It’s officially that time of year when former Notre Dame football players are finding out their next steps at the next level. For former Irish cornerback Nick McCloud, that next step in the pros is a one-year deal with the Chicago Bears.
McCloud, a veteran special teams player and cornerback that has had stops with the Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, New York Giants, and San Francisco 49ers, played at Notre Dame during the 2020 season that resulted in a College Football Playoff appearance.
McCloud split 2024 with the New York Giants (seven games) and San Francisco 49ers (eight games). For the two teams, he recorded 25 tackles and one pass defended. Over the course of his career, the defensive back started 16 games and recorded a career high 43 tackles for the Giants in 2022.
The former Notre Dame football star joining the Bears means that there are now four former Irish players on Chicago as he joins long snapper Scott Daly, and tight ends Cole Kmet and Durham Smythe.
Smythe was also a new addition to the Bears this offseason and essentially means that Chicago’s tight end corps all hail from South Bend. All of the Golden Domer connections are a bit ironic if for no other reason that over the winter, head coach Marcus Freeman was rumored to be a target to run the team.
The former Notre Dame football star, who played one season with the Irish and recorded 22 tackles and 1 interception in the COVID shortened 2020 season; will almost certainly play a big role for the Chicago Bears’ special teams in 2025.
It has been a storied career for Notre Dame Fighting Irish Track and Field star pentathlete Jadin O’Brien. That storie career just added another chaper this week when she was able to defend her 2023 NCAA Indoor pentathlon title this season, repeating in the event in during this seasons competition.
O’Brien didn’t just win for the second consecutive time, she broke The Track at New Balance’s facility record for the event she was competing in with a score of 4,497. That not only beat the previous top score but absolutely blew it away. As the previous top score was 4,329.
On the heel of this national championship, it should come as no surprise that she was also named the Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Field Athlete of the Year award for a whopping third time.
O’Brien has gotten her latest awards because she followed this year’s honors by her winning both the ACC and NCAA championships in the pentathlon. She had back-to-back personal, school, and ACC records, along with facility records, in the two championships.
It’s a reminder that while there’s a focus on certain sports and certain athletes, especially this time of year, when it comes to world class athletes, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have a ton of them in all sorts of sports.
