Original subtitles

[dramatic music playing]

[echoing click]

[man 1 VO] I try to get my workout in in the mornings.

Sometimes I'll run. Sometimes I'll walk. Depending on what day it is.

But I love it empty.

I love being here and really reflecting

on the work that has to get done.

You look for a place where you can have a little solitude.

It's like holy ground, man.

What better place than being in the stadium at this time in the morning?

[dramatic acoustic music playing]

Our focus as a football team, as a football program,

as coaches, players, staff,

our focus for this spring

is we're chasing the best version of you.

Don't worry about anything else.

I'm talking to myself as head coach.

I'm talking to our coaches, to our staff.

If we can get 100-plus people in the Notre Dame football program

to be the best version of themselves, watch out.

That's called reaching your full potential.

[announcer] And here come the Irish!

[man 2] It's the mecca of college football.

You can't say "college football" without introducing Notre Dame.

[man 3] You think about the tradition, the great players,

the great coaches.

How can you not be a romantic about it?

[man 4] What draws people from all over the globe

to Northern Indiana? In one word, it's excellence.

[commentator VO] Picked up by Xavier Watts! Touchdown, Notre Dame!

[man 2] You can't describe it.

It's once a week for 12 weeks straight. It's addicting.

[man 5] If you've been part of Notre Dame, no explanation's necessary.

If you haven't been, no explanation will suffice.

Everybody expects the national championship, and we all embrace it.

That's the big prize, right? Winning national championship. What you're remembered for.

Everybody wants to lift the most, run the fastest.

You can feel it.

It's gonna be different this year.

We're Notre Dame, and they ain't. That says it all.

[dramatic musical flourish]

[engine whining]

-Good to see you. -Morning.

-Doing alright? -Yes, sir. Doing well.

"Dear Coach Freeman, congrats on a terrific season.

Through all the peaks and valleys,

you led in a steady, professional, inspiring fashion.

Good luck with all the change coming in 2024.

Wishing you all the best."

"Dear Marcus,

As I get towards the end of my life,

God, country, Notre Dame becomes so much more important

to me and to Notre Dame students."

You receive a lot of gifts as a head coach,

and really cool things, so...

I'm writing thank you notes to those people.

I'm sure a lot of the stuff sent doesn't get to my desk.

-We get wedding invites. -Wedding invitations.

From people that we have no clue. [laughs]

The head coach at Notre Dame has a lot to live up to.

The expectations of the position are absolutely massive.

I can't be...

Lou Holtz or Brian Kelly. I gotta be Marcus Freeman.

But this is, more than anything, paying respect to Lou Holtz.

People that have been in my chair

have done some amazing things in college football.

[man 6] You're supposed to look, behave, talk a certain way.

You are a CEO, but you are the face of this giant brand.

And heavy is the head that wears the crown.

There's a lot of responsibility that goes with that.

Oh.

[Holtz] Come here, hon.

-This is Jemma's daughter. -Yeah.

And she thinks you're the coolest guy in the world.

[laughs] After him?

No, no, no.

In place of me.

-But she wanted a picture. -Yeah.

She's a junior in college.

-Awesome. Nice to meet you. -Thank you. Nice meeting you.

Okay. We're all done with that now.

It's all about you now. How you been?

I'm good. How 'bout yourself?

Well, there are two things that a coach never has.

One's a bad spring,

and a bad recruiting year. [continues indistinctly]

[Freeman] Anytime I have an opportunity to spend time with Coach Holtz, I try to.

And there's very few people that understand

what it's like to be in the chair

of the head coach at Notre Dame, but he surely does.

Could you imagine dealing with the transfer portal?

-And... -You know...

my idea on the transfer portal,

as I always told our players,

all you do is

change the address of your problem.

-[Freeman] That's right. -[Holtz] You learn so much

on an athletic field about teamwork,

unselfishness, perseverance,

and getting up when you get knocked down.

But you just have to learn

to wait your time, to persevere, to prepare,

and to take advantage of the opportunity you have.

But that's not the way it is now.

