How many Notre Dame players were drafted in 2024? Closer look at the Fighting Irish's draft selections

Notre Dame has been one of the nation's most famous athletic programs, and their football prowess is legendary. Stars like quarterback Joe Montana, left fielder Carl Yastrzemski and Olympian Molly Seidel spent time in South Bend, Indiana, to name a few. It's no wonder that every year there's an expectation that the Fighting Irish will add to the ranks of America's professional leagues.

In 2024, the football program delivered, with Notre Dame being the school with the ninth most picks in the NFL draft. The Fighting Irish had seven players drafted, with their top pick being offensive tackle Joe Alt who the Los Angeles Chargers selected with the fifth pick.

For its part, the baseball program sent shortstop Jack Penney to the Detroit Tigers and pitcher Jack Findlay to the St. Louis Cardinals in the fifth and eighth rounds of the MLB draft respectively.

Sadly for basketball fans in South Bend, the school didn't send any players to the NBA this season. The last time a Fighting Irish was drafted for the NBA was in 2022, when Blake Wesley was selected with the 25th pick in the draft.

In total, nine Fighting Irish players were drafted in 2024,

List of Notre Dame athletes drafted in 2024

NFL

• Joe Alt, OT (1st round, No. 5 pick. Los Angeles Chargers)
• Blake Fisher, OT ( 2nd round, No. 59 pick. Houston Texans)
• Marist Liufau, LB (3rd round, No 87 pick. Dallas Cowboys)
• Cam Hart, CB (5th round, No.140 pick. Los Angeles Chargers)
• JD Bertrand, LB (5th round, No.143 pick. Atlanta Falcons)
• Audric Estime, RB (5th round, No. 147 pick. Denver Broncos)
• Javontae Jean-Baptiste, DE (7th round, No. 222 pick. Washington Commanders)

MLB

• Jack Penney, SS (5th round, No. 147 pick. Detroit Tigers)
• Jack Findlay. P (8th round, No. 231 pick. St. Louis Cardinals)

Could Notre Dame have had more football players drafted in 2024?

Notre Dame's NFL draft tally could've been even bigger had quarterback Sam Hartman been drafted. Hartman ostensibly moved from Wake Forest to Notre Dame in his last year of eligibility looking to bolster his draft stock. Although the plan didn't pan out directly, the Washington Commanders liked him enough to offer him an undrafted free-agent contract.