Notre Dame Legacy Enjoys Irish Invasion
Reggie Fleurima Jr. didn’t need a tour guide when he visited Notre Dame for Irish Invasion earlier this month.
The 2022 Illinois wide receiver has had one of those his entire life.
“I knew a lot about ND,” Fleurima said. “My dad always talked to me about tradition and how there is no other feeling like playing in an atmosphere like Notre Dame’s.”
Fleurima’s father, Reggie Fleurima Sr., who played defensive line for the Irish under Lou Holtz in the early-1990s.
“My dad and I always go up to games and he always tells me stories about his team back in the day and sometimes I even get to meet some of his teammates that ended up playing in the NFL such as Jerome Bettis,” Fleurima Jr. said.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pounder still enjoyed getting back to South Bend.
“I love the campus,” he said. “I’ve been around it for a while because whenever I go up to South Bend with my dad, he always gives me a tour and shows me where he used to go back in the day.
“I also love Touchdown Jesus and the Golden Dome, those were the two main things I liked most about the campus.”
He also enjoyed participating in Irish Invasion.
“I believe I did well competing,” the Naperville Central High School standout said. “The biggest thing that the coaches wanted from us was to compete and have fun and I thought I did a good job of that.”
“The coaches were very welcoming and I felt like they gave us a taste of what it takes to play at a high D-I level in college. Coach (Del) Alexander talked to me about the little things during the drills and how they would make me better and a more well-rounded player. I liked how he was evaluating me and I definitely learned a lot from him based off of what he told me.”
Fleurima Jr. has early offers from Purdue, Virginia Tech, Cincinnati, Illinois and Minnesota.
“After the camp, I realized how high of competition and skills it would take to play at Notre Dame, there were lots of highly-talented receivers who worked hard and we gave each other tips on how to improve on certain things,” he said.
Fleurima Jr. said he’s hoping to make it back for a game this year and for assistant Tom Rees to make another stop by his school.