Let's see what this guy can do.

The kid that transferred from Duke.

[Holtz laughs] Oh, we know what he can do.

-We saw it. -Yeah.

The guy's a real good athlete.

A winner and a competitor.

-Yeah. -No doubt.

Marcus, as a coach, I think he's done a tremendous job.

I think that the players love him.

They play hard for him.

And those are the most important things

you look for in a quality head coach.

It's important for your players to understand

-we control our own destiny. -Yeah.

We had a game plan of how to win,

and we sold our players on that game plan,

and it worked for 30 years.

I'ma write this down.

What was important was to teach our players

that, number one, we had to be

the most physical football team on the field.

[commentator VO] To the 20. He's going to score.

He does!

[Holtz] Number two,

we have to be the best fundamental football team.

The football is so important they named the game after it.

How in the world do you not take care of it?

Then point number four

was we have to be the closest team on the field.

In other words, we have to be closer

and care about our teammates more than they do.

And the last point: don't flinch.

No matter what happens, we're gonna find a way to win.

[Freeman] Lou Holtz loves Notre Dame,

and that's very evident when you spend time with him.

He always tells me, "I'll give you my opinion, but never any advice."

And, uh... But his opinion matters.

This has been great.

I love, anytime I can,

spending time with you, man.

[laughs] I have no idea why.

[Freeman laughs] You know, the wisdom.

I get something from you every time I see you.

Coach Freeman found out quickly that being a head coach at Notre Dame

is a lot different than being a collegiate coach most other places.

And that's because Notre Dame,

it generates eyes. People watch.

Generally, an expectation that when you're the head coach here,

you will be coaching for national championships.

It has been that way since Knute Rockne took the program national.

And don't forget, men, today's the day we're gonna win!

They can't lick us, and that's how it goes!

The first platoon men-- go in there and fight, fight, fight!

Knute Rockne was innovative, relentless, motivated, driven.

One of the great things that he did

was that he started taking Notre Dame on the road.

[announcer] 90,000 in the Coliseum at Los Angeles in 1930.

Notre Dame and Southern California.

They didn't have planes. Knute Rockne made it a national program

by taking the train.

[announcer] The train pulls into South Bend

as football fans welcome home the Notre Dame squad.

[Brandell] "Oh, we're also gonna play in Yankee Stadium."

It was a bicoastal program

and it had that "Fighting Irish" moniker.

[Prister] Soldier Field in Chicago was one of the first ones.

[announcer] Now, a Rockne-coached team

plays USC in Chicago, 1929.

[Prister] 100,000 people to come watch Notre Dame.

They win, and suddenly,

your name's a big deal in Chicago and New York, et cetera.

[Forde] It was no longer just a Midwestern Catholic school.

He took on the challenge, I guess, of making Notre Dame

a marketable program across the nation.

They brought their brand that people at that time could identify with

like, "These guys are like us. These are immigrant tough guys

from the Midwest, Irish background."

It was great.

It's one of those stories that

you wouldn't believe it if you heard it,

that he did start to make them a national brand

before the term "national brand" really existed.

[Freeman] Get a piece of gum.

You catchin' my normal practice routine, huh?

Alright. First day. Let's roll.

The hardest part about my job, at times,

is to help make sure that

nothing distracts this football program

from reaching its full potential.

I bet you the new guys are like, "What is going on, man?"

You know? Welcome back.

And so, I have to make sure every single day,

every moment of every day

that I have that focus at the forefront of my mind.

Alright, buddy. Let's go. Let's go.

-Good? -Yes, sir.

It's hard to be a student athlete at Notre Dame.

They're challenged,

mentally and physically, every day.

But I try to remind 'em, "Here's the reward.

If you continue to choose hard every day,

it's gonna become who you are."

Get your minds right. Get your minds right.

Catch your breath. Get ready to rock and roll.

Finally, it's here. Know what I mean?

Finally, we go and play a little football.

We need everybody in this group.

We're on this journey. On a journey starting right now.

To find the best version of you.

Everybody understand? The best version of you.

