Notre Dame Football: 25 Most Impactful Players Honorable Mention

As we did last summer, the Slap The Sign staff has compiled our list of the top 25 players that we believe will have the greatest impact for the Notre Dame football team this season. Here are the players that just missed the cut.

I asked the members of our staff at Slap The Sign to rank the top 25 players they believe will have the biggest impact for the Notre Dame football team this upcoming season.

Participating members submitted a ballot of 25 players ranked in order. I then took the average ranking of each player that appeared on the ballots and composed the final list.

No two ballots had the exact same 25 players. Because of that, we ended up with seven players that appeared on at least one ballot but fell outside of the top 25 in the final rankings. These players make up our honorable mention list.

These rankings could very well be rendered useless if Notre Dame’s 2020 football season is canceled. However, at this exact moment, the Irish have a green light. So let’s rank some players to distract us from all of life’s problems.

Before we get to the seven players who earned honorable mention, I wanted to highlight a few players that did not make the cut. These players did not receive any votes, but they could very well make a significant impact this season.

• Brock Wright: The senior has not amassed the counting stats that his classmate Cole Kmet has, but he is still a damn good tight end. Wright’s most notable strength is as an in-line blocker in the run game. However, in Kmet’s absence, I can see him becoming a red-zone threat in the passing game.
• Jordan Johnson: He may only be a true freshman, but the former four-star wide receiver recruit has all of the talent needed to hop into the rotation in 2020. With Kevin Austin set to miss the first couple of games this season due to injury, the door is open for Johnson to get some early playing time.
• Jay Bramblett: It’s not hard to understand why our writers excluded Bramblett from their ballots. I think it has more to do with his position than his talent. Based on his performance, it was hard to tell that Bramblett was a true freshman last season. Similar to the trajectory of Tyler Newsome, I think Bramblett will continue to develop as a weapon for the Notre Dame punt team.
• Avery Davis: Due to the coaching staff asking Davis to switch positions multiple times over the last three years, he has kind of fallen to the back of Irish fans’ minds. However, his talent hasn’t diminished one bit. Davis will play slot receiver for Notre Dame this season. He has great quickness and the ability to make defenders miss. He’ll get a fair share of work in both the passing game and running game.
• Jacob Lacey: The sophomore nose guard brings quality depth to Notre Dame’s defensive line. Like Bramblett, he plays a position that does not get a ton of attention. That position, though, is the crux of the run defense. As a true freshman last season, Lacey was called into action due to Jamion Franklin’s injury. Lacey played well and has certainly carved out a solid workload for himself this season.

For the players in this group who will be returning to the team in 2021, I fully expect them to receive votes when our most impactful player ballots are submitted next summer.

Without further adieu, here are the seven players who have earned honorable mention.