Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1162458
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 16, 2019 17 BY ANDREW MENTOCK A t the end of Troy Pride Jr.'s prep career at Greer High School in South Carolina, pictures of him donning four gold medals around his neck appeared in a local newspaper. These medals represented his four state championships, none of which were earned playing football. For as great as the four-star recruit was on the gridiron, he was an even more impressive sprinter and domi- nated his track competition. During his senior year, he won the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes at the 3A South Carolina high school state champion- ship track meet. He was also one leg of the state champion 4x100 relay team. "Throughout the entire year, I've known that I've got to be at a different level at the state meet," Pride told The Spartanburg Herald-Journal. "Coming into the state meet, I knew what I had to do. I knew how I had to work. I felt like [I was prepared] for these events." His success as a sprinter continued once he arrived at Notre Dame. Af- ter a disappointing 4-8 football sea- son his freshman year, Pride quickly found personal redemption by run- ning track in the spring. He finished sixth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.47 seconds at the ACC Outdoor Track & Field Champion- ships. He also won the 60-meter dash at the Alex Wilson Invitational and accomplished all this while partici- pating in spring football practices. Pride followed up his freshman track season by jumping back into football full-time and playing eight games as a sophomore cornerback that fall, accumulating 22 tackles and one interception. He participated in track again following the season in MIND OVER SPEED Cornerback Troy Pride Jr. has always been fast, but he has flourished at Notre Dame due to his unabated competitiveness Pride brings elite speed to the Fighting Irish sec- ondary, having been clocked at 4.32 seconds in the 40-yard dash last spring. As a high school senior, he won four South Carolina 3A state championships as a sprinter. PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER