The ALL-NOTRE DAME team for EA Sports College Football 25

Intro Notre Dame has had more great players come through its program than arguably any other school in the country but if you were to create an ultimate team using the best notame players from the past 25 years who would make the cut my answer coming up next you are locked on Irish your daily podcast on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what's up and EA Sports College Football 25 welcome in lockdown Iris your daily Notre Dame podcast and today is Tuesday July 16th and thank you for making this your first listen of the day I'm your host Tyler wojack I graduated from Notre Dame in 2018 and now I'm a producer at Fox Sports and you can watch the full episode on YouTube or you can listen wherever you get your podcast if you are watching Along on YouTube this is your reminder to please give that video a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel if you have not already or if you're listening to the podcast please rate to show five stars leave review And subscribe there as well today's episode is brought to you by game time downlo the game time app create an account use code lockon college for $20 off your first purchase terms apply all right let's get into it first off I'm in a great mood today and a big reason for that is because the long awaited EA Sports college football video game is finally here for those of you who got the Early Access version of the game it has been 11 years since the release of the last college football video game but on Monday college football fans young and old were able to play as their favorite team once again on their video game console and I'll admit it I was absolutely obsessed with this game when I was younger so obsessed that it's probably a good thing that it wasn't around when I was in college or during the first couple years of my professional career or else I'd probably be in a much different place than I am today but over the past couple weeks and really the past couple months honestly in the leadup to the launch of this new video game it seems like everybody in the college football world has been talking about it players coaches people who cover the sport this has been the focal point for the summer in the college football world and now it's here and I was able to play it on Monday let me tell you it lives up to the hype and more if you haven't pre-ordered yet uh or got the Early Access you're going to have to wait until Friday to play it but I promise whenever you get the chance to play I think you're really going to enjoy it but even if you're not a fan of video games if those aren't really your thing and you don't ever plan on download on downloading this new EA Sports college football game that's more than okay because the video game is just what inspired the idea for today's show so let me explain one of the cool new features on this new game it's been a fixture on Madden over the past couple years now it's on the college football video game as well is the Ultimate Team game mode and the premise is you get to play games uh and complete challenges on one team and then you can unlock players from the past on that program to create a loaded roster in Ultimate Team um for lack of a better term of the best players passor present to play for that program and that got me thinking what would the ultimate noted aim team look like if you built a roster of the best players from the past 25 years because there is a little bit of a recency bias with this game uh the very first NC BL football video game that came out was 25 years ago I believe there was a college football video game before that but really it's been uh around for the last 25 years and I'm 28 years old so that's why I really focus on the past 25 because it's the players who I remember watching growing up and I am very familiar with the history books that Notre name and the players who played before my time but as I was trying to figure out my version of the Notre Dame Ultimate Team I wanted to focus on the guys that I was able to watch and figure out who are the best players at each position to play for Notre Dame over the past two decades plus I had a lot of fun doing this because I got to go back look at the stats and watch some highlights some of my favorite players but I also realized that it's really hard to come up with this starting lineup because there have been a lot of really good players to come through Notre aame and I didn't want to leave anyone out I had to in order to do this exercise so after a lot of thought and consideration here is my roster I'm going to go through my to deep on offense defense and special teams to give you my list of the best n football players in recent memory we begin at quarterback I think it's got to be Brady Quinn right he set 36 SCH records during his Four Seasons with the team 10 career records 12 single season records four single game records and 10 miscellaneous records he also won 29 games as a starter for Notre which is tied with Ron paus and Tom Clemens for the second most in school history yes I believe there is an argument to be made that Jimmy Clawson might have been a little bit more talented a little bit more of a polished passer than Brady Quinn