Before this Saturday’s game against Virginia, the Notre Dame football team will recognize its 29 seniors for their contributions to the program. Many of them stuck around in South Bend through a coaching change and have helped bring Notre Dame back into the College Football Playoff conversation this year. Here’s a look back at the best moments members of this year’s senior class produced in blue and gold.
Kiser kicks down the end-zone door
When graduate linebacker Jack Kiser led Notre Dame with eight tackles and two tackles for loss in his first career start in 2020, Irish fans sensed they had a high-caliber defender on their hands. Four years later, they’ve been proven right. Across six seasons in South Bend, Kiser has started 27 games, making 234 tackles, including a dozen for loss.
In 2021, Kiser became the rare defender to score two touchdowns in the same season. He first ran a 66-yard interception return back to the end zone in Week Four against Wisconsin, helping Notre Dame to a top-25 blowout. Two months later, on Senior Day against Georgia Tech, he contributed to an Irish shutout with a 43-yard interception return to the house.
Evans scores game-winning Gator Bowl touchdown
For a Notre Dame program accustomed to prolific tight end play, the 2022 Gator Bowl win against South Carolina featured a glorious transition of power. Michael Mayer had led Notre Dame throughout the previous three years, setting the Irish record for receiving touchdowns earlier in the season. But with Mayer sitting out of the bowl game to prepare himself for the NFL Draft, the time came for current senior Mitchell Evans.
Evans had already become known for his “Mitch-a-Palooza” tight end sneak plays, one of which resulted in his first career touchdown at UNLV. But he hadn’t yet brought in a receiving score. That changed with less than 100 seconds to play in Notre Dame’s shootout bowl win, as Tyler Buchner hooked up with the current senior for the game-winning touchdown from 18 yards out. Evans’ role would expand into 2023, as he posted 422 receiving yards on 29 catches in eight games before going down with an injury.
Cross becomes one-man wrecking crew at Duke
After Notre Dame took its first loss of the 2023 season, a heartbreaker against Ohio State, graduate defensive lineman Howard Cross III made sure the Irish would return to the win column a week later. Playing in primetime for the second straight Saturday at Duke, Cross delivered a career-high 13 tackles with three and a half tackles for loss. After Notre Dame had taken a 21-14 lead late in the fourth quarter, Cross annihilated Duke’s chance at a response, ending the game with a strip sack.
The remarkable performance in Durham would earn Cross several honors, including Bednarik Player of the Week, Senior Bowl Defensive Player of the Week and Lott Impact Trophy Player of the Week. Now 60 games into his Irish career, Cross has 164 tackles, 11 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss.
Watts has his breakout month
A Nebraska native who started his Irish career at wide receiver, graduate safety Xavier Watts made the move to the secondary in 2021. Starting out as a rover, playing a hybrid of linebacker and safety, Watts waited his turn behind the likes of Kyle Hamilton and Brandon Joseph. Then, in October of last year, he became a household name.
After picking off passes in road wins at NC State and Duke, Watts starred in Notre Dame’s Oct. 14 blowout of USC. In that game, he intercepted reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams twice, forced a fumble and returned another for a touchdown. In his next game against Pittsburgh, Watts would claim two interceptions again. He ended the season as the nation’s leader with seven picks, taking home the Bronko Nagurski award as the top defensive player in the country.
Collins’ crucial catch in College Station
Transferring from Clemson ahead of this season, graduate wide receiver Beaux Collins had already played against the Irish twice in his career. On Aug. 31, he suited up for the first time in a Notre Dame uniform as the team opened its 2024 season with a top-20 showdown at Texas A&M. Entering the Irish program with 1,290 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns in his three seasons at Clemson, Collins figured to contribute heavily in Notre Dame’s passing game. With the Irish needing a late score at Kyle Field, that’s exactly what he did.
With five minutes left and Notre Dame at its own 29, senior quarterback Riley Leonard spotted Collins in single coverage on the left sideline. He threw a perfect back-shoulder ball, and Collins made a terrific, strong-handed catch to secure a 20-yard gain and get the Irish to midfield. The play would accelerate Notre Dame’s drive, which resulted in a go-ahead and game-winning touchdown.
Collins currently leads the Irish with 29 catches and 374 receiving yards on the season.
Leonard's legs lead the way in Notre Dame resurgence
Riley Leonard arrived as a senior transfer from Duke this past offseason with question marks aplenty. He had spent most of his 2023 season on the shelf, and his injuries carried into the offseason and kept him out of spring practices at Notre Dame. But at the same time, his upside was undeniable, pointing back to his historic 2022 season with the Blue Devils. Two games into his Notre Dame career, that upside didn’t show itself much, as Leonard followed a conservative gameplan at Texas A&M and threw two costly interceptions against Northern Illinois.
Then came the Purdue game in Week Three. With Notre Dame 1-1 and likely needing to win 10 straight games just to reach the College Football Playoff, Leonard made sure the Irish didn’t waste any time. Running the football like a man possessed, he accounted for 100 yards and three touchdowns on the ground before the 66-7 Irish win hit halftime. Notre Dame has won six more games consecutively since that afternoon in West Lafayette, with Leonard rushing for 13 scores and passing for nine more on the season.
Bauman’s persistence pays off with first touchdown
In that Purdue game, Kevin Bauman also brought in his first career touchdown reception, and it was a long time coming. The graduate tight end made his collegiate debut on Sept. 19, 2020, before suffering a fractured fibula in 2021, a torn ACL in 2022 and another ACL tear before the 2023 season even began. As a result, the New Jersey native played in only 12 games across his first four seasons.
But Bauman didn’t hang up his cleats. He kept pushing, getting to the point where he could play in a career-high seven games this year. In his first game back at Purdue, he hauled in an eight-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Steve Angeli, and his teammates absolutely lost it. They mobbed Bauman in the corner of the end zone, sealing the memory of a play he’ll likely never forget.
Mills, Clark bring the boom against Florida State
Two more graduate students stepped up in Notre Dame’s most recent beatdown of Florida State. Playing under the lights in South Bend for the first time this season, defensive tackle Rylie Mills delivered a legacy performance. Number 99 collected a career-high three sacks, doubling his total for the season and bringing his career count to 15.5. One of his takedowns in the second half forced the Seminoles into a passing situation, leading to the first interception of nickelback Jordan Clark’s Irish career. An Arizona State transfer, Clark has left his mark on Notre Dame both on and off the field, defending four passes this season while hosting his podcast, “The Irish Scoop.”
