The volume. Welcome back everyone to Inside the Garage Podcast. I'm Conradigan along with J. J. Wallace cam Hart. Today we have a very special guest, esteemed Notre Dame legend Tommy Reese. Coach Tommy Reese, I Polo jazz sound effects. Alright, coach, how you doing. I'm great. Yeah, I'm good to be here. Pay back to my college jays a little bit. What did you stay when you were here off campus on a house on South Benda have right by like preseason over there we're asked to leave a semester in Uh, we were at a house over here, like on Juniper, and I think some guys lived in there after us for a couple of years. And then we were the first people to live at university. Yes, my senior year. Because we were only there for semester, we're the first ones in. It was like four, like four different groups of four that all lived right there together. It was Zach Martin, Chris Watt, who's line now that you guys know, Dan Fox, he played linebacker, and then uh, Tyler Iffort for two years because he u he graduated early. He left for the league, so he has no griff. But yeah, time and then Nick Martin, Zack's brother kind of crash on her couch rect time. So we had a pretty good uh the first people at You Edge and his new brand new first people. That's weird thinking about we had. We had Mike. We had mcglinch on the other day and he was talking about how like so much different, like guys are living off earlier, like place to live, like, yeah, that type of stuff. Mike came on as official and was at our house. It was a problem. Mike was was freshman my last year and then I came back here in seventeen. He was He was still on was You Edge like one of the only developed apartment complexes that's the around it right now. Yeah, like the ones right by the Google We're kind of being built. A lot of students didn't live there yet, like Turtle Creek, those old ones were. Eddy Street was kind of going up, but again not a ton of students were there. She had at that point restaurants like restaurant wise is a worst day. It was called something else. It wasn't called she was called something else. But Brothers was there. Towards the end, Pola was there, five guys was there, and then pretty much everything else has been recycled. Got you, got you all right, let's see, that's start. That's start in the beginning. So born in born in l A, moved to Illinois. How old were you moved? I was five. Yeah. So my dad was working at u C. L A for a while in the early nineties and then he got a job with the Bears. Uh and he was from Chicago. My mom's from l A. And so we moved back to his home sort of. So do you claim Chicago? You don't say your West Coast kid? Would you still say your West Coast kids? No, I don't I claimed Chicago. I I say I'm from the suburbs of Chicago. I don't claim the city that hard. Yeah, I know, it's like everyone else that goes here, but all cleared up, like if someone's from California, say I was born out there on my mom's sides from out there, So definitely Chicago. So like, sorry, I want to punch the name. You and Eddie went this. It was like like four, Yeah, I'm from Bluff he went yeah, and Leys so yeah, Ley School, Ye, okay, So would you say I don't know if it's maybe it's caves now. But when you play, would you say, like nord name it was like how many people went there before you did? From the high school? Uh? No one for like football. Um, I mean you'd have a handful of students. It was a good public school, so it was smart kids. So people can get in. You know, probably six to eight people of classmate. No football, no football. It's a big school. It's like kids. It was six A. It's the biggest six all right. Would you say you you were to start of this movement then yeah, I gotta jump in. Yeah, pipeline. You beginning this pipeline like Forest will never be known for his like Division one football players, you know, but when we have one, I kind of feel like it's my duty to make sure they know what I mean. Did we count Eddie though I don't know the Shodes counts. Yeah, his brothers. His brother is coming to But his brother is a good players like you guys should love to Eddie quarterback. Yeah, his brother. They went to the state Semis this year. They did a great run and he was a kind of a star. He's a white out in quarterback. He played quarterback for them. But I think he's coming here as more of a wide out like Buddy like six too, Yeah he's long. Yeah that work. So when you played there in there, Dame became part of the question or conversation where you went to school. Was it an easy decisions already? Like right hard your priority list? Uh like going into would know, you know, like I was, I look a lot like I do now, Like I was not very like you know, like physically like intimidating or like what you would think of as a high D one quarterback. But uh, like early on, my first offer was like bowling green and then mine of Ohio offer and I was like, look if at the end of the day, I'm going to my Ohio play football, Like a lot of my buddies went there, and my sister went there. No Gus is like, uh four or five years younger than I don't funny, but like I was all set. I was like, look if I go to the MAC, like that's kind of what I thought. I'll go play there and have a great time in Miami. It's a good spot. Yeah, good for him. And then bigger schools kept coming through and I would throw for him, and everybody kind of gave me the same line. You gotta come to camp, which I know now like what that