but still Brady Quinn is the career leader for passing yards completions touchdowns amongst a lot of other things so I feel like it has to be Brady Quin okay now running back was pretty tough for me I'm going to go with Julius Jones this might be a hot take but if you remember watching Julius J uh Julius Jones I mean I remember watching him when I was younger he played uh from like 98 through 2001 and then he missed the 2002 season uh due to academic rezon and he came back and play in 2003 and he was basically the only player worth a damn on that 2003 team especially in offense he finished sixth all time in rushing yards he has the most rushing yards in a single game with 262 against pit in 2003 and he did all of this playing on terrible teams with terrible offensive lines I have Kiren Williams as my backup here one of my all-time favorite Notre Dame players was really really productive in his two seasons really playing for the Irish you got red shirt his freshman season and then had two awesome years before he left early for the NFL draft but I think I got to go with Julius Jones because of what he was able to do with the worst Supporting Cast around him and I think that if he had played on that 2000 team they had no one on offense who could make a play I feel like his career would be looked at a lot differently because he had been a really good player on a team that had a good season honorable mentions auk kme Josh Adams and Darius Walker probably all have an argument to be on this list but I'm going to go with Julius Jones and kyen Williams on my team okay wide receivers I'm going to go with three WR TE starters here and then I'll give you my three backups for my starters Michael Floyd Jeff Samara and then Golden Tate in the slot Michael Floyd was easy most career receiving yards receptions and touchdowns at Notre Dame Golden Tate had the best single season of any wide receiver in school history in 2009 he had nine games nine games with over 100 receiving yards that season finished with 93 receptions just under 1500 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns also won the bitov award that year for the best receiver in college football and then there's Jeff Samara who actually held a lot of those records that Michael Floyd then broke including receiving yards receptions touchdowns and all that so it was pretty easy to pick the top three but unfortunately I had to leave will Fuller off the starting lineup um that was really difficult he's second in career touchdowns career receiving touchdowns with 30 fourth in yards but I just could not put him over Jeff samarra or Michael Floyd on the outside because those two guys I feel were more complete wide receivers even though will Fuller was just so so good also uh on my back of wide receivers I've got moris stoval and TJ Jones stoval and Jeff Sam marger back in 2005 were an insane one-w combination and if Rama mcnight had not gotten hurt that would have been maybe the best receiving Trio in school history at Notre but at least first of all he makes the cut here as a backup on my team TJ Jones just a model of consistency at Notre throughout his career so I'm going to give him the sixth and final wide receiver spot okay tight ends this was really difficult so I'm gonna pick Michael Mayer as my starter because he broke every record there is for a tight end at Notre Dame in 2022 he was the entire Notre Dame offense it didn't matter if he was double or triple teamed he was going to make the play and get the chains moving for not so i' I'm going to have him as my starting tight end and then with him got Tyler efor who's my backup but also I could be running some uh two tight end looks here and Tyler efor was just incredible um but this was really difficult because my third guy my honorable mention is Kyle Rudolph and you might be able to make the case that Michael Mayer was the third most talented out of this group when you look at Tyler rord Kyle Rudolph and then Michael Mayer because Kyle rudol was just so good from the moment he stepped on campus at notam you knew that he was going to be a special special player but unfortunately for Rudolph he got hurt throughout his career and I don't think he was ever able to put like the career um total that he was probably capable of of doing and I actually remember when Rudolph got hurt and then eord came in you're like man this is a bummer Rudolph is out but then Tyler rord came out of nowhere uh was the best receiving threat on Notre Dame in 2012 when they went undefeated in the regular season and bailed out that Notre Dame offense time and time again that season so it was really hard to pick two but I'm going to go with Michael Mayer and Tyler rord and and Kyle Rudolph just missed the cut due to the injuries that he suffered throughout his career okay now the offensive line I'm going to cheat a little bit on this one okay because we know that there have been a ton of great offensive linemen to come through Notre Dame in the past 25 years so this was really difficult to do but here's how I laid it out so at left tackle I've got Ronnie Stanley First Team all americ in 2015 selected six over sixth overall in the NFL draft he's one of the best tackles in the NFL today when he's healthy