Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM JUNE/JULY 2022 13 UNDER THE DOME THEY SAID IT THEY SAID IT "One of my assistants came in and said, 'Hey, Coach, I want you to know, I get up every morning, I read the Bible and then I check the portal.' I said: Switch the order, my man." — Notre Dame men's basketball coach Mike Brey "Personally, I can't wait to be one of the best safeties in the country. I think to do that I needed to be on a team like this surrounded by 'dogs' like the ones on this defense. I was myself at North- western, but I think I need to be with elite players." — Notre Dame junior safety Brandon Joseph "It is literally going to be the biggest test case on what both programs or both coaches are. We are literally going to find out the truth about Notre Dame. We are literally going to find out the truth about Brian Kelly. It's very rare that it's literally right in front of you, straightforward. The pieces are in place. Who are you?" — The Athletic's Brody Miller during an appearance on The Andy Staples Show "It's huge. It's a big reason why I came to Notre Dame. The alumni network, you can't put a price on it. The people who played here, won national champion- ships, were first-round draft picks, won Super Bowls and are now very successful in life and business — to have them back here and spend time with them is amazing." — Freshman quarterback Steve Angeli on Notre Dame's "Legacy Weekend" in late April "I think in our class, for every position group, we have a first-round draft pick. I think that's what re- ally sets us apart. On the defensive line we have Keon [Keeley]. Linebackers? We already have Drayk [Bowen]. We have tight end [Cooper Flanagan]. [Wide receiver] Braylon [James] is coming in. We have dogs. If we get [quarterback] Dante [Moore], he's going to be a first-round pick. We have Adon [Shuler] and me, first-round picks [at safety]. I feel like we're coming in early, and we're going to get thrown into the fire. But we're going to come out there and play." — Safety commit Peyton Bowen on Notre Dame's 2023 class, which had 12 commits and was ranked No. 1 in the country by On3 as of May 23 "If we can be a force for good in this world, and we can help other student-athletes champion other charitable causes around the country, the more the better. That's how we see it. … There are opportuni- ties there for you, but you have to prove yourself on the field and within the classroom and community that you want to be able to tap into those oppor- tunities and utilize the branding of Notre Dame and the platform you've created." — Former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn on the Friends of the University of Notre Dame NIL collective "When you're at the top of your game like Jay-Z was when he was young, you can be an unbeliev- able football player here at Notre Dame. You can move onto the NFL while you're at the top of your game and be an unbelievable football player in the NFL. But at some point, this game will end. You're no longer going to be the young football player or young rapper. Notre Dame helps you make deci- sions while you're playing that will continue to make sure you have success for the longevity of your life. That's why I love selling this place." — Marcus Free- man, using 24-time Grammy Award winner Jay-Z as a comparison for Notre Dame when recruiting "This group will be ready. It's natural for any com- petitor — and that's who I am, a competitor, and the guys in our program are competitors — any time you're challenged, competitors love to step up to being challenged. So if you're the underdog, that's why I said I don't care if it's 13.5 points. Make that thing 21 points. I want everybody in our program to know everybody is counting you out. Good. Good. If you're a competitor, you'll step up to a challenge." — Freeman on his team being listed as a 13.5-point underdog for its game at Ohio State Sept. 3 "If you watched Duke-Notre Dame [a 16-14 Irish win on May 7], those are final four-caliber teams. Isn't the goal to get the best teams in the NCAA Tour- nament?" — ESPN analyst and former Syracuse All- American and national champion Paul Carcaterra on the Irish being snubbed by the NCAA men's lacrosse selection committee despite earning a share of the ACC title and finishing with a six-game win streak PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS TOP TWEETS Five-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning took some time to speak to the Notre Dame foot- ball team in May during a trip to South Bend. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL TWITTER