means. Sometimes it means, hey, you gotta come to camp and proven, and sometimes it's just a well, I think each situation is different. Like those there were some truth they were there to see you, and then I came here and through for camp, went to Stanford. But like before those two, I went to Tennessee when Kivin was the head coach, and I threw down there and did really well, and they ended up offering me. So that kind of snowballed. And you know, once you get one, others come in and I ended up only with like three or four Power five offers. And I grew up not liking Notre Dame to be honest, Like you know, like Chicago, there's so many Notre Dame fans and you're either one side or the other, and I didn't grow up with any real allegiance to it. You know, my dad, weirdly enough, we both work here now, but his dad was born about forty minutes from here, and he was an Indiana fan, so he didn't love Notre Dame. And so yeah, I like, once I started getting recruited, meeting the people, getting on campus, and I you know, I knew shortly after I got exposed to it this is where I wanted to be, but like I never thought it was gonna be an opportunity. And I remember like going back to high school with a Notre Dame offer and people still like I didn't believe it or didn't want it to be true, but uh, it all worked out in the end. He got here the same season I did in seventeen, but he I came in uh like late January, ely February, and then he came like right as camp started. It's like August that works out there? What were you? It was here, uh, Tennessee Stanford and then uh like I Will offered me during my senior season, like North Carolina offered me during my senior season, you know, because things weren't going great at Notre Dame. I was Wie's last class and then b K's first class. Whenever you look at it. Yeah, so I think teams are kind of coming in as like the potential coaching change is happening with Weiss leaving UM, but it really was probably here at Stanford. My mom like the education part was always really big for her UM, and so like I like Tennessee. On the visit. It was a cool place, good time. Obviously football is a big deal and Rocky Top. Yeah it was. It was cool. Yeah. But my mom, I remember her saying at Stanford or Man and between she runs the show. So I'm just sure that she and I was taken care of. I feel like quarterbacks, like to give her career as a quarterback is a little bit harder. In high school. I feel like I've only seen, I guess being from being from Atlanta, like I've only seen quarterbacks. Either they have fifty plus offers and these quarterbacks have no offer at all, you know what I'm saying, Like, yeah, they got all the intangibles, all the armed talent, size, all that, or it's just like you have you don't have one or a couple of those things and you're not getting in the office, you know what I'm saying. I feel like quarterbacks a little harder. Yeah, there's a couple like one. Recruiting has changed a ton, and I'm not old. I don't feel old, but it was, you know, fourteen years ago, thirteen years ago, and like the way recruiting has changed is so much earlier now, Like people really didn't unless you were like the I, you were getting offered until after your junior season, so you really weren't making decisions until that summer going into your senior year. That was like, now, what is the summer going into your junior year? It was a year later then. Um. The other hard part is like, if there's a hundred and twenty Division one teams, you know, in a class or in a cycle, you're gonna take one quarterback at most schools. You know, if you take three dbs, you know, that's three hundred and sixty players versus a hundred and twenty available at quarterback. And if you take four whiteouts as four injuring eighty players or a pool that you're picking from, whereas quarterbacks most years you're only gonna take one. So it's just a smaller pool of players. And if you look at like how many Power five schools there are, that number gets even shrunk and half. And so when you look at like true Power five quarterbacks, you're probably talking about forty to fifty a year, and like that position is so hard to project that you know half of them don't make it. Like you go back and look at the class I came out with like I'll do it. I came here with two other quarterbacks. There are three of us in my class at Notre Dame, and uh, I'll talk to one of them about like our class and we'll joke around. Like you go look at the top ten. None of them, like really, none of them made it. None of them in none of the quarterbacks. No, it's like a weird list and the top ten Creden class. Yeah, Like if you look at the top ten quarterbacks in that class, none of them really panned out to be like you know, I'd have to go back through, but like none of them are playing in the league right now. So when you agree with Crudent, what I guess, quote unquote is made to be the proto prototypical quarterback, the six three six, It was still the size thing, you know, I think, yeah, I think that's shifted over the last eight to ten years. Like you see six foot guys having success in college and in the NFL, right, Like Russell Wilson was kind of the first guy to break that mold and then he kind of opened the door for everyone else. Then you see the Bakers and Kyler Murray's and those guys have you know, win the Heisman and have so much success. Um certainly you know Bryce Young now, um, you know our own version with