which has been a problem for him since he entered the NFL but I got Ronnie sandley at left tackle then I got Quint Nelson at left guard don't really need uh much of an explanation there All-American drafted sixth overall for a guard which is crazy because guards typically do not go that high in the first round but Quint Nelson was a different player also basically had a highlight tape as a guard with all his pancake blocks which is extremely rare for any offensive lineman in college football let alone a guard so he was an easy pick for that at Center people might forget about him a little bit if you're a younger notan fan you might not even really know who I'm talking about I'm talking about Jeff Fain he's going to be my starting center he was an All-American in 2002 first round draft pick by the Browns went on to have a 10 year NFL career one of the few smart draft decisions that my Cleveland Browns have made um over the past couple of decades but man he was a mean mean dude right there in the middle of that offensive line and really really good so he's going to get the starting nod for me so this is where I cheated a little bit I'm going to put Zack Martin at Right Guard even though he played left tackle when he was at Notre Dame Zack Martin plays Right Guard in the NFL he's going to be an Hall of Famer in the NFL and in college no doubt about that he was an all proo player the moment he started playing for the Dallas Cowboys and he has just had a phenomenal career both in the NFL and college so that was an easy pick for him to make it but in order to make sure that Ronnie Stanley made it I moved Zack Martin over to Right Guard another thing that I did just kind of cook the books here was I moved Joe Al to right tackle uh you know first SE all American left tackle for Notre Dame in the past couple years fifth overall pick in the most recent NFL draft but joal is going to play right tackle for the Los Angeles Chargers which is kind of how I Justified this move to move Joe Walt over to right tackle but just think about this offensive line for a second Ronnie Stanley at left tackle Quint Nelson at left guard Jeff F at Center Zack Martin at Right Guard and Joe Al at right tackle that's insane right I think if you or I got the ball running behind this offensive line we're putting up a 100 rushing yards game I don't care how fast you are this line is going to create some holes for you and you're going to have a lot of running room and then yeah sure you'll get tackled and probably have to go to the ER much like I would but hey we're going to get some yards with this offensive line leading the way now for my backups here I've got Ryan Harris left tackle from the mid 2000s he was a really great player Super Bowl champion uh left guard I've got Chris Watt Nick Martin at center Trevor Robinson at Right Guard and then Mike mcglinchy as the backup right tackle it's pretty crazy that Mike mcglinchy a first round draft pick in the NFL made it to his second contractor the Denver Broncos make made a ton of money he is a backup right tackle on this group and that's really that just says a lot about what Notre has produced on the offensive line over the past couple decades so let's go back through my offense one more time before we switch it over to the defense like quarterback Brady Quinn Jimmy Clawson is my backup running back I've got Julius Jones with kyen Williams as the backup wide receivers I've got Michael Floy Jeff Samar and the Golden Tate with Will Will Fuller Maurice stoval and TJ Jones right behind him at tight end I've got Michael Mayer Tyler eord and then my offensive line is Ronnie Stanley Quinton Nelson Jeff Fain Zack Martin and Joe all from left to right that is one hell of an offense but can the defense top that find out right after this today's episode is brought to you by eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning Sponsor championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors is everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance from superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether into speed power or style eBay Motors has got you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you'll always find exactly what you're looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because with eBay Motors you're burning rubber not cash with all the parts you need at the prices you want it's easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home home that win keep your ride or die alive at ebay.com Motors eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers eligible items only exclusions apply all right now let's take a look at my ultimate Notre name defense and we begin with the Defensive Ends defensive ends Justin to was an easy pick here he second in school history in sacks with 24 and a half and has the most sacks in a single season with 13 and a half in 2003 one of the best defensive ends to come through Notre Dam ever maybe the best also had an unbelievable career in the NFL with the New York Giants two-time Super Bowl champion was also the best player on the field at the same time that Tom Brady was on the field in a Super Bowl I don't think we could ever forget that so he was the obvious pick there for me