Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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50 MARCH 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2025 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE BY MIKE SINGER W hen Notre Dame offered a pros- pect named Jerome Bettis Jr. on March 17, 2023, it didn't take more than half a second for Fighting Irish fans to realize who his father was. He is none other than "The Bus," who wore the blue and gold and ran through collegiate defenses in the early 1990s, rushing for 1,912 yards and 32 touch- downs while also catching 32 passes for 429 yards and 6 scores. He left Notre Dame as an icon, with Irish fans still telling stories of his 3-touchdown, 150- yard outing to lead the Irish in a come- from-behind victory over the Florida Gators in the 1992 Sugar Bowl. Bettis Jr. announced exactly one year after receiving his offer from Notre Dame that he was committing to his father's alma mater, picking the Irish over Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Missouri, Ole Miss and Texas A&M. In December 2024, the 6-foot-2, 201-pound wide receiver from Wood- ward Academy in College Park, Ga., signed with the Irish and he enrolled at the school the following month. Being the junior to Jerome Bettis Sr. puts an extra spotlight on the young Fighting Irish wide receiver. You can al- ready hear NBC and ESPN announcers reminding viewers that Jerome Jr. is "the son of the Bus" every chance they get. Bettis Jr. and Sr. have discussed this extra attention over the years, especially in the months leading up to enrollment. "We've had those conversations, and we've had them since he was a little guy," Jerome Bettis Sr. told Blue & Gold Illustrated. "I've always told him that people are going to look at you a little different. They're going to compare you to me and do all of these things that are unfair, but that's the deal. He under- stood it and took it in stride. He's com- fortable with it. "He knows that he has to work harder than the next guy because the expecta- tions on him are different. He gets it, and I think he's ready to blaze his own path. It is a benefit that he doesn't play my position, so there's not an apples- to-apples comparison." While Bettis Jr. had a handful of strong scholarship offers, he didn't gar- ner a big-time ranking. On3, 247 Sports and ESPN don't list him as a top-100 wide receiver nationally, and Rivals doesn't even have a receiver ranking for him. But the young Bettis has already learned to tune the outside noise out. "There's already been criticism of him and more eyeballs on him," Bettis Sr. noted. "He's learned that he has to fight through it and deal with it. There's going to be some negatives with it, but he feels there will be more positives. "I've tried to get him prepared for both sides of it. I hope he keeps devel- oping and is able to flourish." "He used it as motivation to set his own path," said Ryan Davis, the recruiting co- ordinator and defensive coordinator at Woodward Academy, when asked how Bettis Jr. handled being the son of an NFL Hall of Famer as a high school student- athlete. "He has the utmost respect for his father and the things he did to pave the way for him. It was awesome for our team's success to have guys like Big Je- rome around our program and school." HER BROTHER'S KEEPER Jerome Jr. isn't the only Bettis at Notre Dame. Jerome Bettis Sr. and his wife, Trameka Boykin, have two children, and Jerome Jr.'s older sister, Jada, is currently a sophomore at Notre Dame. "It's very cool, especially for us as parents," Bettis Sr. said. "Both of our kids are there." Not only is Jada a student at Notre Dame, but she, too, is involved with the football program. She works in the re- cruiting department, showing recruits and their families, student life at Notre Dame, and helping with various paper- work and more. And she's playing the role of "big sis" once again, in Bettis Sr.'s own words. "She takes care of her brother and makes sure he's good," he explained. "When your son leaves for college, can he do the requisite things that he needs to do to survive? Will he put food in his stomach and do all the basic things? His big sister is there to make sure he's good, which is a blessing. She keeps her eye on him. "As a midyear freshman, you come in without all the hoopla. When you get there for the fall semester, they have mixers for all the freshmen and orien- tation to get you situated. But when you come in during the midyear, you get dropped in. It's a harder transition. With his sister there, it's made it more seamless for him." Jerome Bettis Jr. — seen here with his father, Jerome Bettis Sr., a star running back for the Irish in the early 1990s and a NFL Hall of Famer — was a two-way standout at Woodward Academy in 2024. He posted 36 receptions for 630 yards and 7 touchdowns as a wide receiver, and notched 47 tackles with 2 interceptions and 2 forced fumbles as a safety. PHOTO COURTESY TOM LEMMING The Bettis Tradition At Notre Dame Continues