Only one Notre Dame player on Sports Illustrated’s Top 100

By Bobby Norell | Jul 15, 2016

Nov 14, 2015; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback DeShone Kizer (14) celebrates after a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Notre Dame Stadium. Notre Dame won 28-7. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /

Only one Notre Dame player made Sports Illustrated’s list of top 100 college football players.

Earlier this week Sports Illustrated released their top 100 college football players, and if you’re a Notre Dame fan you may be a bit surprised. Only one Notre Dame player made the list and surprisingly that player was DeShone Kizer. Now I personally think Kizer should be on the list. He was great last season as he led the Irish to a 10-3 record, but if I could pick only one Notre Dame to put on this list Kizer probably wouldn’t be that guy.

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I’m shocked players like Mike McGlinchey and Quenton Nelson were not on this list. Notre Dame’s offensive line is regarded as one of the best offensive lines in the nation. McGlinchey and Nelson are the two cornerstones of that line. McGlinchey is thought to be one of the best tackles in the country. With a strong season in 2016 he could potentially be a first round pick.

Nelson is an absolute mauler at the offensive guard spot. He’s gone a little unnoticed due to the other talents that have been on Notre Dame’s line, but he’s really going to turn some heads this season.

And what about Notre Dame’s playmakers? How is a Josh Adams or a Torii Hunter Jr. not on this list? We saw what Adams could do last season. He almost ran for 1,000 yards as a freshman. Hunter probably doesn’t have the stats or production that would warrant him for this list, but he’s super talented and will be one of Notre Dame’s focal points on offense this season.

On defense you could make an argument for Isaac Rochell. Rochell tallied 63 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and a sack. He returns as Notre Dame’s best and most experienced defensive lineman.

Next: Watch lists give Kizer the starting edge

Now I understand Notre Dame isn’t going to have five or six different guys on this list this season, but to only have one? That seems just a little bit too low to me. This is the best and most talent we’ve seen at Notre Dame in quite some time. There should be more than one Notre Dame player on this list.

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