Ian, But back then it was still like six two was short, you know, like six two was like the cut off and I was six one three quarters. So it's like I'm wearing Timberland's onsins stuff in THEE and it's like I just want to measure in at six too, because that was like the cut off. You know, that was the bare minimum. Now it's like six too, that's more than enough. The game's just changed a little bit. I just felt like coaches, I felt aways felt like the quarterbacks size are equated to arm salad. It might, yeah, I mean like you look at a bigger quarterback and you're gonna, like naturally think always got a strong arm, you know. But you look at the way people thrown out is change a little bit. Like the mechanics, Yeah, like you see like the whippier throws and like less of like the follow through more like the back hip hop like kind of like how Buckner throws a little bit like kind of that New Age way of throwing, and like people are creating torque and momentum using rotation and their back hip and like it used to not be that way. So now you see smaller guys who can freak and sling it like ever goals and who I played with, he wasn't a big guy, hit a freaking cannon. His arm was crazy. So do you obviously the office corner and quarterbacks coach here, So do coach differently like with that new age? I guess yeah, Like I think it's shoot. It's even evolved my five years here, Like five years ago it was less frequent as it is now. You know, I try, you know, mechanically as much as we can. We try to focus more on the lower body when they're here, Like you don't want to change too much about how the ball is coming out. Um, you know, we'll talk about it. And I've had to like work to understand some of those mechanics because it's different than what I grew up with. What I've learned, so, you know, I've reached out to like some of those quarterback group specialty guys like Ian's guy will heal It does a really good job and like I've had conversations with him just so I can understand it better so that I can, you know, help and have those conversations with our guys as they come in. I feel like that's a great thing that coaches in this new age are adapting to because like even with dB coaches, it's hard to change change you guys like a little player and technique and like coach making himself, he's really good at coaching per your style. And I feel like when you were probably in college or in high school even before, coaches weren't really doing that. They were like, this is my way, and this is how you're going to have to learn how to do it correct. Yeah. I think in the quarterback position so much mental like yeah, you're gonna improve them and you're gonna fundamentally get their base better. But so much of what we do, you know, week in and week out, about the mental side, and you want the other stuff to be able to just kind of flow, you know, like you want to, hey, if the guys open, we want to count on the fact that we can get it to him, you know, and if we're out of position and we're not in our and our posture is not right or our target line is not right, yeah, we'll talk about that fundamentally. But there's a lot of other stuff that goes on. You know, in spring ball is a good time to focus on the fundamentals because you're not game planning and you're not in the weeds that way. But you know, we've been fortunate that our guys are pretty smooth mechanically, but coming in Yeah, I guess kind of way you're talking about, I kind of think about like a golf swing, Like everyone has their own unique ye know what I'm saying type of thing, and it's like a like a specialist like kicker, punter, like a picture. In baseball, everyone's get their own little deal to it. Yeah. Who would you say is your favorite quarterback throwing motion? I guess in the league. I mean Rogers pretty funny. Yeah, that's probably the best example. Uh yeah, man, he's he's hard to be. Like, Garoppolo is really clean. If you ever watch him throw, Like you know, people don't think if you just watch his mechanics, they're really clean. Yeah, I mean they're really clean. Actually, I wouldn't have even thought of Grapplo know that's like, um, if you if you watch him throw, you'll like he's that new age stuff. And like when Ian was here, that was a guy he always wanted to watch because he plays with a great base. There's a lot of very little wasted movement and he's not one that you think of, but when you watch him, like fundamentally he's really good. So speaking of about actually Garoppolo was my class. He's play in the league, but he was Eastern Illinois from Chicago, was from twenty minutes from rom Front. But he made it. But like he was, he went Eastern. Like he wasn't a top ten, Yeah he was. He drafted. So speaking about your time here nor day and talk about like your growth into getting your starting job and were you up against um, yeah, my four years were pretty wild. Um So my freshman year, I came in like with three quarterbacks right and came early. The other two did not, which was obviously a leg up a little bit. Went through spring, got almost no reps. Then in summer, I don't know, something clicked, you know, like I felt like I remember coming here to throw and like my first ever day I threw with the guys in the indoor loft. Is I remember saying, like, you know, it's like February March and we're doing just like a routes on air, and I remember looking at you know some of the other quarterbacks, and there was a