Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM APRIL 2022 13 UNDER THE DOME THEY SAID IT THEY SAID IT "KYLE HAMILTON is the best player in the draft, and maybe more importantly, the best player for this moment in football." — ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes on the Notre Dame safety and projected top-five 2022 NFL Draft pick "He's a genetic phenom. He's as talented as a guy as there is. And then he's a very, very hard worker. So, the combination of those two, that right there equals success. Hard worker plus unbelievable genetics? Look out." — Notre Dame director of football performance Matt Balis on rising sopho- more offensive tackle Blake Fisher "With Coach Freeman as the head coach, there's not going to be a drop-off. There might be upward motivation in a sense because they're playing for somebody [they know is] going to have their back 100 percent of the time." — Former Notre Dame running back Kyren Williams on The Jim Rome Show, discussing first-year Irish head coach Marcus Freeman "I don't have any words. This is something I prayed about. This is something I knew could come to life. I'm over the moon. I'm so proud of this team and our journey and to see how far we've come since last season. We worked so hard to get to this point. We've had a lot of highs and a lot of lows, and it's incredible to see them blossom in front of my eyes." — Notre Dame women's basketball head coach Niele Ivey after her team's 108-64 win over Oklahoma in the second round of the NCAA Tournament March 21 "It 's special to be recognized. I feel like we haven't been recognized in the past. But you still have to go out there and perform. We acknowl- edged it and realized No. 1 means nothing if you don't go out there and perform." — Notre Dame senior right fielder Brooks Coetzee III on the Irish baseball team ascending to No. 1 in Baseball America's rankings on March 14 "The kids love it even more than most typical offers because they have been talking to us for a while and know about the day. A high percent of our 2024 offers will be offered on this day, and that speaks volumes to these kids. "They go through this whole process with us. We build a real relationship with these kids, so when they get the offer, it means more to them, because the person they're being offered by, they actually know him. It's more authentic and real." — Notre Dame football director of recruiting Chad Bowden on the Pot of Gold offers that went out on St. Pat- rick's Day March 17 "So I'm thinking, 'I'm locked in the freaking sta- dium. It's 6 o'clock at night. My car is sitting out there in some illegally parked zone. I'm going to be on SportsCenter for breaking into the stadium.'" — Seven-time Super Bowl champion and former Michigan quarterback Tom Brady recounting a story from his college days when he snuck into Notre Dame Stadium (about a month later, Brady was the Wolverines starting quarterback in a 36-20 loss at Notre Dame on Sept. 5, 1998, and he com- pleted 23 of 36 passes for 267 yards) "In our profession, you're going to get put on the mat and going to get put up against it. That was probably the third time I've been put on the mat in 22 years. I've had great support. People have had my back and hung with me. I felt if we could get it right with staff and get it right with how we came out in the summer, we could be really good." — Notre Dame men's basketball head coach Mike Brey on his team's turnaround in 2021-22 PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER TOP TWEETS