because of a variety of con verging factors, it is becom ing increasingly more difficult for clubs to reserve space on campus through the Student Activities Office (SAO) for danc es, even with a priority request.

“We don’t have a location for a spring dance. [SAO] told us they couldn’t do it for us,” Schmidt said. “We have to go find an out side venue now and we don’t know how we’re going to do that. Dorm dances have a proud history. That one’s fine, but there are some things where I’m like: ‘we’re a social dance club, please get this priority!’”

In the meantime, swing club will be twirling about this road block, having so much fun do ing so. Since 1998, Notre Dame students have handed down the mysterious Swing Bible—and it hasn’t faded yet.

Contact Peter Breen at pbreen2@nd.edu

Twenty years from now

Cora Haddad news Writer

s omewhere in Indiana I will discover myself, I hope.

o n Tuesday, I entered my twentieth year of life. There is so much life I have already lived. s o much time spent laughing and crying and crying some more. Where do I see myself twen ty years from now?

h opefully, I am far away from my haunt ing past and bad decisions, but I doubt I will be. Where does anyone see themselves twenty years from now? Worst case scenario, still in the m idwest. b est case scenario, also, still in the m idwest. I think a house with a fireplace would be nice. s omewhere to sit and read my books and drink my tea. I may own a cat or two, depending on how large that said house is. I would most of all want for it to be a home, filled with people I love and who love me.

It’s not fair to try to predict where my future leads though, so I won’t be picky on specifics, like kids names, or professions. All of it will be a product of moving forward. e ach day now brings a new part of myself I didn’t know ex isted, a little part of myself who I am beginning to acknowledge. e specially these days I wish I could meet myself as a child, the blunt bangs and spunky attitude combined with big dreams. m y parents would always tell me I was braver than my brothers, no. Always taking risks. n o fear, no pain, nothing to lose.

Would that little girl, with the bright colored sweaters and painted nails, look at me, look at the life I am living and be excited I made it? What would I tell her? I may not be much differ ent than that girl now. m aybe she is braver than I. When did I lose that? And how do I attempt to get it back? Will I twenty years from now and think the same thing about myself now? I hope not. I think my younger self would like the way I hang important moments on my wall. Quotes and photos and memories, illuminated by twin kling lights. I think she would like the friends I’ve made. The ones I can sit in silence with and laugh about how life has brought us together. I think she would like the amount of concerts I’ve been to, and the places I’ve seen, the nature I’ve been able to take in. I think she’d love my hair, and my nose, that took me a little too long to grow into. I think she would love the books I’ve read and the love I’ve been able to express. b ut most of all I think she would like the strength I continue to have every day. I con tinue to push myself to make her proud. And to make my future self proud as well. Twenty something, such an odd time to be living in, somewhere I was terrified to be, but somewhere I can find comfort in reaching.

You can contact Cora at chaddad01@saintmarys.edu. The views expressed in this Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

College Republicans’ response to the College Democrats’ Letter to the Editor

This week, the c ollege d emocrats published a Letter to the e ditor accusing our club of pro moting “racist, transphobic, and antisemitic rhetoric” in the 2022 midterm debate that took place on Wednesday, nov. 2. They call for our debater’s remarks to be formally condemned by the University administration and to require our officer corps to face “comprehensive anti-bias training.” The allegations made by the authors of the letter are categorically false and defamatory. We call on the c ollege d emocrats to retract them and issue a formal apology immediately.

The c ollege d emocrats fail to provide any evidence for their charge of racism, while any rational person can judge for themselves the intellectual seriousness of the allegation that opposing the genital mutilation of children constitutes “hate speech.” And although the d emocratic letter claims that our representative made antisemitic comments during the abor tion segment of the debate, their accusations contradict the plain meaning of what was said that night. Their deliberate misinformation cam paign is reprehensible, and we encourage anyone who wishes to hear the full debate to watch it on YouTube. At the thirty-eight minute mark, the d emocratic representative, makes the following charge.

“[The r epublicans are] trying to impose their own worldviews. The science is not clear on when life begins.”

Ultimately, what lies at the heart of the c ollege d emocrats’ argument is their defense of the indefensible: the grave evil of abortion. The c atechism of the c atholic c hurch teaches that “since the first century the c hurch has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion ... d irect abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law” (no. 2271). It further states that “the inalienable right to life of every inno cent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation” (no. 2273). d espite the d emocratic representative’s claim to the contrary, we know — through both science and the exercise of reason — that life does begin at conception. The sanctity of unborn life cannot be left up to pluralistic interpretation.

o ur representative made no claims about Judaism, even taking care to point out that he could not speak for the Jewish faith on the mat ter of abortion when he said, “I’m not making any kind of claim about Judaism.” Therefore, the c ollege d emocrats must promptly with draw their libelous claim of antisemitism. Additionally, we ask that their officers receive adequate pastoral care to inform them of the

c hurch’s teaching on the evil of abortion in light of their spiritually perilous position. Using the platform of o ur Lady’s University to promote an industry which has claimed the lives of more than 63 million American children since r oe v. Wade is unacceptable and represents an at tack on all pro-life students on this campus who are committed to the teachings of the c atholic c hurch.

We condemn moral relativism. We condemn the barbarism and depravity of the c ulture of d eath, which is predicated on the false notion that abortion is a necessary means to the at tainment of human flourishing. We affirm the intrinsic value of every human life. Putting an end to abortion is, without question, bigger than politics. however, as partisan legislative atti tudes with regard to abortion move increasingly further apart, we believe that our club and our party have no choice but to take a stand.

We, the notre d ame c ollege r epublicans, will not be intimidated or harassed for holding true to orthodox c atholic doctrine. o ur members — and the millions of r epublican voters across the country — care deeply about safeguarding the sanctity of life in the face of direct attacks on the unborn by the d emocratic Party. As the coun try’s leading c atholic university, notre d ame has a duty to boldly witness to life. The administra tion can succumb to intimidation, or it can de fend the truth.

In his encyclical c aritas in veritate, Pope b enedict X v I writes, “In c hrist, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himself is the Truth.” The c atholic character of notre d ame still matters. We take seriously the work of proclaiming the truth, even when our peers deny it. As the words of the First e pistle of s aint John the Apostle re mind us, to love our neighbor genuinely requires us to share in the charity of God’s very nature: “And we have known, and have believed the charity, which God hath to us. God is charity” (1 John 4:16).

Merlot Fogarty

PJ Butler

President of n otre d ame c ollege r epublicans

Mark Ballesteros

v ice President of n otre d ame c ollege r epublicans

Jose Rodriguez

s ecretary of n otre d ame c ollege r epublicans

President of n otre d ame r ight to Life n ov. 16

The midterm election: Voters turn against extremism

The midterm election occurred on november 8, 2022 with surprising outcomes. A midterm is sup posed to be the time that the opposing party can make up ground for the next Presidential elec tion, in this case a “red Wave”, but that is not what happened.

voters rejected antidemocratic and autocratic can didates this election by denouncing many of the can didates that donald Trump backed, including all of Trump’s secretary of state candidates who ran on the lie that the 2020 election was rigged.

voters also chose progress instead of regression. The Us broke its record for the most female gover nors elected at once with nine female governors. Wes moore was elected as the first black governor in maryland and he is only the third in Us his tory, maura healey is the first out lesbian gover nor in Us history and the first female governor in massachusetts, James roesener is the first out trans gender man to become a state lawmaker and Alex Padilla is the first Latino senator in california. voters pushed for historic firsts and pushed back against op pressive, hateful candidates in many places.

There was no red wave because many people are tired of Trumpism. People are tired of election denial and when candidates refuse to accept the results of a legitimate election, that is a step too far for many moderate voters. The key independent and moder ate voters that republicans needed to win back from biden in 2020 did not go back. even with Trump’s campaign announcement on Tuesday, he is not in as strong of a position in the run for the presidency as he was in 2016.

As well, the supreme court’s decision, reversing roe v. Wade through the dobbs decision was a large push to prevent a red wave. Abortion was on the bal lot in five states: california, Kentucky, m ichigan, montana and vermont.

california voted to add a provision to their consti tution which prevents the state from interfering with or denying an individual’s reproductive freedom. Kentucky voted against adding a provision to their constitution that would remove any protection for abortion. m ichigan voted to add a state constitutional right to reproductive freedom. montana voted to not add the possibility of criminal charges for healthcare providers unless they take “all medically appropriate and reasonable actions to preserve the life” of a fetus born alive. Lastly, vermont added the right to person al reproductive autonomy to their constitution. All

five states voted to limit the state’s reach in reproduc tive rights issues.

republicans still won the house, but by a lower margin than previously predicted and democrats kept the senate. It seems that voters are tired of ex tremism in many ways and the question remains as to what the republican party will do now as Trump prepares to run again for the presidency. voters are searching for alternatives to what they have been given in the past. many high profile republican poli ticians even say it is time to move away from Trump and not have the republican party as the “party of Trump”. still, the question remains: in the future will the party choose extremism again? or will they risk standing behind someone else?

Rachel Hartmann (‘24) is majoring in Political Science and is minoring in the Hesburgh Program in Public Service and Civil and Human Rights. She is a member of ND’s Write to Vote chapter.

W2V is the Notre Dame chapter of the national Write to Vote Project, a non-partisan, pro-democracy initia tive. Its goal is to support democracy, encourage civic engagement and advance voting rights in the U.S. and around the world. You can contact NDW2V at ndw2v@ nd.edu.

The views expressed in this column are those of the

Let’s talk about the scooter problem

Pedestrians have the right of way.”

• d on’t drink and scooter.

n otre d ame’s campus has a few givens: Touchdown Jesus, the Golden d ome, s aint m ary’s Lake and, of course, electric scoot ers. e lectric scooters, which can reach speeds over 20 miles per hour, are ubiquitous at the University and have become a nuisance. s cooters can be a fun way of getting around and can be important alternatives to costly transportation or a way to get around for stu dents who are mobility-impaired, but they won’t be for much longer if unsafe scootering per sists. It is time for pedestrians to reclaim the sidewalks.

Think about it. h ow frequently do you have to dodge a scooter while walking to your class in d e b art? h ow often do you watch it happen to someone else? Pedestrians should not have to slow down or jump out of the way as scooters recklessly zoom past. It is time we recognize that scooters don’t have the right of way and some riders need to start being more careful.

In case you need evidence of this, here it is spelled out in the Personal e lectric vehicle Policy from the nd P d : “Personal electric ve hicle users must stay to the right on all road ways, crosswalks, pathways and sidewalks.

There is no need to travel 20 mph on cam pus, let alone on sidewalks. While the appeal of scooters is understandable — especially for stu dents who live off campus and don’t have a car — the way students use them on campus is un safe. Almost getting hit by a scooter has become a running joke and a campus-wide issue.

This isn’t just a problem at n otre d ame ei ther. In August, an incoming Indiana University freshman hit a bump on his scooter, lost control and crashed. This student eventually died from his injuries, the b loomington h erald-Times reported. While this tragic example may seem extreme, it occurred just a few hours away from our own campus and should serve as a sober ing reminder of how scootering can become dangerous.

These are not r azor s cooters we’re talking about. s cooters don’t need to be banned, but safer scootering needs to be practiced for the well-being of everyone.

h ere are some tips:

• Yield (please) to pedestrians around cam pus and signal if you need to pass.

• c onsider riding a bike or a manual scooter instead if you are able to.

• d on’t text and scooter.

• o bey traffic rules as you would when driv ing a car.

• s tay to the right on roads and sidewalks.

• If you’re scootering in the dark, consider buying a light or reflector for cars that might not be able to see you otherwise or pedestrians who may not know you’re coming.

• As the weather changes, be even more care ful in the snow. r ide slowly and look out for ice and slippery roads. Leave for class a little early to accommodate that pace.

• This applies to other seasons, too. Pay at tention to bumps in the road and rocks or sticks that could knock you off your scooter.

• b e alert. This means don’t listen to music so loudly you can’t hear anything.

• r egister your scooter with nd P d

• And for some recommendations from nd P d :

• Limit speeds to 10 miles per hour.

• Avoid use in areas with heavy pedestrian traffic.

• Use a U-type lock when you aren’t scooter ing, just in case.

While banning scooters is extreme and prepos terous, so is fearing injury on your daily walk to class. We’d rather not report on scooter injuries.

Rachel Hartmann

Honor the late, great Knute Rockne with Something in the Game: An American Musical

The amazing story of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football coach Knute Rockne and his journey to discover what’s important in the “game of life.”

