The 2022 Notre Dame football team is loaded with elite talent, and some of those players are projected to take home some hardware this season.
Recently, 247Sports.com put together their thoughts on which players would take home the major awards in college football this season. From the Heisman Trophy to the Thorpe Award, Will Backus named a winner as well as some finalists.
For the Irish, they were well-represented, and in fact, one player was projected to take down one of the major awards. That player was Jarrett Patterson, the team’s elite center who has yet to give up a sack in his entire college career.
Patterson was slated to be a Day 2 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft but decided to return to campus, solidifying the 2022 offensive line. With all five starters back from last year’s team, the Irish are likely to have one of the best offensive lines in the country and could take home the Joe Moore Award.
Notre Dame football: Irish all over projected Award winner list for 2022
What they got right
As we stated above, Patterson is projected by the piece to take down some hardware, as he is the winner of the Rimington Trophy according to Backus. There is no doubt that Patterson should be the front-runner for this award going into his final season in South Bend, and it would be a bit shocking if he did not win it.
Also, Backus listed Brandon Joseph as a finalist for the Thorpe Award, and going into his first season in South Bend, that seems about fair. Joseph had an excellent 2020 campaign in a COVID-shortened season and was a very good player for Northwestern last season, a year where most teams shied away from him.
With the Irish, he is going to be expected to come in and fill the shoes of Kyle Hamilton, a first-round pick from this past April, and one of the better safeties this program has seen in quite some time. Joseph was an All-American at Northwestern, and his talent has shone through since landing in South Bend, so expectations are very high for him this Fall.
Notre Dame football: Irish all over projected Award winner list for 2022
What they got wrong
Last season, Michael Mayer was one of the better tight ends in the country, and for some time, you would be hard-pressed to find someone even close to his production. However, he was shut out of the Mackey Award and was not even listed as a finalist, which is where Backus has him going into the 2022 campaign.
The truth is, Mayer is the best tight end in the country, and when all is said and done, he could be picked as high as Kyle Pitts was a few years back. He has everything you look for in a player at the position group, and with a first-year quarterback at the helm, you can be sure that he is going to be a security blanket for either Drew Pyne or Tyler Buchner.
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The Notre Dame football team is going to be an exciting one to watch this upcoming season, and they could end up being a real contender to make the College Football Playoff. To do so, they have to get major production from the players listed in this article, while also shutting down Backus’s Heisman favorite, CJ Stroud in Week 1.