Lacey Enjoys Notre Dame Homecoming

Jacob Lacey‍ has already made several visits to South Bend, but this weekend was the 2019 Kentucky defensive tackle’s first trip back since committing to Notre Dame.

“It was great,” said Lacey, who gave the Irish his verbal pledge back in July. “Getting to see all of the coaches again and finally getting to meet some of the other commits was actually really fun.”

The 6-foot-2, 294-pounder said he felt looser at Notre Dame now that he was committed.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been up there, but it felt like I was coming there next week or something like that,” he laughed. “It felt like I was about to play in that game. It was kind of weird.

“I definitely felt more at home instead of being more uptight and trying to be perfect on everything. I felt like I could be myself with all of these coaches so they could finally get to know me a little bit more, so it was fun.”

And he felt like he could get to know the coaches better as well.

“They made me feel like I was part of the family,” he said. “Coach (Mike) Elko and Coach (Mike) Elston, I got to talk to them for a little bit. We were talking like they were one of my neighbors. Obviously, we talked some about football, but they didn’t make that the main topic and that was fun.”

The Bowling Green native also had a chance to meet with his fellow 2019 commit, quarterback Cade McNamara, and all of the 2018 commits who were on campus. Additionally, Lacey had a chance to do some recruiting of his own.

“There was another 2019 d-tackle, his name was Mazi Smith,” Lacey said of the Michigan native. “He’s the last guy Coach Elston wants so I was trying to help him out a little bit, getting to talk to him and getting to know him a little bit.

“That was fun. He’s great. He’s kind of like me. He doesn’t talk a lot. He’s big and strong. When you shake his hand, you know he’s serious. You can tell he belongs at a place like Notre Dame. He’s quiet, smart. He’s pretty cool.”

Lacey also had an opportunity to speak with 2019 Tennessee defensive end Joseph Anderson.

“His dad and my dad hit off right before the game on the sideline for a good 40 minutes,” he said. “He’s one of those kids who’s not a big talker either. We got to talk for a little bit, we traded SnapChats, so we’ll be talking for a while.”

Before he made his own decision, Lacey didn’t envision himself as a potential recruiter.

“It’s kind of different,” he said. “I never thought I’d be trying to help somebody get somebody else to come to their school. But I’m trying to make my class the best I can so we can have a real good class in 2019. I’m going to do whatever it takes to do that.”

Despite the Irish’s loss to the Bulldogs, Lacey enjoyed the game.

“The atmosphere was great,” he said. “There was a lot of Georgia fans there, but the Notre Dame fans I saw were loud and crazy. It was really fun. The defense made a huge improvement from last year from what I saw. Once he gets the players he recruits and wants, Coach Elko’s defense will be one of the best in the nation.”

And he’ll be back again.

“The USC game is set in stone, but we might come up for a third one, we’re just not sure yet.”