Available now only on Broadway on Demand somethinginthegame.com broadwayondemand.com

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINA SAYUT | PHOTO BY CLAIRE LYONS

Happy Birthday: Put your energy into home, family and finances. Pay down debt and save for something special. Think outside the box, and you’ll discover something you can do that makes you happy and encourages you to use your expertise. Extra income and personal gain are within reach, and self-improvement will lead to greater confidence and a chance to advance. your numbers are 7, 19, 25, 28, 33, 39, 47.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Spending while you’re feeling emotional is discouraged. Take care of your physical and mental well-being. Do your best to eliminate stress by putting your energy into something that makes you feel good about who you are.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Make a move. Do your own thing, and leave nothing to chance. focus on how you earn your living and what you can do to improve your position, the type of work you do or how much you make. Take ownership of your life.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Be careful what you wish for, or you may end up in a feud with someone you least expect. getting along will be half the battle. Aim to please, compliment and offer a fair deal, and you’ll bypass controversy.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): knowing what everyone else is doing will help you make better decisions. Consider what you can do to bring greater dimension to whatever you pursue. Someone will praise you for your contribution. keep your personal feelings to yourself.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): have fun and enjoy the benefits of doing business with people who share your concerns and direction. keeping things amicable, simple and to the point will pay off and help you get a nod of approval from those who can contribute to your success.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Stay on track, and don’t lose sight of your goal. Don’t let outside interference or emotional stress brought on by comments or gestures someone makes cause you to react in haste. Bide your time, think matters through and do what’s best for you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Do your due diligence and go directly to the source. getting the correct information is crucial if you want to come out on top. Sign up for events that will bring you in contact with people who have something to offer.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Interact with people from different backgrounds, and you’ll learn something new. Be cautious regarding joint ventures. Do your own thing if you don’t share the same motives as someone who wants to partner. Don’t make decisions under emotional duress.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Emotions will interfere with common sense. Take a moment to evaluate whatever situation you face and the suggestions made by those closest to you. Anger will hold you back and push you into a compromising position. rethink your strategy and begin again.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): A money deal will turn out better than anticipated. look over contracts, prepare documents and invest more time and money in yourself. Choose to use your skills more diversely, and you’ll enjoy what you do and bring in additional cash.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Just keep moving. Channel your energy into something you want, and you won’t be disappointed. refuse to let a change someone makes affect your plans. Don’t make unnecessary adjustments at home or to a relationship experiencing a transformation.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Don’t share too much information about yourself or your plans. Check out what everyone is doing, and you’ll gather the knowledge to help you move forward with your goals. An emotional situation will turn into a valuable learning experience.

Birthday Baby: you are sensitive, spontaneous and fun-loving. you are proactive and protective.

Jumble | DAvID hOyT AND JEff kNurEk

sudoku | ThE MEPhAM grOuP

Improve berhalter criticisms

J.J. Post sports Writer

Let me preface by saying this: I am no fan of Gregg b erhalter. From the start of his tenure, I have maligned his implementation of po sitional play and often con flicting ideals. It’s hard for me to imagine a world where he is the best possible coach the UssF can muster to coach the Usmn T.

With that being said, so much of the criticism of the Usmn T’s current manager as the team gears up for its first World c up in eight years is misplaced.

If you want to take shots at b erhalter’s tactics, so be it. I, for one, don’t think much of what he has tried in terms of structure fits the cur rent roster. b ut critiques of the players he’s bringing to play (or lead, given this is the youngest Usmn T ros ter since any of its current players were alive) miss the mark.

Take current first-choice center-back Aaron Long, for instance. o ver the last year and change, criticizing Long has become something of a stand-in for criticizing b erhalter. The case against Long makes sense in a vac uum. he is by any definition a flawed player. he doesn’t boast an expansive pass ing range, he doesn’t excel in 1v1 defensive situations and there are still questions about how much of his game was affected by a seasonending injury suffered at the start of the 2021 season.

b ut using starting Long as a building block for a “fire b erhalter” case is ridiculous. b ecause, as flawed as Long may be, he absolutely makes the most sense from a tacti cal perspective for the cur rent Usmn T. most Usmn T fans would agree that Walker Zimmerman is, giv en the current injury status of m iles robinson and c hris r ichards, the best option for the team in their first match against Wales.

And Zimmerman’s con sensus status as a starter is why Long is his partner. Zimmerman, for all his aer ial prowess, is, simply put, slow. Throughout qualify ing, the Usmn T has played a high defensive line. And such a line would struggle if Long was removed from the rota tion because no other cen ter back in the current fold complements Zimmerman like he does. Tim r eam of fers experience at the high est club level in the world and an underrated passing

range. b ut Tim ream is 35 years old and even slower than Zimmerman.

Just because ream plays in the Premier League (and at a high level at that), means that he’s an automatic fit to start for the Usmn T. o ne of the reasons ream has ex celled for Fulham is the fact that they play a deep block, where the veteran centerback is tasked with being dominant in the air. This system fits his skillset, and as such enhances his perfor mance. The opposite is true for how he would fit into the Usmn T lineup.

The reason we know this? ream was himself in Long’s position just a few years ago, the whipping boy of the Usmn T picked on as a con sequence of continued faith from b erhalter despite poor performances. Perhaps most notably, in what would go on to be an iconic 3-2 state ment victory against mexico, ream spent most of his 82 minutes on the field being toyed with by quicker play ers like h irving Lozano. o n mexico’s second goal, d iego Lainez was isolated directly with ream and beat him with a cut inside.

And this performance came in a defensive struc ture that offered ream even more security (he was the left center back in a back five) than the current 4-3-3 high line would. While ream will certainly be an impor tant factor in the squad for Qatar. It may be merely of fering a veteran presence in the locker room of one of the youngest teams in the tour nament. o r it could be as someone who can help close out a lead when teams are sending long balls into the box at every chance. he’s not fit to be the starter. b erhalter is making the right choice rolling with Long.

And on the note of the Usmn T being one of the youngest teams in the tournament, that fact also helps to explain some of b erhalter’s more heavily criticized roster decisions. c hristian roldan, for in stance, is perhaps the player heading to Qatar that has drawn the most questions from Usmn T fans. sure, the wide midfielder is a reli able m L s starter who brings versatility to the table. b ut there’s not much in his pure skillset that excites anyone as a game-breaker on the in ternational level.

For one, at 27, c hristian roldan is basically an old man by Usmn T midfield

Berhalter’s leadership: subdued outlook for U.S.

Adam Akan sports Writer

The first thing you need to understand, if you are an American inexperienced with world soccer, is that Greg berhalter is not a “bad guy.” he’s not the bobby Petrino or Urban meyer of American soc cer. I personally have had the opportunity to engage in a number of brief conversations with the man and can confirm he is a genuine, humble and ap proachable person who truly cares about U.s. soccer.

Another thing you need to know is that Gregg berhalter likely obtained his current po sition due to nepotism. his brother was an executive in the U.s soccer Federation and re portedly fought hard to elevate him, then the head coach of the mLs columbus crew toting a 39% win percentage, to the na tion’s most prestigious soccer position.

Throughout the post-2018 disaster era of the UsmnT, whether it be friendlies, World cup qualifying, recruitment, roster selection or, most re cently, preparation for the World cup, berhalter’s reign has had its ups and downs. There were the bright moments, such as recruiting dual nationals Yunus musah, Pepi ricardo or malik Tillman, emphatically defeating mexico dos a cero in cincinnati or expanding the UsmnT player pool into europe. Then, there were the lows, like an embarrassing loss to far inferior canada in quali fiers, notching zero goals in re cent september friendlies or the alienation of veteran players. many always believed berhalter’s most mind-numb ing lapse in leadership was his commitment to a stringent sys tem in international play. Again, to my potentially inexperienced readers, international soccer is thrown together in a matter of weeks. There is no time to es tablish a system similar to that of Fc barcelona or manchester city in, at most, a combined month together over the course of a year. Yet GGG (berhalter’s nickname) has emphasized “verticality” as if it was his bible. The system of “verticality,” which puts a priority on build ing from the back, slow me thodical play and a bevy of runs in behind, has done nothing but stunt the growth of this team. It has neutered star attackers such as christian Pulisic or Giovanni reyna and alienated talented players that deserve to suit up, such as Jordan Pefok or John

brooks, simply because they do not “fit the system.”

Yet berhalter’s masterclass of troughs came this past week, when the Federation an nounced the 26-man roster that would be attending the World cup in Qatar. As someone who has meticulously scouted this pool of players, lets just say, I was far more than a bit under whelmed. now, the roster is no failure — there were some lock picks that elevate it, as well as a few pleasant surprise selec tions that will be vital in the cup matches. Yet overall this roster provides little prospects for the United states exceeding expec tations in Qatar.

In the defense, GGG select ed cameron carter-vickers of celtics, sergino dest of Ac milan, Aaron Long of nY red bulls, shaquell moore of nashville sc, Tim ream, captain of Fulham, Antonee robinson of Fulham, Joseph scally of borussia monchengladbach, deAndre Yedlin of Inter miami and Walker Zimmerman of nashville sc. It is important to note that chris richards of crystal Palace sustained an in jury and thus was unfit to play. This slew of selections screams “mLs quota.” There is abso lutely no reason this many play ers from a far inferior domestic league should be representing our country in 2022. We have far better options available. I am pleasantly surprised to see Tim ream, who has been in fan tastic form for Fulham, on the roster. dest and robinson have played fantastic for the national team, and carter-vickers and scally deserved nods based off immense club performances. Zimmerman has been a beast for the UsmnT, and was the sole mLs player I believed de served a spot. but then… it gets bad. Long has a great comeback story af ter injuring himself at the start of qualifying. That’s all well and good, but he should be nowhere within 500 miles of this roster. his form has been question able in the retirement league of the mLs, he has played medio cre at best for the national team and has major injury concerns. Perhaps there’s hope President biden could sign an executive order to kick him off the roster. shaq moore and deAndre Yedlin exist. There’s not much to say about them. They’re not very good for their already un derwhelming clubs, nor the national team. Their principal accomplishment is that they can run and sometimes kick. hooray! one could make the argument Yedlin is here for past

Wc experience, but if that’s the case, where is John brooks, who scored in a World cup? reggie cannon, mark mcKenzie or John brooks would have been far more talented options. but Gregg had to show the UssF is “in league” with the dead weight and talentless mLs, leading to a back line that lacks critical depth.

The midfielders are a far more elite group, mostly be cause there was little way GGG could screw it up. brendan Aaronson and Tyler Adams of Leeds United, Luca de la Torre of celta vigo, Weston mcKennie of Juventus, Yunus musah of valencia, Kellyn Acosta of LAFc and (deep sigh) cristian roldan of seattle sounders (screams in agony). It is likely the cap tain will be in this midfield group, whether its Adams or mcKennie. All of the european selections here are top-notch. each has been in top form for their clubs, particularly the Leeds United boys, and contrib uted immensely to the heart of the UsmnT.

The mLs players are highly questionable at best. Kellyn Acosta has a high motor. congrats, you can run a lot. That may come in handy against inferior pawn teams such as Jamaica or cuba, but will be utterly useless against a side of immense talent like england. cristian roldan should be triple the distance of Aaron Long from this side. he has been fine for sounders, but utterly invisible on the national team. he may even be a net neg ative. GGG apparently believed one spot needed to go to a “glue guy,” and the selection was roldan. The idea that berhalter would overlook the talents of a malik Tillman or James sands simply for a “glue guy” to record some funny videos in the locker room is befuddling. Actually, more like downright negligent. roldan has no business warm ing the UsmnT bench, much less seeing minutes.

The forwards provided per haps the most shocking exclu sions of the roster. christian Pulisic of chelsea, the undis puted star of the team, was joined by Tim Weah of Lille, Gio reyna of borussia dortmund, Josh sargent of norwich city, haji Wright of Antalyaspor, Jesus Ferreira of Fc dallas, and … Jordan … morris … of seattle sounders. The first four names mentioned were locks and should be critical contributors and shining stars of this side.

The bottom three warrant not

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The

just discussion, but anger. Jesus Ferreira is not the second com ing of cristiano ronaldo be cause he scored some sexy free kicks in mLs in fact, recently his form has been utterly dis gusting, as he sends easy goals 30 yards into the air as if he was kicking a field goal. GGG’s fa voritism is more than apparent there; it’s blinding. haji Wright has been blazingly effective in the Turkish super Lig, yet was underwhelming at the national level. his skill set is utilized bet ter by Jordan Pefok, who at one point was the top scorer for his bundesliga team. Pefok was not selected due to “form concerns,” yet Ferreira was given an almost guaranteed spot, despite a form that could be rivaled by certain writers at The observer.

Jordan morris has no merit to be on this team. it is 2022 and Jordan morris is still receiving call-ups, despite proving time and time and time again he is an underwhelming winger who cannot effectively create attack chances. he is undoubtedly the worst pick here.

