McNamara Focused On Team

Cade McNamara visited Notre Dame twice earlier this summer with the 2019 Nevada quarterback using his return trip to give the Irish his verbal commitment in person.

But the 6-foot-1, 186-pounder from Reno has never been to South Bend for a game, although that’ll change with two more trips in the coming months.

“I’ll be going to the Georgia and USC games,” said McNamara, referring to the Irish’s primetime home games against the Bulldogs and Trojans on Sept. 9th and Oct. 21st respectively.

The Irish quarterback commit is excited to get his first Notre Dame gameday experience.

“I think the atmosphere is going to be awesome, sold-out,” he said. “The Georgia game has been highly-anticipated around the country and I’m looking forward to going.”

But right now, McNamara’s focus is firmly on his Damonte Ranch High School football squad.

“We had camp last week,” McNamara said. “It’s been going great.”

The Mustangs are looking to build on a successful season in 2016 that included a 12-game winning streak and a Northern 4A title, but ended with a three-point loss in the state semifinals.

“This year, we want to win the state championship and we want to repeat our conference and regional championships,” said McNamara.

McNamara says he has no individual goals for his junior season and is just focused on the team’s success.

“For us, the defense just needs to keep the opponents to 21 points,” he said of the keys this season.

“Offensively, we just need to understand our opponent. We have the players and the tools to get it done.”

“I feel like my velocity has gone up a lot this year and my size,” he said of what he’s worked on this offseason.

McNamara and his teammates know they’ll be targets of every team they play and are embracing that role.

“It’s great. I love the competition. As the reigning champs, we’re going to get everybody’s best game, which is great. We want to get the best competition we can.”