and then Stefan to it second most sacks in a single season with 12 21.5 sacks for his career which is fourth all time for Notre Dame when when you think back to how effective he was in that 2012 season he was just simply unblockable like he's one of the main reasons why Notre Dame was able to go undefeated during that regular season because he was an absolute force on the edge so for my backups here I've got Isaiah fosy and Victor aamiri it's pretty tough to leave the Notre name career sack uh sack leader off my starting lineup here but I got to give the nod to Stefan to it and Justin Tuck because I feel like they were a little bit more dominant Isaiah fosy was dominant at times but sometimes in the biggest moments it always felt like you could get a little bit more out of him especially against the best teams on the schedule but still that I don't mean that to be a knock on Isaiah foxy he was an incredible defensive end for Notre Raymond he made my team just as a backup all right now let's go inside and look at the defensive tackles I'm going to Defensive Tackles put Lewis Nicks first the big fella Irish chocolate may he rest in peace he led all Notre aim defensive lineman with 50 tackles and ranked fourth on the team with seven and a half tackles for loss in two sacks in 2012 and when you think about the defensive tackle position it is not one that is prone to putting up a bunch of stats but still Lewis Nicks was able to do it he absolutely clogged everything up on the inside and a big reason why Stefan Tu was able to have as much success as he did on the defensive Edge L Nicks deserves his credit too because he would just eat up double teams and whenever they try to run inside Lewis snicks was there to make the play awesome player to watch awesome player to root for for Notre Dame and it is just so tragic that he passed way too young but um whenever you get a chance to watch LS Nicks highlights you're reminded by you're reminded of the just super great personality that he had and he was just such a fun player for another name and also very very effective as well for my other defensive tackle I'm going to go with Sheldon day um he was an extremely productive player and I think this might surprise some people because when you think of the best ning defensive lineman Sheldon day isn't like the first name that comes to mind he wasn't a first or a second round draft pick or anything like that but he was a first or second team All-American in 2015 you know it just kind of depends on which listing you looked at there but he was very very productive for the Irish that year he also carved out a really nice career for himself in the NFL despite being a little bit under sized he's only 6'2 but then behind them my honorable mention Jerry Tillery he was a first-r draft pick um a big big recruit for Notre Dame at the time and was really good for Notre Dame especially in that 2018 season when Notre made the college football playoff tiller was actually playing with a torn laam throughout most most of the second half of that season and was still incredibly productive like I said first round pick with the Chargers his NFL career has not really gone to plan but still a very very productive player for the Irish and he's going to make my Ultimate Team here all right now let's look at the linebackers and we'll start on the outside first one is easy right it's Jaylen Smith he's one of the best know defensive players of my life and honestly in school history the biggest Shame about Jaylen Smith's career is despite how productive he was all the insane plays that he made and all the stats that he put up he probably would have been way more effective if he didn't have Brian vanor as his defensive coordinator like they just didn't Blitz him for whatever reason but he still was able to win the buckus award in 2015 uh for the nation's top linebacker I think that if he didn't get hurt in his last game at Notre Dame against Ohio State in that fiest if he didn't suffer that really catastrophic knee injury I think Jaylen Smith would have gone top three in that um NFL draft that year unfortunately because of that knee injury he felt at the second round Cowboys drafted him and he still ended up having a really good NFL career but I just don't think he was ever the same player after that knee injury and honestly it changed the course of college football because I think I think after that that's a big reason why you see so many of these guys opt out of the bowl games is because of what happened to Jaylen Smith even though he has said he would not go back and change it even though I don't really believe him but either way Jaylen Smith no doubt starting linebacker um on the outside on my ultimate Notre a team as for the other outside linebacker Jeremiah auu coroa another buckus Award winner for the Irish he won it in 2020 he's truly one-of a kind and he's like the perfect linebacker in today's day and age he could do everything for the ARs he could cover he could Blitz he could stop the run and when he did make a tackle boy did you feel it on the TV like if if I were a running back getting hit by J I probably would have just called it quits um he had that one huge hit against Florida State I remember just being