Pepi ricardo, who struggled in the bundesliga but now is tearing it up in the eredivisie, was not selected. Pepi saved the UsmnT a number of times in contested qualifying matches and was, at a point, the secondleading scorer behind Pulisic. he proudly chose to represent the UsmnT over mexico, and was a fierce proponent of the american vision of football throughout 2021 and 2022. Yet, he will remain at home, a heart breaking decision for fans and Pepi alike. These are the sorts of decisions that may threaten berhalter’s job come January. at least he did a good job pick ing goalkeepers in a historically weak UsmnT keeper pool. so, what can american hope fuls, both diehards and casuals, expect when the U.s. plays its

first match next monday? That will ultimately come down to berhalter. he needs to ditch the ideas of “verticality” and loosen up his coaching style. Let talent ed players like christian Pulisic (who truly is chelsea’s best at tacker), Gio reyna (Golden boy nominee) and Timothy Weah take players on and beat them. Let the trio of musah, mcKennie and adams operate with more independence as opposed to following a script. Let dest shoot from deep outside. in oth er words, let the youngest team in the tournament play like the youngest team in the tour nament. do not restrict them to playing like your mediocre columbus crew sides of old or a middling Premier League side. There is a fire here in this side that can come out at any time. GGG needs to stop trying to work to tame that flame and instead let youthful exuberance be what propels this unbeliev able group of teenagers forward.

This article may have been bleak. i know. but, readers, you must understand this is the most talented team the Usa has ever sent to a World cup, and it’s not close. if utilized correctly, these players have the poten tial to make some noise in this tournament. They will be likely favorites against iran and Wales and, despite the pompous cel ebrations of the english media, reports are Gareth soutgate and the Three Lions are uneasy about their match versus the americans. This is the group of boys we will be sending — there are no more changes to make, barring injury or emergency. Let’s show them the support they need as they undertake the most iconic tournament in the world. and Gregg, try not to screw things up.

Contact Adam Akan at aakan@ nd.edu.

The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

standards. The oldest ex pected starter in the center of the park for the United states in Qatar will be Weston mcKennie, at the ripe old age of 24. he’ll likely be accom panied by Tyler a dams (23) and Yunus musah (19) to help lead a lineup that won’t be much older in average age than mcKennie, if at all. it’s easy to see why veterans of both club and country such as roldan (who also con sistently has been praised for his tactical acumen and ability to act almost like a player-coach at times) and d e a ndre Yedlin made the roster over some of their more exciting counterparts.

The Usmn T is entering the World c up knowing the odds are stacked against them. Just one player on the roster (Yedlin, who’s likely to be used in a rotational role if at all) has played in a World c up before. Just about every team they face will be more battle-tested on the glob al stage. b erhalter knows this and knows he needs to add reliability and veteran know-how wherever he can. a nd in his eyes, that means starting a flawed center-back he knows fits the system and filling his depth spots with experienced options even if they lack upside. m any fans see such decisions as weak ness. b erhalter likely sees them as insurance. a nd if the Usmn T is able to put to gether a run in spite of their collective youth, that insur ance will almost certainly be invaluable.

Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@ nd.edu.

The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessar ily those of The Observer.

five sacks last season, trailing only isaiah Foskey. Together, they both formed part of a formidable pass-rushing trio along with Justin’s twin broth er Jayson ademilola.

notre dame recruited the ademilolas in tandem, and on June 26, 2016, the twins committed to the university together. six years later, Justin reflected on that process.

“i just wanted to get here and see the notre dame expe rience,” he said. “i got here and my twin brother and i camped here. We earned an offer, and not even 48 hours later we decided to commit to notre dame because of the coach ing staff, everything it had to offer, the academics — you really couldn’t go wrong,” he said.

he was especially apprecia tive of the opportunity to con tinue playing with his brother after high school.

“it’s an awesome experi ence. not too many people get to play at the next level with their brother or their twin, so it’s an experience that i’m forever grateful and thankful for — that notre dame gave us the opportunity to play to gether here,” ademilola said.

ademilola added to that sentiment, mentioning head coach marcus Freeman’s coaching philosophy and talk ing about the drive to compete and get better alongside his brother.

“[Jayson and i] are always competing to get better but it’s also all love. coach Freeman’s got a saying called ‘competi tive spirit,’ so you always have to compete and bring the best out of your brothers, but at the end of the day it’s all love,” he said.

Throughout his time at notre dame, ademilola has played under three different

defensive coordinators in cluding current head football coach marcus Freeman. That experience has also given him a great perspective of what sets Freeman apart.

“coach Freeman’s a handson guy. he’s a coach that al ways leaves his door open. he has relationships with every one of his players, and he’s just there for us. That means a lot for our players. anything we need from coach Freeman, he’ll try his best to get it done for the team. We love play ing for a coach like that,” ademilola said.

it’s that love for Freeman that generated a different level of buzz around the program this season.

ademilola felt that buzz in the locker room too. especially on the night of a big game, like when clemson came to notre dame stadium earlier this season.

“Waking up that morning when we had walkthroughs, everyone was saying upfront, ‘it’s in the air tonight, guys.’ We knew what we were get ting into, and we knew that we were coming out victorious. it’s a credit to our preparation and our execution,” ademilola said.

ademilola said he is still un sure of what his future holds. however, he looks forward to the end of the season and giv ing his best for the team.

despite the uncertainty, he expressed deep gratitude for his experiences and his teammates.

“every year, being a part of a different team — new lead ership and just the guys. i’m gonna be grateful and thank ful for this experience with the guys and my teammates. i’m blessed to be able to leave here upper-handed,” ademilola said.

Contact José Sánchez Córdova at jsanch12@ nd.edu

buckeyes, finishing the year with an outstanding .931 save per centage. he is a 5th round draft pick of the montreal canadiens from 2020.

Scouting the Irish notre dame is coming off a momentum changing, 3-2 overtime win against rival michigan last saturday night. Previously, the irish had lost 3 straight games, including a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of the Wolverines the night before. When, the next night, the irish headed to the locker room af ter the first period trailing 2-0, there was little life in compton Family ice a rena. The feeling seemed to be that notre dame was on the precipice of getting swept for the second weekend in a row.

but the irish had something to say about that. Grappling their way back into the game, notre

dame tied the score late in the second period. a fter a stalemate third, junior forward Grant silianoff scored the dramatic game winner 2:26 into over time, and life burst anew for the Fighting irish.

“i’m hoping we can build on what we did saturday as op posed to taking a step back,” head coach Jeff Jackson said Wednesday. “i think a lot of it had to do with playing with bet ter discipline, both within our system and not taking unneces sary penalties.”

Puck management was also key for notre dame in the win. in the second and third periods of the saturday contest, the irish made good decisions with the puck, controlling possession in the offensive zone and on zone entries. Puck management will continue to be important for the team going forward.

“For me, it’s about just doing a better job with the puck — both off the rush on our entries into the offensive zone, and then in

the offensive zone. To me, those are the things that impact the game the most for us,” Jackson said.

a s notre dame seeks to capi talize on the fresh momentum, they will be forced to find results on the road. road games have been a challenge this year for the irish, who are winless in five games away from compton.

“We’ve always been a good road team, and yet we haven’t won a road game yet this year, and that gives me a little pause,” Jackson said.

The irish will play their next four on the road. This weekend sees two games at value city a rena against ohio state before the irish head east to boston. notre dame will play the 6-30 boston University Terriers at agganis a rena Wednesday, then will go across town to take on the boston college eagles on Friday.

Contact Ryan Murphy at

Paid a dverT isemen T

Irish volleyball looks to tame Wolfpack in second meeting

By TYLER REIDY sports Writer

a fter a four-game homes tand at Purcell Pavilion, notre dame volleyball is hitting the road once again on saturday. The irish will take a one-game excursion to raleigh to face nc state for the second time in 13 days. Though notre dame has hosted all four north carolinabased acc schools, they have yet to visit the Tar heel state.

The Wolfpack, led by third-year head coach Luka slabe, are 1313 overall and 7-8 in acc play. meanwhile, notre dame is 9-16 overall and 4-11 within the con ference under first-year head coach salima rockwell.

Last chance for a turnaround both teams have taken a tum ble since the middle of october. notre dame’s losing streak has ballooned to seven games after a 4-4 start to conference action.

The irish have taken the first set just once during the skid. With no. 4 Louisville awaiting on Thanksgiving eve, they could certainly use a jumpstart on saturday.

meanwhile, nc state has dropped six out of eight games. The Wolfpack hit below .200 in all six losses and delivered less than 35 kills twice dur ing the stretch. on sunday, the Wolfpack fell 3-1 at clemson af ter blanking the Tigers just two weeks prior. nc state outhit them .189 to .174 but were over taken in the game’s biggest mo ments. clemson secured both the first and last sets by three points or less. The Wolfpack must return to the win column to uphold a tie for sixth in the acc. Three teams are within half a game of them in the standings.

Irish hope to “Trump” growing pains

Saints drop to winless Jaguars

By ADAM AKAN sports Writer

The holy cross saints came into Wednesday night’s game at mcKenna arena looking to re bound from four straight losses following a victory to begin the season. This would be the last game the saints played at mcKenna arena until dec. 10, with five straight games on the road approaching. The game would also represent the saints’ third game of conference play in ccac, in which they were winless thus far. Their oppo nent was the Governors state Jaguars, a previously 0-5 team. holy cross came out on fire against the underwhelming Jaguars defense, shooting 57.1% from the field and 44% from the three point line in the first half. senior forward mick sullivan, a transfer from Quincy University, set a strong pace for the saints offense. he would ultimately finish the game as the team’s leading scorer with 22 points, sinking 11 out of 14 shots.

The saints’ 42-37 led going into the second half, but the lead quickly evaporated through a combination of revived Jaguar play and an inability for the sloppier saints team to put the game out of reach. The Jaguars took a slight lead, and the game became a tussle of rebound bat tles and turnovers. it would be those turnovers which would

produce an extra 17 points for the Jaguars, demoralizing the saints as they tried to battle back. The saints’ bench also failed to adequately produce compared to GsU, scoring four points to the Jaguars’ 16. head coach mike mcbride chose to only play eight players in this battle while Governors state brought out 11.

The saints continued to shoot the ball efficiently, how ever, leading to a nail biter. Freshman guard Phil robles ii had an opportunity to win the game with a last second three point shot, but just missed the clincher. The Jaguars secured the game 76-74, extending this streak of difficulty for the saints. despite out-rebounding the Jaguars 32-26, shooting bet ter from three point range and the free throw line, scoring more points in the paint (38-28) and second chance points (167), the Jaguars capitalized ex tremely well off saint miscues.

The saints have now dropped to 1-5 overall and 0-3 in con ference play. Their next game will be saturday at Judson University, in a conference matchup in elgin, illinois. The saints hope they can rebound and get this season back on track against a 1-5 eagles team that stands above them in the ccac

Contact Adam Akan at aakan@nd.edu

bunch, the irish have had plen ty to iron out since august. on a per set basis, notre dame bottoms out the acc in points, kills and assists. however, notre dame is among the con ference’s best defensive teams with 14.44 digs per set. Junior libero hattie monson leads the group with 4.19 digs per set and sits at fourth in the acc. The ultra-versatile sophomore set ter Phyona schrader has 3.08 to go with a team-high 7.94 assists per set.

notre dame’s strongest de velopment of late has been freshman outside hitter Lucy Trump. The Kentucky native has expanded her game signifi cantly, and it is paying off down the stretch. she totaled four kill-dig double-doubles in the season’s first 19 games. in the last four games, she has deliv ered three such performances. Trump’s outing in last Friday’s loss to Florida state was easily her best in acc play. she col lected 17 kills at a .279 hitting percentage to accompany 15 digs. The freshman leads the irish in kills (2.71), points (257), and is third in digs (1.95).

Wolfpack howling on the defensive end nc state occupies the mid dle of the acc pack in most

statistical categories. They populate the bottom two with notre dame for both hitting percentage and service aces. however, the Wolfpack lead the conference in digs (15.56) and are second in blocks (2.63). With both teams playing such consistent defense, offensive mistakes must be avoided and capitalization on overplays will be key. sophomore outside hit ter madison Williams stepped up offensively against clemson, racking a career-high 17 kills.

The Wolfpack are one of three acc teams with multiple players among the top ten in blocks. The other two squads, Louisville and Pittsburgh, are nationally ranked. Junior middle blocker riley shaak is fourth in the conference with 1.24 denials per set. she has also executed 14 digs over her last two games to expand her defensive prowess. sophomore middle blocker Jada a llen is seventh with 1.13 rejections per set. she notched eight kills on sunday — her most since con ference play began.

Notre Dame can run with the Pack, but must clean up nc state defeated notre dame 3-1 back on nov. 6, but the irish were not entirely outplayed. They blocked the

Wolfpack 12 times to win set two and keep sets one and four tight. however, nc state was generally better in the at tack, outhitting nd .234 to .180. notre dame committed six reception errors, while the Wolfpack made only one.

