Bauer Wants to Finish as a Champion
Most true freshmen don’t play much at Notre Dame. Bo Bauer was no exception.
He thought he was going to be. He’s not the first to think that way and he won’t be the last. Bauer came in with relentless energy and thought he was ready to make an impact. It didn’t take long before he realized things were different in college football.
“You come in as a freshman, you think, “I’m going to play this year.” But you don’t really know,” Bauer stated after practice on Tuesday. “You come out and it’s so difficult and there’s so much energy. The next thing you know you’re exhausted. You can’t think, you don’t know what’s happening, you forgot the plays. So for me, everybody’s process is different, but it took me a while to get used to those things and understand how to actually play effectively at this level. My whole freshman year it felt that way.”
It was a process for him and though his freshman season wasn’t what he expected, the arrow has pointed up since then. He emerged as a special teams standout in his second year and then last year took it a step further with regular reps at Mike and a key role on 3rd down.
“Sophomore year it started slowing down and I started throwing myself into special teams. I’m a complete believer in that and then last year it really started slowing down.”
That was when things started to click for Bauer off the field. Everyone focuses on physical growth for players, but Notre Dame has also emphasized mental growth. Bauer has taken full advantage of that with help from the on field staff and Dr. Amber Selking, the mental performance coach for the football team since 2017.
“I worked a lot with Coach Nick Lezynski. He really helped me get the mental game down,” Bauer said. “Dr. Selking also helped me get the intensity level correct. Those things combined you have the execution and that perfect level-headedness and when you do that’s when success comes.”
Dr. Selking has been a big part of the recent success of the program and she’s trying to help the team take the next steps to achieve an even higher level on the field.
“A lot of things just start with your mind set,” acknowledged Bauer. “It’s great to have workouts and learning the playbook and focusing on those things, but she’s trying to (help us) develop the dominant mindset. Through those mindsets it will put you in a position to compete at the highest level and win there.
“Everything is in the details. When it comes to football it’s a couple of yards or a couple of inches. It’s the difference between doing something exactly right at exactly the right time that could save a touchdown. Doing the right things or the small things in the classroom that will get you your degree and have success on the field at the same time. Our emphasis here is to focus on the small details.”
Bauer has honed his game since he arrived on campus in the spring semester of 2018. He’s been humbled by not playing. He’s always put team first and despite having an expanded role in the defense, he wants to continue to contribute where he got his start at Notre Dame.
“I don’t care what I do, Coach Kelly is going to have to pull me off special teams,” Bauer proclaimed.
The linebackers are one of the deepest groups on the team and it would have been easy for him to be discouraged by his early lack of playing time or not becoming a starter. None of that has deterred him from displaying infectious energy on the field, as Marcus Freeman described it, or taken his focus away from the ultimate goal for the team.
He wants to cap off his Notre Dame career with a championship.
“You know our goal is “Graduate Champions”. I’ve had the opportunity to graduate, but I’m not a champion yet. So it’s never good enough until that’s it and it’s not being complacent in that and continuing to pursue that goal.”