The University of Notre Dame football team is on its first bye week of the season, which also coincides with the school’s fall break, the release of mid-season awards and updated lists for end-of-season awards. Here is a look at the bevy of awards that the Fighting Irish have earned this week:
Dick Corbett Head Coach Marcus Freeman earned his second Dodd Trophy weekly award in 2023 after the 48-20 victory over previously undefeated Southern Cal last Saturday. Freeman also was honored after the season-opening victory in Ireland over Navy.
Freeman claimed his sixth victory over an Associated Press Top 25 team and his second over a top-10 team. The six ranked wins are tied with Terry Brennan (1954-55) for the most by an Irish head coach in his first two years with the program. The two top-10 wins in his first 22 games are noteworthy as well, as only Frank Leahy (eight), Brennan (16), Gerry Faust (19) and Ara Parseghian (21) needed less games to earn two AP top-10 wins.
Late this week, Freeman was a selection for the Dodd Trophy Watch List and is among those in consideration for the end-of-the-year award.
Xavier Watts did just about everything on the field a defensive player can do against Southern Cal. He intercepted two passes, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble for a touchdown, finished second on the team with seven tackles and broke up a pass. The only thing he missed was a sack, unable to get in on the six quarterback sacks the Irish piled up on Saturday.
Watts was named the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week and the Bronko Nagurski Award National Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Trojans. He is fourth on the team in tackles this season with 36 and leads the Irish with four interceptions (which is tied for fourth in the country, the national leader has five interceptions).
Alt has continued his stellar left tackle play in 2023. According to Pro Football Focus, Alt is the second-ranked offensive tackle in college football this season and has allowed just three quarterback pressures and only one sack this season.
Durham, NC â Sep 30: NCAA Football - Notre Dame at Duke at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, NC on September 30, 2023. (Credit: Andy Mead/YCJ)College football’s award for community service announced its 2023 nominees this season and Irish senior linebacker JB Bertrand was among those selected to be in the running for the award this season.
Bertrand is passionately involved with Uplifting Athletes and is currently serving as Notre Dame’s chapter president for the organization. Uplifting Athletes provides experiences for children with rare diseases and their families. In an effort to support its mission, JD has organized fundraising events at Notre Dame, including a Lift for Life event with his teammates and also an Uplifting Bowling Experience. Led by his efforts, Notre Dame raised $80,385 over the last year. JD, who served as the Irish’s chapter vice president in previous years, has made his mark in more than fundraising efforts.
Service has been a part of who Bertrand has been since a very young age. At just three years old, he started volunteering with his family for Must Ministries, where they packed lunches at a church for those in need. When he turned the age of five, his parents allowed him to start helping deliver the lunches they packed and seeing the people in person that food helped, made a lasting impression on him. That experience prompted Bertrand to become an Eagle Scout. As part of becoming an Eagle Scout, he was tasked with designing a service project. JD developed a 32-page workbook detailing the goals, impact and timeline for the preparation, marketing, fundraising, assembly and final report phases of a project to benefit Must Ministries. As a high school junior, he led 40 volunteers in 138 service hours over a four-day period to donate 200 sack lunches and 294 books to Must Ministries. Now, as a college student at Notre Dame, JD regularly donates part of his monthly scholarship check back to charity.
In the middle of Notre Dame’s defense, Bertrand has been on a tear over the past four games (all against ranked opponents). He has 39 tackles in four games with 1.5 tackles-for-loss and .5 sacks while leading the team in total tackles this season (52) along with four quarterback hurries and two passes broken up.
Estimé leads the Irish in rushing with 787 yards on 127 carries (6.2 average) and is averaging just under 100 yards per game (98.4). He is fourth in the country in rushing yards, seventh in rushing touchdowns (nine) and 18th in yards per carry. In addition, Estimé has three 100-yard rushing performances this year and two other games with 95 total yards (including last weekend against Southern Cal).
In that game against SC, Estimé ran for his 19th and 20th career rushing touchdowns and became the sixth Irish running back to reach 20 career rushing touchdowns since 1996: Autry Denson (35), Kyren Williams (26), Julius Jones (26), Darius Walker (23), Josh Adams (20) and Dexter Williams (20).
Cross III continues to lead all FBS defensive linemen in tackles this season with 45, which ranks second overall on the team. He has 5.5 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles to his credit as well. On September 30 at No. 17 Duke, Cross III earned national defensive player of the week honors from Walter Camp, the Bednarik Award and the Senior Bowl for his dominating 13-tackle, two-forced fumble performance.
Hartman leads all FBS quarterbacks in career touchdowns and passing yardage, becoming just the ninth QB in college football history to throw for more than 13,000 yards and 120 TDs. He was named a captain in his first season with the Irish after helping Wake Forest to their program-record seventh-straight bowl berth last year. Hartman has overcome many challenges in his life to achieve the great things he has done on the field, including a diagnosis of Paget-Schroetter Syndrome, which caused him to have one of his ribs removed, as well as the loss of his adopted brother to suicide. Hartman has become an advocate for mental health, speaking openly about his own challenges.
Hartman has thrown for 1,838 yards this season with 18 touchdowns, which ranks fifth in the country.
Notre Dame’s offensive line was one of 23 units named to the 2023 Joe Moore Award Midseason Honor Roll early this week. The Joe Moore Award voting committee judges solely on six criteria: toughness, effort, teamwork, consistency, technique and finishing. Evaluations for the midseason honor roll were made solely through weekly review of actual game film and offensive line coach-provided cut-ups.
The Notre Dame starting unit, which consists of junior Joe Alt, sophomore Pat Coogan, senior Zeke Correll, sophomore Rocco Spindler and sophomore Blake Fisher, has helped the Irish rank 10th in the nation in tackles-for-loss allowed, 14th in team passing efficiency and 15th in total first downs.
The group has paved the way for junior running back Audric Estimé to rush for 787 yards this season, which ranks fourth among all FBS backs and the best this season for any Power 5 player. Estimé also is sixth in the FBS in rushing touchdowns (nine), 16th in rushing yards per game (98.4) and 18th in yards per carry (6.2).