like Oh my God what a play by him he was unbelievable should have been a first round jab pick in the NFL then there was that weird heart thing that apparently came out and then he fell to the second round but it ended up working out for me because the Cleveland Browns took him I couldn't believe that he was available and then no surprise there he's been one of the best players in the NFL on defense could have won rookie of the year before he got hurt he's an unbelievable player was a great player at Notre Dame and is no doubt a starter on this list for my backups I've got Drew tranquil and Tavon Cony two very good players tranquil Super Bowl champion I honestly can't believe he's had this good of an NFL career but credit to him his work ethic his ability he's a backup on this Team all right at middle linebacker I'm going to have one starter and I think you know who I'm going to pick it's man tiil this was obvious unanimous All-American second in the Heisman Trophy voting despite the fact that he played linebacker he had one of the most unbelievable and basically improbable seasons for any Notre Dame player ever in 2012 and even though in the immediate aftermath because the whole fake girlfriend catfishing Scandal I feel like it made people not really appreciate just how good of a player was in college but then now that time has passed and that documentary came out on Netflix and people realized wow he really did get screwed he's an innocent guy he was just a little bit naive and I think the story completely changed him anti tale and good because he is a great person and he was a really really great linebacker for Notre Dame and I think now everyone is able to appreciate what he did at Notre Dame a little bit more than um the public was able to do right after he graduated and he really changed the course of Notre Dame football like his impact on the field was great but his impact off the field and how he sort of changed just everything about the Notre Dame football culture while he was there um I think he's just had he's made one of the biggest impacts of any notan player that has really come through that program in my lifetime so he was an obvious choice to start at middle linebacker for my backup Courtney Watson uh he played for Notre Dame late late 90s early 2000s was a really really good player on that team in 2002 probably the best player on a really good Notre Dame defense that year and uh maybe if maybe you can make the argument that Shane Walton was a little bit better but either way Courtney Watson was a really good linebacker and um I wanted to make sure he got some recognition because I feel like he kind of gets forgotten because notm has had a lot of other good linebackers come to uh through the program lately okay quarterback my starters Julian love and Benjamin Quarterback Morrison Benjamin Morrison the only active player on the notame roster to make my team on offense or defense but I think he's that good he's the best player under RC in 2024 I think he's a Surefire firstr draft pick in ex his NFL Draft so he was an easy pick so is Julian love Julian love probably should have won the Thorp award in 2018 um came into Notre Dame without a ton of hype as a recruit uh from Nazareth High School and uh or maybe it's Nazareth Academy I know my Chicago buddies are going to give me crap for not knowing that but either way he was not far from Notre Dame came over was a really really good player just a shut down Corner in a way that Notre hasn't hadn't really had in a long time EX extremely physical really made life hell for the opposing wide receivers and they'd get really frustrated by the stuff that he'd get away with but he was just a great playmaker and you know one of the greater wha ifs one of the bigger wh ifs I should say of notan football in recent years is what if he never got hurt in that game against Clemson uh in the college football playoff semi-final does Notre win that game no they don't but I think it would have been a lot closer because as soon as he got out of the game once he got hurt Clemson was like oh Dante vaugh is covering Justin Ross let's go d touchdown okay he's still out there let's go deep again touchdown and then the game was never the same after that so Julian love really good player it's unfortunate that he missed his last game but um hey at least he made my Ultimate Team my backups Shane Walton I just mentioned him really really good player converted soccer player on that 2002 team he's got to make this list cavari Russell another great Notre Dame player uh huge part of that 2012 team one of the most surprising parts of that team because he came into Notre Dame as a running back made the change to quarterback in Fall Camp because they basically had to do it starts from the first game on is a true freshman ended up being a really good player for the Irish I'll never really understand how he didn't have a really solid NFL career but I guess we'll never know okay it's safety this was actually pretty easy as well Harrison Smith and Kyle Hamilton these two guys have been two of the best safeties in the NFL in the past couple years I mean Kyle Hamilton has only been in the NFL for two years but last year one of the best players in the entire league