Notre Dame football announces 2024 "Echoes" Award winners
Every year, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish hold an “Echoes” Awards banquet in South Bend. This year, took place Friday night of conference championship weekend. The university announced a full list of award winners Saturday morning.
Here are the recipients.
2024 Notre Dame football “Echoes” Award winners
• Most Valuable Player: Riley Leonard
• Defensive Player of the Year: Xavier Watts
• Offensive Player of the Year: Jeremiyah Love
• Special Teams Player of the Year: Bryce Young
• Man Of the Year: Jack Kiser
• Scholar-Athlete Award: Aamil Wagner
• Iron Cross Award: Rylie Mills
• Walk-On of the Year: Max Hurleman
• Scout Team Players of the Year: Justin Fisher (offense), Sean Sevillano Jr. (defense)
In his one season as a transfer portal rental from Duke, Leonard is accounting for 234 total yards per game with 30 total touchdowns, 16 passing and 14 rushing, and just 5 interceptions. He’s tied Notre Dame’s single-season record for rushing touchdowns and go set a new record in the College Football Playoff.
Watts has been even better than he was as a Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner in 2023. He’s seeing the field as well as any safety in the country and has six takeaways, 5 interceptions and a fumble recovery. He’s also forced a fumble and has the fourth-most total tackles of anyone on the Notre Dame roster.
Love is one of the best tailbacks in college football. He’s one of two players in the nation who has scored a touchdown in every game he’s played in. He has 17 total scores, and he’s averaging over 7.0 yards per carry. Just a sophomore, he’s started a 2025 Heisman Trophy campaign in earnest in his second season in South Bend.
Top 10
- 1New
Coach altercation with fan
Wild ending in Georgetown, Xavier
- 2
Tom Osborne
'NCAA has become somewhat irrelevant'
- 3
Xavier Worthy
Lofty expectations for Arch Manning
- 4Hot
2025 CFB Win Totals
Front-runners for title revealed
- 5
'Where were you?'
Greg Brooks Jr.'s father to Brian Kelly
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
Young, a freshman defensive end, has blocked three kicks this season, one of just three players in the country with that many or more. He’s an absolutely brute force rushing the punter and kicker.
Kiser, a sixth-year linebacker who leads Notre Dame with 64 total tackles, is one of the most stand-up men on the team. He’s in the running for many humanitarian-based awards, including the William V. Campbell Trophy — which is often dubbed the “Academic Heisman.” Wagner is clearly a “Notre Dame man” on and off the field for wining the scholar-athlete award, too.
The Iron Cross Award is given to a player who embodies constant improvement and leadership. Mills, a fifth-year graduate senior, leads the Irish with 6.5 sacks and is a team captain. Fisher is a walk-on from a nearby high school in Indiana, and Sevillano Jr. is on the verge of breaking into the usual Notre Dame defensive line rotation as a sophomore next season.
