Five Notre Dame Football Players Who Need To Live Up To Expectations This Season

Editor’s Note: Two of the five Notre Dame Football players featured here are being investigated for academic fraud. This list is subject to change. 

Expectations have and will always be extremely high at Notre Dame.  It doesn’t matter if you are a coach, player or fan; when you where that ND monogram on your body, expectation levels in the stratosphere. Although when it comes to some Irish players, expectations are higher than others. And some of those players don’t live up to those expectations.

Here are five Notre Dame players who need to stop playing around and step up to the plate this season:

5. TE Ben Koyack –  

Nov 2, 2013; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish tight end Ben Koyack (18) celebrates after scoring a touchdown in front of Navy Midshipmen cornerback Brandon Clements (1) and cornerback Parrish Gaines (2) in the third quarter at Notre Dame Stadium. Notre Dame won 38-34. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

To be fair, the one of the reason’s Koyack made this list is because of the talent ahead of him since he’s been at Notre Dame. For the last three seasons, Tyler Eifert and Troy Niklas have occupied the tight end position leaving few opportunities for Koyack to step up. But the main reason he’s made the list is because of his top billing coming out of high school in 2011.  Koyack was number 77 on the ESPN 150, three spots ahead of Ohio State’s Braxton Miller. The only two tight ends ranked higher than Koyack were Georgia’s Jay Rome and Florida State’s Nick O’Leary, who many project to be the Mackey Award Winner. So if Koyack doesn’t show up in 2014, him and “Dumb and Dumber To” could be two of the year’s biggest disappointments.