2023 LS Andrew Kros Explains Notre Dame Commitment
Notre Dame was an easy decision for 2023 St. Xavier (Ky.) long snapper Andrew Kros.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder attended camps at Alabama, Colorado, Purude and Vanderbilt, but Kros made multiple trips to Notre Dame and accepted a preferred walk-on spot on Monday afternoon.
"You can't beat Notre Dame academically or athletically - life after football and the connections you can get,” Kros told ISD. “Everything about Notre Dame is incredible. I really like the culture Coach (Marcus) Freeman is starting to build there."
Kros attended a spring practice in March and then returned for camp in June. The Kentucky native quickly experienced the culture inside The Gug and loved how there wasn’t separation at Notre Dame on the field and in the dorms.
"One thing I liked, it didn't matter what position you were in,” stated Kros. “A lot of schools have the offense and defense and they are two separate realities the players live in. At Notre Dame, it felt like everyone was together and it was one unit.
"I also liked how they don't separate athletes into athletic dorms or normal students into their own dorm. Everyone is intermixed. It's not putting the athletes on a pedestal like they are unreachable."
Irish special teams coordinator Brian Mason built a strong rapport with Kros, but at the same time, he didn’t need to sell the St. Xavier star on Notre Dame.
"I love Coach Mason,” said Kros. “He's a very easy person to talk to. I don't know how to explain it other than I could see myself playing for him over the next four or five years.
"He didn't have to sell me hard. This is an opportunity of a lifetime. I couldn't pass it up at all."
Notre Dame’s campus sold itself easily as Kros was impressed with just about everything he was able to take in during his visits.
"The architecture of the buildings was awesome,” Kros stated. “All the buildings were built to look like they are from the same time, even though some were built a long time apart. I loved how homogenous it was at Notre Dame.
"If you look at the Basilica and the dorm rooms. They look nearly identical brick-wise on the outside. I really liked that.
"Another thing I liked was the open space. I love the outdoors and how open the campus is, even though there aren't that many students compared to some other schools. It just blew me away - the size of the campus, how green it was and everything looked very healthy."
Kros is also glad to have the recruiting process behind him as he can now focus on his future and his senior season.
"It was a busy schedule calling coaches every other night and keeping in touch with seven or eight different people,” Kros stated. “It was tough, but I'm glad I ended up where I did."
On the field, Kros is as motivated as ever and he’s used the offseason to enhance his game in several areas.
"The best thing I'm doing right now would definitely be my accuracy on my snaps,” explained Kros. “I've gotten a lot better on that over the last four months. I do need to work on my downfield coverage. I'm staying after practice to work on my speed and working on blocking drills. I'm trying to improve as much as I can."
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Gameday Anorak Performance Half-Zip Jacket