Lucy Trump was everywhere for the irish, pounding 13 kills to go with 12 digs and 8 blocks. Phyona schrader was her usual self as well, racking up 32 as sists along with 10 digs and seven kills. on the nc state end, sophomore outside hit ter martyna Leoniak earned an impressive double-double (15 kills, 18 digs). sophomore opposite hitter a manda rice and graduate student opposite hitter vanja bukilic each con tributed 14 kills. senior setter Kristen mcdaniel and junior setter naomi cabello also teamed up for 51 assists.

saturday’s first serve will fly at 5 p.m. on acc network extra. This will be the ante penultimate match for both teams. notre dame will return home on Wednesday to host Louisville before a final road tilt at virginia Tech. nc state will take on virginia and syracuse to close out the regular season.

Contact Tyler Reidy at treidy3@nd.edu

Paid a dverT isemen T

With a freshman-heavy

HCC MEN’s BAsKETBALL

side of the ball as well as dic tating what they were doing,” n otre d ame graduate stu dent forward n ate Laszewski said after the game. “Just be ing a little more aggressive.”

Those adjustments paid dividends for the Irish, who held the s creaming e agles to just 25 points on 34% shoot ing in the first half. n otre d ame had previously al lowed at least 36 points in every half this season. b y steadily opening up a lead that eventually ballooned to 17 points at the end of the half, the Irish were able to create significant separation from their opponent for the first time this year. g raduate student guard Trey Wertz at tributed that to the team’s talented offensive players buying in on defense.

“I think it was just get ting stops,” Wertz said about n otre d ame’s first-half ad vantage. “I think when you can string together stops — with the way we’re scoring right now on offense — you can start to build leads like that.”

The offense was led ear ly on by Laszewski, who made a three-pointer on the game’s opening posses sion on his way to scoring 11 points in the first half. f or Laszewski, who won acc Player of the Week after av eraging 21 points and 11 rebounds in n otre d ame’s first two games, these types of offensive outbursts have seemingly become the rule, rather than the exception.

Laszewski has been a key player for several seasons, but after the departure of volume scorers like b lake Wesley and Paul a tkinson Jr. in the offseason, n otre d ame head coach m ike b rey challenged him to take on an expanded workload in the offense. a fter recording his third consecutive doubledouble with 18 points and 10 rebounds against s outhern Indiana, it is clear that Laszewski is ready to step into that role.

“The stage has been cleared out for [Laszewski] to be the star, it took me time to explain that to him,” b rey said. “I love that he’s grabbed it.”

While Laszewski was criti cal in n otre d ame’s win, it was Wertz who led the Irish in scoring. h e recorded a season-high 20 points in a continuation of his breakout season. a fter making two three-pointers in the first half, Wertz took over in the second period by keying in on the rim, consistently at tacking e agle defenders off the dribble and converting several tough finishes. f or Wertz, who has primarily been a spot-up shooter for much of his Irish career, this season has highlighted the expansions of his offensive game.

Laszewski’s dominant of fensive performance so far this season was easy to see coming. Wertz’s play, and even more so his leadership and game management, has come as more of a pleasant surprise, according to b rey. Wertz was not expected to be a starter for the Irish but seized his opportunity fol lowing graduate transfer guard m arcus h ammond’s knee injury.

h ammond is expected to return to action in the com ing weeks, but with Wertz having been perhaps the Irish’s best offensive player through three games, it is difficult to see him letting go of his spot in the starting five any time soon.

“I need a guy that’s run ning the team and who I can talk to, and we weren’t sure who that was going to be through June,” b rey said. “With m arcus h ammond out, [we said], ‘Trey, we need you, and we need 35 min utes [per game].’ h e has just grabbed it. h e’s calm and he sees the floor. I just love his demeanor.”

Wertz is clearly on the same page, as he attested after the game as to how b rey’s confidence in him has allowed him to make the leap from averaging four

to play for the remainder of the night.

points per game last year up to nearly 18 in the current season.

“I’m someone with the ball in my hands a lot and the coaches trust me to make decisions,” Wertz said. “It feels good [to be scor ing more], I know last year wasn’t the best scoring out put that I’ve had. The guys trust me, coach trusts me. I worked hard all summer and the confidence is there now.”

c oming out of the halftime break trailing 42-25, the e agles continued to fight, whittling the lead down to single digits several times. m ost of the damage came in the paint, as the Irish strug gled to contain s outhern Indiana’s Trevor Lakes, who scored a team-high 21 points, and Jacob Polakovich, who added 16 points and 10 re bounds. Polakovich, who was not expected to play for another month following surgery to treat a Jones frac ture, had several emphatic dunks in his first game back from injury.

a pair of Polakovich free throws trimmed the Irish lead to 51-43 with under twelve minutes to play, but the e agles were ultimately unable to get any closer. The dagger came midway through the half when grad uate student guard c ormac r yan and Wertz made con secutive three-pointers to boost the Irish advantage from 10 to an insurmount able 16 in a matter of sec onds. With the game in hand, n otre d ame emptied their bench in the final min utes to close out the 82-70 victory and improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2017.

Looking ahead, n otre d ame has a quick turn around before returning to Purcell Pavilion to play Lipscomb on f riday at 7 p.m. The Irish will conclude the g otham c lassic next week, hosting b owling g reen on Tuesday and traveling to n ew York to face s t. b onaventure on b lack f riday.

Contact Matthew Crow at mcrow@nd.edu

Irish face road test at Ohio State

By RYAN MURPHY sports Writer

With five of their six big Ten league opponents ranked in ncaa hockey’s top 20, the #20 notre dame hockey team is no stranger to top-20 matchups. This weekend is no different, as the Irish travel to columbus for a ranked battle with the #12/13 ohio state buckeyes. It is set to be an important series for both sides, as ohio state tries to get back on track after being swept at michigan state and notre dame looks to build off the mo mentum of last saturday’s over time win against michigan.

Series History

The Irish and buckeyes have played 94 times since their first meeting in the 1968-69 season, and the series has been close throughout. notre dame holds the overall edge with a 42-41-11 record against ohio state, al though the buckeyes lead the series on their home ice 21-19-7.

Last year, ohio state took seven of 12 available points in the season series, with two reg ulation wins and an overtime loss. despite that, notre dame narrowly edged ohio state for the third seed — and first round home ice — in last year’s big Ten tournament. a mong the ties between the teams is longtime notre dame associate head coach Paul Pooley. Pooley is a 1984 graduate of ohio state and holds buckeye hockey’s career records for goals (114), assists (156) and points (270). he also got his coaching start at ohio state in 1988 and had his num ber retired by the program be fore a game between the Irish and buckeyes in 2006. Pooley is now in his 18th season behind the notre dame bench.

Scouting the Buckeyes ohio state was one of the fi nal teams left out of last year’s

ncaa tournament. With 22 players from that squad re turning, the buckeyes opened this season with motivation and a vengeance. one of the hottest teams in the nation at the time, they attracted eyes around the country with a 7-11 start. The best results from that streak were 0-0 tie at cur rent #7/8 connecticut and a 6-4 win against #2 minnesota. The buckeyes, though, have cooled off lately, and are losers of three straight. coming out of an open weekend, ohio state was swept by surging michigan state in two close games last weekend. as a veteran team, depth has been the key to ohio state’s success this season, and it will continue to be. a ll 21 players with at least five games played so far have one point or more for the buckeyes, and 15 have one goal or more.

The buckeye depth is espe cially strong down the middle, with their top three centers leading the team in scoring. graduate student Jake Wise, a 2018 draftee of the chicago blackhawks, leads all skaters with five goals and 12 points. Wise played three years at boston university before trans ferring to ohio state last year. meanwhile, freshman stephen halliday (a 2022 4th round pick by ottawa) and junior Travis Treloar are right behind Wise, with 11 and 10 points respectively.

special teams have also been key for the buckeyes, who are second in the nation on the penalty kill. much of that has to do with consistent goaltend ing by sophomore Jakub dobes, who has started all 12 games this year for ohio state while posting a .911 save percentage and 2.48 goals against average. a native of the czech republic, dobes played in 35 games last year as a freshman for the

stepped up and scored con sistently on the Wildcats’ defense. n otre d ame was able to secure a 30 point lead by the end of the period, nearly doubling the 17 point lead they had at the beginning of the quarter. s ophomore guard o livia m iles, the night’s second highest scorer, contributed nine points in the frame. m iles, however, also re ceived a number of fouls throughout the game, and after receiving her sec ond technical foul of the night was removed from the game and was unable

To wrap up the con test, the Irish scored 19 points in the 4th quar ter to n orthwestern’s 15, securing the win with a score of 92-58.

n otre d ame continues to move through their season with comfortable wins over their opponents, and have made for a strong start for head coach n iele Ivey’s third season.

The Irish will face the b all s tate c ardinals in their upcoming game on s unday at 4 p.m. at Purcell Pavilion.

Contact Lucia Aguzzi at laguzzi@nd.edu

earlier game is the n o. 4 seed m ichigan s tate. The s partans have enjoyed a dream season in Jeff h osler’s second year as head coach. The s partans won the b ig Ten regular season title, continuing a stunning curve of improve ment from a 2020 team that finished 1-10-1 and ended the season on a 10-game losing streak. g oalkeeper Lauren Kozal anchors the m ichigan s tate backline and has enjoyed a career year in her final season that has placed her among the nation’s best goalies. s enior

forward Lauren d e b eau leads the charge on offense for the s partans, with a team-high 11 goals as well as four assists.

Looking to end m ichigan s tate’s stellar run is T cu, whose up-and-down re sults throughout the sea son make them likely the biggest wild card of the regional. e arly on in the season, the h orned f rogs notched perhaps the biggest statement win of the year in college soccer, dismantling then- n o. 16 s anta c lara 7-0 in f ort Worth. b ut from that point on, T cu went just 1-1-2 against ranked teams. That included a 3-0 defeat at the hands of usc The h orned f rogs have

offensive weapons, most notably graduate student forward m essiah b right, who seems destined for the n W s L once her collegiate career ends. b ut will they show up against a disci plined m ichigan s tate team that has had a week of rest from a grueling extra-time win in round one?

The s outh b end regional kicks off f riday at 2 p.m. at a lumni s tadium when m ichigan s tate takes on T cu n otre d ame will play the second match of the af ternoon, taking on s anta c lara at 6 p.m. b oth matches will be broadcast on es P n

Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@nd.edu

ND wOMEN’s BAsKETBALL

Irish rout Wildcats

By LUCIA AGUZZI sports Writer

The n otre d ame wom en’s basketball team faced n orthwestern on the road on Wednesday night. It was an impressive performance for the squad as a whole. The collective efforts from both defense and offense helped the team emerge as winners 92-58, improving their season record to 3-0.

s ophomore guard s onia c itron shined on the court, leading all scorers with 24 points for the Irish. c itron, who was named the A cc r ookie of the Year last sea son, was a force on the court, playing 35 minutes and knocking down four of five three pointers.

The beginning of the game had n otre d ame continuously increasing their lead for the first few minutes, scoring nine points before n orthwestern scored their first. The Wildcats struggled to catch up to the Irish, and were unsuccessful in closing the point gap

in the first quarter, and for the duration of the game.

The first quarter ended with a score of 21-14 in n otre d ame’s favor. Graduate stu dent center Lauren e bo was a notable player, scoring 11 of those points in the five minutes she was on the court during the quarter on 5-5 shooting. e bo was the third highest scorer of the night, with a total of 19 points.

Going into the sec ond quarter, the Irish maintained a comfortable lead against the Wildcats, who scored a total 16 points in the period, which turned out to be their high est scoring period of the night. n otre d ame’s defense was impressive the entire night and prevented the any individual n orthwestern player from scoring double digits. The Irish, mean while, rode a balanced scor ing attack with three players with at least 19 points.

In the third quarter, the Irish offense really

‘end of the day, it’s all love’: Justin Ademilola

By JOSÉ SÁNCHEZ CÓRDOVA sports Writer

since arriving on campus in 2018 Justin Ademilola has done nothing more than put in the work and carve out a spot on the notre dame football team. Arriving as a 3-star recruit from Jackson, new Jersey, he has found a consistent role on the team, using his versatility to appear in every game for the Irish over the last three years.

