2024 TE Luca Puccinelli Enjoys Notre Dame Return

Luca Puccinelli‍ wrapped up his spring break tour of the Midwest with a stop in South Bend for the Irish’s Blue-Gold Game on Saturday.

“Everything was great at Notre Dame,” the 2024 Virginia tight end told Irish Sports Daily afterward. “I mean, it's always good to be back in South Bend. South Bend's a great place, great weather, so that was good.”

Puccinelli, who currently has offers from Virginia Tech, Duke, Maryland and East Carolina, enjoyed the festivities of the day.

“We got some got some lunch,” he said. “They provided some food trucks for us. They had some cornhole, stuff like, TVs.”

Puccinelli had the chance to meet with tight ends coach Gerad Parker, head coach Marcus Freeman and other staff members during that time.

“Coach Parker was excited to see me,” the 6-foot-6, 235-pounder said. “He was impressed by my size. It was the first time we met, so it was just common greetings. He wants me back down for a summer camp.

“That's definitely something I'm going to do. He's also going to see me in May. He'll visit my high school.”

The Benedictine standout enjoyed meeting Freeman as well.

“That was also the first time I met Coach Freeman,” he said. “It was just common greetings. He was just excited that I was there, glad I made the trip up.”

From there, Puccinelli walked over to the stadium for the pregame speech from Freeman, warmups and the game. The trip concluded with a photoshoot.

After visiting for a game in the fall, Puccinelli could definitely sense a difference in the program.

“I think with Coach Freeman there, the vibe and energy is completely different than what it was before,” he said. “You can just tell he's doing great things up there. Mixing the alumni and the recruits, he wants to show that the alumni should come back, get back to Notre Dame and visit. It's also just a new energy, better energy, high energy. It's good stuff.”

Puccinelli visited Michigan, Wisconsin and Northwestern earlier in the week and doesn’t have any other visits set this spring.

“I'm making a Clemson camp, a Notre Dame camp and I'll probably visit Virginia Tech over the summer as well.”

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