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Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer earns multiple midseason All-American nods

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•10/19/22•

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notre dame michael mayer
Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer. (Photo by Chad Weaver/BGI)

Notre Dame junior tight end Michael Mayer’s productive season in spite of the Fighting Irish’s overall offensive rollercoaster in 2022 is getting noticed. Mayer landed on multiple midseason All-American teams put together by reputable outlets.

Mayer is a First Team Midseason All-American per The Athletic, Pro Football Focus and ESPN. He was beat out by Georgia’s Brock Bowers on CBS Sports and The Sporting News’ teams, and Utah’s Dalton Kincaid got the nod over Mayer and Bowers according to the Associated Press.

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Mayer has caught 38 passes for 411 yards and 5 touchdowns this season. He leads Notre Dame in each of those statistical categories. The next closest Notre Dame player in receptions and yards is sophomore wide receiver Lorenzo Styles, who has 21 for 275. No other Notre Dame player has more than 1 touchdown reception.

Mayer ranks second to Kincaid, a senior, in all of those areas among FBS tight ends. Kincaid has caught 39 passes for 558 yards and 6 touchdowns in seven games, one more than Mayer. Bowers, a sophomore, has 26 receptions for 393 yards and 2 touchdowns in seven games. He also has three rushing attempts for 82 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Mayer is well on his way to earning the title of best tight end to ever play at Notre Dame. He set the program record for most tight end receptions in a game (11) against BYU. He also set the program record for career receptions by a tight end in the same game. He has 151 and counting. The previous record was 140 set by Tyler Eifert in 2012.

Mayer caught 71 passes in 2021, which is a program record for tight ends. He’s on pace to break his own record. He had 840 receiving yards last year, also a tight end record for the Irish. He could come close to breaking his own record in that area too. The same goes for single-season touchdowns; his mark of 7 as a sophomore is the most ever by an Irish tight end. He’s 2 away from tying it.

Mayer only needs 140 receiving yards to break Eifert’s tight end record for a career total (1,840). The program record for a single-game yardage total is 164 set by Kyle Rudolph in 2010. Based on Mayer’s usage and some of the opponents Notre Dame has left on the schedule, that’s a record he could capture as well.

Freshman wide receiver Tobias Merriweather said it best Tuesday night.

“No one can be perfect every day, unless you’re Mike Mayer,” Merriweather said.

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