Following a workout at the Terrance Edwards WR Academy, Blue & Gold Illustrated recruiting insider Mike Singer caught up with Scott Berrong, the father of Notre Dame Fighting Irish class of 2021 tight end commit Cane Berrong.
Read the Q&A of their conversation below.
MS: What was it about Notre Dame that made you feel comfortable with your son going there?
SB: Obviously, there's the academics. His goal is to own his own business and maybe be a strength coach in college or a trainer like they do at 180Sports. It was either go to a school and major in exercise science or go to Notre Dame and do a business major. I think the route that he's going to end up taking is the business management/leadership with a minor in entrepreneurship. The big thing was the degree from Notre Dame.
With Penn State, Michigan, and some of those others schools that we were looking into, they use the tight end well. The rosters came down to Penn State and Notre Dame. By the time Cane gets to Notre Dame, there will be a couple guys he can learn from with George Tackas and Tommy Tremble. So that was another thing.
When we went there and met with Brian Polian, he basically told us that they're not a football factory. They don't have athletic dorms. Cane will have to get himself up in the morning and get to practice. If he transitions [to the NFL], he'll be better off because he'll be used to taking care of himself. We really liked that and the fact that he'll get the full college experience. He'll live with another student and be able to develop relationships with students on campus.
We like Coach Long. Cane has been talking to him quite a bit and I've talked to him some. We feel really comfortable with letting him go up there and it being 11 hours away. The tradition, gold helmets, we love Notre Dame.
MS: Tell me about Cane as a young man. He seems like a really great kid.
SB: He's a good kid. He stays out of trouble. He goes to the beat of his own drum. IMG approached us about going to school there when we were at the Ray Lewis Camp, but Cane wanted to finish what he started at Hart County. He does his own thing. He stays focused on what his goals are. He writes down his goals, so when he committed to Notre Dame, the first thing we had to do was move on to the next thing. We took a little exhale and break, but we reassessed where we were, and now he has new goals for the season and his body.
MS: Between 180 Sports and the WR Academy, he's training so much this offseason. He's posting new stuff on Twitter it seems every day.
SB: We've been going to [180 Sports] for probably two years, three days a week. During the season, it's usually one day a week. In season, it's more about maintaining and recovery, and out of season, we focus on speed, agility, quickness, hand strength, and weight lifting technique. We've been coming to [WR Academy] probably five months about every other weekend as we get closer to the season.
MS: I know Cane played quarterback and was asked to move to tight end as a freshman. Can you speak on that transition?
SB: Cane growing up played running back. He probably scored 40 touchdowns as an 8-year-old. He transitioned as a 10-year-old to quarterback. He transferred to Athens Christian because of baseball -- that's the sport we thought he was going to play [in college]. He played running back there and then came back to Hart County his 8th grade year. Between 8th and 9th grade, he grew three or four inches. His arms got really, really long. It messed up his throwing; it even messed him up in baseball too. Because his body had gotten so much length, his timing was off.
So Coach Gillespie moved him to tight end and he was going to give Cane the option to move back [to quarterback]. Cane actually fixed everything but he fell in love with tight end. He just decided to stay at tight end and said 'I like tight end better than I ever did quarterback, and I actually love football more than I do baseball because I like tight end so much.'
MS: Is there anything else about Cane and Notre Dame that you'd like to add?
SB: His little brother has always loved Notre Dame. We bought him a gold helmet. For [youth] football, we were "Notre Dame." Chase [Berrong's younger brother] has really enjoyed the process. He got to go up there and put the uniform on. It's been a lot of fun with him. He plays quarterback and Cane runs routes for him."
RELATED: What Is Notre Dame Getting in 2021 TE Cane Berrong? | Observations From Notre Dame TE Commit Cane Berrong's Workout
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