Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM APRIL/MAY 2026 33 I wanted to make an impact there. "I just remember sitting in the hos- pital bed thinking, 'You know, maybe football's not in the cards for me any- more. You go through this massive thing, maybe it's not smart to play.' And I was just super bummed out, dis- traught, honestly. "I finally came to the conclusion, with my family and the coaching staff, that life was bigger than football. And I decided to get my Notre Dame degree and take the competency that I learned on the team to go do great things." And so, when football came knocking unexpectedly in 2024 with a pathway to what masqueraded as redemption, Sch- weitzer realized he was already living it. MAKING A DIFFERENCE Reality hadn't bullied his dream after all. Instead, however twisted, it gave Schweitzer the opportunity to put it in a brand new frame. And share it. And let the ripples reverberate out and touch other lives and other dreams. And change life trajectories, just like the promise hinted it would. Thus, the transfer from Notre Dame never happened. But the transforma- tion did, and continues to this day for the player who decided to stay put and change the context around his circum- stances. Today Schweitzer, at age 23, is thriv- ing with a Notre Dame business degree in management consulting, living in Chicago and for a little more than a year working at Databricks, a software de- velopment, data and AI firm. He was recently promoted to Gen AI sales specialist, and it all came about through a connection through former Notre Dame linebacker and 2014 Irish MVP Joe Schmidt via the 4 for Forever program Schweitzer had a hand in creat- ing and developing after making the de- cision to medically retire from football. Former Notre Dame wide receiver Amir Carlisle, the school's director of player development at the time, worked closely with Schweitzer when it came to integrating the new program with the football team. "The 4 for Forever program encom- passed a few things," Schweitzer said, "but some things I'm proud about were, as NIL came to be, we made a partner- ship with Betterment Investments and got, I think, 90 percent of our team using investment accounts and helped them become financially literate in that sense. "We made a lot of connections in the field, for jobs. Like, I used it on myself with Joe, and people like that. But help- ing other people understand what life after football could be. And I really just think that Amir and I got across the message that I now understand more than ever that you can never control your last play. "Whether you get eliminated from the playoff and you don't play in a bowl game for those seniors, right? They played their last play. Whether it's an injury, whether it's a sickness, you never know. But you can always control how you show up every day and prepare yourself for something else. So, that's something I tried to embody when I re- alized my situation [of football ending] and really took it into account. "And I think that left a profound im- pact on some of the players who never really thought about that before, be- cause I certainly didn't before, and I wish I had. Kind of my point of sharing this story is that it's not a sob story to me anymore. It's a story of triumph in tran- sition. And I think it's something that a lot of people need to learn how to do. "And it's a skill to be practiced, and it doesn't take knowing your last play to start preparing yourself for it." HOW FREEMAN SUPPORTED HIM — AND STILL DOES For the record, Schweitzer only ended up logging 37 plays in his Notre Dame football career — 17 on special teams and 20 as a reserve spread out over his freshman season in 2021. The stroke happened in 2022, and Schweitzer never played football again. By that time, Marcus Freeman — who was his defensive coordinator in 2021 — was now the head coach, taking over for Brian Kelly. "I had great support from Coach Freeman and the whole staff and my teammates right after the stroke and the months that would follow," Schweitzer said, "A few short months later, Free- man called me into his office. And, I'd say we were close at that point, but I'd never seen him like this. "He's very emotionally mature, I would say. He handles situations that are tough all the time very well, and al- ways gets his message across. But for the first time, I saw, like, genuine sad- ness in his eyes. "And, you know, he had to retire from [football because of] a heart condition as well. And he told me, 'After speaking with the doctors and the team, they came to the conclusion that, at least at Notre Dame, it wasn't going to be football for me anymore. There were too many ques- tion marks and too many risks involved.' After a stroke that ended his football career in 2022, Schweitzer made a promise in a hospital bed to leave Notre Dame better than he found it. Today, he is thriving with a Notre Dame business degree in manage- ment consulting, living in Chicago and working at Databricks, a software development, data and AI firm. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS