Build Your Own Notre Dame Football Team of the Last Five Years

If you have a Twitter account, you may have seen one of those sports posts (typically pertaining to basketball) where you are allotted a certain number of points and spend them to build your own personalized roster of players. Something like this:

I think it’s a fun (albeit mentally and emotionally taxing) exercise that shows what you value in constructing a team. With that in mind, I’ve taken the liberty of putting together what I believe to be a fair ranking of Notre Dame players at various position groups from 2017 onward (ever since I started following Notre Dame football).

(Note: no slight is intended by these rankings; if you are a current or former player and would like to air a grievance with your ranking or lack thereof, my DMs/mentions and inbox are open)

I’ve broken every position into four options. To be clear, you are only allowed to select one of the four players in each row. There are two separate groups of running backs and tight ends so you can have some variety in your offense. On the defensive side, you get two inside linebackers and one outside linebacker; the terminology for each position is at your discretion.

All in all, there are 18 position groups that need filling across the offense, defense and special teams. You are allotted 45 points to construct your roster. Kick and punt returners have to come from your offensive and defensive selections.

Have at it.

*If you want the 2021 offensive line, you can have that hot mess for 0 points

*An old dormmate from my Zahm days and a WOPU Nation alum. Miss you, Bushy!

My personal picks:

Offense — 20 points

· Quarterback: Jack Coan (2)

· RB 1: Dexter Williams (2)

· RB 2: Chris Tyree (4)

· WR Corps: 2019 (2)

· TE 1: Cole Kmet (3)

· TE 2: Tommy Tremble (4)

· Offensive Line: 2020 (3)

Defense — 20 points

· Defensive Line: 2021 (3)

· ILB 1: Marist Liufau (2)

· ILB 2: JD Bertrand (1)

· Rover: Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (4)

· SS: Houston Griffith (1)

· FS: Kyle Hamilton (4)

· Field: TaRiq Bracy (2)

· Boundary: Nick McCloud (3)

Special Teams — 5 points

· Kicker: Jonathan Doerer (3)

· Punter: Bryan Dowd (1)

· LS: Matthew Bushland (1)

Tyree is returning kicks. Lawrence Keys III is taking punts. Dowd is punting soccer style. I don’t have to worry about nickel packages because JOK is my nickel. I will go to my grave sticking up for Houston Griffith. I’m also doing everything I can to keep TaRiq Bracy’s confidence above water. And I’m playing Kyle on both offense and defense; it’s my team so I do what I want.

Sound off in the comments.