SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - As the Notre Dame football team gets ready to kick off the upcoming season, more Irish players are being named to major award watch lists.

Let’s start with the Butkus Award, which is given annually to the nation’s best linebacker. This year, junior linebackers Drayk Bowen and Jaylen Sneed have both been named to the watch list.

Previously, the Irish have had three winners of this award: Manti Te’o in 2012, Jaylon Smith in 2015 and then Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah in 2020.

Sticking on that side of the ball, sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore was named to the Jim Thorpe Award watch list. That one is given to the nation’s best defensive back.

Moore is entering his true sophomore season after excelling as a true freshman last year, and he’s trying to become the first

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