Coach | Notre Dame Checks The Boxes For 2022 ATH Jayden Bellamy

Vito Campanile is never going to tell a kid where he should go to school, but it’s pretty obvious if the Bergen Catholic High School head coach had an opportunity to go to Notre Dame, it’s a school he’d seriously, seriously consider.

And Campanile believes the kinds of kids who attend Bergen Catholic are the kinds of kids who would also consider it.

Campanile is firm in not pushing kids to a school.

“But I think that when they go there, they're getting a lot of the same messages and a lot of the same core values that we want to be about,” he says of Notre Dame.

Campanile’s starting quarterback, Steve Angeli‍, committed to the Irish back in March and on Friday, Bergen Catholic’s defensive back/wide receiver Jayden Bellamy‍ joined him, announcing his pledge to Notre Dame as well.

Campanile says Bellamy felt comfortable with the values he felt in South Bend during an official visit last month.

“Secondly, I know how big his mom is on education and how important that is to his family,” the coach says. “He's been nothing but a stellar student for us. It really checks every box. I know I’ve said that to you a few times and not to sound redundant, but it really is. If those things match up, it's hard for a kid not to see that.

“Then obviously, you have a chance to play national championship-level football for five years. There aren’t too many kids in the country that get that opportunity.”

In Bellamy’s case, his father, Jay, played more than a dozen years in the NFL, so Campanile didn’t have to worry about the guidance he was receiving.

“I'm here to help him in any way, but there's such a great support system at home that I'm never going to overstep my boundaries,” he says. “We've talked about it. He feels pretty good about his decision. He's in a pretty good spot.”

Campanile has had the opportunity to meet several Notre Dame staff members on the recruiting trail over the past few years, including Tommy Rees, Chris O’Leary and Mike Elston. His relationship with John McNulty predates the tight end coach’s tenure at Notre Dame.

“I've been with John since I was the head coach at Bergen Catholic,” Campanile laughs. “So yeah, there's definitely a comfort level there.

“All the interaction I've had with Coach Rees throughout Steve's recruiting, I just feel like it's been good. It's been really good. Those guys have been nothing but great to us and I've got a lot of respect for everything they do and how they do it, the way they do it. That's important to me.”