Notre Dame Fighting Irish College Football Pregame Quote, 01/07/2025

Question: Marcus Freeman told us a few weeks ago that you gave a speech to the team. Do you know when that occurred? Was it before the Indiana game and what did that speech entail?

“It was basically our strength coach asked me to talk to the guys, kind of about the journey we had on lacrosse and the national championship team we had. And I basically just spoke to the guys, telling how similar our journeys are. You know, we each had one pretty big loss, just kind of had to win out from there.”

Question: What’s it like for you to being back home, getting a chance to play in this game right near where you grew up?

It means the world. You dream as kids to big games being back here. Definitely, a dream come true.

Question: Your athletic career you started out your star football and lacrosse player at Pine Crest, walk on the football team played lacrosse at Notre Dame. How have things kind of, what’s it been like mentally to go through this journey the last, like, two, three years?

Yeah, it’s definitely been a crazy, crazy journey so far. Things start falling into place, and you plan for it to fall into place, but it’s really helped the hard work, you know, dedication throughout the years.

Question: Other guys have played both, but to play both at the championship level, like in the same year. Did you ever think that was possible, when you got to Notre Dame?

No, I never thought of it being a possibility, because things happen. Obviously, it happened. Now, it’s great, it’s awesome, but it’s just a testament to the hard work teams put in your brothers put in, getting to where we are today.