[dramatic string music playing]

The expectations for the 2024 Notre Dame team

are sky-high.

The key was that defense,

maybe the best defense in the country this year.

They've got the quarterback.

They've got what Notre Dame needs

to expand things a little bit, offensively.

By the way, Marcus Freeman is in his third year at Notre Dame.

Year three in history at Notre Dame has been the year.

[Freeman] I don't know if there's a place I've been with a Notre Dame fan

that it hasn't been brought up that

the many national championships that have been won

in the third year of a head coach.

[Forde] Ara Parseghian, 1966,

winning his first national title in his third year.

Dan Devine in '77.

Lou Holtz in '88.

So there's a track record there and a suggestion that

that's the time to produce.

[Cornette] Now, the learning curve has been established.

Now it's your time to put your footprint

on your program. It's firmly yours at that point.

[Freeman] Choose hard. Choose hard in everything we do.

There are no breaks. That's the greatest thing about this thing.

Be the best version of you.

Understand? That takes hard work.

For coaches and players. But be committed to it.

[gentle music playing]

-How are you? -I'm good.

Thanks for all the goodies.

[Freeman] It's up with having your father there.

That's the way I view Coach Tressel, a father figure.

We were out in the yard last summer,

working on two-minute offense,

we were down in the goal line, and they were blitzing,

and I had to let it go. He was playing wideout.

Remember? Hit him right in the face with the ball.

-[Freeman laughs] Oh no! -He looked,

and the ball was right-- Said, "John, they were coming!"

-[Freeman laughs] -You never told me!

I told you, "They're coming. They're coming"

-[John] No, you didn't. -[Tressel] I didn't?

-[John] No, you didn't. -[laughing]

He did the same thing to me when I was a player.

"I tried to tell you that!" "No, Coach, you didn't tell me."

It's hard 'cause you wanna impress him.

Like trying to impress your father and mentor.

I wanna impress him,

but I have a feeling he's impressed

just knowing I'm leading this football program.

You never coached here.

-I never stepped foot in here. -No way.

And I've been to the spring practices.

-Oh my gosh. -I've been here a million times but never in this building.

Oh my gosh.

It's good, man. It's-- People are dying,

dying to win a championship.

[Tressel] No question.

-[Freeman] I mean... -[Tressel] Yup.

[Freeman] You're trying to figure it out

within the realm of Notre Dame.

The impact he had on my life from 18 to 22,

I don't know if I appreciated it as much as I do now.

But it's no different than me as a father.

I see myself doing things I learned from my father.

Same thing as a coach. I see myself leading in ways Jim Tressel led me.

-Awesome. -Alright.

[Tressel] Here we are at spring practice.

We always said you cannot win the national championship

at spring practice, but you can lose it

if you don't progress.

If every single one of us does not progress,

then we're gonna lose the national championship in the spring.

I think college football is really gonna have fun

as we enter this playoff era.

But we have to know

it's gonna be even more important

for every single one of us to be selfless.

Create that culture.

Get to know each other more quickly.

What a blessing you have to be at Notre Dame.

Go Irish.

[applause]

[podcast host VO] One of you came at me and said,

Notre Dame's gonna win the national title this year.

I don't know how old you have to be

to have your own statue in South Bend,

but we would test the limits

if Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame won a national title.

-[Freeman] Nice to meet you. -Thrilled you're here.

Thrilled you're in Pittsburgh. Thrilled you're at Notre Dame.

Glad to be here. Thank you.

My son said he wanted to say hello

and he will see you January 20th in Atlanta.

There we go. I love that.

Look at those helmets, huh?

-Would you hold this one? -Absolutely.

-Like at my press conference. -There you go.

[Prister] The Notre Dame clubs, it's a loyal group

and they're all over the country.

It doesn't matter where it is, it's usually a very enthusiastic group of people.

[host] I would like to ask us all

to give a warm Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania welcome

to Coach Marcus Freeman.

[cheering, applause]

[Freeman] Being able to visit all those clubs is an expression of my gratitude

for being part of this university.