kid a couple of years ahead of me, was a five star who's a good friend of mine. But I remember thinking, all right, I can play with these guys, Like I can throw with these guys. You know, I didn't until you do it, you don't know. And uh so I had some confidence. And then spring I didn't do much, you know, but I felt all right. And then you know, summer happened and we were doing like the summer player run deals and we're throwing and like something just clicked and all of a sudden, the offense was kind of flowing, and I felt really good. And then like the first couple of days in camp, I felt really good. And then I was slowly starting to creep into like that backup role and like solidifying myself there. You know. We had our first Saturday scrimmage and I think my first drive went right down. Score second drive, I came down on a helmet and like spraying my thumb pretty bad and I couldn't really throw. But I finished the day and had a good day. And I remember like that we had a day off and another practice, and that was when like I couldn't do anything. But Coach Kelly told me, He's like, hey, you're gonna be the backup. Just keep going, You're gonna be the backup, which at the time was a big deal for me, you know, and it's huge as yeah, and so I uh we yeah. So fast forward the second game of the year, We're playing Michigan at home. Dane got poked in the eye and uh, I go in and my very first past it was a play we called Wolverine. I'll never forget to play called Wolverine because we're playing Michigan and the signal was like the stripes on the helmet. So I remember looking over to mulve our signal and they're like they're doing this. I'm like, what the hell is that? Holy ship? He's calling Wolverine. It was a flee flicker, it was. It was a flee flicker throwback first past. That's a lot of trust. Yeah, threw a pick, yeah, and so I like it was like essentially like post deep over, you know. And I threw it and I was like, oh, it's a freaking dime. Like it came out good, like I saw the opening I anticipated. I'm like, Oh, it's a freaking dime and then boom, linebacker underneath it makes the play. I'm like to be kidding me. And then I went in for another series like one hop the field hitch and they pulled me no, no, just like one, like you know what I mean. No, no, no, no no, like one hoped one And uh, did you win this game? No? We lost dramatic fashion, and so whatever like that was obviously a learning experience. And then a couple of weeks later, we were playing Navy in New York and uh, we're playing at the Meadowlands and we got our ass kicked likeeen maybe yeah, they're fullbackmen for like two hundred a wheel for a touchdown that the last time they beat This has to be I don't know, probably, but we got crushed, and uh, but I caught a wheel route yea from touchdown. He was a bad dude, and their quarterback was like a really good player. And but I went in for the last drive like in garbage time and I went like eight for nine we scored and that was one of the only you know, and I felt good. And then the next week playing Tulsa at home and Dane blew out his knee and so then I ended up playing like three and a half quarters. We threw the ball like fifty something times. Lost. Um, it was a tough week. There was a lot going on at the university and stuff with the program, and uh, but then I end up we played Utah two weeks later when a bye week, played Utah, who was third in the country, then lost to TCU and they were like eleventh when they came in. It was senior night and we won three in my first start, which was unbelievable, and like senior Night was cool and uh. Then we played Yankee Stadium, Army beat them, played at sc beat them for like the first time in ten years, and then played the U and the bowl game beat them. So like my four starts with four and oh um. So then going into my sophomore year, there was a competition between me and Dane ended up naming Dame the starter first half played South Florida at home, and the opener he got pulled at half. They put me in. I played the rest start of the rest of the season that year. So then junior year, would you guys in that something, We're eight four and lost to Florida State in the bowl game. You know, we were looked the program programs in a much different place now, you know what I mean, Like you're eating for now, you know, yeah, we won't ten. I've been back five seasons. We don't at least ten every year. So then junior year, make a mistake in the off season, last day of class my sophomore year, you know, drinking off campus, got in trouble, so I was suspended for the opener. So I wasn't really eligible to like compete to be the starter. And so then it was Everett Andrew hendricks Can named gunner Keel who was like a five star freshman coming in, and so every obviously became the starter. And then throughout that entire year that was the season went the national championship. You know, like I had a role as kind of a guy that would come in if ever was struggling or like two minute drives. So yeah, that's what they made it, right. Yeah, but uh, like my first game after the suspension, we played for Due at home, and b K put me in for the two minute drive at the end. I didn't take. I haven't taken one rep. I didn't take one was seven on or one team all of camp because they needed these other guys who had never played to get all the experience. And so then he I mean, I was shocked. He's like, hey, you're going in for two minutes, no