ISD Intel | Pre-National Championship Edition

Penn State may not have needed its backup quarterback in last week’s College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Orange Bowl, but had the Nittany Lions still had Beau Pribula on their roster, they likely would have had some package for him in the game and who knows how that may have impacted the outcome?

Notre Dame absolutely needed its backup quarterback and had the Irish not had Steve Angeli ready to jump in and lead them to a field goal at the end of the first half, you don’t need to take long wondering how that may have impacted the outcome.

The phrase “culture wins” is probably overused in College Football, but rarely has it been on display more than it was during the final two minutes of the Orange Bowl’s first half; the entirety of the Orange Bowl and the entirety of this Notre Dame Football season in reality.

Penn State head coach James Franklin blamed the system for Pribula “needing” to jump into the Transfer Portal prior to the Nittany Lions’ Playoff run. Franklin was right to defend Pribula. Of course, he could have kept Pribula on the roster even after the quarterback’s decision to enter the Portal.

It’s been well-documented that Notre Dame was the only College Football Playoff participant that had no players enter the Portal between the regular season and the postseason. None. 

There is enough tampering revolving around the Transfer Portal that Angeli knew there were other options out there and ones that may now be gone, but he never even considered them.

That speaks to Angeli’s character, according to one source close to him.

“I think that's the whole word,” the source said. “I think it's the character of the kid and the willingness to compete when things get hard. I think that's the thing I'm most proud of with him is the willingness to be selfless and to put the greater good of what they're trying to accomplish ahead of everything.”

It’s worth pointing out that Angeli’s sacrifice was real. We’re talking about a kid who refused to entertain serious, lucrative offers to enter the portal.

“It's not what it was five years ago,” the source said. “It's not just your character and integrity. There's money in front of these kids that is life-changing and life-altering. So you have to have a value structure that is unbelievable, foundational values. Then it has to be so real, tangible.

“He loves the school, he loves the program, he loves the guys he plays for. I think there's something to be said for that. He loves his quarterback coach, he can't say enough great things about him. And you’ve got to respect kids that do it the right way.” 

Another New Jersey source summed up Angeli’s immediate refusal to start considering what he’ll do next as: “No way, what if my team needs me in the Playoffs?’”

They needed him and he was there. 

But Angeli is just the latest, most obvious example.

Shoot, Jeremiyah Love probably passed up more money out of high school than Angeli did last month. Love was a top prospect coming out of St. Louis at the dawn of NIL, when Notre Dame had yet to figure out what it was going to do when it came to NIL and high school prospects. So, when Love was making his decision, he was passing up a huge check for not much more than a promise in South Bend. 

“In hindsight, it was the best decision he made because Notre Dame…it's hard to define what it is,” a source close to Love told ISD this week. “It is such a togetherness. It's a family. It's just a special place, man.”

Love saw enough about the culture at Notre Dame that somehow it ended up being a relatively easy decision for him.

“It was never about the money for him,” the source added. “It was about him trying to go to a team that best fits his character. He'd been in Catholic schools all his life. He never was drawn to the flashy lights. He wanted to work hard. And he knew that with Notre Dame, if he put the hard work in it would pay off in the end.” 

How about JD Price? This kid would be a bona fide star in just about any other running back room in America. In South Bend, he was averaging seven carries a game the first 11 games of the season. Ever see him pout? Ever hear him complain? No, clearly all he ever did was work to maximize the carries he did get and be ready if a larger role was thrust upon him, which it has been for the last month and a half. 

“He was built for it,” a source close to Price told ISD this week. “There isn’t a more perfect guy for that role than him. That's just his demeanor, who he is, who his mother raised him to be. He's just such a respectful and coachable teammate and human being that it doesn’t even come across his mind.” 

The culture of this Notre Dame team may have been illuminated following the ugly Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois, but it wasn’t born there. The Irish certainly learned from that loss, but they couldn’t learn the skills necessary to bounce back from it the way they have in just six days. No, those traits had been there long before. 

The Irish culture was almost tangibly on display during the second half of the Orange Bowl even to Penn State supporters.

“That's what Notre Dame is,” one Penn State source said. “With those kids, it was almost like (Freeman) went in there and said, ‘Dude, they should have killed us, but we're still in this game. Let's go kick their ass.’ 

“And that’s what they did.” 

Think it’s an accident that Jaden Greathouse, who stayed during a mass exodus of young receivers last offseason, had a huge game against Penn State? Of course not.

How about cornerback Christian Gray coming up with massive, game-changing plays as often as he’s been picked on by opposing offenses. Think it’s just luck that a kid like him is able to remain confident and keep his head up to be in position to make those plays when the opportunities present themselves?

Think it’s a coincidence that Mitch Jeter has gone from one of the most inconsistent kickers in the country to a college version of prime Adam Vinatieri in the playoffs? 