“since I got here, every year my football IQ has been in creasing, and that’s helped with my play. I can play numerous different positions and I know the nuances of a lot of positions up front – even the linebackers. I think that works as an advan tage for me,” Ademilola said.

during his career, he played at both ends of the notre dame defensive line. Ademilola racked up 102 tackles, 12.5 tack les for loss and 8.5 sacks. he has steadily improved his numbers every year, putting together a stellar 35 tackles and one forced fumble in 2021. he was also second on the team with

strong start carries Irish to win over southern Indiana

By MATTHEW CROW s ports Writer

After opening the season with two tight victories, n otre d ame men’s basket ball sought a less stressful finish on Wednesday night against s outhern Indiana in the opening game of the Gotham c lassic. The Irish got just that, building a big first-half lead and holding on to earn an 82-70 win in Purcell Pavilion.

With a veteran group made up of several high-level shooters and playmakers, the Irish offense has run seamlessly in the early stag es of the season. Their strug gles in narrow wins against r adford and Youngstown s tate came on the defensive end and getting stops was a point of emphasis for the team entering Wednesday’s game.

“[ d efense] was obviously a focus for us yesterday in practice, being a little bit more vocal on the defensive

Irish host South Bend regional

By J.J. POST s ports Writer

Friday afternoon, a week end of soccer will kick off at Alumni s tadium to de cide who will be among the final eight teams in the nc AA tournament.

n otre d ame will host both their own game with s anta c lara, as well as an earlier contest between m ichigan s tate and T c U to determine who will play the winner of the Irish/ b roncos matchup.

h ere’s everything you need to know about the three teams n otre d ame will play or might play this weekend in s outh b end.

s anta c lara is the Irish’s r ound of 32 opponent, and they present an immedi ate tough task for a n otre d ame squad that glided by o maha in the r ound of 64 without much difficulty. The b roncos have nc AA Tournament experience that few others in the na tion can boast. Last year’s squad made the c ollege c up, and in 2020 they took

home the national title. n either of those b roncos teams were highly seeded, and both took down n o. 1 seeds in their tournament runs.

Izzy d ’Aquila leads the charge for s anta c lara. The nation’s top goalscorer, d ’Aquila outjumped three defenders and the c al goal tender to deliver the win ning header in the first round of the tournament. s he is one of the most dan gerous players on the field if she’s able to get the ball at her feet. b ut for that to happen, s anta c lara needs big games from wingbacks Alyssa b ourgeois and c olby b arnett. That pair ing leads the team in just about every chance cre ation stat possible. They need to break through a stout n otre d ame defense Friday night.

Michigan s tate, TCU round out quartet h eadlining the

Max petrosky | the observer

Graduate student defensive lineman Justin Ademilola rushes at a Clemson offensive lineman. Ademilola has 2.5 sacks on the season.

ND wOMEN’s sOCCER

Max petrosky | the observer

Graduate student forward Nate Laszewski goes for a rebound in Notre Dame’s 80-72 win over Southern Indiana where he scored 18 points.

Griffith finds definitive role

By J.J. POST sports Writer

houston Griffith arrived in s outh b end with high expec tations. A top 100 national recruit, Griffith was the high est rated member of notre dame’s 2018 recruiting class. And after five seasons and one position change, Griffith has delivered on those expecta tions, developing into a lynch pin and model of consistency in a changing Irish secondary and defense.

Griffith’s path to notre dame started early on. The Irish were one of the first teams to get involved in Griffith’s recruitment, with that initial interest play ing a major role in the I mG Academy product eventually choosing to commit.

“c oming to notre dame al ways came back to them be ing one of the first schools to recruit me when I was young,” said Griffith. “I always was coming up here for recruiting visits, whether it was spring ball or just regular visits. They were just so consistent with my recruiting process, I just fell in love with the staff and then fell in love with the school and the team. What the University could provide for me after college, they al ways talked about four for forty, that was a big thing my parents cared about. That was something that really struck us and led me to notre dame.”

Griffith’s becoming a staple

of consistency in the notre dame secondary was far from an immediate process. he slowly but surely established himself in the Irish defensive back rotation, making just three starts in his first three seasons in s outh b end.

After that third season, in which Griffith played in all twelve games but only made two starts, he entered the transfer portal. With his spot in the defense unclear fol lowing the departure of c lark Lea, who had been defensive coordinator for the entirety of Griffith’s notre dame ca reer to that point, it would have been hard to blame the then-junior for exploring op portunities elsewhere. b ut, he was convinced by newly hired defensive coordinator marcus Freeman, and the rest of the Irish defensive staff to stay.

“The trust in marcus Freeman’s defense [brought me back],” Griffith said. “Just knowing where I would fit in the defense, knowing that I was welcome back at the pro gram. The coaches were talk ing to me throughout that whole process, those two and a half weeks. They showed a lot of love and I just knew my heart was still at notre dame and wanted me to finish where I started at.”

That return from the portal would prove to be a key inflec tion point in Griffith’s career.

eddie scheidler, off eddy st. and in the locker room

By AIDAN THOMAS sports editor

For eddie scheidler, notre dame was always a part of the plan.

“Grew up a diehard fan; parents came here, older sister came here, grandparents came here. so, a lot of notre dame in my blood.”

Football, however, was not.

It was in scheidler’s senior sea son at Lake Forest high school in Illinois, that current notre dame offensive coordinator Tommy rees noticed the defensive back while visiting to recruit rylie mills who is now a junior defensive end with the Irish. scheidler’s 35 tack les as a senior ranked among the team leaders. As a junior, he led the team with two forced fum bles. rees took notice.

“one day, early in the fall, when Tommy came and visited [to re cruit mills],” scheidler recalled. “he was like ‘hey we have some walk on spots open, would you consider walking on’ and that kind of snowballed to where we are today.”

While becoming a walk-on for the Fighting Irish may have been unexpected, scheidler has been sure to take advantage of opportunities presented to him, both in and outside the football program. A member of siegfried hall, — “Go ramblers,” the safety added — scheidler is a marketing major and history minor. outside of that, scheidler is eyeing career opportunities in sports media, having taken several classes with in the sports, media and culture minor. he’s utilized some of that

media experience with the foot ball team this year. continuing a tradition of player-produced media content, scheidler created a video series titled “Welcome to eddie st”, where he interviews Irish fans on eddy st. he took over for former Irish safety Litchfield Ajavon and his ‘tiny mic nation’.

“I talked to Litch about it last year. once he left, it was like try ing to fill a void,” scheidler noted.

“I tore my AcL in the spring, so I wasn’t going to practice for about nine months. I wanted to do something, and might as well do it.”

however, scheidler’s role ex pands far beyond the short videos posted on social media before each home game. Unable to prac tice with his injury, scheidler sought out various ways to con tinue to have an impact. “I start ed doing defensive signaling so I could stay a part of the team, find a role and still contribute,” scheidler said.

beyond that role, scheidler embraces his role as an upper classman among the walk-ons, helping younger players ad just to life as a college athlete. Among those underclassmen is scheidler’s brother, Leo, who walked on as a wide receiver.

“As an older walk-on, you have to show these guys the way things are done. I think it’s a different role as a walk-on. You’re not in the limelight and you have more of a backseat role,” scheidler said.

“It comes in things off the field ... classroom, weight room, time management, things that you don’t see on the field but translate

well into life.”

scheidler’s presence in the lock er room contributes to an overall program culture that many laud as the best in the country. “biggest thing for the culture is, my fresh man year, it felt not as fluid. You come into the locker room now, as a freshman walk-on, and a superstar senior will talk to you. everything’s more fluid, everyone knows what’s going on in each other’s lives. It wasn’t like that my freshman year. It’s like night and day. It’s awesome, it’s so much better.”

When asked about favorite memories, scheidler, like many seniors, noted the two clemson wins in the past three years as highlights, but he focused mainly on the off-field memories. “my fa vorite memories all time have to be locker rooms, before and after practice. The camaraderie, you’re just jumping around. It’s funny., some of the best conversations I’ve had in my life have come in the showers.”

scheidler isn’t quite done with notre dame football; he is pre paring to come back for a gradu ate program, but he still says the emotions of senior day feel surreal.

“It’ll be fun to stick around. It’s been a weird year not being able to practice because of my injury,” scheidler said. “but it’s weird, I don’t feel like a senior. It’s gone by fast. It’s bittersweet. but it’s the best experience I’ve ever had in my life.”

ContactAidan Thomas at athoma28@nd.edu

Courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics

Senior saftey Eddie Scheidler freaks out during the 35-14 Notre Dame upset of Clemson, on Nov. 5. The Tigers were ranked No. 4 at the time. He served as a defensive signaler during the game for the Irish.

Courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics Graduate student safety Griffith Houston prepares to battle against BYU in the Notre Dame 28-20 win over the Cougars.

see GrIFFITh PaGe 6

Crimson red to Irish green: Sot shines for Notre Dame

By MANNION MCGINLEY Assistant managing editor

The 2022 off-season saw de finitive upheaval for Irish foot ball in every sense of the word. A new head coach, new coach ing staff, a new starting quar terback, and then another one two games into the season.

harvard graduate transfer punter Jon s ot became a ma jor player in this upheaval. no one expected the Irish to start the season 1-2 and need a new quarterback after two games. but now, that that is the real ity Irish fans live in, they’re looking for reliability. s ot has been able to fill that need for consistency.

s ot has taken 19 punts on the season, more than half of those placed within the 20, including all four punts he took against marshall. In the season opener at ohio state, the former Ivy League punter unleashed a 75yard bomb, and he averages about 45 yards per punt.

Initially, s ot said he was nervous to come into the Irish locker room. however, he found that this game is life to everyone at notre dame, and they’re welcoming because of that.

“It’s been awesome,” s ot said during camp. “Football-wise, it’s been great. The facilities here are awesome. The coaches are the best around. The guys on the team are so dedicated to this, you know, they love this. This is their life. being able to come in here and be a part of that is incredible. I feel like I belong here, they’ve made me feel that way. I can’t wait to see what this team does.”

despite how the season opened, that energy and that excitement haven’t faltered. s ot said he’s seen where the good has come through.

“I love it here,” s ot told Irish

sports daily. “not the start we hoped for as a team. special teams-wise [though], we’ve done a good job. [ but special teams] coach [ brian] mason tells us being good isn’t good enough. We want to be the best of the best. We want to be elite. There’s improvements to be made all around special teams.”

For himself, s ot says he could be more consistent than he has been thus far, something he wouldn’t have been able to see in himself earlier in his career.

“When I was young as a freshman, I wasn’t able to find my deficiencies,” s ot said. “now that I’ve been in col lege for quite a while, I’m able, when I hit a bad punt, to figure out what I’m doing wrong and that’s been the most helpful thing for me.”

making those adjustments required s ot to rely mostly on his confidence and putting the work in, he said.

“being a fifth-year guy, I’ve played college football. It might not have been on the same stage but I’ve been out there and I’ve prepared for dif ferent teams … I’m confident in what I do,” sot said.

before he joined the Irish, s ot found success at harvard too, albeit on a smaller stage.

The 5-foot-10, 198-pound new Jersey native matched this year’s longest punt in his freshman year and punt ed farther than that in his sophomore year. h is average hovered around 40 yards at harvard. now three games in with the Irish, that average is up 5 yards. but he has seen the most improvements over the years with his placements. s ot went from no placements inside the 20 to 10 in just three games. Those 10 punts tie him second in the nation.

s ot’s numbers have improved

from his harvard days in spite of a more intense stage, going from a crowd of about 20,000 people per game to close to 100,000.

“When I was a kid, it was the moment you dream of, just be ing able to run out there but you’ve got to be able to settle that down and go do your job. That’s been the biggest change for me, just the atmosphere and seriousness of this level of football.”

making that adjustment re quired sot to dial in and rely on both the players around him and his coach, mason.

“I’m fortunate enough to have great blocking and a great special teams coordinator that trusts me,” s ot said. “I’m espe cially thankful for [long snap per] m ichael v inson, he’s made my job so easy.”

o ff the field, notre dame is also where s ot wanted to be, he said. The graduate student will complete a master of sci ence in management program at the end of the year. he said he’s about to declare a finance concentration and is looking forward to finishing that sec ond degree.

“For me, aside from the foot ball, another reason I was at tracted to here was being able to pair harvard and notre dame with my two degrees. That’s really something I’m proud of,” he said.

s ot takes pride in his work both on and off the field. he says his well-placed punts are just as exciting as the game changing plays.

“Putting them inside the 10, for me, is like throwing a touchdown or getting an inter ception because that’s what I do, so I take pride in that,” sot said.

Contact Mannion McGinley at mmcginl3@nd.edu

ratigan follows father’s footsteps

By MANNION MCGINLEY Assistant managing editor

c onor r atigan has been a walk-on at n otre d ame for all four years of his col legiate career. n ow, the W o PU President has fol lowed in his father’s foot steps both on and off the field to find himself gradu ating from n otre d ame.

To join the ranks of the Irish was not his first choice, though.