Harrison Smith has been around for a really long time and has been a really really good player for the Minnesota Vikings he is probably a future Hall of Famer as well when he was at Notre Dame he's the only player in school history to register more than 200 tackles 15 tackles for loss and 15 pass breakups in a career um also if I really wanted to I could have maybe cooked it cooked the books a little bit put him at outside linebacker because he did play in the Box a little bit but no I'm going to put him at safety I feel like he's got to go in there first round um draft pick as well Kyle Hamilton I mean truly one of the most talented Notre Dame football players in a really long time unfortunately his career was cut short in his third season he suffered that knee injury um against USC so we really only saw two and a half years of Kyle Hamilton we only would have gotten three anyway because he was off to the NFL after that 21 or yeah 2021 season no matter what but truly just unlike any Notting player to come through 6'4 long fast his very first play ever in Notre Dame stadium was a pick six and that was was after he had a ton of hype around him coming in as a recruit and throughout fall Camp it was just like immediately living up to the hype and he was just truly an unbelievable player allamerican all of that for my backups I put Tom zakowski in there because just a childhood favorite great safety uh just such a fun player to rout for and then Xavier Watts who won the award for the nation's top defensive player last year doesn't even make my starting lineup isn't even the first guy on the bench so he's the only other active player who made the roster but he's not a starter unlike Benjamin Morrison so I wanted to include him on here I feel like he deserves it maybe if he somehow follows up this season with the better season than he had last year he could potentially knock off Harrison Smith or Kyle Hamilton which seems crazy but hey he's got a chance to do it this season also honorable mention alohi Gilman not quite as talented as the other guys but just such an impactful player for Notre Dame when he was there and just always seemed to make the biggest play at the most important parts of the game so I wanted to gave him a shout out as well he's not even really a backup he's third string but still he gets an honorable mention so that's my defense I've got Justin tu andon tu at defensive end Lewis Nicks and Sheldon day at defensive tackle at outside linebacker Jaylen Smith Jeremiah USU cor MOA mantio at middle linebacker I got Julian love Benjamin Morrison shutting down the opposing wide receivers at corner and then Harrison Smith and Kyle Hamilton flying around at the back end of my defense it's a really good defense a really really good defense is it as good as the notam off offense I don't know probably not I feel like that offense is so loaded on the line and at wide receiver but it'd be a lot of fun to watch these two go at it all right coming up next I'm going to round out my all Notre Dame team from the past 25 years with a look at the top special teams players to come through the program because they matter too all right we're going to round out my all notame team from the past 25 years with the specialist and that kicker Justin Yun Notre name's alltime leading score uh he converted on 59 of 73 field goal attempts in his career which is 80.8% he was just a very very consistent kicker for the Irish you were never worried about him when he came out he didn't give you a heart attack like some of the other Notre Dame kickers you're like I have no idea what's going to happen it's kind of like the Spencer Sher experiment where he could boot the ball but he also just couldn't knock down the Gimme shot right the 35 yard you never really knew what to expect when he came out there that was not the case with Justin y um I'm pretty surprised he didn't have an NFL career I I guess maybe that just had to do with the fact that he didn't have the strongest leg of all time but still he was deadly accurate when he was out there so he was an easy pick for me at kicker for punter I'm gonna go with John sa which he only had one year for Notre Dame in 2022 but it was just so fun Punt Returners watching him in 2022 he transfers over from Harvard I don't think anyone had particularly high expectations for John sat and his one his only year with the Irish but it basically became a bit and it was so fun he only averaged 43.9 yards on average which was like I think top 20 in the country but not like a huge leg or anything like that he was just deadly accurate would pin the ball in the corner put teams inside the opposing 20 and yeah this is probably a little bit recency biased Tyler Nome probably has a case to be made here he was there uh for a longer period of time but I'm just going to go with John Z because I just had so much fun rooting for him in 2022 and he also had to get a lot of work on unfortunately because it wasn't like that Notre Dam offense was moving the ball super well that season all right for the returners part returner easy Tom Z Bowski three career punt return touchdowns the ncla record is eight so he's a little bit away from that but he's tied for the most in school history