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Eleven Notre Dame Players Named To PFF All-Independent Team
Pro Football Focus compiled an All-Independent football team and not surprisingly, Notre Dame had more players on it than the other five independents.
Notre Dame placed 11 players on the list, with four on the offense, six on defense and one on special teams.
Quarterback Ian Book was the All-Independent quarterback after passing for 2,787 yards and 33 touchdowns. Book was picked off just six times while adding 516 rushing yards and four more touchdowns. His 37 combined touchdowns are second most all-time for a Notre Dame quarterback, behind only Brady Quinn’s 39 touchdowns back in 2006.
Wide receiver Chase Claypool earned All-Independent honors after leading the Irish offense with 59 catches, 891 yards and 12 touchdowns. Claypool was especially good in November, hauling in 30 passes for 455 yards and eight touchdowns in the final month.
Left tackle Liam Eichenberg and left guard Aaron Banks were two of the five All-Independent offensive linemen. Eichenberg had the biggest Pro Football Focus grade jump for the Irish offense, going from a grade of 63.1 in 2018 to 77.3 this fall. Eichenberg has started 26 straight games for the Irish.
Seniors Khalid Kareem and Julian Okwara were the All-Independent ends, despite Okwara not playing in the final three games. Okwara’s five sacks was tops on the squad when he went down with an injury. The senior finished with 32 pressures in nine games.
Kareem led the Irish defense with 10 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. According to PFF, Kareem led the Irish with 39 quarterback pressures. Kareem had two more pressures and two more hits/sacks on the quarterback than he did in 2018 despite 95 fewer pass rushes.
Junior defensive tackle Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa missed all but two games last fall, but he came back strong this season. Tagovailoa-Amosa had 24 quarterback pressures, and in the six years PFF has done rankings only Jerry Tillery posted a higher grade at defensive tackle than the Hawai’i native had this season.
Fifth-year senior Asmar Bilal earned All-Independent honors at linebacker. Bilal had the third highest overall PFF grade on the Irish defense, but his run defense grade topped the Irish. Bilal was second on the Irish defense with 72 tackles and second with 32 run stops. His nine tackles for loss was third on the defense.
A pair of defensive backs made the list.
Freshman safety Kyle Hamilton and senior cornerback Troy Pride Jr. were named All-Independent players. Hamilton registered 39 tackles, broke up six passes and led the Irish defense with four interceptions in his first season. According to PFF, opponents completed just seven of 22 pass attempts against Hamilton in coverage. The talented freshman returned his first career interception 34 yards for a touchdown.
Pride held opponents to a 50.9percent completion rate, which was the best of his career. The 27 completions against Pride was also 17 fewer than he allowed in 2018, and he allowed just 271 yards, compared to 457 a season ago.
Junior Jonathan Doerer was the All-Independent kicker after making 13-16 field goal attempts on the season and all 54 of his extra point attempts.
BYU had eight players named to the list, Liberty had three, Army and New Mexico State both had two, and Massachusetts had one.
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