LOYOLA GRADS IN FBS COLLEGE BOWL GAMES
Cub Football alumni are members of twelve FBS collegiate football teams which will be playing in bowl games this holiday season. In all, a total of 17 grads will be on the field in bowl contests.

Here is the list of the bowls in which former Loyola players will compete:

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS SEMIFINALS

Cotton Bowl: USC (SINJUN ASTANI ‘17, DL; JAC CASASANTE, LS; CEYAIR WRIGHT ‘20, DB) vs. Tulane (CHAD BAILEY, DB)

Fiesta Bowl:
TCU (RYAN QUINTANAR ‘20, LB) vs. Michigan

Peach Bowl:
Ohio State vs. Georgia (NATHAN PRIESTLEY ‘19, WR)

 OTHER BOWL GAMES (in alphabetical order)

Alamo Bowl:
Texas (JOE TATUM ‘22, QB) vs. Washington ( ZAKHARI SPEARS ‘21, DB)

Armed Forces Bowl:
Baylor ( BRAYDEN UTLEY ‘18, DL) vs. Air Force

Gator Bowl:
Notre Dame (MICHAEL GRAVES ‘19) vs. South Carolina

Hawai’i Bowl:
Middle Tennessee State vs. San Diego State (JACOBY KELLY ‘22, DB)

Myrtle Beach Bowl:
Marshall vs. Connecticut (GEORGE CARATAN ‘17, P)

New Mexico Bowl:
SMU (CARTER LINK ‘20, LB) vs. BYU

Sun Bowl:
UCLA (NICOLAS BARR-MIRA ‘19, K/P; ALEX JOHNSON ‘18, DB; EVAN THOMAS ‘20; SAM YOON ‘22, OL)

NOTES ON CUBS IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL
CEYAIR WRIGHT ‘21, the 2020 CalHi Sports California Defensive Back-of-the-Year and High School All-American, started at corner for USC in the Trojans’ impressive 11-2 comeback campaign . . . NICHOLAS BARR-MIRA contributed to UCLA’s best season under head coach Chip Kelly as a rare dual-role player; he starts as the punter (43.7 yard average) and kicker (15 of 21 field goal attempts) . . . TY MAHAR ‘18 started every game at Colby College of the New England Small Schools Athletic Conference from his freshman through senior seasons (36 consecutive starts) . . . GEORGE CARATAN ‘17 is the starting punter for Connecticut (40.37 yds. avg.) under first-year head coach Jim Mora, whose sons are Loyola High grads . . . After starting his UCLA career as an invited walk-on, ALEX JOHNSON ‘18 earned a scholarship as a defensive back and saw considerable time in the secondary for the Bruins this season . . . BRAYDEN UTLEY ‘18 has been a key contributor on the defensive line for Baylor . . . Defensive back BLAKE NEITHART ‘20 played for Carleton College, a member of the Division III Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, which finished the season 7-3 . . . Long snapper CONNOR MacDOWELL ‘21 competes for Division II Angelo State, which made it to the second round of the NCAA D-II playoffs . . . Three Cubs were freshmen in the Ivy League this season: SHAWN LINN ‘22, DL (Columbia); TAHJ OWENS ‘22, DB (Princeton); and PATRICK SODL ‘22, LB (Columbia) . . . DAKOTA SMITH ‘19 is a linebacker at Minnesota State, which finished 10-3 after a loss in the NCAA Division II playoffs.