Talk about your three.

And what we really wanna know is,

is the third time a charm?

[laughter]

-I sure as heck hope so. -[laughter]

I understand that I'm a figure for this university,

not just this football program.

It didn't take me long to realize

there's so much more about this university that truly makes it special.

And that's what I've grown to love.

I love these young people

that I get a chance to coach every single day.

I love to speak on the passion I have for this place

because it's real.

But it's also a way to gain some valuable wisdom

from other leaders

for me to bring back here to South Bend.

-Thank you so much. -Mm-hmm.

I'm excited you're in town.

-You glad to be back? -I am always glad to be back.

-Uh-huh. Grew up here, yeah. -Massillon...

[Freeman] This place is special to me.

I married into a, uh,

an honorary Massillon Tiger

-and, um... -[man] Go Tigers!

It is, uh-- That's right.

[applause]

But since I met my wife in college in 2005,

this has been my second home.

This place in Stark County,

the people here, it's special to me.

So when we had an opportunity to do this,

without hesitation, I wanted to come spend time here.

Let's talk about your staff.

Mike Denbrock coming in as offensive coordinator.

When you go out and need to fill a hole on the staff,

what are you looking for? What traits and attributes?

After this season, when I had an opportunity to hire an offensive coordinator,

I said, "Who's the number one offense in the country?" And it was LSU.

I said, "I know that guy. I'm gonna try to get Denbrock back to Notre Dame."

It wasn't easy. First, I tried to convince him, "You wanna work with me."

He's like, "I'm close with Coach Kelly too. That's not the reason."

I said, "We believe we're gonna win a championship."

He's like, "LSU, Notre Dame, we're all fighting for championships."

But ultimately, what he said was the reason he chose to come back to Notre Dame,

he said, "I couldn't turn down the opportunity to coach a Notre Dame kid."

And that, to me, spoke volumes about our players.

And I'm grateful that he chose to come back.

[gentle acoustic music playing]

[Denbrock] Good morning, everybody.

[all] Good morning.

We've done, in my opinion,

and grown every single practice this spring.

And you guys should be proud of yourselves for that, okay?

But we know this too, right?

We know there's still a huge amount of improvement

that can happen with all of us, right?

If we're all in this together, then we got to have that mindset about it

and tomorrow is just another opportunity to do that.

My first opportunity to be here

was from 2002 to 2004 with Coach Willingham.

And then after the 2009 season,

Coach Brian Kelly called and offered me an opportunity

to come back to Notre Dame.

And then obviously here in January,

the third opportunity arose.

And I like to joke,

like a bad penny, here I am again.

Tighten up! Where you going?

Where's your route taking you? Tighten up!

Coach Denbrock, he's brought a sense of grit to our offense.

Come on. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Go to work. Let's go!

He's gonna do whatever it takes to put his players in positions to have success.

It's a balance between running too big of a loop

where he can beat me underneath

and closing the space at the same time.

Okay? Gotta get used to it. Here we go. Ready? Go.

[man 7] It's gonna be a change for what Notre Dame's used to.

Probably more tempo than people are used to.

Offense, tempo!

Ball's on the right hash. Here we go!

We're gonna stretch the field vertically and horizontally.

Ready? Go. Pedal. This way.

[Freeman] It starts with instant credibility.

That Riley Leonard can look at Mike Denbrock

and say, "This guy knows what he's talking about."

Let 'em up a little bit, Jack.

You're killin' em. Torturin' 'em. I love it.

This guy is an extremely good offensive coordinator.

And their personal relationship is continuing to grow.

[commentator VO] Number 11 Notre Dame

taking on 4-0 Duke.

They are ranked number 17.

Last spring, as I was going through

Notre Dame's upcoming opponents in 2023,

when I stopped upon Duke and started watching film of them,

I was like, this Riley Leonard kid

is going to give Notre Dame a lot of trouble.

[Guidugli] Riley Leonard was probably the best quarterback

that they went against.

And our defense is pretty good.

But that's kinda where it started,

and once he hit the portal,

that was the guy we were gonna get.

