Notre Dame: Jacob Lacey was the Unsung Hero vs. Boston College

The defensive tackle was huge for Notre Dame on Saturday.

It was another Saturday afternoon where Notre Dame came out and dominated their opponent. The Irish ran away with this one against a decent Boston College team 40-7, and it could have been a whole lot worse if the Irish could of punched it in the endzone early on instead of settling for field goals.

Regardless, the offense had another solid showing overall and the the defense was lights out again for the third straight week. What a group defensive coordinator Clark Lea has put together from top to bottom.

The depth was tested again on the defensive line with Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa going down with a leg injury, but like clockwork, the backups came in, performed and got the job done.

There’s one guy who has been banged up for quite awhile with a nagging shoulder injury, but he’s been pushing through and has really played great football for the Irish on the interior, especially on Saturday. Freshman defensive tackle Jacob Lacey is the Unsung Hero against Boston College.

Lacey has been a blessing in disguise to this team early on in his career. He’s only a freshman and he’s been huge on the inside of the defense. Pushing through injuries and changing up positions from the nose tackle to the three-tech, because of other player injuries on the interior, he just continues to show up and stand his ground. His stat sheet won’t jump out, with accounting for a tackle and a quarterback hurry on Saturday, but he’s just so stout inside, both against the run and pass — that he makes others around him flourish.

He’s been a big key in the defensive line rotation and brings solid production on every snap he gets. What’s not really talked about is how smart of a football player he is. Again, he’s only a freshman, so he still has room to get stronger — which he will — but his ability to read plays and stay assignment correct when he’s in the game is just so impressive in itself. There’s no doubt he’s going to be a big player for Notre Dame for the next few years but after Saturday he absolutely earned the Unsung Hero honor.

For the finale game of the regular season, I expect him to have another solid showing against Stanford, even with a banged up shoulder. If he plays like he has been on the interior, I don’t see Stanford getting much going on offense Saturday afternoon in Palo Alto.