Notre Dame football names five captains for 2020 season

The Notre Dame football program wasn’t short on options for captains this season.

The Irish settled on five players designated as team leaders: quarterback Ian Book, offensive tackle Robert Hainsey, defensive ends Daelin Hayes and Adetokunbo Ogundeji and safety Shaun Crawford.

Book and Hainsey were both Notre Dame captains last season. They have become the 23rd and 24th players in program history to serve as a captain for more than one season.

Hainsey, a fourth-year senior, is the only 2020 captain that has yet to graduate from Notre Dame. Book, Hayes and Ogundeji are fifth-year graduate students. Crawford is a sixth-year graduate student.

All five captains are slated to start in Saturday’s season opener against Duke (2:30 p.m. EDT on NBC).

Notre Dame used a program-record seven captains last season: Book, Hainsey, defensive ends Khalid Kareem and Julian Okwara, safeties Jalen Elliott and Alohi Gilman and wide receiver Chris Finke.

More than 200 players have filled the role of Notre Dame football captain since Henry Luhn first received the designation in 1887.