Drew Pyne Enjoying Elite 11/The Opening Experience

DALLAS – Drew Pyne‍ is certainly enjoying himself here for the Elite 11 Finals, which merged with The Opening Finals as the other athletes arrived for the event, which stretches through Wednesday.

The 2020 Notre Dame quarterback commit has turned heads so far this week with an extreme amount of accuracy and athleticism inside the pocket. On Monday, he found himself in the top five of the official Elite 11 rankings out of 20 competitors.

He’s taken a lot out of the experience already.

“Things like talking to Jalen Hurts, Shea (Patterson), D’eriq King and Sam Ehlinger,” he said referring to the current college coaches serving as quarterback counselors for the camp. “Those guys gave us great advice.

“The coaches here are unbelievable. Coach Jerrod Johnson is a coach for the Colts and he’s our coach. Coach (Justin) Hoover is a great coach. Just learning, I’ve grown so much around the game, it’s been a great experience.”

With the 7-on-7 game portion kicking off on Tuesday, Pyne is fired up about the chance to help a team stacked with some of the nation’s top players win, even if that means having to juggle some personalities.

“Being able to handle that as a quarterback and being a leader of the team is something I’m looking forward to doing, especially with all of these alpha dogs,” he said. “I’m really excited for it. At the end of the day, football is a team game, it’s the ultimate team game. I’m excited to have the opportunity to be a part of a team.”

Pyne also had the chance to meet former Irish quarterback Malik Zaire, who is in town covering the event for Overtime.

“The only time I’ve talked to him was today,” said Pyne. “He was very nice to me and said if I ever want to talk to him about anything to go right ahead and that he’s there for me, which is very nice of him as a former quarterback at Notre Dame. I really appreciate that. He’s been only nice to me, so I’m very thankful for him.”

But the experience has gone well beyond football.

“This morning we talked to a woman who was a victim of rape, Brenda Tracy, she told her story, which was very impactful,” said Pyne. “I’m wearing her wristband right now.”

The New Canaan, Conn., native and the other athletes in attendance also spent time with kids from the NEGU (Never Ever Give Up) Foundation.

“I spent about an hour today with one of the kids playing on the field and eating lunch together,” he said. “That’s really special.”

Pyne knew about the Elite 11 experience and the fact that it was broadcast on television over the years, but said he never watched a single episode because he wanted to his experience to be a fresh one.

“I expected it to be a lot of cameras and this and that, but I’ve learned a lot and grown a lot in the past few days as a person and as a player.”