Teddy Rezac on how his relationship with Notre Dame has developed, training with Mike Goolsby, more

Omaha (Neb.) Westside class of 2024 athlete Teddy Rezac publicly pledged to Notre Dame May 12, and the last three months of the committed life have been treating Rezac well.

“It’s been really good,” Rezac told Blue & Gold. “It’s cool to be a part of something big like the Notre Dame brand.”

There’s a weight lifted off his shoulders as well by locking in his commitment prior to his senior campaign.

“That’s definitely a big part of why I wanted to commit early,” he added. “I’m committed and can focus on football instead of the recruiting aspects.”

Rezac, who projects to play linebacker for the Fighting Irish, committed to Notre Dame less than a week after announcing on Twitter that he earned an offer from Marcus Freeman’s program. So, rather than asking him how his relationship has developed with the Notre Dame staff, Blue & Gold wanted to know how it’s been growing since he only started talking to the staff in May.

“It’s grown a lot through phone calls and text,” he said. “I’ve talked to them a lot and we’re getting to know each other better. I wasn’t too familiar with most of them before I committed. It’s been good to navigate learning about the new people I’ll be spending the next few years with.”

Rezac used his Notre Dame official visit the weekend of June 9, which was a great opportunity for him to spend more time with the staff and meet several of the other commits.

“I hung out with Sean [Sevillano], Loghan [Thomas], Bodie [Kahoun], Kennedy [Urlacher], Karson [Hobbs] — all those dudes,” Rezac noted. “It was fun to get to know them and hang out with them. I didn’t know what to expect going into the visit, but after talking and hanging out with them during the visit, I felt like we all fit in together.”

Rezac gearing up for big senior season

Whenever Notre Dame lands a commitment from a prospect who isn’t ranked as high as a select number of the fan base prefers, those people will post their displeasure on social media, and it’s just right there for those recruits to see.

For Rezac, is that just something he ignores or does it fuel him to prove the doubters wrong?

“I think it’s both,’ Rezac said. “On one hand, who cares, but I was also texting with [Notre Dame director of recruiting] Chad Bowden the other day, and he told me to put the world on notice this year and to show everyone what I’m capable of. I do want to show out this year.”

Rezac, who ranks as the No. 753 player and No. 34 “athlete” per the 2024 On3 Industry Ranking, totaled 62 stops, 4 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble and 2 interceptions during his junior season in which he helped Westside capture the Nebraska Class A state championship. Offensively, Rezac hauled in 32 passes for 414 yards with 4 receiving touchdowns.

“In our defense, safety is a prominent position; the defense goes through that spot,” he noted. “I’ll be starting off the season at safety. I’ll play that and receiver like last year and try to help us win another state title.”

The Westside defense should be outstanding this fall. Rezac isn’t the only prospect on the team that Notre Dame thinks very highly of. They’re also in pursuit of class of 2025 linebacker Christian Jones.

“We’ve become really good friends and hang out all the time,” Rezac said. “I’m in his ear to tell him all the perks about Notre Dame, but ultimately, it is his choice. I told him that I want him at Notre Dame, but it’s his choice to make.”

Training with Mike Goolsby

Many Notre Dame fans know Mike Goolsby as a former Fighting Irish linebacker and captain who had an interception returned for a touchdown at Tennessee in 2004. But these days, has the most popular show in Notre Dame media, The Mike Goolsby Show, which airs on the Blue & Gold YouTube channel.

Goolsby also trains high school prospects in the greater Omaha area. And over the summer, he started seeing Rezac.

“It’s really fun working with him,” Rezac said. “He trains me and gets me prepared, and we can talk about Notre Dame’s defense, all about recruiting and what his career was like. It’s really interesting to me to hear about how his story went.”

Goolsby’s training is specialized to what he thinks Rezac needs to work on. Early in their training together, Goolsby worked with Rezac on his hip movement, but they also get into defensive schematics as well. They try to train together once per week.

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