[podcast host VO] It is finally official.

Riley Leonard announced on his social media

that he's committed to play for the Fighting Irish next season.

[Leonard] Like, it was a pretty easy decision.

Why wouldn't you want to come to Notre Dame?

When Coach Freeman gives you a phone call,

how could you turn that down?

[Freeman] I think Riley came into our program

personally feeling he was 100% cleared, ready to go.

And very early in the process,

he realized that he wasn't truly injury-free.

[Forde] The irony of ironies is Notre Dame's starting quarterback

was a guy that Notre Dame knocked out last year

when he was playing for Duke.

[commentator 1 VO] Riley Leonard's down, screaming and writhing in pain.

[commentator 2 VO] Oh no.

Last six months or so,

I've been put through the wringer.

Uh, three surgeries in now.

Setting records, as I like to tell people.

But I found different ways to contribute to the team

and to find my role through this offseason.

In my head, if I don't show that I'm struggling and that I'm confident,

I think my teammates will feed off that and share the same energy in me.

So my thing is go in every day with a positive mindset.

It was a long journey.

There was a lot of days where you get up

and you create these false illusions in your head

that maybe Notre Dame regrets taking me.

Or maybe I'm never gonna be the same type of athlete

or the same type of quarterback that I was in the past.

It's kinda hard to fight those demons in your head sometimes.

[Freeman] When you're a competitor, you wanna play, compete,

but he's been a young man that has maximized what he can do,

and that's learn the playbook,

get to know his teammates,

and be a great leader for our entire program.

[gentle music playing]

[Joe Montana] Here at Notre Dame,

just about any time you go across the goal line,

with the fans screaming and the band playing,

it just does something to me.

[Prister] When I think about great quarterbacks that have played at Notre Dame,

along comes the legend of Joe Montana.

Joe Theismann was certainly capable

of winning a national title.

You get into the 1980s,

Tony Rice, he's right up there with the great ones.

[commentator VO] Here's Rice, five yards to the goal line and a touchdown.

[man 8] Always been one of those glamor positions in sports.

I think it's like being shortstop for the Yankees

where it's a position that comes with a lot of pressure

but also a lot of notoriety

in terms of what that platform can bring for you.

I think Notre Dame fans are looking for that next great quarterback.

-[rock music playing] -Uh-oh.

[indistinct singing]

Yo, is it, like, golden hour, boys?

Is that Riley Leonard?

Can we get a picture?

Hold on. Wanna take a picture.

-Yo. Yo. Yo. You're the GOAT. -Riley Leonard!

[laughter, chatter]

Y'all here to put on a show? Nice. Nice.

-Good luck, boys. -Thank you.

Yo, is this it?

[Guidugli] The quarterback room is a great group of kids.

Riley's just kinda humble.

Brings a little country flair to our room.

This is perfect.

[Guidugli] Kenny's the music guy.

Kenny's gonna control the stereo in our room.

CJ's always gonna be the one that's early, sitting there, ready to go.

Steve's kinda, like, the elder statesman.

Kinda like the brains of the operation there.

Thank you for being at the first annual Notre Dame's Got Talent

presented by Pangborn Hall.

[cheering, applause]

[CJ] Love the energy.

-Love that. -Love the energy.

I remember thinking, this is why you come to Notre Dame,

just to experience the talent

among the students on this campus.

They're the coolest people in the world.

[discordant recorder melody]

[man in crowd] Let's go, Irish!

Good job, boys.

Let's go, Irish! [clapping rhythmically]

Great job, boys. Really proud of you. Way to start the night off.

There was one guy who tried to solve a Rubik's Cube.

It lasted, like, two minutes,

and he said he'd never solved a Rubik's Cube in his life.

That was good. That was good. That was good.

Hey, new one? New number one?

He's in first. He's in first.

There was an a cappella group that was really good,

and a magician.

Cover the glass. That glass becomes a bottle.

That bottle of course becomes the full glass.

[crowd marvels]

[indistinct exclamations]

What? What? What?

It was all just a fun time.

