Coach | Notre Dame Getting "An Absolute Stud" In 2025 QB Blake Hebert
What is Notre Dame getting in Blake Hebert, the 2025 Massachusetts quarterback who flipped his commitment from Clemson to the Irish on Monday evening?
“An absolute stud,” according to Brunswick School head coach Wayne McGillicuddy.
Hebert transferred to Brunswick this offseason and immediately made an impression on his coaches and teammates.
“One of the best leaders I've ever been around,” McGillicuddy says. “Hands down, the best leader I've been around, the best work ethic. He makes everyone around him better. He picks everyone up.
“He's as advertised. It's a great fit. He is a Notre Dame kid. He's a blue-collar kid. He works his ass off. He always wants to prove everyone wrong. He has this chip on his shoulder. He's one of the best. I'm happy for the kid and his family.”
Hebert also impressed his teammates immediately, including now-fellow Notre Dame commitments Matty Augustine and Ethan Long.
McGillicuddy says Hebert checks the boxes on and off the field.
“You're getting a kid who can make every throw on the field with ease,” he says. “You're getting a high football-IQ kid. Dad was a very, very good quarterback for AIC (American International College). Quarterback IQ runs in the family.
“He's all of 6-3, 220, hard, physical runner. He broke a 90-yard touchdown last week for us off of Q Outside Zone, put his foot in the ground, got north and south, outran everyone. The week before, had a 40-yard touchdown off a Stick Draw where he essentially read the Mike backer, put his foot in the ground, got north and south, made someone miss in the open field and was gone.”
Making the switch from Clemson to Notre Dame wasn’t easy though.
“It was a really, really tough decision for him,” his coach says. “He's been committed to Clemson for a year and a half. That's where he really felt like he was at home and it was really, really tough and it weighed on him. He handles himself like a professional and he holds everything in and he just carries on with his business. As great as he is, he's still an 18-year-old kid. I think he was the first commit in that Clemson class. He was the one that was out recruiting for those guys and doing all that.
“I don't want to speak for him, but I do know that it definitely weighed on him. We had conversations that I'm going to keep between us about him making a decision that he had to put himself first.”
In the end, Hebert had to get out of his comfort zone to do that.
“That's one thing about him is he wants to please everyone else and he wants to make everyone else happy. That was one thing that with him, I had to make sure that he understood that this was his decision and his future and his process and the only people that mattered were him and his family.”
And in the end, that decision will lead him to South Bend.
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