Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 SEPT. 25, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME BGI: Your nickname is "Milk." How did that come to be? Vinson: "My freshman year, our punter Tyler Newsome nicknamed the special teams unit 'the cheese unit.' When I came to campus, I had to earn my 'cheese status,' if you will. So he gave me the temporary nickname of 'Milk.' "He introduced me to all the guys on the team — the strength staff, the sup- port staff, the coaching staff — as Milk. It just kind of stuck. The rest is history. I'm known as Milk going on my fourth year here." BGI: Do you even like milk? Vinson: "I do like milk." BGI: What's your go-to? Vinson: "Two percent. Definitely two percent, which is actually kind of funny because when Khalid Kareem was here, he called me two percent." BGI: What are some of your personal interests? Vinson: "When I'm not busy with schoolwork — being a part of WOPU, we have to hold our own in the classroom — I love playing card games. Me and my roommate, Kurt Hinish, play Gin Rummy all the time. It's a great card game. "I love to play golf with my room- mates Kurt, Drew [White] and Myron [Tagovailoa-Amosa] when he tags along with us. And I also really love to barbe- cue and grill out in general." BGI: Who's the best card player? Vinson: "That's tough. Me, Kurt and Drew usually play a lot. Over the past couple weeks it's been Kurt and I try- ing to get a game in every night. I'd like to say I win them most of the time, but that's just not true. "Kurt is probably one of the best card players in the house. Drew is up there too. We all have our nights. If I get a re- ally good hand, then I'll win the game. If not, I've got to do some fighting." BGI: Surely you're the best golfer of the four? Vinson: "Right. That I can take the throne for. Definitely." BGI: Who else on the team is a good golfer? Vinson: "Kyle Hamilton is really good. He's really, really good. I like to play with him a lot. We played a lot over the summer. Tyler Buchner is a really good golfer. There are a couple other guys on the come up. "Cam Hart has put in a lot of work on the range. He's been doing really well. Jonathan Doerer is actually really good as well, and don't sleep on Jay Bramblett. Jake Rittman, really good golfer. There are a lot of really good golfers on the team." BGI: What happened when you lost the team cook-off over the summer? Vinson: "I cooked a beautiful T- Bone steak perfectly medium rare. I had cross-grill marks. I seared it. It was perfect. We unfortunately did not win because the steak was not the only thing we had to make. We had to do sides and presentation. "The team that won, the linebackers — if I'm at a restaurant and I see corn on the cob underneath my steak, I don't think that's cool. But apparently that was creative and won. "But I think I'm definitely one of the best grillers on the team. Definitely bar- becue, hands down." BGI: What got you into cooking? Vinson: "I love doing it. I love what barbecue is about. Bringing the guys together. For the Super Bowl, I made the house pulled pork. It was really good. "Over the summer I'd make the guys brisket. We'd all hang out and eat. Every- one is invited to a barbecue at this house." BGI: How much pride do you take in being the starting long snapper at Notre Dame? Vinson: "I take a lot of pride in it. I work hard at my craft. To have the trust of the guys that line up next to me that I'm going to do my job is special. "And then Coach [Brian] Kelly and Coach [Brian] Polian and everyone on staff, I want them to not be nervous at all if we have a game-winning field goal like down at Florida State in overtime. I knew I was going to execute my job because I take great pride in my work." BGI: What was it like to be a part of the game-winning field goal at Florida State? Vinson: "That was a great feeling. I'll have that memory forever. But it's just another snap. You can't get lost in the moment. You can't get distracted by the crowd or the scoreboard. I've snapped the ball a million times. That one was no different. "If you start to take into account, 'Oh, this is the game-winning snap' and you sail it over the holder's head, they're go- ing to scoop and score, and we're going to lose. If you start to do that, you're not focused on your job and that stuff does happen. "Being locked into what I'm doing and not what is around me is very important." Vinson, a senior long snapper, was nicknamed "Milk" since his first day on campus and it has stuck with him ever since. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS W A L K - O N P L A Y E R S U N I O N WOPU WOPU SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT BY TYLER HORKA Q&A with senior long snapper Michael Vinson