WATCH: Former Notre Dame DL Chris Zorich discusses Tennessee State game, alumni outreach under Marcus Freeman

Few former Notre Dame players know the Irish program like Chris Zorich knows the Irish program.

The former Irish defensive tackle (1987-91) played for the last Notre Dame team to win a national championship. Since retiring from football, Zorich graduated from law school at Notre Dame, started the Christopher Zorich Foundation, and served as the athletics director at Prairie State and Chicago State. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007.

Mike Singer of Blue & Gold spoke with Zorich this week about various Notre Dame football items, including the recently announced Tennessee State game and the increase in alumni outreach under new head coach Marcus Freeman.

Zorich on latest scheduling change

Notre Dame announced last week that in September 2023, they will host Tennessee State at Notre Dame Stadium. It will be the team’s first-ever game against an FCS team and a historically black college and university (HBCU).

Many Notre Dame fans were not thrilled with the decision, arguing the Irish should not be scheduling FCS teams because it will hurt their strength of schedule. Obviously, Notre Dame does not have a conference championship opportunity, so some say playing an FCS team removes an additional “data point.”

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What does Zorich, who spent two years on director of athletics Jack Swarbrick’s football scheduling committee, think? He’s in favor of the move.

“What’s funny is, the people that were up in arms about this were fine with playing MAC schools (like) Akron and Western Michigan,” Zorich said. “This is just the same thing.”

Notre Dame played Toledo in 2021, and has played several “guarantee” games in recent season, when it pays a team to come to South Bend to play the Fighting Irish. Tennessee State will be one of those games.

“I think what makes it different is (Tennessee State) is an HBCU,” Zorich said. “That’s what’s really significant about this. They could have scheduled Mercer like Alabama and Auburn do, but they didn’t.”

Uptick in alumni outreach under Freeman

At this point, it has been well documented that several former Irish players have returned to campus to visit during spring practice under Freeman. Of course, famed running back Jerome Bettis is also back in South Bend finishing his degree.

Things were different under former Irish head coaches Brian Kelly and Charlie Weis, per Zorich, who called it “heartbreaking” that the Irish team was largely closed off from alumni for nearly two decades.

“I worked there under Coach Weis, and if you weren’t a former NFL player, he wouldn’t even acknowledge you,” Zorich said. “He only wanted pros around his players.”

Next, he moved into the Kelly era.

“He was more about the Brian Kelly era,” Zorich said. “The only guys who were welcome back were guys who played under him.”

Zorich added an anecdote about former Notre Dame defensive end Ross Browner, who was told he couldn’t talk to some of the players when he was on campus at one point. Browner was a four-year starter and two-time All-American for Notre Dame. He’s one of the most decorated Irish players in history.

Freeman, on the other hand, was already talking to former players before he was put in charge of the program, and the former Irish greats continue to flow through the doors. The alumni greatly appreciate the newfound access and many will be in attendance at the Blue-Gold Game April 23.

Zorich noted that there’s also a recruiting element here. Plenty of former Irish players have sons capable of playing at Notre Dame. Under Kelly, there were instances where they did not look at said players, namely Irv Smith Jr. His father, Irv Smith Sr., was a Notre Dame tight end and first-round NFL Draft pick in the early 1990s. When the elder Smith asked Kelly to look at his son, there was no consideration.

The younger Smith went on to play for a national championship team at Alabama (2017) and was a second-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

“That’s the idea,” Zorich said. “To make sure we have former players who are welcome. You do that by exposing the staff to the former players.”