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Notre Dame Football’s End of Season Superlatives: Mr. Reliable

By Nathan Erbach

ATHENS, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 21: Drew White #40 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish reacts in the second half while playing the Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium on September 21, 2019 in Athens, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATHENS, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 21: Drew White #40 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish reacts in the second half while playing the Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium on September 21, 2019 in Athens, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Some Notre Dame fans may view the Mr. Reliable tag as an insult, but consistency and trust on a football team goes a long way.

Before the Notre Dame football season started, Chris Finke was our consensus pick for Mr. Reliable, and based on past performance he absolutely was a perfect fit. However, injuries and some inconsistent play throughout the season led others to surpass him for this honor. When we selected our mid-season award winners, our now MVP — Chase Claypool — actually was the pick for Mr. Reliable. With the regular season over, this might have been the hardest award to sort out. On offense, you have someone like Cole Kmet worthy of this honor. On defense, you have multiple guys like Drew White, Alohi Gilman, Jalen Elliott, Kurt Hinish and MTA that all can be argued for. On special teams, Jonathan Doerer deserves a ton of praise. Our team ultimately decided on one of the several defenders.

Mr Reliable: Drew White (3 of 7 votes)

Others receiving votes: Cole Kmet (2), Khalid Kareem, Jonathan Doerer

Honestly, any of these guys could have been chosen for this award and we wouldn’t have had it wrong, but ultimately Drew White won out. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was chosen for our breakout player and White was every bit the impactful player he was. Whenever there was a key stop, White seemed to be involved. Whenever a fumble was forced, White seemed to be close by. He was a ball or opposing player magnet of sorts, and was a huge part of the Clark Lea led defense in 2019 at the MIKE linebacker position.

White was the team leader in tackles and fourth on the team in tackles for loss. On top of that, he showed himself as a good blitzer, accumulating 2 sacks while also recovering 2 fumbles batting down one pass. Irish fans should be very excited about year 2 of White and JOK at linebacker next season and less worried about who will replace Asmar Bilal. These two guys could be one of, if not the best linebacker duo in the country in 2020.

Next. Notre Dame All-Decade Athlete. dark

I’ve seen a lot of comparisons to Joe Schmidt when it comes to Drew White, but although Schmidt was incredibly intelligent and a much better athlete than given credit for — I will give the significant edge to White on pure athletic ability.

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