Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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44 MARCH 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2020 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE BY ANDREW MENTOCK Standing at a broad 6-5, 234 pounds with coiffed blonde hair, Mi- chael Mayer looks the part of a young Rob Gronkowski — better known as "Gronk," a former New England Pa- triot and widely considered the most dominant NFL tight end of all time. This nickname was also given to Mayer over the summer by his team- mates at The Opening Finals, a high school football camp and seven-on- seven competition for the nation's most elite prospects, where he earned Offensive MVP honors over the best wide receivers, running backs and quarterbacks in the class of 2020. Then as a senior, Mayer led Cov- ington Catholic in Park Hills, Ky., to a state championship and a per- fect 15-0 season, contributing to his team's success as a starter on both sides of the ball. Given his size and high school ac- colades, it may seem as if Mayer was destined to be a great high school foot- ball player, worthy of a Notre Dame scholarship offer, but it almost never happened. If not for some diligent in- school recruitment from the Coving- ton Catholic football coaches when Mayer was a freshman, he would have given up the sport entirely. "Michael actually was a guy who wasn't even thinking about playing football," said Eddie Eviston, the head football coach at Covington Catholic. "I don't know how many people know that happened. Coming into high school, he was a big bas- ketball guy and a freshman football coach talked him into coming out for football." Mayer enjoyed his time playing as a freshman and, as Eviston puts it, "the rest is history." Today, the future member of the Fighting Irish is the highest-rated tight end prospect Notre Dame — aka "Tight End U" — has signed since five-star Kyle Rudolph (2008), who happens to be a player Mayer admired even before he was inter- ested in attending school in South Bend. "Rudolph grew up and went to a high school near me, like 15 minutes away and, honestly, he had a great career [in college] and he's having a great career in the NFL right now," Mayer said. "That's definitely some- body I look up to." About a 10-minute drive from Cincinnati, Mayer has also had the opportunity to follow the career of another all-time great Notre Dame tight end, Tyler Eifert of the Cincin- nati Bengals. Does growing up near former Fighting Irish greats at his position make Mayer feel as if he needs to contribute early? What about Cole Kmet leaving after his junior season? For now, his answer, at least pub- licly, is a firm "No, not at all." In- stead, Mayer has the common, yet humble, perspective that he wants to get better day by day, focusing on himself and shutting out the lofty ex- pectations fans already have for him. But that doesn't mean he won't be ready to play as a freshman if called upon, even given the history associ- ated with playing tight end at Notre Dame. For one, Mayer has already shown he can produce on a national stage. In the 2020 All-American Bowl, aired live by NBC Jan. 4, Mayer's East squad was down 14-3 late in the first quarter. To get his team back in the game, Mayer got open deep down the middle of the field, caught a pass around the 15-yard line and contin- ued running toward the end zone. Former Notre Dame recruiting target, hard-hitting safety Lathan Ransom, tried to wrap Mayer up at the 10, but his attempt failed and Mayer put his team within four points. "It was amazing playing against the best of the best of the best and scoring a touchdown," Mayer said. "The week was awesome, and it re- ally showed me what I need to work on. Going against the best people in the nation, I'll be playing against these people and playing with these people in college." Beyond scoring a touchdown in the national spotlight, Mayer already knows what it's like to attend one of the most heavily scrutinized Catholic schools in the United States in Cov- ington Catholic. At the Right to Life Protest in Wash- ington, D.C., in January 2019, Mayer's classmates were part of a national in- cident where one student was filmed Tight End Michael Mayer Arrives At Notre Dame With Lofty Expectations Mayer, a 6-5, 234-pound tight end, helped lead Park Hills (Ky.) Covington Catholic to a perfect 15-0 record and a state championship in 2019. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM "[Former Irish star tight end Kyle] Rudolph grew up and went to a high school near me … and he's having a great career in the NFL right now. That's definitely somebody I look up to." MAYER