time to react, warmed up through five balls, shocked off. We went down to field, go win the game. And then a couple of weeks later, we played Michigan at home than if we played Michigan at home, you know, big game under the lights. All that ever, was struggling a little bit, turned it over and put me in like late first, early second quarter. Played the rest of the game. I had my only rushing touchdown. And then I thought at that point like okay, like maybe you know, there's two or two games, maybe I'll start moving forward, you know, postgame press conference he says, we're staying whatever. And so it was, you know, frustrating, but I cared about the team, you know, and I wanted to continue to support and have a role where I could. And so there was a couple of other games like Stanford, I played at the end and we had a nice run there to win the game. Um play had like one play against Oklahoma at Oklahoma and like third and eight because ever tell me came off, Yeah, you had like one play third down through a stopp route to Tyler for a first down and jogged off. You know, It's just like random things like that. And then that was my junior year was like it wasn't look it really. After the Michigan game, I was a little frustrated for a couple of weeks, but like I found peace in my role towards the back half of the year, and like we were on such a special run and we went remember we went like eight and five, eight and five, and all of a sudden, we're ten and oh, leaven or o, we're the number one team in the country. So just like you were. So I was so much in the moment that I didn't necessarily like directed back towards me. Was more about everyone else. And uh, you know, obviously the game against Bama didn't go grade. And then so I head into my senior year, I had a little bit of a decision. Like I played and I knew I could play, and I wanted to continue to play whatever it was coming back and ever it was going to be the guy. And so I was faced with decision and this was before the portals, like Okay, do I want to transfer? Do I want to stay at Notre Dame and graduate. And for my teammates, you would have had to sit out, or I would have gone to like, you know, like a Richmond or something like and and take. If you went down to one double A at the time, you didn't have to sit it out. So I remember it was like during Bowl prep and I just one more. I'm like, I'm not I'm not gonna leave. So I woke up and just said, hey, I'm gonna stay and whatever my role is, I'm happy with. And you know, I want to continue to help the team. And you know, I met with coach, and I met with Zach who was one of our captains, one of my best friends, and we talked about it for a while. And then six months later in May, it was my twenty first birthday, I was out in California with my best friend and my brother, and I'm getting these texts like, hey, have you heard anything about Everett? And I'm like, what are you guys talking about? And you know, he got kicked out of school and so he got in trouble. I kicked out of school and so my senior year, my senior year ended up starting all thirteen games and we were you know nine and four. Yeah, think nine and four on the year, and but like I decided to stay, you know, thinking, hey, I'm gonna have a role, I'll be the backup, I'll play sporadically and you know, contine to help the guys. But you know, whatever happened happened with Evan. You know, I had a chance to start all the games my senior year with money. So it was just it was like every year like nothing was just normal, you know, like not like none of them, not one year like go into it saying, wow, this is a normal year. You know everything there was ups and downs, you know, situations that were out of my control, and I just tried to really for me, it was all about like the guys on the team, and uh so you guys know what you guys know, everyone closet, everyone is. It doesn't become as much about you in those moments. Can you talk about like when you were playing, like what did you what is your confidence like? Because I feel like so many things have happened to you and you just kind of like remain constant, Like are you like a quiet confidence kind of guy? You Like, I'm gonna talk about what I'm about to do it and do it, like I believe that I'm a lot like I am now as a player. I mean I wasn't like arrogant, you know, but like I had confidence, you know, probably too much at times, but yeah, I mean i'd let people know, especially in practice like our own guys, like I didn't. I didn't mess with the other team a whole lot, but mostly you know, like with our own group of guys, like I would, I would talk and try to have fun with it. I mean, I'm a competitive attack as you guys know. Yeah, dude, like not know if you're going in or not feeling, especially at that position, like every hit ever, would take, every situation as helmet comes off, you're just like you're kind of always on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what's going to be next. And so like I always felt like it was harder to prepare as the backup than it was as the starter, because like, as the starter, you're extra motivated all the time. As a backup, you have to like intrinsically mode avate yourself to get to that level because you truly are like one play away, and at that position, it's a little bit different than others, you know, but like you have to be so motivated because if you're not, you're gonna go in there for three and a half