Awards roundup: Notre Dame CB Leonard Moore one of four finalists for Nagurski Trophy

What Notre Dame sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore does best is not pad his own stats, but wreck others’.

Specifically, wide receivers who wander into his zone or get matched up man-to-man with the reigning FWAA Freshman Defensive Player of the Year.

And the college football world is taking notice — big time.

On Thursday, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Round Rock, Texas, product was named one of four finalists for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, an award given annually to the nation’s top defensive player. The winner will be announced Dec. 8 at a banquet in Charlotte, N.C.

Ohio State junior safety Caleb Downs, Texas A&M redshirt senior defensive end Cashius Howell and Texas Tech senior linebacker Jacob Rodriguez are the other three finalists. The Irish have had two previous winners — linebacker Manti Te’o in 2012, and safety Xavier Watts in 2023.

ESPN’s annual awards show this year is Dec. 12, with the Heisman Trophy winner announced two days later. Leonard was named this week as a semifinalist for three other awards — the Lott Impact Trophy, the Bednarik Award and the Thorpe Award.

The Lott and Bednarik, like the Nagurski, are national defensive player-of-the-year awards. The Thorpe Award goes to the nation’s top defensive back.

Moore missed two games because of injury, but has 25 tackles, three interceptions, three pass breakups and a forced fumble this season. He is the only cornerback in the nation to rank in the Top 10 in both interception rate allowed and first-down rate allowed.

The Irish defense, as a whole, has improved dramatically since mid-September, when Moore suffered his injury. Since game 3 against Purdue, Notre Dame has leaped from 103rd nationally in pass efficiency defense to 19th, 104th to 29th in total defense and 117th to 17th in scoring defense.

Jeremiyah Love in the running

The Doak Walker Award since 1990 has been given to the nation’s top running back. And in the previous 35 years, not only has a Notre Dame back never won the award, Reggie Brooks in 1992 is the only Irish player to be named a finalist.

Will all that change in 2025?

ND junior Jeremiyah Love this week was named a semifinalist for the award, one of 10, with the list of finalists to be released on Tuesday.

Love is also a semifinalist for two national Player of the Year awards — the Walter Camp Award and the Maxwell Award.

James Rendell makes elite list

Notre Dame senior punter James Rendell doesn’t punt often, but he punts well enough to be named one of 10 semifinalists recently for the Ray Guy Award, given annually to the nation’s best punter.

Rendell has punted 20 times this season for a 44.1-yard average. Eleven of those 20 punts were fielded or downed inside the 20. He has had one punt in his career trickle into the end zone for a touchback.

• Notre Dame’s net punting, as a team, is 12th nationally at 42.6 yards.

Can Marcus Freeman repeat?

Irish head coach Marcus Freeman is one of 24 semifinalists for the George Munger Coach of the Year Award.Freeman is the reigning award recipient after leading the Irish to the CFP National Championship Game in the 2024 season. Tyrone Willingham in 2002 is Notre Dame’s only other winner.