Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MAY 2024 17 though, and players like Gilbert are go- ing to have to wrestle it away from them. They're not just going to give it up. Greathouse led Notre Dame with 5 touchdown receptions, setting the tone with a pair in his very first game against Navy in Ireland. Faison bookended the year with another stellar freshman showing: 5 catches for 115 yards and a touchdown in his Sun Bowl MVP per- formance. The irony in this is the two play the same position. So, when we say Gil- bert will have to do enough to steal the spotlight, Faison and Greathouse will be busy taking it away from each other. And that's fine. As long as one of them — or, heck, both of them — produces at a consistent clip, Notre Dame should be just fine out of the slot, a position covered by a pair of sophomore studs. If you're to throw one more pass catcher from the class of 2023 into the mix, tight end Cooper Flanagan caught 1 ball last fall and it was a 19-yard touch- down. He's got game, and he's healthy. The latter is more than fellow tight ends Mitchell Evans and Kevin Bauman can say at the moment. They're both still rehabbing from torn ACLs. SET FOR STARDOM This is a section reserved for sopho- mores who have shown flashes but have not yet fully burst onto the scene like Love, Faison or Greathouse. One 2023 true freshman played enough on special teams, though, to signal he's on his way to showing up in another phase. Linebacker Drayk Bowen logged 161 special teams plays, per Pro Football Focus, good for the sixth-most among all Irish players. Bowen was stuck behind JD Bertrand at middle linebacker on the defensive depth chart. Bertrand will likely soon hear his name called in the 2024 NFL Draft later in April. He ate up snaps with the best of 'em in college football the last couple of seasons. Notre Dame leaned into his usage, and he rewarded the Irish by leading the team in tackles in three consecutive campaigns. Now he's gone. And sidekick weak- side linebacker Marist Liufau is, too. Not only did Bowen do enough as a spe- cial teamer to propel himself into posi- tion to show up on defense this year, but the gap he's shooting through is wider