2024 DL Owen Wafle Impressed with Notre Dame On & Off the Field
2024 defensive lineman Owen Wafle made his way to Notre Dame over the weekend following the offer from the Fighting Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.
It was Wafle’s second trip to South Bend as the four-star prospect was on campus for a game during the fall.
Wafle was inside The Gug bright and early on Saturday to sit in on a defensive line meeting and then watch practice inside the Irish Athletic Center.
“It was awesome,” Wafle told ISD. “I really enjoyed the practice. I had never really seen a college practice, so being able to watch a highly-ranked school practice was really cool.”
Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington took time following practice to watch film and give Wafle tips to help his own game, which was one of the highlights of the trip for the New Jersey native.
"I'm definitely adding a lot more drills to what I'm doing in the offseason,” stated Wafle. “I learned a lot of interesting stuff when I talked to Coach Washington 1-on-1. We went over film and how he coaches his guys. I took a lot from that conversation and I'm going to apply it to how I play."
The meeting meant a great deal to Wafle as Washington not only helped The Hun School (N.J.) star with his game, but it was also a meaningful conversation where both sides got to know each other.
"It only makes the relationship stronger," explained Wafle. "He's a college coach for a really big school and he took the time out of his day to sit with me and go over film for 45 minutes. We talked until they pulled us out because we were off schedule. We could have been talking for a lot longer.”
Wafle also got plenty of time with Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman.
"That dude is awesome," said Wafle. "I've never talked to a head coach for that long. I've talked to a couple head coaches, but we talked for a long time. We weren't even talking about football the whole time. We talked about the basketball tournament and he's just a really friendly guy."
Freeman's message was a simple one to Wafle. Come play football and get a degree from Notre Dame.
"He was talking about his No. 1 thing is to make sure his guys have a life after football," Wafle said. "He said you can play 15 years or two years in the NFL, but you still need a backup plan. Notre Dame football has guys who want to be first-round draft picks, but you also have the academic side that will keep you going in the long run because it's Notre Dame. Just listening to him talk was really fun."
It was a message that resonated with Wafle as his father, David, played football at Duke.
"It's obviously something really important that I'm going to think about a lot," stated Wafle. "It's a big part of how I'll make my decision in the future."
Wafle was also blown away by one of Notre Dame's traditions during the visit, which is one of the unique aspects of the football program.
"I didn't know there was actual gold in the helmets from the Golden Dome," said Wafle. "They scrape it off and put it in the helmets. I thought that was one of the coolest things I've ever heard that the players actually play with gold in their helmet."
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