Michael Mayer discusses the tight end legacy at Notre Dame, who he models his game after
Michael Mayer is arguably the best tight end in all of the 2023 NFL Draft, and one of the top players available come Thursday night.
Moving on to the NFL, Mayer is ready to carry the Notre Dame legacy with him wherever he goes. The Fighting Irish have sent a bevy of special talents at the position to the league, and it means a lot to him to be the next in line.
“I think that’s one of the reasons I went there,” Mayer explained on ESPN’s SportsCenter. “The legacy is you go there, you play three or four years at the tight end position and then you go play in the NFL. We’ve plenty and plenty of good tight ends from Notre Dame go to the league. Tyler Eifert, probably one of my favorite ones. Kyle Rudolph, one of my favorite ones. They’re playing nine, 10, 11, 12 years in the NFL.
“That doesn’t happen very often. And that’s what they’re producing at Notre Dame and hopefully I’ll be able to produce that, too. We’ve got a lot of good ones coming in behind me, too.”
So how does Notre Dame pull it off, sending tight ends to the NFL for length careers like clockwork? According to Mayer, the secret is the fantastic group of people they have leading the program, as well as the fanbase.
“I think it’s the people. They’ve got a great coach right now in coach Freeman and they’ve got a great offensive coordinator who was my tight ends coach last year, Gerard Parker. And you know, the fans there, they’re absurd. They live Notre Dame football. Every Saturday is packed. It’s a vibe like no other,” added Mayer/ “I’ve visited some other college on game day and it’s nothing to the vibe you get at Notre Dame. And that’s the reason I went there.
“It’s a great experience there and I’m so happy I went there. Everybody’s been asking me, ‘Would you go somewhere else, would you redo it?’ Heck no. I love it there. I’m so glad I went there.”
Moreover, Mayer has some big dreams at the NFL level. According to the former Notre Dame star, he models his game after Rob Gronkowski, and wants to be as successful as him at the next level.
“I think growing up it’s gotta be Gronk for me,” stated Mayer, asked who he models his game after. “Gronk was just a force in the game with Tom Brady for so long. He could block, he could run, there was just so much that he would do. And he’s a big body, too.
“I like to think of myself as a big body and I think what he does is he makes contested catches and he breaks tackles. And those are two things I did pretty well in college and two things that I’m going to try to excel at at the next level, too.”
Michael Mayer has all the potential in the world, and Notre Dame faithful will likely be rooting for him wherever he ends up following the 2023 NFL Draft.