with some alltime players like um uh Tim Brown Allan rossom and um Ricky Waters so he's in great company with those guys he also had maybe one of the most iconic plays of my lifetime with this punt return touchdown against USC it's kind of crazy cuz I feel like when you think back and you watch highlights of old games like if your team ended up losing the game you don't really appreciate the Highlight that much like I'll give you an example I love the Cleveland Guardians when they were the Indians and they were in the World Series in 2016 um and Raj Davis hit the home run in the eighth inning to tie it at8 off foral this Chapman it was one part unbelievable that he hit that home run I think he only had two home runs all season long and then you think of the context game seven World Series all of that you know offer all this Chapman it's like if the Indians had won that game it would go down as arguably one of the best plays in baseball history but then they lose to the Cubs in Extra Innings and to me it's like too painful to watch that because I just think about what could have been for whatever reason I don't really feel that way about the Tom zakowski punt return for a touchdown even though Notre Dame ended losing that game in just brutal fashion I don't know why is sort of transcended emotion in that respect because it was just so awesome in that moment I think people who were at that game unfortunately I was not able to attend but people who were there always talk about that being the loudest they've ever heard Notre Dame stadium and it was just unlike anything else so maybe that's why that play is remembered so fondly despite the fact that notam wasn't able to pull out the win but he was an easy pick for punt return uh punt return on this team I also was at the Notre rame Tennessee game in 2005 he had a punt return touchdown in that game also had an interception return for that game uh interception return for a touchdown in that game I should say so he was an easy pick kick returner was not easy pick um notame hasn't really had that many Dynamic kick returners uh lately so I'm just going to cheat here I'm going to put Golden Tate he wasn't really the kick returner when he was at Notre Dame but I think that's partially because he had to do literally everything on offense for most of the time that he was there so they probably were like let's give him a breather on kickoff returns but when he did go out there on punt returns he was very effective he had that historic play where he basically just subed himself in for John Goodman and then returned it for a touchdown I believe Robbie Toma has been telling that story uh I believe it and I think that if they had put golden tape back there on kickoff return he would have brought a couple back to the house as well so I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to put him in there as my kick returner so I've got Justin unit kicker John S at punter Golden Tate at kick returner and Tom zakowski at punt returner and that rounds out my all noted aim team from the past 25 years I'm sure that a lot of you have opinions about my team and some of you might think I got it all wrong maybe some of you agree with me I'm interested to hear what you think so let me know hit me up on social media uh let me know in the YouTube comments I'm sure that I probably left out a player that I'm going to look back and be like how could I possibly have missed that but I really did spend a lot of time on us in this and it was a really fun exercise for me to do and now I feel like the only thing left to do is go back to playing EA Sports college football 25 so I could hopefully play The Ultimate Team game mode and then build this team in the video game and play as them in real life because if you look at we'll look back at it one more time before we go here so I got Brady Quinn at quarterback Julius Jones at running back Michael Floyd Jeff Sam Mara Golden Tate at Wide Receiver Michael Mayer and Tyler eord at tight end my offensive line is Ronnie Stanley Quint Nelson Jeff fan Zack Martin Joe Walt and then on defense I've got Justin Tuck Lewis Nicks Sheldon day and Stefan Tu on the defensive line I got Jaylen Smith Man Tai Tao and Jeremiah U coroa linebacker Julian love and benan Morrison at corner Harrison Smith uh and Kyle Hamilton at safety Justin uni kicker John S at punter Golden Tate kick returner and Tom zakowski is my part returner that'd be a whole lot of fun to watch this team go at it and even though we're never going to be able to experience that some of you might be able to kind of get something close to that on the video game so that is going to do it for today today's episode thanks again for making lockdown Irish first listen of the day I'm going to be back tomorrow morning with another new episode and I'm also be going I'm also going to be taking questions this week for another mailbag episode which will come out on Friday if you've got some thoughts or questions send them my way as always you can drop your questions in the YouTube comments or send them in on social media X account is lockdown Irish the Instagram is lockdown Irish pod also be sure to subscribe on YouTube or wherever listening to the podcast I'll see you guys tomorrow