quarters and you're gonna let your teammates down. Like that was what always like, I can't let all these other guys down. Look, you have the ability to like lose games, right, Like when you win games, it's everybody. But like as a quarterback, you can individually lose a game, and I've done that. We played Pitt my senior at threw two picks in the fourth quarter, Like that is why we lost the game. And so like going into a locker room as a quarterback knowing that you let everybody down and like they're never gonna get on you, but you know guys talking like you know there's gonna be some chatter, but like there's no lonelier feeling, like walking into a locker room and saying, wow, like I just threw two picks in the fourth quarter, and one of them in our end zone and we lost because of those Like all these guys that work so hard are now going home with a sick feeling in their stomach because you didn't do your job. And so like at the quarterbacks, you gotta like really really own your preparation, you know. And like for me, I was never gonna be athletic enough or skilled enough just to show up, you know, Like I couldn't get away with just showing up. So I had to work at it. And so like that was always what drove me to work and get better and find ways to have some success on the field. So I kind of want to bring up the trans reportal because you and your experience, like most guys, especially right now, would be out right if the deal with what you've dealt with, so like the portal, Like, but it wasn't it, Like, so it wasn't there. But do you approach that conversation differently, Like how do you approach that conversation because it is different now than when when you play. Yeah, you're talking about like conversation with guys about the portal. Yeah, like that conversation with someone like regarding no position like anyone. Yeah, I think, Look, I always try to operate well with honesty first, you know, I think everybody's situations independent to who they are. Look, I don't ever want to see people leave our programmers. I think we have great kids. But in my mind, I can justify certain guys leaving given their circumstances, you know. And so if that's the case, I'm gonna be up front and tell them, like, hey, I don't I don't want to see you go, but I can understand the reasons X, Y, and Z what's leading into this point, and like we can try to we can try to help you find a landing spot because you are a great kid, or you might have a situation that you know you're stuck behind somebody that you're not going to beat out. You know. We never want to lose guys. And I think there are situations where it's not in your best interest to leave, and you know, maybe there's other areas where you can grow, or I think it's important that you to get a degree, you know, and I'm gonna tell you that. But everybody's situations unique to them, you know. And like for certain situations, if you're a guy that's done everything right and you've worked hard and you've asked, you've done everything that's asked with you and you want to go play ball, like that gives you an opportunity to go play ball, like you only you're only going to have so many years to do that. And look, I think we've had a wide spectrum of guys, you know, on both sides, and I just try to keep it as real as I can and tell them what I honestly think, and then my only goal is to try to help them. I'm not trying to skew anyone's decision. Like I've had those conversations with guys offensively, and it's this is my honest opinion. You know, if you need help with it, we're here for you. It's the same thing when guys are trying to decide whether or not they're gonna go to the draft. That's the same conversationation, right, Yeah. I mean the recruiting stuff too, Like same thing, like I think once we decided to offer a kid, we're not offer a kid or need to see more. Like, look what, it doesn't do anybody any good? Two bullshit with him? You know, it doesn't do us any good, doesn't do the player recruit the train like, don't do anybody any good. You know. It's like the quicker, you can cut through all that and get to the facts of the situation. I think it just helps clear everything up. So speaking about NERD name itself you already, Can I answer that? One more thing on that, Like, I feel like players sometimes don't always trust the coaches, you know, like everybody thinks, hey, they're just saying this because they only care about the program, or they only want us here because they're Like I would tell you, in my experience working with the guys upstairs, like very very very rarely have I ever thought anybody's intentions were like selfish, you know, Like I truly believe that, and I would encourage like when guys have things like that, like we're gonna try to help you, and we're gonna try to give you the honest truth. You know, that's part of our job too, you know, like we know we're helping guys try to reach goals and stuff, and it's it's very rare that you find people that are more selfish and and I just think, you know, we're all in this thing together, and we've all, you know, got through times together, and we were trying to help everybody find their own path. You spoke a lot about football and ordain how is Notre Dame as a collective university outside of football? From while you were here? Yeah, I did a bad job, man, I lived in a bubble when I was here, you know, and like part of it's my fault, you know, I know that part of it is I had