BGI Awards: Part 1: Picking Notre Dame football's 2022 MVPs
This Notre Dame football article ran in the January 2022 magazine issue of Blue & Gold Illustrated. Sign up for a subscription or order a single issue here.
The lesson that stuck with Marcus Freeman in his first season as Notre Dame head coach was to expect unpredictability. No matter how much you plan, how much you study and how much you think you grasp, there will be a swerve you didn’t see coming. More than one, probably.
“It’s never as you foresee it on the front end,” Freeman said in November.
His first season in charge of the Irish was full of hurdles he didn’t expect. He started 0-2, with the second defeat a home loss to Marshall. Stanford came to Notre Dame Stadium a month later and beat the Irish. He lost his starting quarterback and two teams captains to injury.
That’s just the start.
There was, though, a certainty. Michael Mayer.
If Notre Dame could get the ball to the junior tight end often enough in a game, he would reliably produce pivotal plays. When he wasn’t catching passes, he was sticking his helmet on linebackers and defensive ends in the run game. He leaves as the most statistically impressive tight end in program history, with 180 catches for 2,099 yards and 18 touchdowns. Those are all records for Irish tight ends. Only two Notre Dame players have totaled more career receptions.
Mayer was named Notre Dame’s 2022 MVP at the team banquet earlier this month. He’s also the top choice for MVP in the BGI Awards. The first of five parts to the BGI Awards is the top three picks for MVP.
1. Tight end Michael Mayer
Mayer was the centerpiece of Notre Dame’s passing offense, and sometimes the only reliable part of it. The junior tight end had 101 targets during the regular season — 55 more than any other Notre Dame player. His 809 receiving yards and 67 catches are more than double the next-closest receiver. He has 9 touchdown catches. No one else has more than 3.
That level of reliance on him isn’t the best reflection on Notre Dame’s passing attack. But it’s also an impressive reflection on Mayer, who produced nearly every week even though he was at the top of opponents’ scouting reports.
Mayer is more than a receiver, though. He’s a strong blocker who was crucial to Notre Dame’s rushing attack. He would often lead block or seal a hole for a running back on first down and catch a pass on second or third. His 82.1 Pro Football Focus run-blocking grade is fourth among FBS tight ends with at least 350 such snaps. He was a captain, a magnetic locker room figure and as dedicated as anyone else on the roster Sunday through Friday.
The Irish have begun life after Mayer in December practices. He declared for the NFL Draft and will not play in the Dec. 30 Gator Bowl vs. No. 19 South Carolina.
2. Defensive end Isaiah Foskey
Foskey’s last two seasons will be remembered as one of the best two-year stretches for a Notre Dame pass rusher. The senior had 11 sacks this season and 11.5 in 2021. He set the Notre Dame career sack record, with 26.5, breaking Justin Tuck’s prior mark of 24.5. His 33 quarterback pressures in 2022 led the team.
Foskey was the foundation of a Notre Dame pass rush that is tied for No. 18 nationally in sacks per game (2.92). He was also a staple of a punt block unit that rejected seven kicks, tied for the most in the country. Foskey had two of those blocks himself. His 14 tackles for loss are tied for 22nd nationally and are the second-most by a Notre Dame player since 2006.
“He didn’t win a national championship here, but what he did for this program, and what those seniors did for this program, will be the reason we win a national championship here in the upcoming future,” Freeman said.
Like Mayer, Foskey is headed to the NFL Draft and is not playing in the bowl.
3. Jarrett Patterson and Joe Alt
It’s hard to include one without the other. Notre Dame’s left side of the offensive line was a reliable and sturdy force in the run game and pass protection with the sophomore Alt and the graduate student Patterson at tackle and guard, respectively. (Patterson was injured and did not play in the opener at Ohio State).
No tackle has a higher PFF overall grade than Alt’s 91.7. He allowed 0 sacks and just 5 pressures all year. His mix of strength and athleticism helped him wipe out defenders at the line of scrimmage and reach the second level with ease. He looks like a potential early first-round pick at the end of his sophomore year.
Patterson, though, felt like the cog that holds the whole line together. He’s a two-time captain and a four-year starter who made the move from center to guard look seamless, especially when considering he did not participate in spring practice or half of preseason camp due to injury. He became a strong combo block partner with Alt and senior center Zeke Correll. He allowed 0 sacks and only 7 pressures in pass protection.
Patterson has played more than 1,600 career pass protection snaps and given up 0 sacks. He has 45 career starts and just 35 pressures allowed.
