Michael Mayer Can Become One Of Notre Dame's Best Ever

Notre Dame OC Tommy Rees believes tight end Michael Mayer can become one of the program's best-ever tight ends

Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer is a budding star and is already considered one of the nation's top players at his position, but the talented sophomore just puts his head down and goes to work even with the accolades swirling around him.

Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees set the bar high when he said on Wednesday that Mayer could be the best tight end in Notre Dame history. Considering that Rees played with 2012 John Mackey Award winner Tyler Eifert and second round NFL Draft pick Kyle Rudolph, and coached current NFL tight ends Durham Smythe, Cole Kmet and Tommy Tremble, it's high praise.

Mayer isn't focused on what people are saying about his potential, even if it's his own coach. Asked if he had reached out to former NFL Notre Dame tight ends, Mayer said he hadn’t.

He does pay attention, though, to NFL tight ends in general.

At the top of his list? Tampa Bay’s Rob Gronkowski.

“I like how he plays,” Mayer said of Gronkowski. “I like (the Chief’s) Travis Kelce. It’s just fun on Sunday’s when we have nothing to do to watch the tight end. It doesn’t really matter who it is. They’re tight ends in the NFL. They are obviously very skilled and fun to watch.”

Mayer said he fits into the high pass catching category, which is a fairly new trend for NFL tight ends. Kelce caught 105 passes last season.

“It’s cool to see people that big that aren’t just blocking,” he said. “They can run routes. They can catch. They can get yards after the catch. I would put myself in that category.”

Rees really believes in Mayer, who finished with 42 receptions for 450 yards.

"I don't mean any disrespect to any of the guys that I played with or any guys that have come, but Mike Mayer has the ability to be the best tight end to ever come here. He is a special talent,” Rees said. “You want to talk about a guy that's wired the right way. He comes to work every single day with the mentality of he's gonna get better and he wants to go be dominant. 

"I don't know if people understand Mike yet," continued Rees. "He's an unbelievable kid to be around and coach because he is so eager for more and so eager to go be that guy. He is a lot of fun to be around and a lot of fun to coach. Look, (Tyler) Eifert was a great player, Kyle (Rudolph) was a great player, Cole (Kmet) was a great player, and it goes on. (With) Mike’s ability, he has a chance to be as good as any of them.”

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly isn’t into rating his tight ends.

"There's been so many great tight ends here. Michael Mayer is an exceptional football player. He's going to be an NFL player and he's going to have great success, “Kelly said. “How you measure those, I think, is just beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When you get to greatness. There's so many great tight ends here. Kyle Rudolph was pretty good. Cole Kmet was pretty good. Tyler Eifert was pretty good. The list goes on and on, just for me since I've been here. That's just a snapshot. He's an amazing player, great player, but I'm not here to kind of rate them. I'll let you guys do that because you guys are pretty good at that."

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