Notre Dame Football: 2020 Defensive regular season awards

It has been an incredible year for the Notre Dame football team, and here are our Defensive Awards for the regular season.

The Notre Dame football team has completed their third undefeated regular season under head coach Brian Kelly. As the Irish prepare for their rematch against Clemson in the ACC Championship Game, we at Slap the Sign would like to hand out some regular-season awards.

It is actually the second time in three years that the Irish have gone undefeated in the regular season, and they accomplished that feat with a 45-21 victory over Syracuse on Senior Day last weekend. One of the strengths of the 2020 Notre Dame football team has been the play of their defense. In their third year under defensive coordinator Clark Lea, the Irish defense has become one of the more consistent in college football.

Among teams in the “Power 5” conferences, the Notre Dame defense ranked 15th in pass yards per attempt allowed, ninth in rush yards per attempt allowed, and third in points per game allowed this season. It was a total team effort that showed the Irish can be elite on all three levels of their defense.

This Notre Dame football team has a few players who have been named as semifinalists or finalists for some of college football’s annual awards. However, our staff at Slap the Sign thought they deserved even more accolades.

We came up with five award categories: Best Newcomer, Impact Player, Most Improved, Mr. Reliable, and MVP. Each award will have one recipient from the offense and one recipient from the defense. Additionally, players are not eligible to win multiple awards. This gives us an opportunity to highlight more players who have played well this season.

With all that said, here are the winners of our regular-season awards for the Irish defense.