Lamb Ready To Roll

Jack Lamb‍ is ready to go as the California linebacker heads out to South Bend this weekend to enroll early at Notre Dame.

“It’ll be fun,” the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder said. “It’ll be an exciting journey. It’s definitely tough to leave home, but that’s all part of it. You’ve got to make yourself uncomfortable to be successful, so I think I’ll be fine.”

Lamb is convinced enrolling early out of Great Oak High School will benefit him on and off the field.

“I’m going to get a great chance to get ahead on my degree and also get a chance to put myself out there for spring football,” he said.

Getting in a college weight program is one of the most important things in Lamb’s mind.

“I think I just need to get a little bit bigger, put on a little bit more size to be able to keep up with those dudes ahead of me and just try to stay focused the whole time,” he said.

After signing with the Irish last month, Notre Dame was able to send him strength and conditioning coach Matt Balis’ workout program.

“It’s pretty hard,” Lamb acknowledged. “Coach Balis is going to be a hard guy. He’s going to push us to our limits and that’s what we need.”

Lamb is “pretty confident” he’ll be able to grasp the playbook, but knows it won’t come easy.

“It’s going to be hard work, long nights looking at that and making sure you got everything down for the game plan each week,” he said. “But that’s what it’s all about, it’s all about facing the challenge.”

Lamb will be joined this semester by fellow freshman linebackers Ovie Oghoufo and Bo Bauer, who are also enrolling early.

“Being able to use what we’ve learned throughout our years of high school and mixing it all together to better ourselves,” he said.

With the recruiting process behind him, Lamb was able to reflect on what he experienced.

“It’s been a wild ride,” he laughed. “It’s been all over the place, going places, seeing different schools, talking with all different sorts of people from all over the country. It’s really opened my eyes to the whole world of recruiting. There’s a lot of different ways people do it. Some people try to call you every day and others want to give you your space to think.”

Lamb has a tremendous relationship with his high school coach, Mike Barney, who moved up the youth ranks with Lamb and his teammates. He also credited his 7-on-7 coach, Armond Hawkins, with helping get his name out on a national stage.

“He’s been great,” Lamb said of Hawkins. “He’s done such a great job getting my film out, talking with coaches for me and helping me get noticed. He’s been a great mentor for me and talking with everybody about me. I can’t thank him enough.”

While in Orlando last week for the Under Armour All-America Game, Lamb had a chance to do some recruiting of his own, getting in the ear of elite Florida offensive lineman Nick Petit-Frere.

“He’s such a great athlete for how big he is,” Lamb said of Petit-Frere. “He’s tall and lean, but he can still move as an offensive lineman, so that’s a great offensive lineman.

“What do you tell him? You’ve just got to come, you can’t miss out on an opportunity like that. There’s plenty of schools out there that can offer you great athletics, you’re going to go to a top school either way as far as football. But what Notre Dame has is what a lot of schools out there don’t have. They have a strong family, a strong tradition and a great academic program as well. You’re going to be set for life if you go there.”