“I grew up close to n otre d ame and both my par ents went to school here,” r atigan said. “ m y dad ac tually played on the team, as well, so I kind of grew up n otre d ame through and through. b ut I didn’t always want to go here, I wanted to do something different, and then as I grew up and I was able to see what n otre d ame could offer you both on the field and off the field, I thought it was the best decision to make.”

In his career with the Irish, the Granger, Indiana native said he has grown to love the community, espe cially on the team.

“ n otre d ame’s different. e veryone says that and it sounds like a cliche, but it really is,” r atigan said.

“ e veryone has a lot more going on. e veryone wants to do something with football and then after football … e veryone is united around the same goal of champion ship and then graduate. It’s what they said to us com ing here and they still say it to us now … [T]he team just seems very close, I mean all the guys, you know, I found my best friends at n otre d ame.”

r atigan said the commu nity made finding his role on the team even easier. In his first three years, his main role was on the scout team, but with the Irish low on numbers, r atigan said he started to see reps with the “real team.”

“I felt that I’ve always been someone that will do whatever job is asked of them,” he said. “I had to step up and rep with the real team for almost the whole time and even now, still repping with the real team, doing everything that’s needed of me. I’ve al ways been someone that’s been a leader on this team, especially for the W o PU guys. As the president of the current W o PU nation, you know someone felt I should have that role. s o

I’ve tried to help all the new freshmen, whether it’s W o PU or not, get accli mated to n otre d ame. You know, to be someone you could talk to, whether it’s about football or not, and someone the team can also count on on the field.”

The first time r atigan stepped on the field for the Irish was as a junior in the 2021 season against Georgia Tech. The Irish were ultimately able to win the game 55-0.

“ e xperiencing that, ex periencing the crowd and everything, having my par ents there and them expe riencing that, it was cool for my dad to see because he did the same thing,” r atigan said. “ s o getting on the field for the first time would have to be my favorite football memory.” r atigan’s father, b rian r atigan, also played foot ball at n otre d ame as a walk-on. n ow, he is the d irector of o rthopaedic c are for n otre d ame Athletics and specifi cally the head orthopae dic physician for several programs, including foot ball. After growing up sur rounded by his dad’s work, c onor r atigan intends to go to medical school but has yet to start the appli cation process. The former Keough h all resident said he will soon begin apply ing to schools for the fall of 2024.

“ o bviously, when I first started playing football when I was young, the goal was to play professionally but for me, that wasn’t re ally in the cards,” he said. “ s o when n otre d ame of fered me a preferred walkon spot my senior year in high school, I thought that was the best of both worlds. I knew I probably wasn’t going to go to the n FL, but I was going to give it my best shot. In the back of my mind, though, I knew that medical school was what my ultimate goal was al ways going to be.”

In terms of the rest of the season, r atigan said he knows what’s expected of him and what he expects of himself.

“I am going to try to help the team in any way I can, and that includes help ing them win out in these games and whatever bowl game we’re put in,” he said.

Contact Mannion McGinley at

MAX PETROSKY | The Observer

Irish graduate student punter Jon Sot kicks the ball away in the season opener against Ohio State on Sept. 3. Sot transfered to Notre Dame from Harvard to take over the starting punter role for the 2022 season.

Joseph thrives after transfer

By AIDAN THOMAS s ports e ditor

After the 2021 season, n otre d ame was looking for a high-level safety to replace the vaunted pro duction of first-round draft pick Kyle h amilton; n orthwestern junior safety b randon Joseph was look ing for a high-level program that could help him prepare for the n FL after his colle giate career.

A match just waiting to happen.

“I did my three years at n orthwestern and for my fourth year, I knew I wanted to play in the n FL. b ecause of that, I wanted to be in the best position possible in my last year in college,” Joseph said. “o nce I hit the portal, I knew I wanted to go to a top-level university. For me, personally, that meant academically, on the field and the ability to build the biggest network possible, which is why I wanted to come to n otre d ame.”

o n Jan. 8, Joseph made it official, announcing his transfer to play for m arcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish. h e joined a n otre d ame program bonded by the recent turmoil of the abrupt b rian Kelly depar ture. With a tightly knit culture that players refer to as the brotherhood, n otre d ame boasted a locker room of close relationships. It made it easy to be daunt ed by the prospect of trans ferring into the midst of the culture. b ut Joseph noted that his new teammates made the transition easy.

“ m y teammates took me in as soon as I got here. b eing a new guy, I didn’t know if I’d be able to get re lationships with the guys. h ow quick, how nice and how well they took me in, it was truly a blessing,” Joseph said. “I built great relationships with so many guys. For it to happen so quick, it’s been so great. I appreciate the guys for tak ing me in the way they did.”

Joseph was not a stranger to big stages. As a redshirt freshman in 2020, Joseph notched six interceptions for n orthwestern, help ing the Wildcats to the b ig Ten championship. There, Joseph picked off o hio s tate’s Justin Fields and nearly led n orthwestern to a stunning upset. Thus, Joseph had big game expe rience when he got to n otre d ame, but he still cited the environment at n otre d ame as being a high point of his

experience in s outh b end.

“The atmosphere that n otre d ame brings, it’s in sane, it’s something that I haven’t really had before. These sold out home games, having fans come to the away games the way they do.”

That atmosphere that Joseph talked about came to what felt like a massive high just two weekends ago against c lemson. The Irish thrashed the previously un beaten Tigers 35-14 in pri metime in front of a sellout crowd.

“It was insane. The atmo sphere in that stadium was something you dream about as a little kid,” Joseph said. “For me to be able to experi ence that, to be on the field when you hear the crowd scream, it’s been crazy, it’s been a blessing.”

Joseph is currently con sidered a potential firstround draft prospect, should he declare for the draft at the end of this sea son. s ome consider him the top safety in the draft class. Joseph credited the Irish coaching staff for their ef forts in his development this past year.

“I think we have one of the best coaching staffs in the country … and I think I developed into the best player that I could be which is the biggest reason I want ed to come here.”

There’s still two regular season games and a poten tial bowl game left in this 2022 campaign for Joseph. And from there, there’ll be decisions to make regarding his future on the gridiron. b ut right now, Joseph isn’t focused on that, as much as he is focused on taking ad vantage of the time he has at n otre d ame, regardless of when that comes to an end.

“ m y time here has been the biggest blessing of my life … It’s been great. To come to a place like n otre d ame and meet everyone on my team and every one I’ve met through my time here, it’s been great. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to be. I learned so much in terms of becom ing a better man,” Joseph said. “I know it’s not over yet, but almost a year out of my decision of coming here, it’s been everything I could imagine. m y time here has been great, and I’m really appreciative of n otre d ame.”

Contact Aidan Thomas at athoma28@nd.edu

A ‘notre dame man’: Lugg develops as player, leader

By ANDREW McGUINNESS Associate sports editor

There were two things that went into Josh Lugg’s decision to return to notre dame for a sixth year in 2022. First, there was the practical side of it. Lugg felt he needed more develop ment before pursuing his nFL dream. The return of universal ly regarded offensive line coach harry hiestand, who recruited and coached Lugg during his first season with the Irish, made the decision even easier. but there was a second part. The Irish have long held a repu tation for churning out quality offensive linemen. Two of the team’s starters Lugg’s freshman year, mike mcGlinchey and Quenton nelson, became top10 nFL draft picks. however, they weren’t just great play ers, they were great mentors for Lugg, the no. 15 offensive tackle of his recruiting class. o ver the last two seasons, the Irish have welcomed some more highly touted offensive line recruits, such as sophomore blake Fisher, sophomore Joe Alt, freshman billy schrauth and more. The chance to return to notre dame stadium and better his nFL chances was obviously important to Lugg. but, so was the chance to provide the same type of guidance that Lugg received from mcGlinchey, nelson, hunter bivin and oth ers that helped him get to where he is.

“I wanted to be a mentor for the young guys,” said the Wexford, Pa, native. “help them understand what it means to be a notre dame man.”

Lugg in his sixth year at notre dame has followed a fairly tra ditional development curve. he redshirted in 2017, then saw the field in all but one of notre dame’s games in their college Football Playoff run of 2018,

albeit primarily for kicking du ties. his first “big break” came the next season, with a robert hainsey injury opening the door to start five games. Injuries cracked the door open again for Lugg in 2020. In particular, he showed off his versatility by making one start at right guard and two more at center due to injuries to Tommy Kraemer and current graduate student Jarrett Patterson, respectively.

Lugg didn’t need injuries to crack the door open to become a first-time full-time starter a season ago. In fact, he started 12 of notre dame’s 13 games last season. he and the rest of the offensive line helped weather some early-season storms, help ing the Irish develop a groundfirst identity. notre dame’s run game has progressed from a li ability to a lifesaver, especially in notre dame’s most memora ble game of the season, its 35-14 upset of then no. 4 clemson on nov. 5. The Irish rushed for 263 yards and held the football for 33 minutes flat. After watching most of notre dame’s 2020 up set of clemson from the bench, Lugg was front and center this time.

Part of the reason why Lugg has such a strong influence is the wide variety of experiences he’s had. he called heistand’s departure for the chicago bears after his freshman year “devas tating” and went through the turmoil of last offseason when brian Kelly unexpectedly left to go to L sU.

“It’s important to be happy for the coaches, and understand that you committed to notre dame, not necessarily a coach,” Lugg said. “coaches are gonna come and go, but the players you have at 5:30 when you’re sitting in the locker room in the morning before winter workout — those are the guys that are gonna be with you.”

While Lugg downplayed Alt and Fisher’s need for help in particular, calling them “ma ture and ahead of their age, very much aware of what the stan dard is here as a notre dame offensive lineman,” everyone can always use a helping hand. That help goes beyond football, too. The former duncan hall highlander will do anything to help his younger peers fit in. maybe that means going out to dinner. maybe that meets talk ing about real-world things like “faith and family.” Whatever it means, Lugg is up to the task.

The challeng of notre dame, particularly on the academic side, was a huge attractor to bring Lugg to south bend. After graduating last year with his fi nance degree, Lugg is currently getting his masters in analytics. he knows how difficult notre dame can be.

but it’s that difficulty that helps create the brotherhood that Lugg also said drew him to notre dame.

“[It was] something I didn’t really see at other schools,” Lugg said. Lugg knows his football life won’t last forever. Though he hopes to go pro, he also cited the common quip of the nFL standing for “not For Long.” In particular, he is pas sionate about real estate, which he minored in at notre dame. In fact, he worked for former notre dame basketball star ‘15 Pat connaughton’s real estate de velopment company Three Leaf Partners a few years ago during the cov Id-19 pandemic.

r ight now, though, Lugg is fo cused on two things. First is not “wast[ing] any of God’s talent.” second, teaching the next crop of Irish o-line stars everything they need to know to ensure they don’t either.

Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu

RYAN VIGILANTE | The Observer

Graduate student offensive lineman Josh Lugg protects the ball in the Notre Dame’s matchup against BYU. Lugg assisted in the Irish 28-20 win over the cougars. He has played 58 games over his four years at ND.

the Fighting Irish. The pair arrived in 2018 and while Jayson took to the field im mediately, Justin saved a year of eligibility.

Ademilola discussed what the college journey with his brother has been like since they arrived their freshman year and how it feels to have the chance to play with each other.

“We still remember our first day on campus, our first camp and our first game. It’s just a journey, and we are grateful to even be here,” Ademilola said. “ s ometimes you just go on with the day. I don’t think about it as much anymore, but I do get times where I realize that I am re ally doing this with my twin brother. n ot many people can say that they even went to college with their fam ily, and we get to play foot ball together at the highest level.”

Ademilola recalled the first

Sam aSaff

summer camp he ever went to at n otre d ame. There, he met some of his lifelong n otre d ame friends and teammates.

“From that day, it was see ing who were going to be my best friends during my time at n otre d ame ... n ow I am a fifth year senior, and a lot of years have gone by, but we are still close,” Ademilola said.

Ademilola understands the importance of enjoy ing the final set of college football games with his brother.

“We are really just trying to enjoy the mo ment,” Ademilola said. “We are probably going to remember the last three games of the season re ally well, so why not go out with a bang. That’s really what our thought process is at, which is to try to be the best versions of brothers around for the last three games.”

Ademilola believes that the work the team has done this season will have a huge

coming years.

“This whole season, my only goal each week is to win and win one for the

team and for the guys. This

is way more than what anyone ever expected. We may not talk about this season and what it was un til another five years from

Assaf takes on dual-athlete grind at notre dame

By OLIVIA SCHATZ Associate sports e ditor

s am Assaf was not sup posed to play football at n otre d ame, or football at all. r ather, Assaf played la crosse at Amherst and trans ferred to n otre d ame with full intentions of continuing to play lacrosse. This was until the spring of his sopho more year, when his brother m ick Assaf convinced him to try out for the football team.

