Marcus Freeman bringing back a Notre Dame game day tradition
When Brian Kelly took over as Notre Dame’s head coach he changed a few things on how game day went to on campus. For one, players no longer attended mass before the game and walked across campus to the stadium, instead they attended mass the evening before and had all of their energies focused on the game on hand come Saturday.
It should be noted that players did a walk on game day, just that it was done a little differently through the library (Touchdown Jesus) to the stadium.
Marcus Freeman met the media for his weekly spring practice availability on Saturday and let it be known that the tradition of attending mass and doing the walk through campus is making a return, something he was actually surprised wasn’t taking place when he arrived this past year.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman says the Irish will reintroduce game-day Mass.
“It’s what I remember from my recruiting trip — watching the players walk out of the Basilica on the way to the stadium. I was a little caught by surprise when we didn’t do it last year.” pic.twitter.com/kdg98S90dz
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) April 2, 2022
For those who enjoy college football traditions (myself included here) its met with happiness. Now does it give Notre Dame a better chance of winning a given game is another question, one that a player who played under both the Charlie Weis and Brian Kelly regimes offered his answer to Saturday night.
It was one of the better moves, actually. It’s pretty hard to turn the game switch on after an hour Mass. we still did Mass Friday night and still did “The Walk”. https://t.co/ETrNRrYaZn
— Robby Toma (@rtoma9) April 3, 2022
Amen! I’m glad it’s back. But as a player. It was a little more difficult to turn the switch on after Mass. that’s all I am saying. Like I said. Glad it’s back!! https://t.co/1svdRY0RZt
— Robby Toma (@rtoma9) April 3, 2022
Toma played at Notre Dame from 2009-2012 (was the hero in surviving a scare from Purdue in the 2012 home opener) and is certainly more qualified to offer an opinion on how it effects the preparation and ultimately the outcome of a game more than I ever could.
Personally I’m a fan of the move like I said above but am left a bit more curious what others who have made that walk would say about it after reading Toma’s thoughts.
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