Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 26, 2026 17 meet (100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 4x100 meter relay, long jump), and a standout quarterback and safety on Cody High's two-time state cham- pionship football team. "When I was making the decision to come here, I knew it was going to be a risk," Talich said. "I kind of knew I was betting on myself, taking a chance on myself. But I think there was a part of it that I just wanted to prove myself right, prove myself that I could play at a uni- versity like Notre Dame. "I'd been offered to go other places, but I decided to take the harder path and earn it. I felt like everything at that point in my life was kind of given to me, and I wanted to earn something and kind of get it the hard way." And it was hard. Talich played only six defensive snaps as a freshman, but cut his teeth on spe- cial teams. A broken collarbone he suf- fered in November truncated his 2023 season. But the following spring, Free- man put him on scholarship. "I tell people I played quarterback and safety in Wyoming, but I didn't know anything about football," Talich said. "When I got here, I was lost for a solid year. I remember my first fall camp be- ing the greatest time of my life just be- cause I was learning so much football. I'm learning so much knowledge, and I really enjoy football. I love the game. "I'm upstairs with the coaches every single day trying to get wisdom from them and learn the game. So, I think the biggest jump was just familiarizing myself with Football 101 and just kind of under- standing what it means. I think I've grown in that role, and I've become a pretty in- telligent football player, I'd like to say." A LINEBACKER DETOUR PAYS OFF Talich is still putting his foot on the gas when it comes to learning new di- mensions of the game. This past spring, he went to the defensive staff and asked them to plug him in at linebacker for some reps when spring injuries had thinned out that position group, and Talich continued to dabble in it during August training camp. Senior defensive analyst Andy Buh, a longtime linebackers coach before coming to Notre Dame, took a special interest in teaching Talich the position. When Talich moved back to safety full- time just before the season started, he brought those skills to that position. "When you play linebacker, you're closer to the point of contact," Freeman said. "So, you've got to get really good at defeating blocks. And what you saw on [Sept. 12 in a 52-0 rout of Rice] is even as a safety, the space might be bigger, but at some point you've got to get in that point of contact. "Luke does that really, really well, de- feating blocks and keeping his leverage. Or if he's supposed to be outside, he stays outside. He has long arms and he uses them. And I think playing line- backer, some in fall camp, helped him. "He came in here, and he earned it as a freshman. And he just kept get- ting better. He just kept practicing and working, and he's earned everything he's received. And it was great to see him out there as a starter and he per- formed really well." FINDING TALICH IN WYOMING Getting discovered in Wyoming in the first place wasn't easy. Longtime recruit- ing analyst Tom Lemming has been visit- ing recruits in 49 of the 50 states for more than four decades. The only state in which he has never scouted a player? Wyoming. "I've driven through it," Lemming of- fered. "Many times, going to other places." "People don't really go to Wyoming to get recruits," Talich agreed. "So, I al- ways tell kids from Wyoming and people like that just to go to camps. Go get out and try and go put your name out there, because it's hard for Marcus Freeman to come to Wyoming." But Freeman actually did make it to Wyoming, watching Talich at a basketball practice — a setting coaches use to evalu- ate athleticism beyond football film. But he came without a scholarship offer. The coach also mentioned at a re- cent Monday press conference that he stopped at a Starbucks in Cody and was greeted by a Notre Dame fan. "And there was a whole paparazzi of Wyoming people waiting for him at the airport," Talich said. But it was Talich himself who made the strongest impression on Freeman. "I'm watching him dunk a basketball and do some things on a football field. I knew he was gifted," Freeman said. "But we just didn't have any scholarships to offer, and then he earned it." When Freeman visited, Talich still had the Fatheads (wall graphics) of for- mer Irish All-American Kyle Hamilton, the Golden Dome and the ND logo on the wall of his room in Cody, a collection he started as a young kid, growing up in a Catholic family and deeming Notre Dame his "dream school." "The dream kind of faded away as I got older," Talich said. "I didn't think it was going to be a reality, but I was blessed with the opportunity to come to camp here, did decent, and then got an offer to walk on and took a chance. "Looking back now, I think coming to Notre Dame was one of the greatest decisions I've ever made in my life. And it's taught me so much about myself, and I've grown so much as a person in doing that and going through that process. "So, yeah, I can't thank the people enough. I thank God for bringing me here. Thank my family for obviously helping me through that process. It wasn't easy, but I couldn't be happier that I did it." Even when it gets loud. Maybe espe- cially when it gets loud. ✦