UPDATED CUBS IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL LIST

NICK ANDERSON ‘20, OL (Denison)
SINJUN ASTANI ‘17, DL (USC)
CHAD BAILEY ‘20, DB (Tulane)
NICHOLAS BARR-MIRA ‘19, K (UCLA)
GEORGE CARATAN ‘17, K/P (Connecticut)
JAC CASASANTE ‘18, LS (USC)
COLIN CRUCE ‘22 (Bowdoin)
RAMAN ENIGBOKAN ‘22 (Morehouse)
MIKE GRAVES ‘19, DB (Notre Dame)
JACOBY KELLY ‘22, WR (San Diego State)
ANDREW KOZHAYA ‘21, OL (Grinnel)
ALEX JOHNSON, ‘18, DB (UCLA)
JEFFREY JOHNSON ‘21, TE (Cal)
CARTER LINK ‘20, LB (SMU)
SHAWN LINN ‘22, DL (Columbia)
TY MAHER ‘18, OL (Colby)
CONNOR McDOWELL ‘21, DB (Angelo State)
BLAKE NEITHART ‘20 DB (Carleton)
TAHJ OWENS ‘22, RB/DB (Princeton)
NATHAN PRIESTLEY ‘19, QB (Georgia)
RYAN QUINTANAR ‘20, LB (TCU)
DAKOTA SMITH ‘19, LB (Minnesota State)
PATRICK SODL ‘22, LB (Columbia)
ZAKHARI SPEARS ‘21, DB (Washington)
JOE TATUM ‘22, QB (Texas)
EVAN THOMAS ‘20, DB ( UCLA)
BRAYDEN UTLEY ‘18, DL (Baylor)
CEYAIR WRIGHT ‘21, DB ( USC)
SAM YOON ‘22, OL (UCLA)

EXTRA POINTS
Loyola has produced many outstanding linebackers in its storied grid history, the most recent of which is senior ZACH BOWLES, who was named the 2022 Angelus League Defensive-Player-of-the-Year. It was reported that his 150 tackles might be a school record.

It turns out that 2019 CIF Southern Section Division 3 Defensive Player-of-the-Year STEVEN ARELLANO ‘20 finished his senior CIF runner-up campaign with 170 tackles (believed to be the record), and 2009 All-CIF linebacker BRONSON GREEN ‘10 tallied 163 total tackles.

After an outstanding career at Dartmouth, Green worked in the front office of the New England Patriots for five years and has three Super Bowl rings to show for his tenure in Boston.

At Dartmouth, Green was an All-Ivy League linebacker for three seasons and served as a two-time team captain. He is the twelfth all-time leading tackler for the Big Green.

UNDEFEATED CUB FRESHMAN AWARD WINNERS

The buzz surrounding the tremendous exploits of Loyola’s outstanding freshman team, and its probable impact on the future of Cub Football, continues to build.

Head coach LAMONT FREEMAN and his staff announced the freshman football award recipients at the team banquet on November 29.

The honorees on the undefeated league champion squad were as follows:
TEAM CO-MVPs
JACK THOMAS (QB)/JOSH GALLAGHER (WR/DB/ KR/PR/ K)

CO-OFFENSIVE MVPs
SONNY VILLEGAS (RB)/JACKSON NELSON (WR)

CO-OFFENSIVE LINE MVPs
(in alphabetical order) MATTHEW ALMENDARIZ (G), PATRICK PELLEGRINI (T), NELSON PYE (C), NATHAN TURK (T), DAMIEN UTUONE (G)

CO-DEFENSIVE MVPs
RONEN ZAMORANO (LB), PETER SCIARRINO (S)

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN AWARD
DAMIEN UTUONE

MOST INSPIRATIONAL
SEAN DEFOE (OL/DL)

SCOUT PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR
CASEY CORNELIO (RB/DB)
 
MOST IMPROVED 
LIAM KRUEGER (WR/DB)

SPECIAL TEAMS MVP
HENRY BARTH (WR/DB)

LOYOLA ANGELUS LEAGUE CHAMPION FRESHMAN RECORD (9-0)
LOYOLA  27, Damien  0
LOYOLA  51, Culver City JV  14
LOYOLA  42, Chaminade  8
LOYOLA  21, Inglewood JV  6
LOYOLA  70, St. Paul  8
LOYOLA  16, Bishop Amat JV  14
LOYOLA  45, Paraclete JV  0
LOYOLA  41, Cathedral JV  8 
LOYOLA  61, St. Francis  8