"I'll try not to cry. This thing means a lot to me"
Notre Dame will play in another emotional game this weekend, but it’s a little different than the emotions they experienced heading into Miami. Saturday marks the last time 26 seniors will run out of the tunnel at Notre Dame Stadium, and it will mean a lot each player, as they have helped turnaround the program after a frustrating 4-8 campaign a year ago.
“It's kind of hard to believe that five years is up,” stated Notre Dame captain Mike McGlinchey. “Tough. It's bittersweet. I know I've put everything I had in this place, in Notre Dame and this team and this University. It's a little bittersweet to think I'm not going to be able to come back and play in Notre Dame Stadium anymore after this week. We've had a hell of a season. It's been an emotional roller coaster, and I want to make sure we go out – the rest of the senior class, not just myself and getting a win against Navy this week.”
For captain Greer Martini, a guy that has always been a Notre Dame fan, the moment will almost come full circle. The 6-foot-3, 236-pounder got his first action against Navy as a true freshman and will now play his final home game lining up to play the Midshipmen.
“It's always been kind of like a big game for me,” said Martini. “That's kind of what my first couple years did was play the triple-option. So it's definitely fitting, I think.”
Drue Tranquill has the option of coming back for a fifth season next fall, but the Engineering major hasn’t made a final decision just yet. Saturday could very well the last time the Fort Wayne native runs out of the tunnel, and he plans on embracing the moment in case it is.
“I cherish every opportunity I get to run out of that tunnel,” explained Tranquill. “Whether this is my last game or not, I'm going to cherish it and really enjoy going out there and getting a win for our seniors.
The 6-foot-2, 231-pounder has been through a lot during his four years at Notre Dame. Tranquill tore ACLs in both knees and went through the tough 2016 season, and the chance to run on the field to his parents means the world to the Irish captain.
“I think what I've been through at Notre Dame, just with having two knee injuries and kind of everything,” Tranquill stated. “To just go out of that tunnel and walk out on that field is a special moment each and every opportunity I get because whether it's a decision to leave or whether it's a decision, you know, to do something else or whether it's an injury, you never know, like when your last snap is.
“Saturday will be a little different, obviously with my parents being down on the field and getting to run out to them. And I think it'll be kind of a culmination of everything I've accomplished to this point, and I'll try not to cry, man. This thing means a lot to me. So yeah, it'll be special for sure.”
While it will be a special moment for the seniors, it will short lived as the Irish have to dial in and focus on beating a pesky Navy squad, but refocusing is the name of the game this week after the loss in Miami.
“Obviously like it's a really tough game to leave Miami, come back here,” explained Martini. “We got back late. You have all the distractions from every which way that Notre Dame brings. We need to kind of step back and be like, ‘Hey, we still got things to play for’ and not let this game affect the rest of our season. We have to finish out strong.”
The distractions of a Top 10 showdown won’t be there, but Tranquill felt the Irish learned a great deal from experience last weekend’s circus-like atmosphere. Whether it pays off this year or for future teams, a lesson was learned.
“We always talk about you gotta be self-aware before you can enhance,” said Tranquill. “Whether that's cranking the music up in practice or talking about it more. You know, in meetings of expecting this, expect that so that your bodies are prepared and you're able to control those reactions. Those are I think some small things that you can do. It's just more communication, more awareness and maybe more music integrated into practice and louder atmosphere and sounds so that guys can get accustomed to communicating.
"But when it comes down to it, you can't necessarily prepare for cannons being shot off and beer cans thrown at your buses and all the stuff that kind of could have been a distraction in that environment. And when it comes down to it, you come to Notre Dame to play in those environments. And so it was a lesson learned for our young guys, and our guys coming back. And we hope to be put in that environment again, and I'd sure like to think having played in that will definitely help prepare us for next time.”
Tranquill felt Notre Dame was prepared but didn’t channel their focus away from the hoopla that surrounded the game before kickoff.
“I think energy is contagious. And so when you feel the energy, whether it's at home, I think that's where you get this idea of this home-field advantage of kind of this energy of your fans behind you and kind of this just energy prospering,” explained Tranquill. “But when you're on the road and in a hostile environment, it can -- I think in the way it hurts you is it becomes distracting, and guys are almost like ‘Oh, yeah, bring it on, bring it on’ instead of focusing on their execution. It's kind of like this idea of maybe getting caught up in the hype instead of focusing on the details that actually allow you to win college football games.”
Finally, it’s no the 6-foot-8 McGlinchey loves Notre Dame and his team, but he hopes he was an example to the younger offensive linemen as former linemen were for him during his younger years.
“I hope to God that the guys that are younger than me and have watched me play over the last year or two or however long they've been behind me that they learned the same things from the guys that I did that I was behind,” said McGlinchey. “I'll always cherish the times that I've had with -- or the times that I was able to learn from Zach, Zach Martin and Chris Watt, Nick Martin, Ronnie Stanley, all those guys that have come before me, because they are just world- class guys, world-class football players, and I owe them a lot. They showed me the right way of how to do things and how to be a Notre Dame offensive lineman and what it means and what all goes into being that.
“I hope that the younger guys like Rob (Hainsey), Tommy (Kraemer), Liam (Eichenberg) and all the other -- obviously I just named the tackles, but the younger guys behind me feel the same as what I've tried to do for them. And you know, I take a lot of pride and try to be the best teammate I can be, be the best coach or kind of player-coach I can be to help the young guys out, and that's all I really hope that they have learned from me is really how special this place is, how important it is to learn from Coach Hiestand and how to go about your business the right way.”