Woo!

I mean, what are we talking about?

[Brandell] When you're the quarterback at Notre Dame,

it's different where you are a student

and on campus and seeing these people every day.

[moderator] Riley, you consider yourself more of a front leg or a back leg thrower?

I used to be a back leg thrower, but probably front leg now.

Here we go.

-Sit or stand? -I'm gonna sit.

[laughs]

[crowd laughs]

Hey, run it back. Run it back. Run it back.

-Don't run it back. -Run it back.

Don't run it back!

[laughter, chatter]

[Leonard] There we go.

[laughter]

This is amazing!

I love it here.

At the end of the day, we spend more time together than anybody,

and there are so many moments outside of football that we get to share together

that we've become pretty close over the months.

[gentle, upbeat music playing]

* You're so wonderful, it's true *

* I'm the flavor just for you *

* Just reach out and I'll be there *

* Everything you want is here *

[Freeman] Yeah!

Good job, baby.

[Freeman] All spring, we've been talking about bloody wounds.

If this group wants to reach our full potential,

we have to endure the bloody wounds.

If you do these things,

the physical bloody wounds, the mental,

you build relationships, you earn trust,

you try to learn this information we're giving you,

at some point, you're gonna improve

and hopefully get the outcome you want.

At some point.

The one thing I can't tell you,

we don't know how much time that's gonna be.

All I'm telling you, if you do these things we're telling you to do,

over time, you're gonna reach those goals.

As I was really thinking about this this morning,

I had to record a video for a young man,

he had cancer.

What do you say? "Keep fighting.

We're praying for you. Everybody at Notre Dame's praying for you"?

Right? A kid. He's 11 years old.

So you think about time.

Our time together is limited.

So sometimes you gotta have that perspective.

If you have great relationships with the guys,

you'll know how precious time is. Talk to Jaden Mickey.

That's real.

This is real.

[woman] We built this house 11 years ago

'cause there's places for adults to go

through their faith-based community

or through the hospital or hospice.

But there's nowhere for kids to go

and for kids to talk to.

And so that's how Erin's House came about.

[Mickey] Erin's House was great. It's a grieving house for people who lost a loved one.

People don't know what you're going through. They don't know how it feels.

But this house puts you around a bunch of people who knows exactly how it feels.

-Nice to meet you. Jaden. -I appreciate you coming out.

-No doubt. -You gonna give some speech?

-He is. -Yeah.

I'll be up there for a little bit.

I'm extremely honored to introduce

Jaden Mickey,

University of Notre Dame cornerback, number seven.

He's from California,

and he is the son of Nilka and Lamar Mickey.

[applause]

My mom was a person who you're gonna get a text from her every day.

You're gonna get a call, maybe a FaceTime.

It's like, "Okay, Mom. Another picture.

Another text. Another FaceTime."

But I've really grown to appreciate those things.

I think the biggest thing she left with me

was how to love people.

-Woo, Jaden! -[Mickey VO] She loved the walk.

She always made sure to hop out and give me a hug.

Love you, Jaden!

She loved Jaden and loved rooting for him.

And she's Momma Mickey, you know?

[commentator VO] Pressure right in the face.

He throws an interception!

All kinds of space in front of Jaden Mickey

and he takes it to the house!

When he got the interception and ran it in, two things I know.

I know my wife was gonna be screaming on the couch,

and I know once he got in the end zone,

he was gonna give glory to God.

[gentle, somber music playing]

[Mickey] It was COVID year. We were at home,

and she had some pain or something in her stomach

and she had to get it checked out.

And for some reason, I knew something was wrong.

So when she sat us down,

I figured something was going on,

but it wasn't a big emotional reaction out of me.

It was more just, "Let's do it. Let's fight."

And you know, "Let's live the rest of your life

with love and enthusiasm."

[man 2] His family lived with us for, like, three months

because there was a cancer treatment center

in Scottsdale, Arizona, where I'm at.

I think that me being able to be with her for that short time,

home for that week and a half, you can see how special she is

and you can see how she's in Jaden.

