A Trio Of Notre Dame Football Players Make Sports Illustrated’s All-American Team

It’s that time of year for the college football world... AWARDS SEASON. As you could probably tell already, most of the college football news coming out is about the season awards. It’s trophy time and final list time.

To that end, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are off to a good start with Nic Weishar, Drue Tranquill, and Brian Kelly announced as winners of various awards. So, here’s some more good news for you...

The Irish have three players on the Sports Illustrated All-American team.

• Jerry Tillery DT 1st Team
• Julian Love CB 1st Team
• Alize Mack TE 2nd Team

Julian Love is a no-brainer here, and could very likely be the winner of this year’s Jim Thorpe Award for the nation’s best defensive back. Love has the school record in PBU’s and had 15 this season.

Jerry Tillery has been a monster for the Irish defense, but rarely gets mentioned by the media when discussing some of the best players in the country. I’m a little shocked he was given 1st team status — but he totally earned it this season with his play.

The Alize Mack selection is a little more than intriguing. There are quite a few tight ends across the country with better stats, but perhaps SI is going with the best player in this situation and not necessarily the player with the best stats. At any rate... good for Mack.