Getty Image / Quinn Harris
Notre dame will be without one of their biggest stars when they meet South Carolina in the Gator Bowl for a clash between the only two teams to hand Clemson losses this season.
for this Gator Bowl clash between Top 25 teams, the Fighting Irish will be missing star tight end Michael Mayer.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Mayer intends to skip the bowl game after declaring for the 2023 NFL Draft.
Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer tells ESPN he's declaring for the NFL Draft. “I wanted to come and win games be a first-round draft pick." He's Mel Kiper's No. 8 overall prospect and top TE. He's skipping the Gator Bowl. https://t.co/QDiPq8A6tl
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 7, 2022
Mayer was a truly special talent for the Fighting Irish over the past 3 seasons. Despite playing on Notre Dame teams that weren’t particularly impressive on offense and went through a quarterback change, Mayer managed to put together a historically impressive college career.
Over the course of his career at Notre Dame, Mayer has racked up 180 catches for 2099 yards and 18 touchdowns, which are all records for a tight end at ND. There is a strong argument to be made that he is the best tight end to ever play for the Fighting Irish.
Now he’ll move on to the NFL Draft process, a process that will definitely see him taken within the first couple of days of the draft and could even see him join players like TJ Hockenson, Noah Fant, and Kyle Pitts, who have all been taken in round 1 in recent years.
There will certainly be high demand for Mayer in this year’s draft as there are plenty of teams around the league that would definitely benefit from adding a tight end with the kind of high-level receiving ability that Mayer showed off at Notre Dame.