Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546785
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 3, 2026 7 UNDER THE DOME son Love, father of 2025 Heisman Tro- phy finalist Jeremiyah Love, in recent episodes. The concept started with their com- mon ground — fathers of multi-sport athletes. Dylan Faison is a freshman w i d e re ce ive r a t No t re Da m e a n d played lacrosse in the spring as an early enrollee. Drayk Bowen started his Irish athletics career playing both baseball and football before narrowing to football. Drayk's younger brother, Dylan, starred in football as a safety and in baseball at Hanover Central High in Cedar Lake, Ind., and signed with the Cincinnati Reds after they selected the shortstop in the fifth round in the Major League Baseball Draft this past June. "[Quincy and I], we've kind of talked," Jeremy said. "We come from a rule of thumb in our home: You can't only play one sport. You have to play multiple sports. You have to learn how to move your body differently, get a break from one or the other. And then we can make it an educational piece [of the podcast]. "But then it's kind of blossomed into more than that. How do you live behind the scenes? What's it like? We're like, 'Let's make this thing fun, entertaining, get in guests that we have connections to, to be able to provide an insight of maybe what it looks like behind the scenes.'" MORE THAN A GAME — AND MORE THAN NIL And that expanding definition of what belongs on the podcast has opened the door to some distinctly Notre Dame conversations. Like the Bowen family's approach to the rapidly morphing world of NIL (name, image and likeness). "Going back to Drayk: 'If NIL is what you're being recruited off of, then I think you have the wrong mindset,'" Jeremy said. "So we were never an NIL family. Ever. Sure, there are other schools that offer a different amount of income. "But I think Drayk adopted this after a little while: You're only one hit away from needing a degree more than the game. And so if NIL is your focus, then you made money your focus and you lost sight of the future. "And so, to be quite honest, whatever they offered us was fine once he decided [Notre Dame] was where he wanted to be for his future. And we just don't be- lieve in chasing the dollars. I mean, I guess the more you grow into it, you can leverage them. But why chase it?" The Bowens reasoned that what a Notre Dame degree could offer finan- cially outweighed what Drayk was being offered through NIL as a freshman and sophomore. "Maybe not junior, senior," Jeremy said. "So, to be completely transparent, NIL wasn't a factor. It was who your kid's being coached by, how they're go- ing to develop you as a young man. "Marcus Freeman is a key factor in all of it. I couldn't say more. If [Drayk] wants to go into coaching as a career later on, Marcus Freeman showed you how to be a husband, how to be a father and how to be a football coach, and all of that." And now Jeremy Bowen and Quincy Faison are trying to share those stories from the inside out. "We're still navigating the waters," Quincy said. The podcast waters, anyway. Quincy and Jeremy have the dad part down pat. 'MY DREAM'S NOT YOUR DREAM' "Q and I talk about this all the time," Jeremy said. "I told the kids when they were young, 'My dream's not your dream.' "What is it, Daddy?" "My dream is you love Jesus. You find somebody you love. You find some- thing you love to do. You provide for your family. You give back to humanity. I may not be able to be around to see you reach your dream, but if that's your dream, Daddy's got to pay for training. And then you have to come through on your end. "And I'm not going to remind you that it's your job to make yourself better. You have to take ownership of your own dreams and your own future. And if you can do that at an early age, I think it just helps you developmentally to be able to step in, fill a void, learn from people. "There's always somebody chasing you. Every game, on his wrist, [Drayk] writes, 'You versus you,' or 'Me versus me.' So you're constantly in pursuit of a better version of yourself every day. So, when you've got to do that every day you wake up, you've got to take owner- ship of who you are." ✦ Jeremy Bowen and Quincy Faison appeared on the Gameday Show on WSBT Sports Radio 960, with Eric Hansen and Jack Soble of Blue & Gold and Tim Grauel and Jim Irizarry of WSBT. The "Two Sports Dads Podcast" provides a behind-the-scenes look on what the journey has been like for senior wide receiver Jordan Faison and senior linebacker Drayk Bowen. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER