Four-star OT Michael Roeske reveals inspiring message from Notre Dame coaches during visit
A knee injury did not prevent four-star offensive tackle recruit Michael Roeske from attending Saturday night’s Notre Dame game against Ohio State. And that same injury will not stop the Irish from targeting the Wautoma (Wisc.) High junior in the 2025 recruiting cycle.
Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Rudolph offered a scholarship to the 6-foo-7, 280-pound Roeske during his first trip to South Bend on May 25. During Roeske’s return visit yesterday, Rudolph and head coach Marcus Freeman reaffirmed their interest in Roeske, the No. 315 overall player and No. 25 offensive tackle in 2025, per the On3 Industry Ranking.
“They both said it’s just a bump in the road,” Roeske told Blue & Gold. “This doesn’t affect your future coming down here or anything. I still have my offer. That is something big for me. That’s what I was scared of: Am I still going to have an offer from Notre Dame? How does this change the fact for my future?
“They both said it’s a bump in the road. Just take it day by day. Come back stronger than ever. … They’ll have my back no matter where I go with my future. That is definitely something that I really took to heart.”
That was heart-warming news for Roeske, the On3 Industry Ranking’s No. 3 prospect in Wisconsin, who suffered a gut-wrenching knee injury on Sept. 1.
With five of his six Power Five scholarship offers coming over the last five months, Roeske had concerns that would slow down his college football recruitment. But Notre Dame’s reassurances helped ease his worries.
“It gave me a lot of motivation,” he said. “I have surgery and then a nine-month recovery. It’s going to be a strong nine months. I’ll keep my head down, focus and take it day by day. Start to get my leg stronger daily. And get ready for my senior season and continue being a leader.”
In On3’s own rankings, Roeske is the No. 213 overall player, No. 19 offensive tackle and No. 3 prospect in Wisconsin.
Roeske recaps Notre Dame return visit
Roeske arrived in Indiana on Friday, which allowed him to get to South Bend first thing Saturday morning. He soaked in ESPN’s College Gameday environment, toured the campus and picked up some Notre Dame gear from the bookstore.
Spending all day Saturday in South Bend allowed him to relish the game-day environment. Roeske gathered plenty of observations throughout the day.
“Wherever I go, I like to take in the full experience,” he said. “When it does come to game time, I focus — whether we win or lose — how does the team play? Is this somewhere where I could come and succeed? Think about if I were in this situation on the field right now. Is it somewhere where I think I could play?
“I think I could play at Notre Dame and fit in the system. I really liked the day overall.”
Roeske also commented on the crowd noise and the stadium’s atmosphere. A crushing loss did not overlook an outstanding game day experience. It also added plenty of perspective. He noted Notre Dame missing a first-half field goal and the officiating crew overturning a Sam Hartman first down rush on fourth down as a pair of pivotal moments.
“Right there, you say, missed field goal? That’s three points. You would have at least had three points on the other drive,” he said. “Right there, that’s six points. We would have won the game.”
Roeske also mentioned that he discovered through social media that Notre Dame only had 10 guys on the field for the last two defensive plays. That sparked an interest in tuning into Freeman’s post-game news conference, where he learned the Irish had no timeouts.
“You think about that, if we have all 11 guys on the field, that’s completely different. We win the game,” Roeske said. “We got to take the downs, things that we didn’t do so hot on, fix those up and bounce back next week.
“I think (if) we have all of our guys on the field, it goes our way. We should have had a couple (interceptions) that we dropped. There are just small little things that we take advantage of, we win the game.
“I think the O-line and defense played really good. The offense played really good as well. I think it was the small little mistakes that we did have cost us.”
Overall, the Irish made a strong impression on Roeske. And they will receive strong consideration from him for the remainder of his recruitment.
“I love Notre Dame,” he said. “That’s definitely one of my favorite places I’ve been to so far in my recruiting process. That’s probably the biggest game I’ve been to throughout my recruiting process. Just the way the atmosphere was down there, it was amazing. That’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity down there.
“Notre Dame is probably one of my top schools as of now.”
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