During No. 5 Notre Dame’s 45-23 win over then-No. 24 Virginia Tech on Saturday night, Justin Yoon became the leading scorer in Irish history.
The record was broken with a PAT boot to put the Irish ahead 38-16. He would add one more PAT to finish the game with 322 career points, breaking the record of 320 points held by running back Allen Pinkett, set in 1985.
And on that PAT, our very own @jkicker19 became the all-time leading scorer in Notre Dame history. #GoIrish
#NDvsVT pic.twitter.com/Cyi73mvQDT
Yoon’s path to the top of Notre Dame’s all-time scoring list is as winding and twisty as the Mississippi River. He was born in Cincinnati, but he was raised in Seoul, South Korea, until age 10. He graduated from Milton Academy in Nashville before enrolling at Notre Dame in 2015. He has played in all 44 possible games since then, handling Notre Dame’s place kicking duties since his true freshman season — all despite not knowing a thing about football before he started kicking as a teenager. He played hockey, lacrosse and soccer until a coach urged him to try kicking a football.
Yoon’s mother Mihwa still lives in Seoul, while his father, Jiseop, shares an apartment with Justin in South Bend.
“I never had a dream like, ‘Oh, you’re going to the NFL or whatever,’“ Jiseop told the Indianapolis Star in September. “‘You’re going to be a student first.’“
Yoon entered his senior season already the owner of 26 career, single-season or single game kicking records and now, with seven or eight games still ahead of him, he has a chance to put the overall scoring record out of reach.
