The Fighting Irish Name 3 Captains For The 2018 Notre Dame Football Team

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish announced three captains for the upcoming 2018 football season:

• LB Drue Tranquill
• C Sam Mustipher
• P Tyler Newsome

Drue Tranquill was believed to have played his last season at Notre Dame after the Stanford game, but in a somewhat surprising move, he announced that he would be returning in 2018. Tranquill becomes another 2-time captain for the Irish, following in the footsteps of Mike McGlinchey and Zack Martin.

Sam Mustipher became famous after the 2016 loss to N.C. State. Mustipher was called out a bit by Brian Kelly in the post-game — a game that was played in a hurricane and saw the Irish pass the ball about 35 times. Mustipher took it all in stride and had an incredible year in 2017.

There probably aren't too many punters in the country that have earned such a high level of respect from their teammates — but Tyler Newsome is certainly one of them. That level goes up another couple notches with a captaincy. Newsome hits the weight room hard, and has already been a steady leader for this team.

I like the move here by the Irish. Obviously they have 1 offensive player, 1 defensive player, and 1 special teams player here as a captain, but it goes beyond that. All three are in their last year of eligibility with the program, all three are respected by teammates, and all three have something to prove in 2018.

While only 3 were named today, Notre Dame could still add another captaincy (or two) this fall.