What former Notre Dame players Shayne Simon, C'Bo Flemister said about facing the Irish with Pitt
It isn’t just a homecoming for former Notre Dame quarterback Phil Jurkovec this weekend. He won’t be playing too much, if at all, vs. the Fighting Irish anyway; he got benched from his starting role a few weeks back.
Pitt has a couple other former Irish players who will see the field, though. Linebacker Shayne Simon and running back C’Bo Flemister are two of the Panthers most important players. If they somehow notch an upset as near three-touchdown underdogs, that duo will probably have been instrumental in the improbable victory.
Simon said he’s excited to play against a team that “has a lot of hype and a lot of NFL potential.” He’s still friends with many of the players on the Notre Dame roster. Every college football game is big. Every team only gets 12 of them guaranteed per year.
But this one is a little different for Simon.
“Any time you get to go back to your alma mater, it’s pretty cool,” he said. “I’m excited.”
Simon, who posted 26 total tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and 5 passes defended without starting a game in four seasons in South Bend, said after his recruitment went stale in the beginning but picked back up in the end when defensive coordinator Clark Lea arrived it was the opportunity of a lifetime to be able to sign on the dotted line with a program as prestigious as Notre Dame.
“It was pretty amazing, pretty cool,” he said. “I got a lot of love from people back in Jersey because everybody likes Notre Dame and likes the fan base. It was pretty exciting, pretty amazing.”
Notre Dame had a similar appeal to Flemister out of Georgia.
“The big attraction to me personally was my future,” Flemsiter said. “They preach four for 40. Four years for the next 40 years of your life. You’re building a huge network. That alumni network is awesome. That was pretty much my biggest deciding factor. I’m looking 40 years down the road how going there could have helped me coming out of high school.”
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Flemister said it’s special to go back to the place where he spent the first four years of his adult life. Like Simon, he still speaks to plenty of the current Irish players. Those players know very well the threat he poses out of the backfield. Irish defensive end Nana Osafo-Mensah mentioned him by name in a press setting earlier this week.
Flemister has risen to starter status at Pitt. Last week against Wake Forest, he rushed 23 times for 105 yards. He scored twice in an upset of previously unbeaten Louisville, a team Notre Dame lost to, the week prior. He’s rushed 108 times for 503 yards with 5 total touchdowns in two seasons at Pitt. He had 110 carries for 471 yards and 10 touchdowns in four years at Notre Dame.
The on-field accolades are great, but Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is most happy that the two stuck it out long enough in South Bend to call themselves alumni. Remember, Simon said he’s going back to his alma mater this week. That’s what matters most.
“It hurts when you see people that leave when they don’t get their degree,” Freeman said. “That’s when it hurts. When guys are able to get their degree and they go on to get an opportunity to play more elsewhere, I’m so happy for those guys. Both of those guys got their Notre Dame degrees and I’m proud of what they’ve done here at Notre Dame, what they’re doing at Pitt and I’m looking forward to seeing them perform on Saturday.”
