Listed are the minutes and seconds played at each position on offense or defense exclusively. Special teams appearances are separate and listed in parentheses and are not tabulated into the playing time on offense or defense.
Also charted is the cumulative playing time through the 3-9 season:
Note: This was the first time since 1983 that two Notre Dame quarterbacks played at least 100 minutes in the same season. In 1983, freshman Steve Beuerlein was credited with 194:20 playing time while senior Blair Kiel had 104:19 – not including his start in the Liberty Bowl victory versus Boston College. But unlike in 1984, both quarterbacks return in 2008.
Note: It was far more a backfield by committee this season than in 2006, when Darius Walker played 280:31. Aldridge had the second most playing at the position with merely 20:44….Freshman Hughes totaled only 16:58 in the first 10 contests this season, but accumulated 22:41 in the last two while rushing for 110 yards and 136 yards versus Duke and Stanford, respectively.
Note: Schwapp’s playing time ended up being most among all Irish running backs, even though he ended up carrying the ball only 12 times (or one per game).
Note: Kamara’s playing time was the most ever by an Irish freshman receiver. The previous mark was 178:33 by Raghib “Rocket” Ismail in 1988, although that may include special teams work. Other top times by freshman wideouts include 146:50 in 2002 by Maurice Stovall, 141:05 by Tony Hunter in 1979, and 112:44 by Tim Brown in 1984…Parris played only 12:06 as a freshman last year but ended up pacing the wideouts in action seen this year.
Note: Young played a Notre Dame freshman record 292:17 last year, and nearly 18 more minutes this year. Before his college career concludes, he could challenge Tom Zbikowski for most minutes ever seen by an Irish player – although it might be interesting to research (if the numbers are available) how much time the two-way Iron Men into the early 1960s saw.
Note: The only outside linebacker we found to have had more playing time as a freshman than Neal and Smith was Kory Minor with 239:38 in 1995. Mike Kovaleski played 179:32 in 1983, but that was at inside linebacker.
Note: Crum and Brockington monopolized the playing time on the inside even though it was projected in the preseason that Toryan Smith would be sharing extensive time in a three-man rotation.
Notes: Zbikowski led all Irish players in playing time and finished his career with 1,293:40, which well could be the most in school history (about 324 minutes per four years) …Bruton had 11 times more playing time than he did as a sophomore last year.
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Note: This was the first time since 1983 that two Notre Dame quarterbacks played at least 100 minutes in the same season. In 1983, freshman 
Note: The only outside linebacker we found to have had more playing time as a freshman than Neal and Smith was 