a tough experience at times, and so um, like, if I could do something over again, I wish I would have allowed this place to like really jump into the culture and the community and done more and like experience more and interacted with other you know, sports and student body, like just had a better relationship with everyone else. Even without this groupiny that you've been through. Like, uh, I don't think any of us have been to it, to the depths that you have been to it. We still put up blinder just because of the mundane life that we live. And this weekend with quote Freeman, what he did, I had a blind eye to a lot of stuff that you're mentioning, But this week it was great and it opened up my third eye to noor Dain and Nordame community and what Notre Dame has to offer. Yeah, Like the guys that were back this weekend, Like you know, there's a handful of guys I played with for a lot of people I've known or met through the years, Like they were so grateful just to have the opportunity to be back and to reconnect and like reconnect with each other, but also just like reconnect within the program, Like you go look on Twitter, like the former players that are sending stuff out, Like there's a certain feeling you have, you know, in the stadium with your boys, like and you lose that as time goes on, and to be able to like recapture that and remind yourself with these relationships that meant so much to you, you know, like ten years from now, you guys are gonna sit around and yeah you'll text and you'll talk every once in a while, but it's not gonna be like it is now, you know, and then you have an opportunity to get back together. It's the truth, though, you know, Like I lived with the same four guys for three years, and you know we see each other, you know, once or twice a year. Now, you know, we try, like heck, you know, a bunch of them have kids, and you know, it just gets away from you. And if you have that opportunity, I'll get back together. Like it's really valuable and so like for free to do that, you know, and forbid to set it up. It was It was really a cool weekend. Definitely, How do you like, what's the best advice to maintain these relationships because shoot, we we talked about having this podcast were the same state. Look, I think it's easy now with like the way phones and meet in social media and the way people can stay connected. You know, I would say, like, don't allow petty stuff to get in the way. You know, like you lose touch with guys over like the dumbest ship, you know, and then before you know what, you can't reconnect that bro. I can think about. It's Tommy and Cold taking each other's doors off the hinges. There was a little April foods fighting here. Yeah, yeah, like that be the only thing. Like the four guys that lived, we all still talk almost, you know, a couple of times a week and all that, but you know, we don't get to see each other, but you know, and then we've had some things, you know between us that have created some distance, but you know, we've found ways to get through it. And I would just you know, not allow petty stuff to kind of build up. And you know, if you don't, you know, that's something that you can keep it strong. And like the other thing, it's unfortunate We've had a lot of guys from like our era passed away in the last couple of years, and so like the other thing too, is like checking on people and talking to people and keeping things alive, like you never really know what someone might be having. And you know, we talked about as a group, like you know, we'll be there for each other. And there's so many people that care about you because if like the special relationship you form in a locker room that you know, it's unfortunate to see that. But I think you know, some of those situations have happened, which has allowed us to kind of restrengthen and reconnect and make sure that we're all there for each other. So we're gonna um go to Upside the Garage right now, a segment that we do where our fans family friends, they send us questions via Twitter email and we basically answered him. So this week's question comes from Connor Davidson and he says, dinner with three people that are alive. Who would you pick? And you gotta start us off dinner with three people that are alive. Yeah, that's tough. You know, I've never met my uh my grandfather, so that'd be one of them. Jfka. I probably throw my buddy Mitch in there. Yeah, he's just a buddy of mine, Like he's been my best friends as a little kid, So him and I would have a good you know, we'd be able to kind of feed off each other with the conversation. It's a tough three people. Three. I think I'm gonna go with Michael Jackson. Um, I was gonna say my grandpa as well, but I'll switch it up Elon Musk and An maybe how always use for these questions and maybe cl Honestly, I don't know you got Connor. J Cole is one of them. Um, I would really I want to redo mine. Um, this is not gonna be great. Okay, I'm gonna do J Cole, Allen Everson, Hey, she's I'm okay, you did steal one of mine. We always talked. Musk is one of them. I'm gonna say, you Musk, you're taking call you out of mind and putting Lawrence Taylor. M hm, Lawrence Taylor. Yes, Yeah, that's the most random, Like I need it. I need to have that conversation Taylor. John Daily type, Oh John Daly, can I REDU mine? Yeah? Go ahead, go ahead, Paul McCartney, Okay, my grandfather and JFK. Okay, that's money, Mitchy, Mitch, I can't. Um, I'm saying, m