“I came here with all inten tions of playing lacrosse, but as I got here my sophomore spring I got really bored of not being on a team and then figured why not try out for football,” Assaf said. “I was like the worst thing hap pens, I get cut, and I didn’t want to wait until the fall to try out for lacrosse.”

After getting a spot on the football team, Assaf looked to lacrosse.

“I tried to talk to the [la crosse] coach. h e said he needed someone in my po sition, literally just needed another body in practice. e nded up trying out for them in the middle of their pre season and made it,” Assaf said.

e ven though Assaf was ex cited about the opportunity, being a dual-sport athlete at n otre d ame is not an easy task

“Last spring was probably the most tiring thing in my life. Like 5:30 a.m. workout

and 8 p.m. practices with la crosse everyday,” said Assaf. “ b ut, you know, it’s an honor to play both [sports] here and prep both teams on scout teams and continue to work. It’s cool to do some thing like that.”

o n top of all of his athletic endeavors, Assaf is very in volved academically. h e is working on a major in eco nomics with a concentration in financial econ and econo metrics. Additionally, he has minors in data science and classical studies. Assaf is not done academically or ath letically with the Irish. h e is returning for a fifth year to pursue a masters in business analytics with a concentra tion in sports analytics.

Assaf is also involved in W o PU (Walk o n Players Union). h e says that it’s where he met most of his friends.

“[W o PU] accepted me right away as soon as that first spring ball practice happened my sophomore spring. It’s just awesome to have that culture inside, that little almost mini team inside the team. o f people who go through very simi lar things as you, [you] can reach out to, talk to,” said Assaf. “Living in the W o PU house for two years is a lot of fun. I got really close with a lot of cool seniors last year and living in it again with some seniors this year is a lot of fun. m e, [ c hase] Ketterer

and [ c hris velotta] s kip are, you know, couldn’t be closer and walk-on running backs together.”

Their closeness proved true when Ketterer notched a tackle against n avy last year.

“I mean it’s unreal. You lit erally couldn’t be happier,” said Assaf on his friend’s play. “We all know what we go through during the week, which just about no one else goes through. b ut, you know,

that first defense and second defense really beat our a** s o, just being able to see someone who goes through the same things as all of us, and someone else being able to thrive in the game, all that pay off, in front of all those fans, and do something re ally on the real field, it’s awesome.”

at

now, but it’s a lot. It takes a lot to go out there and win,” Ademilola said.

Contact Nate Moller at nmoller2@nd.edu

Grupe

field was a pretty special experience.”

Feeling the love on that s aturday night was valu able on quite a few levels for g rupe. h e cherishes those who have come along for his magical ride, and he goes all in to return the favor on and off the field. d ozens of friends and family mem bers drove up to see g rupe in action for the s tanford game.

oschatz@nd.edu

“You do it for the ones that support you, and the support circle that I have is phenomenal,” g rupe said. “It’s crazy to have almost 40 people at a game and people driving 9 hours every single week to come visit you.”

After this season, g rupe plans to keep training and will participate in n otre d ame’s Pro d ay in m arch. With an mb A and under graduate degree under his belt, g rupe is ready for post-football success as well.

Contact Tyler Reidy at treidy3@nd.edu

Contact Olivia Schatz

impact on the n otre d ame football program in the up

season

MAX PETROSKY |The Observer Irish graduate student defensive lineman Jayson Ademilola sacks Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei with senior teammate Howard Cross Jr. during Notre Dame’s Nov. 5 win over the Clemson Tigers.

Courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics

Irish senior running back Sam Assaf stands ready on the sidelines at a Notre Dame home game. Sam also plays lacrosse for the Irish.

opperman walks on from rugby

By J.J. POST sports Writer

To say christian opperman had a unique route to becoming a line backer for the notre dame football team would be an understatement.

hailing from south Africa, opperman was a rugby player by trade until he arrived at notre dame. Unlike many walk-ons, he didn’t arrive in south bend with the intention of joining the team.

“At the end of high school I wanted to get an international degree, just to broaden my hori zons, get out of my comfort zone,” opperman said. “I decided to ap ply to colleges in the U.s. I wanted to do business, and notre dame’s mendoza business school was very highly ranked. so I chose notre dame.”

even after arriving on campus, opperman’s journey to joining the football team was far from imme diate. he stuck with rugby initially, before graduate student linebacker bo bauer eventually convinced him to walk onto the football team.

“I played rugby growing up and I played rugby here at notre dame,” said opperman. “before coming to notre dame, playing football was always part of my agenda. but after being at notre dame, experienc ing the whole football culture, and after making some friends on the team that idea started to grow… bo [bauer] was actually a good friend of mine, he said I should do this whole tryout thing, and I kind of just went in to see what would hap pen. You never know if you don’t try- I tried, and they offered me a spot on the spring roster”

The switch from rugby to its Americanized cousin wasn’t as simple as one might imagine. It took some time for opperman to get a feel for the difference in style of play. specifically, he had to ad just to football making greater use

of specific plays.

“I thought that they were pretty similar,” opperman said. “but it turns out they’re vastly different. The only things that are the same thing would be the ball being the same shape and [they’re both] contact sports. but football is a lot more like chess, one play with all these different moving parts, whereas rugby flows more. It was a steep learning curve, having to study the plays, but it was really fun.”

A common theme among many seniors, opperman highlighted the strength of the locker room culture as one aspect of the pro gram he really enjoyed in his short time with the team.

“how competitive the environ ment is, it’s really a whole organi zation where everyone is striving together collectively to become better,” opperman said. “We have all these catchphrases. The gold standard, competitive spirit, through it not to it. That really starts to become ingrained in who you are. You wake up, you have morning lifts, you don’t have time to complain about it. but you have a whole team going through the same stuff. And when you don’t feel like going, when you get into the weight room and the whole team is there, balis is there… you gotta go. And it’s awesome. I love being a part of it.”

oppperman’s experience with the football team was brief, span ning just two semesters so far. however, he mentioned getting to play in the spring game as a high light moment of his career.

“That was the first time for me playing in that stadium, actually playing as a linebacker. And I got a few reps in that game, and that’s something I’ll always remember.”

Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@nd.edu

smith

Harvard transfer Smith prepares for bigger role

By LIAM COOLICAN Assiociate sports editor

Editor’s Note: A version of this story ran online Oct. 14.

A year ago, notre dame’s defensive line was one of the deepest units on the team. but after star defensive line men Kurt h inish and myron Tagovailoa-Amosa graduated and junior Aidan Keanaaina suffered an Ac L injury in the spring, it became clear the Irish needed reinforcements.

When notre dame brought in c hris smith, a graduate transfer from h arvard, he wasn’t expected to compete for a starting job. That was before Jacob Lacey unexpect edly announced he would be entering the transfer portal. n ow, s mith has been asked to step up and take on a big ger role than he may have originally been expecting.

“The guys here have been great in helping me adjust,” s mith said after practice on Tuesday. “It’s felt like fam ily since I’ve gotten here.”

Against b YU on o ct. 8, with senior h oward c ross III also absent due to a high ankle sprain, s mith saw a then season-high-tying 28 snaps. That was the second most among Irish defensive linemen, according to b lue and Gold Illustrated. s mith also saw 28 snaps in the season opener against o hio s tate but his usage rate de clined significantly since then.

“I know every guy wants to play every single snap, but that obviously can’t happen, so just doing what we can,” s mith said.

s mith steps up in larger role

Alongside sophomore Gabriel r ubio, s mith — who is listed at 6’1 and 310

pounds — will be expected to step up and fill the gap left by Lacey. Lacey’s best game of the season had come re cently against c al, where he racked up five tackles, including two sacks. The recent performance made Lacey’s abrupt departure surprising tomany.

“Anytime that happens, either departure or injury, you always feel badly for the young person that’s ex periencing that,” defensive coordinator Al Golden said. “ b ut the other guys have an opportunity to step up. c ertainly Gabe ( r ubio) and c hris did that, and there’ll be others here as the season moves on.”

s mith was named to the 2021 First Team All-Ivy League team after posting 40 tackles on the year for the c rimson. The Ivy League does not allow graduate stu dents to play, and s mith had a year of eligibility left be cause the Ivies canceled all sports for the 2020-21 aca demic year.

h e sought a transfer and was initially planning to en roll at m innesota. b ut s mith flipped his commitment to n otre d ame in April after a visit to s outh b end. It has turned out to be a wise deci sion for both s mith and the Irish.

Through five games for the Irish, s mith had seven total tackles, including three solo stops, but his role increased in the absence of Lacey and with c ross continuing to battle an ankle injury. Ten games down now, s mith has 14 tackles, eight of them alone and he has forced a fumble.

smith isn’t the only harvard graduate transfer to play an important role for notre dame this year. he is joined

by punter Jon sot, his team mate for three seasons in c ambridge. s ot has been a revelation for notre dame this year, averaging nearly 43 net yards per punt.

d efensive line seeks continued improvement

As a unit, n otre d ame’s defensive line has played well this year. The Irish have been stout against the run — except in the loss against m arshall. They have held dual-threat quarterbacks c J s troud, d rake m aye and Jaren h all largely in check. At times, though, they have struggled to get pressure late in games.

“I feel like we’ve been pret ty successful so far,” s mith said. “o bviously we’ve still got a lot we can work on, still got a lot we can get better on. We’re not content with where we are. We think we can definitely kick it up an other gear.”

s mith said the execution of the defensive line has im proved since the start of the year though.

“In the beginning, you get a lot thrown at you, and then now, ... [we’re] getting more adjusted to the roles we’ve been playing.”

n otre d ame’s defensive line has already been criti cal to the team’s perfor mance in the second half of the season and will contin ue to be in the last two reg ular season games. s mith will likely continue to play a key part in the unit mov ing forward.

“You try to get better each day, I think [that] is our goal,” s mith said. “We’re still not done, and being our best product.”

Contact Liam Coolican at lcoolica@nd.edu

Chris

MAX PETROSKY | The Observer

Irish graduate student defensive lineman Chris Smith sets his sights on the football during Notre Dame’s 35-14 win over Clemson. Smith has tallied 14 tackles and 0.5 a tackle for loss this season.

Courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics Irish senior linebacker Christian Opperman runs out with the team. Hailing from South Africa, he played rugby before learning football.

By JOSE SANCHEZ CORDOVA Sports Writer

In 2006, Greg Mailey’s fa ther brought him to campus for his first Notre Dame foot ball game. During the play er’s walk that fall in South Bend, Irish starting quarter back Brady Quinn high-fived Mailey, unknowingly setting Mailey on course to be a fu ture walk-on for the team.

“I fell in love with it, the campus and everything,” Mailey said of that visit 16 years ago.

“I was a Notre Dame fan growing up, my whole life and I wanted nothing more than to play football at Notre Dame,” he added.

e ven so, it was not a straightforward path for Mailey who received offers from FCS schools and even a preferred walk-on spot at Big Ten powerhouse Ohio State.

“Ultimately, I got a pre ferred walk-on opportunity here [at Notre Dame]. It was

JarreTT PaTTerSoN

Mailey’s path sparked by a Brady Quinn high five

a no-brainer and I’m so glad I did it,” Mailey said.

Five years later and his ex perience lets him take a wider view of the program and the reasons he’s so happy with his decision all that time ago.

“What stands out about Notre Dame is that people are genuine and they want to see you succeed,” he said. “And not just for the team, they want you to succeed as a person and that’s what’s so special about this place and this program.”

This is Mailey’s last se mester on campus. After the season is over, he will wrap up the fall semester then move to Chicago for a con sulting job. With a looming conclusion to his time at Notre Dame, Mailey had a chance to look back on some of his fondest memories from college.

“Both those wins versus Clemson are something I’ll hold on to for a long time, es pecially the one in 2020 when

it was No.1 vs. No. 4. With ev erything else going on, get ting COVID tested and just trying to survive the week, to make it to the game and then going on to beat them and have everyone storm the field was pretty special,” he said.

As he enters his final games as a college football player, Mailey offered perspective on the lifelong bonds that he has built with his Irish teammates.

“Never again will you walk into a locker room with a hundred of your closest friends that you consider family and work toward one goal,” Mailey said. “It’s spe cial and once you realize that, you start to make the days count that much more because when you take that gold helmet off, it comes off forever, but the relationships and the bonds built over the years don’t.”

Contact José Sánchez Córdova at jsanch24@nd.edu

‘I still love what I do’: Patterson provides leadership amidst adversity

By MADELINE LADD Sports Writer

In a public display of anger and frustration, fifth-year senior offensive lineman and captain Jarrett Patterson stormed off the field after the clock hit zero in Notre Dame’s devastat ing 26-21 loss to Marshall last month. Patterson had a rough game at left guard,

only adding to his tur moil. Ripping off his jersey and having to be forcibly pulled back for the alma mater seemed inappropri ate to many Irish fans — especially for a captain. Nevertheless, as time has passed, Patterson has tak en it as a learning situation and described the emotions he felt that day.