The Irish have been crushed by crucial injuries all year, but the fact that those players’ replacements have repeatedly been ready to fill in isn’t luck. 

There’s a reason the stars of this team aren’t always the stars of the game; because this is truly a team. Part of the reason the Irish don’t have a clear #1 receiver is pure talent. But part of it is also the culture of team over individual. 

You’re not supposed to be able to seamlessly transition as many freshmen and transfers onto a roster and have them embrace the culture the way they have so quickly. 

Every coach is going to brush off any notion that games are about them, but the aggression with which Marcus Freeman and Al Golden have done so in recent weeks suggested they were almost insulted by such insinuations. 

It’s easy to look at Riley Leonard today and forget about Riley Leonard from Sept. 8th, when fans and message board posters were certain the season was a waste and bringing him in was a mistake. It was “clear” to many that the only reasonable thing for the Irish to do at that point was to find out what else Notre Dame had at the position.

Leonard’s bounceback from that low point is something he should be enormously proud of. But, who does he give the credit for it to? His teammates. 

Some of the same teammates who joined Leonard when he invited them down to throw with him in his hometown for a week over the summer. You hear enough stories like that each offseason that you assume every school must do some version of that. They don’t. And, at least one quarterback on a team the Irish beat during this Playoff run couldn’t get his receivers to do the same.

You think it’s just happenstance that guys like Pat Coogan, Tosh Baker, Charles Jagusah and Mitchell Evans have fought through demotions or injuries, yet always show up prepared and ready to play whenever they’re called on?

Freeman was so genuine when he said he wished every young player could see the path of Junior Tuihalamaka from third string to impact player. It almost sounded like Freeman believed that was an impossibility, but they clearly see it. 

The Penn State source we talked to this week clearly saw it compared to the Nittany Lions.

“There are kids that I would call front-runners,” this source said. “When it's good, it’s good. But when it’s bad, they will fall apart. Because they have never dealt with that. I think that's what I see sometimes with Penn State.”

People who watched the Nittany Lions closely this season noticed a wide variety of warning signs leading up to and during the game; whether it was receivers not running routes 100 percent or players not holding blocks until the whistle or even family members being less than supportive of other players on the team. 

“Anybody will tell you, they don't do the little things,” this Nittany Lions source said. “I think you don't do the little things because that's who you are as a person. That's how you grew up.”

One Irish source said the opposite about Notre Dame kids.

“They got grit, man,” we were told. “They’re tough. They’re tenacious.”

The Penn State source acknowledged Notre Dame has a different type of player, which is rare.

“Everybody's not like that,” they said, eerily echoing Freeman’s repeated declaration that they are misfits. 

Another Notre Dame source agreed.

“They’re determined,” the source said of the Irish. “And the boys at Notre Dame all have the same characteristics.” 

This collection of players and coaches are both products and ingredients of Notre Dame’s culture. Each instance of it being illustrated only serves to reinforce it and make it stronger. 

Yes, much of it has been shaped and molded in South Bend, but these are the times when seemingly generic statements on National Signing Day about looking for character in the recruiting process matter. 

The culture of this team didn’t begin at the start of the season or fall camp or spring practice. In a sense, it wasn’t even really carried over from last season after being passed down for seasons before that.

The culture of this team began when these players were little kids raised by their families, helped along the way by coaches, trainers, teachers and mentors. 

For Love, he comes from a family with military/law enforcement in his background; a support system that embraces adversity.

“We know what adversity is,” one Love family source said. “If you withstand the storm and you keep walking forward, eventually you will reach your destination. That's what we instilled in him,  always. If it's easy, something’s wrong with it, something ain't right. 

“Adversity is the building blocks of what type of man and what type of person you're going to be. Adversity and hard work. I don’t want to be cliché or anything, but Jeremiyah works hard. He has the talent, but he outworks everybody.”

Price went through true adversity as a youngster. He was 12 when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, she’s been cancer-free since 2017, but that’s an experience that will show a kid what really matters in life.

We spoke with one source who has known Price since Price was 14..

“He's very mature from just growing up and then with his mother beating cancer when he was in middle school,” the source said. “When I met him at 14 years old, he had that character. “

The individual journeys of the Irish players have brought them together for what promises to be a defining moment in their athletic careers.

“The opportunity to play in the national championship is like walking on the moon,” the source close to Angeli said. “You whittle it down. There's almost a million kids playing high school football today, and then 210 or whatever of those kids are going to get the opportunity to play in the national championship. Those guys that play for Coach Free, they're one of those groups. So hats off to every one of them.

“And whether they want to believe it or not, every kid in that locker room plays a role in Notre Dame getting to the last game. I'm just proud of Stevie that when his number has been called, he's answered the bell each and every time. It’s very few and far between that you can say that about guys.”

Culture may not win the game on Monday, but it certainly helped win the game last week and the 12 before that.

That’s no accident.

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