Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer lands on 2022 Maxwell Award watch list
Notre Dame’s best player is getting his due. Junior tight end Michael Mayer landed on another national watch list for a prestigious annual award Monday morning.
Mayer is the Fighting Irish’s lone representative on the Maxwell Award watch list, which is given to the most outstanding player in the country. He’s one of two tight ends on the list along with Georgia sophomore Brock Bowers.
Last week, Mayer was named a Sporting News preseason first-team All-American and an Athlon preseason second-team All-American. He was a semifinalist for the Mackey Award in 2021 in addition to earning Associated Press third-team All-American honors.
Mayer led Notre Dame with 71 receptions last season, which is an all-time program record for a tight end in a single season. He tied for a team-high seven touchdowns, which is also the most any Notre Dame tight end has had in a single season. Continuing the theme, Mayer’s 840 receiving yards were the most ever by an Irish tight end in a single season.
In basic terms, Mayer had the best season of any Notre Dame tight end — ever. And he was just a sophomore. He has one more go at it in a blue and gold uniform before he’ll likely get picked as the first tight end off the board in the 2023 NFL Draft.
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It’s tough to project if Mayer will be better in 2022 than he was in 2021, though. Notre Dame will run out a first-time starting quarterback — whether it be sophomore Tyler Buchner or junior Drew Pyne — against Ohio State in the season opener on Sept. 3. Mayer caught passes from grizzled fifth-year veteran and Wisconsin graduate transfer Jack Coan last fall. The transition could affect his numbers.
So too could the departure of wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr., the only player on the 2021 roster who had more receiving yards (888) than Mayer. The Notre Dame wide receiving corps is thin. Mayer is by far the most proven and reliable target. That could lead to numbers inflation despite the question mark at QB.
Awards are numbers driven. If Mayer is to have any shot at winning the Maxwell Award or any other individual honor, he’s going to have to put them up — just as Manti Te’o did in 2012, Brady Quinn did in 2006, Ross Browner did in 1977, Jim Lynch did in 1966, Johnny Lattner did in 1952 and 1953 and Leon Hart did in 1949. Those are the six Notre Dame players who have won the Maxwell Award.