“It’s a combination of

seeing the disappointment on those guys’ faces after seeing how hard they work, Patterson said. “And then individually for me, just all the rehab I’ve had to go to since March and had to push through and get to the point where I could play.”

Patterson’s history makes it clear why he got especial ly emotional. He postponed NFL plans to return to Notre

Dame for a final season. But he suffered from a torn pec toral muscle in the spring causing him to miss the Ohio State game. Coming back for a frustrating Marshall loss was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Nevertheless, Patterson continues to re member why he plays the game.

“A big reason why I came back is because of the guys in that locker room,” Patterson said. “I love play ing next to them, I love our coaches and everything about that place. At the end of the day no matter what I’ve gone through, I still love what I do.”

As the leader of a young but talented offensive line, Patterson was pleased with their performance at UNC. Moving from center to guard this season caused Patterson to switch gears, but he has focused on building conti nuity. The chemistry seen in that game gave hope to the team, especially in estab lishing the run game. There was much that the offensive line did well against the Tar Heels, yet Patterson also stresses the importance of focusing on the mistakes.

“It is exciting to see all the hard work pay off,” Patterson

said. “But we all agreed, we can never be satisfied with our performance. You can’t let winning mask the mis takes you made during the game. When you lose, those mistakes are bright spots. When you win, it kind of gets hidden.”

According to Patterson, the Irish’s bye week has helped them with their in dividual critiques. The team has spent extra time at practice focusing on tech nique and what will allow them to stand up to a com petitive opponent in 16thranked BYU this weekend. The Irish are ready for Vegas and ready to write the story of the rest of this season.

“If we take care of busi ness the way we are sup posed to, most people are going to forget what hap pened in the beginning of the season,” Patterson said.

Perhaps this is wishful thinking on Patterson’s part, but only time will tell. This weekend’s Vegas matchup will be the litmus test for the Irish and how they have been able to handle a tough begin ning of the season — both physically and emotionally.

Contact Madeline Ladd at mladd2@nd.edu

Irish graduate student offensive lineman Jarrett Patterson stands ready at the line of scrimmage, as his teammates get set during Notre Dame’s 32-29 win over Toledo on Sept. 11 in Notre Dame Stadium.

Courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics

Irish graduate student wide receiver Greg Mailey carries the ball during warm ups at Notre Dame’s 41-24 win over Syracuse on Oct. 29.

Lenzy weathers change in up-and-down career

By LIAM COOLICAN s ports Writer

braden Lenzy has seen many changes throughout his career at notre d ame.

From a change in offensive coordinator, to his own role in the offense and eventually a head coaching change, not much remains the same as it did when he first arrived on campus in 2018.

Initially, his role in the of fense was a combination of receiver and running back. After redshirting his fresh man year, Lenzy emerged onto the scene as a sopho more, hauling in 11 passes for 254 yards and a pair of scores, while adding 200 yards and another two touchdowns on the ground.

“I’ve been used in a lot of ways,” Lenzy said. “When you’re in college, whatever the pieces are that year, the coach comes up with a game plan that best helps the team, and my role is what it is right now, and I’m just doing what ever I can to help the team win. It’s been a lot of fun.”

more recently, his role has shifted towards being a full-time wide receiver. As a senior in 2021, he hauled in 32 passes for 350 yards and three touchdowns. m any ex pected him to build on that breakout performance this

year, but his performance has tapered off slightly. he did, however, make an in credible touchdown catch in last weekend’s win over navy which helped spark an Irish victory.

Lenzy arrived in s outh b end as a highly touted pros pect. he was a four-star re cruit out of p ortland, o regon, choosing the Irish over schools like o regon, usc and m ichigan state.

“r ecruitment was very [stressful], very much a has sle. I’m glad I never have to go through it again,” Lenzy said. “If I could do it all over again, I’d for sure choose notre d ame, [it’s] been a great help both on and off the field. I’ve met the best people in my life and really started my adult life here.”

o ne of the most abrupt transitions of Lenzy’s career was b rian Kelly’s sudden de parture for L su at the con clusion of the 2021 season. new head coach m arcus Freeman was able to retain most of Kelly’s former as sistants, including direc tor of football performance m att b alis, which Lenzy said contributed to a sense of continuity.

“The level of work is set by him, he sets the standard for everyone,” Lenzy said of b alis. “b ringing him back, it

still felt like notre d ame.”

Lenzy was a part of two c ollege Football p layoff teams, watching from the sidelines as notre d ame rat tled off an undefeated sea son in 2018 before they again were selected to the p layoff in 2020. This year, though, was not what Irish fans were expecting.

“We’ve had the winning formula for a long time, a lot of us have won a lot of games,” Lenzy said. “Quite honestly, you just have to take it on the chin. I think Irish fans as a whole have been very privileged for us to win those tight games when it does happen.”

s eptember’s loss against m arshall was only the sec ond home loss of Lenzy’s career, and the first loss against an unranked oppo nent. notre d ame followed it up by once again losing to a double digit underdog, this time to s tanford.

“We’ve had these mistakes and we were able to cor rect them, and this time we weren’t,” Lenzy said. “b ut now we’ve seen it, we’ve ad dressed it… just kind of step ping up and going through those bumps of an in-season grind.”

Yet the Irish were able to turn the season around, and now they sit at 7-3 with two games to go. Lenzy cred ited continual growth for the Irish’s second half turn around this year: “You could really see a lot of the coach es, a lot of the players, while in the offseason, but also very much so during the sea son, have grown on and off the field.”

notre d ame has welcomed plenty of new talent into the wide receiver room in recent years, notably sophomore Lorenzo s tyles and fresh man Tobias merriweather. Lenzy sees himself as a men tor for that group of younger players.

“e very year you have dif ferent tasks,” he said. “r ight now, my biggest task is being a leader for the young dudes in the receiver room.”

Lenzy was able to learn from receivers such as c hase c laypool, m iles b oykin and c hris Finke when he arrived as a freshman. now, Lenzy hopes he can fill that same role.

“It’s a very full circle mo ment,” Lenzy said. “I re member being younger and looking up to some of the old dudes. I hope they look up to me the same way.”

Contact Liam Coolican at lcoolica@nd.edu

Liufau

and Liufau played a ma jor role. With three tackles on the day, the crowning jewel in his s aturday after noon came during the third quarter when he snagged an interception.

“It was awesome,” Liufau said. “It was my first one so it was really exciting and it was a good point in the game as well. Anything that helps your team makes you feel good.”

The pass from s yracuse backup quarterback c arlos d el r io-Wilson was tipped by junior defensive lineman h oward c ross. Liufau dove forward to make the catch once the ball was off course. The second Liufau came off the field he said he was thanking c ross.

“I don’t think I would’ve gotten it without the batted ball,” he said.

Liufau also said he knew how important any intercep tion could be so it was excit ing to be the one to reel one in.

“It’s a big change of mo mentum really. It gets every one going, gets everyone’s hopes high and gives every one energy,” he said.

Liufau and the Irish got a big win at s yracuse, but they knew they needed to carry that energy into the next weekend they prepared to take on c lemson.

“It was a great feeling to win away but we know this week is a new week,” Liufau said ahead of that c lemson matchup. “We emphasized that early on and we know that we have to earn a win on s aturday by our hard work in practice this week.”

In terms of taking on the higher-ranked opponent

though, Liufau said the preparation remains the same.

“It’s always attack every thing full speed and work our game plan,” he said. “ e very opponent we respect. We prepare the same way for everyone. There’s always a high urgency around here every week.”

After missing a year, Liufau embraced the op portunity to play in big mo ments. e choing sentiments from Freeman, he said “this is what you come to n otre d ame for” — to play in games like the c lemson one.

d espite facing major chal lenges like the c lemson of fense and other difficult attacks, the linebacker said he isn’t too worried though, he trusts the defense to step up to the plate behind one mantra.

“ r elentless. We like to pride ourselves on being re lentless and attacking with out stopping,” he said. “I think we’ve improved a lot since the beginning of the season and I’m really proud of the way we work every day.”

That mentality led to a sti fling effort in that c lemson game, shutting out the Tigers for three quarters.

As much as he is lead ing that relentless charge, Liufau said he is learning from the rest of the lineback er corps as well and relying on their continued commu nication both in-game and at practice.

“Going out there and do ing what you’ve got to do even when you don’t feel like it is the main thing they’ve taught me,” he said. “[We’re] just working hard every day.”

Contact Mannion McGinley at mmcginl3@nd.edu

RYAN VIGILANTE | The Observer

Graduate student wide receiver Braden Lenzy catches a pass for a touchdown. Lenzy had 67 yards in the 35-32 Irish win against Navy.

RYAN VIGILANTE | The Observer

Irish senior linebacker Marist Liufau breaks through the Ohio State offensive line trying to get to C.J. Stroud during the season opener.

is what you come to Notre Dame for’: Liufau ready to take on Clemson

By MANNION McGINLEY Assistant Managing Editor

Editor’s Note: A version of this story ran online Nov. 4.

In summer of 2021, no one could get enough of thenjunior linebacker Marist Liufau. He had flashes of success in camp, became the talk of the town and was seemingly unblockable. Then, his season ended be fore it could start. Liufau suffered a broken ankle midway through camp, ul timately keeping him from a season’s worth of play.

“I missed running around with my teammates,” he said. “I missed being out there with them. I felt not as involved because I couldn’t practice and play but I missed the people too.”

Now a senior, Liufau is back in full swing and rack ing up tackles left and right while stepping up as a leader for the defense. He’s third on the team with 42 tackles.

each appearance but slow ly worked his way back up through camp. In his time off the field, Liufau said he began to study the game a lot more and it put things back into perspective for him.

“Things can be taken away from you in an instant so being out here every day — I am just grateful to be out here every day I can,” Liufau said.

Out on the field now, Liufau has reclaimed what would have been his starting opportunity last year within the linebacker corps. Along with his 42 tackles, Liufau has notched 3.5 tackles for loss. Additionally, he’s as sumed a role as an extra pass rusher. During Notre Dame’s confrontation with UNC, he brought enough pressure to force a sack. On Oct. 29, though, Liufau broke into the top tier of defensive statistics.

RYAN VIGILANTE | The Observer

To start the season, Liufau eased back into football. He took about half the reps for

Against Syracuse, the Irish defense dominated

‘For the Brotherhood’: Jayson Ademilola steps up when teammates need him most

By NATE MOLLER Senior Sports Writer

Graduate student de fensive lineman Jayson Ademilola has been a huge part of the Irish de fense the last two seasons, and he has found ways to make big plays at the most important of times this season.

So far this season, Ademilola has been key to the Irish defense, totaling 24 total tackles, six solo tack les, three tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.

Arguably the biggest mo ment for Ademilola came in Las Vegas against BYU. With the Cougars driving late in the game, Ademilola came up with a big stop on a key fourth-and-one with the Irish up by eight points.

Head coach Marcus Freeman praised Ademilola for his timely stop after the win against BYU.

“At the biggest moments,

he shows up,” Freeman said. “He’s going to make sure he makes a play.”

Jayson’s twin brother, Justin, commented on Jayson’s stop after the game.

“[Jayson] was really ex cited. I think I got the stop before on the third down, and then I said ‘Jay, go get it right now. Let’s win it.’ And he did just that,” Ademilola said.

Justin also talked about how his brother writes FTB, which stands for ‘For the Brotherhood,’ on his body before every game.

“Jayson is a very emotional guy and every game he puts FTB on his wrist, arm and all over his body.

And when it’s time to go get it for the brotherhood, he’s going to get it and get it done for the brotherhood,” Ademilola said.

After practice this week, Jayson commented on how the lead up to senior day has been and what it

means to his family to have both twins on the field Saturday.

“It’s been great. I am so happy for my family,” Ademilola said. “They are coming out here for the last time for the last home game. I talked to my par ents and Justin this morn ing, and they are super excited to capture the whole moment.”

And in terms of how meaningful this final trip will be for them, Ademilola said, “It’s going to be great. It’s going to be a great expe rience for my family. Justin and I are excited for the mo ment, but I know that [my family] are probably going to have even bigger smiles on their face knowing that we made it this far. It’s going to be a great moment for my family.”

The Ademilola family will be celebrating their sons

RYAN VIGILANTE

Irish graduate student defensive lineman Jayson Ademilola denies the Clemson offense a first down during ND’s 35-14 Nov. 5 Tiger taming.

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Irish senior linebacker Marist Liufau goes after the ball carrier during Notre Dame’s Shamrock Series matchup against BYU at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev. The Irish beat the Cougars 28-20 on Oct. 8.

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