Drew Pyne Gets "Chills" Every Time He Walks Inside Notre Dame Stadium
Ask the 2020 Notre Dame commits who they spent most of their time with in South Bend earlier this month and they’ll probably mention Drew Pyne.
So who did Pyne spend most of his time with?
“I tried to be with as many people as I could,” the Irish’s 2020 quarterback commit says. “Every guy in my class I spent a lot of time with. All of those guys are such great kids who work really hard and have great values. I spoke to all of their parents and families.
“I’m very excited to be at Notre Dame and share these memories in the future with them. I really was with about every single one of them all of the time. It was really fun.”
The Connecticut native described his latest return to South Bend as “awesome.”
“Every time I go there, it’s just reassuring that I made the right decision,” says Pyne, who committed to the Irish way back in April of 2018.
“Meeting all of the guys and being together in the same place was really fun…all of the guys there are just so down to earth and have great values and so do their parents. Seeing all of the guys and meeting the guys’ families, the whole nine yards, it was a great time.”
Pyne and running back Chris Tyree have become close through the process and Pyne was able to guess what his parents would be like even before he met them at The Opening Finals in Dallas this summer.
“He has great values as a person,” says Pyne. “He’s just a great kid and a great friend of mine. I said, ‘I bet Chris’ parents are great people who raised him really well.’
“They’re a great family. I was super excited to see them last weekend. I didn’t know they were going to make it to South Bend and when I saw them, I went over and gave them hugs.”
Pyne understands the importance of the values his parents instilled in him and sees that in many of his future teammates.
“Knowing where you come from is really important,” he says. “Learning from my mom and my dad who 100 percent made me who I am today, I think it’s always important to give credit where credit is due and that’s the parents. All of the guys who were there had unbelievable parents. It was a great experience.”
He called the atmosphere for Notre Dame’s win over USC “electric.”
“Every time I walk in that stadium, it gives me the chills,” he says. “Obviously, I watched ‘Rudy’ all of the time growing up. Every single time I walk in the stadium, it’s just surreal. It’s almost like the stadium is its own movie.
“Every time I go, it’s just unbelievable. There’s no other way to put it. It’s just a dream come true for me. I can’t wait to be a part of it and be suited up in that stadium.”
Pyne has been to South Bend enough and committed long enough that the staff doesn’t really have to recruit him.
“It’s more just checking up and making sure things are going well and asking about my family and everything else,” he says.
As an early enrollee, Pyne will be on campus for good in a matter of months.
“I just can’t wait to be able to learn and be a student of Coach (Chip) Long, Coach (Tom) Rees, Coach (Brian) Kelly and the whole offensive staff and Coach (Matt) Balis,” he said. “I was just meeting with them about what I can do to be prepared and get ready for when I come in January.”
Pyne understands that getting ready for what Balis has in store for him will be the first test.
“You can only do so much physically to prepare for college workouts and the way we condition at Notre Dame,” he says. “Coach Balis has an unbelievable strength and conditioning program set up. He gave me a few pieces of advice about training in December before I come. Just being able to come prepared and be mentally ready to work as hard as you ever have in your whole entire life is something that will obviously be very helpful going in in January.
“More mentally being able to have the capacity to go in there and just working my tail off. I’m going to do all I can in December and the rest of the season to get my body in better shape physically. I’m just excited to get there and be a student of all of those coaches.”