I remember being in the team meeting

and my phone was going off

and I looked down and it was his father.

It says, "Hey, call me as soon as you can."

And I knew at that moment something was serious.

[Mickey] The night before the game, my dad called me.

He goes, "I don't know how to tell you this, but your mom passed away."

Um, and he was saying, 'cause my best friends were over at the house that day,

and he said, "We were debating on telling you this after or before the game,"

and he starts crying, he goes,

"and I know I'd want to know before the game."

[somber piano melody playing]

I remember, after talking to Jaden after he found out the news,

saying, "Go home." I encouraged him, "Go home.

You don't have to play. You don't need to play. We understand."

And, uh, without hesitation, "No, Coach.

I'm playing tomorrow, and that's what my mom would want me to do."

[commentator VO] Jaden Mickey playing with a heavy heart,

losing his mother in the last 24 hours.

[Lamar Mickey] She wanted us to celebrate.

She wanted us to not be sad, and so that's what we've been doing.

But I know the passion my son has for this game,

and he used to always say,

"I just want my mom to see me ball."

These are colon cancer awareness wristbands.

So if I need a little more motivation

or something to get me going, it's these wristbands.

It's big, as far as what my "why" is

and how hard I go.

[piano melody fades]

We have a unique shirt that we are going to wear pregame.

And this is a purple shirt, right?

With the ND logo,

and on the back it has Romans 15:13.

We are gonna wear this in honor of Jaden Mickey's mother.

[gentle music playing]

[Mickey] So we got the purple Notre Dame shirt.

My mom's favorite color. She loved purple.

Her thing was purple butterflies.

We all know that's her favorite color.

Then on the back, Romans 15:13.

This is also one of my favorite scriptures.

It's a blessing 'cause I know my mom would've loved it.

I know she's smiling from above.

But every time I see somebody with the shirt on, I just feel like

they're wearing a piece of my family and representing that.

So every time I see the shirt, it reminds me of my mom.

[commentator 1 VO] It's a rivalry 93 years in the making

as the Blue-Gold game is upon us

at Notre Dame Stadium.

[Mickey] I'm not a big crier, but that walk got me a little

because picturing my mom on the walk

and then seeing everybody with the purple on

like she's still on the walk with us.

[commentator 1 VO] A spring filled with practice and preparation

culminates today with an opportunity to perform.

[Brandell] The fact that people will come out,

thousands of people, to watch practice,

the passion is so crazy for Notre Dame football

and college football across the world

that people look forward to that spring game.

It ain't about the spring game. It's about competition!

That's what it's about!

You gotta play with your heart!

Don't play for me!

Don't play for him!

When you play with your heart, you're better.

And a better you is a better us.

[commentator 1 VO] Angeli down the seam. Raridon juggles it.

Now catches it. And he's in!

The Blue team strikes first.

Minchey's gonna take it and run.

And he's into the end zone.

And the Gold team is on the scoreboard.

See where Minchey goes. Pressure from behind.

And he goes down. Ball came out as well.

-And the Blue team's got it. -Be ready if we go back out.

[commentator 1 VO] Beautiful ball!

And it's caught! Micah Gilbert to tie the game.

[commentator 2 VO] He's taking advantage.

[commentator 1 VO] Again for Gilbert! He's got it.

It's another touchdown.

[commentator 2 VO] CJ Carr was on time and on the money.

[commentator 1 VO] Mitchell, all the way for a touchdown!

The Blue team wins it today, 28-21.

[commentator 2 VO] Bragging rights.

[Freeman] Good, man. Good work. Let me see that belt.

[excited chatter]

[cheering]

The champ is here.

-Champ is here! -The champ is here.

[Freeman] The biggest takeaway, make sure we're on the same page,

is how do we use this

to continue to propel this group forward?

Use what we've done in these first 15 practices

to propel us through the spring to the summer

and as we get into fall camp.

This is a journey to get to August.

"Here come the Irish" on three.

-One, two, three. -[all] Here come the Irish!

[poignant, dramatic music playing]

[music fades]