okay, I really want to. I want to say my grand Dacks. I've never ever met him. Um, that's a hard ask question. I'm gonna say, Albert Einstein, I got interesting, you'd be hard hard. We got another segment called rapid Questions, will be just try to answer you as fast as possible, right off the right top of you had whatever the first thought is. So the first question is, um, mahomes are Rogers Rogers, country of the city, city movies or TV shows? TV shows? Four passing tudes or two rushing touchdowns? For me? Yeah, rushing. I only had one of my the Midwest of the West Coast Homer away games as a player or coach, or and do do a player and a coach as a player away games as a coach? Home game so I can go home after cake or ice cream? Ice cream? It's your favorite pizza Toppy pepper on it, it's your favorite golf course he's ever played on Baba Link in Chicago. Would you rather have Calvin Johnson Brady Moss on your team, each your lake. Okay, hold on, never mind, sorry, like CDJs are olds, definitely CJ is not even close. Uh favorite Halloween costume as a kid, I mean I went as like, uh, like a football player every year. So uh, Kanye Drake, Kanye, it's the last thing you cooked. I just made uh rice and barbecue for our quarterbacks. A big dog or a small dog? Big dog? That's your favorite holiday? Christmas? Sky diving, a parasailing sky diving, breakfast or dinner breakfast, favorite spot on Indie's campus, Grotto m Golf and Florida. Kelly Calli, in your opinion, was the most underrated football player ever, just ever ever. Steve Young. Steve Young, Yeah, quarterback from right now? Alright that okay now theoretic underrated, not the best that the running back. Yeah like running back. He played slot earlier and we moved them back to running back his last year he played running back in the league. Okay, yeah theo yeah, alright, one more, always add him one more. But if you could give advice to younger coaches or not younger high school coaches of keeping their room tight, because you have a really tight room in the quarterback, So all love each other, what would it be like. I think what we've had that's been really cool is that we've had just a bunch of guys that have been really authentic, you know, and look, I try to treat them all the same, you know, And like I think the biggest thing is you got to coach them hard and you gotta no one to get on them, but you also got to have like the ability to have a relationship with them outside of football. And I think that's where our strengths been is that those guys know, like it's not only football, right, Like we'll talk about whatever, you know, They'll come up to the office and talk about whatever, like they have. You've been able to build a lot of trust in the room that like whatever is going on, like we can it's kind of a safe place for him. And I think it's probably because like I've gone through it and I was here and I played, and I'm still young enough to know like what it what it feels like. But I think you just have to have like a relationship with him that isn't only centered on one thing, and when you can like treat them like a person and not just like an athlete or a player. And like they're going to have more buying and they're gonna want to be a part of the group. Yeah. So, and we've had great I mean, the kids have been unbelievable. You know, they're just good. That does it. Well, that was very well said, kid. Go ahead the next time of the the release. I appreciate you a good ship. Well, thank you coach for coming on. Thank everybody for listening. We uh this upcoming week. The fourth member of the crew, it was, are taking NFL Draft Vegas. Cheer them on. I thought we had a lift Thursday. I don't have any We're making it up. Gave us a pass. Yeah, listen to this making up tuesday morning, tomorrow morning, and then we're working out on Saturday. Are you guys doing a pod from Vegas? It's TVD. Will you guys be at the table? No, no, no, I don't know yet. Like the hotel. Yeah, somewhere somewhere. It'll be so quiet, so yeah, quietly sitting there and you guys have no fun that night. I'll tell you what. Like some of my favorite memories with like my buddies, Like I had two roommates that our first round picks, Zach and Tyler both taking in the first round. Those like Thursday, I think they were both Thursday nights still the draft for both of them. We didn't go to the draft, but we had like draft parties for him, like probably two of the most fun nights I had in college. Like I mean one, there's so much emotion and like excitement and happiness that goes into it, like those those two nights, like probably, like seriously, two of the most fun nights I ever had in college. Where were the parties that they were both at their houses? So Ty was from four Wayne. You can ask Griff about that night. Wait, so that's even like they were like they were at home too. They were still one of the those fun nights they just had. Yeah, there was like a hundred I mean there were so many people there and soon they're watching the draft and they get taken. Those nights, you guys will have a blast. I mean I'm serious, because you're so happy, you know, like you're just so pumped for your boy and like for that happening that like it's hard not to have a great time. Well, that looks like we'll be taking a little bit of a hiatus after this Thursday, So thanks again. Coach coming on. You gotta thanks for having listening. Thank y'all, See you next time. M.