Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 9, 2023 17 Nov. 6, 2017, without watching Price play football. She put on a brave face for the kids. Their faces when they excelled in sports, meanwhile, were the difference. "It made us stronger once I got sick," she said. "It made the memories we made much more special." 'HE'S LOVED' Nov. 6, 2017 led directly to Aug. 26, 2023. The former was when it became a reality that Butler would be able to watch Price play football for many years to come. The latter is when Price scored his first college touchdown for Notre Dame on his first career carry. Butler watched her son scamper into the end zone from 19 yards out from her home — Price's forever home — in Denison. "Oh my gosh, I was beside myself," Butler said. "It seemed like the spirit came over me. I just screamed. I was so proud. I was so excited for him because he has been through so much." Butler is glad "so much" is where it stopped for Price. It could have been so much more. It could have been the end. Two of Butler's brothers were murdered, one at the age of 14 and the other at 21. According to NeighborhoodScout.com, Deni- son has a "considerably higher" crime rate than the national aver- age. Those are the streets Price grew up on and around all his life. The single mother she was, Butler was understandably over- protective of Price. She taught him right from wrong. So did Coach Rogers. Price wouldn't have made it from a single-parent home in a town no stranger to street violence to a prestigious in- stitution like Notre Dame if that single parent wasn't everything she needed to be, and then some, and if the coaches he leaned on weren't everything he needed exactly when he needed it. "His mom did a great job raising him," Rogers said. "He's loved. He's had more stuff thrown at him than most kids his age, and he still continues to be who he is and care for people." For 22 years as a head coach, Rogers has held regular char- acter development talks with his student-athletes. He was in one moments before he took a call from Blue & Gold Illustrated on Aug. 31. Price always gravitated toward those sessions. He could have gone down a turbulent path when things didn't feel right at home. Instead, Price has always been invigorated by the light in others. He makes a more concerted effort to look for it than the average person. Rogers was asked when Price was a sophomore if he felt he could handle being recruited be a school like Notre Dame. Rogers responded, "This kid could handle being recruited by anybody." "How many stories are there about a kid who had all this talent but couldn't make good choices, didn't have good hab- its? Those are the stories about how they go down a dark road when it's looking right at them," Rogers said. "He's had all of that, but he continues to take care of business." ROOTING FOR EACH OTHER Rogers noticed two things about Price's touchdown for Notre Dame against Navy Aug. 26. When he crossed the goal line, he did so with two hands over the football even though the nearest Navy defender was a step and a half behind him. That's something Rogers taught at Den- ison and something Price still does years later at Notre Dame. And when it was time to celebrate, Price first picked up the ball he accidentally dropped and handed it to the official. He didn't then pretentiously point at the crowed or do a "me me me!" act. He turned around and waited for his offensive line- men to meet him in the end zone. "When I scored, I didn't know exactly what to do. I just knew to go celebrate with the linemen," Price said. "They did their job. That's the reason I scored." Price has always been one to obey orders and uplift others. To talk about others. When Rogers challenged him and his running mate to each score three touchdowns versus Lake Dallas, Price exclaimed, "That's three! That's six!" when his teammate got his third. Price already had three. He was more moved when his total was matched than when he got it himself. In "The Battle of the Ax" game against Denison's main ri- val, Sherman, Price nearly knocked Rogers over by going wild when Denison's third-string running back scored. "That's what makes this kid special," Rogers said. It's hugging a librarian when a multi-millionaire college football head coach is waiting to see him. It's cooking and cleaning for his mom when she's in the hospital receiving chemo. It's walking the straight and narrow in a town that makes it easy to veer left and right. All of that makes Price battling back from an Achilles in- jury that held him out of the entire 2023 season and scoring a touchdown the first time he ever touched the ball in a Notre Dame uniform look like nothing at all. He's made himself quite a role model for his peers and even his elders. That included his mom, a hospice care worker of 18 years who one day wishes to finish her degree and become a nurse. "He keeps me going. He keeps me focused," Butler said. "He makes me want to keep on continuing my education. Now it's like, 'If he can do it, I can do it.' He wants me to go back. He's rooting for me and I'm rooting for him." ✦ Price and his sister Lyricah Coleman (far left), mother Jessica Butler (middle left) and sister Kzaria Butler (middle right). PHOTO COURTESY JADARIAN PRICE