Salerno Brothers Back Together At Notre Dame
Notre Dame has an extensive history of recruiting a player and subsequently recruiting the brother(s) of that player as well and it has happened again.
This time around, walk-on punt returner Matt Salerno’s brother, Chris, has committed to Notre Dame and will enroll next year and be a part of the football team as a preferred walk-on.
While Matt and Chris are both walk-on players, they join Jayson and Justin Ademilola, Zack and Nick Martin, George and Josh Atkinson, and Romeo and Julian Okwara as the recent siblings to both play for Notre Dame.
Chris Salerno, a punter, and kicker from Encino (Calif.) Crespi Carmelite announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Dec. 23.
“Notre Dame has always been my dream school since I could remember,” Salerno explained. “Both for school and for football, it’s always been Notre Dame.”
During his junior season, Salerno reached out to Notre Dame’s director of player personnel Dave Peloquin and special teams coordinator Brian Polian and sent them tape of him punting and kicking. The staff became aware of the younger Salerno’s skill and got in contact with him through his brother Matt.
“I had plans to go to Notre Dame’s summer camp this year, but unfortunately it got canceled due to COVID-19,” Salerno said. “So, I have been putting together my own film and putting it on YouTube through the season and the offseason. Through my brother Matt, they told me that if I was accepted into Notre Dame I had a preferred walk-on spot.”
Salerno found out he was accepted to attend Notre Dame on December 16, but waited a week to announce his commitment to be sure everything was squared away.
The staff seems to love the upside it sees in Salerno as a kicker and a punter. He shows off his skills at both positions in his YouTube channel clips and could prove to be a versatile asset for the Notre Dame special teams units for years to come.
“I am mainly a kicker, but I have been working on my punting a lot lately,” Salerno stated. “If I can contribute as a punter if given the opportunity, I’ll take it.”
Even if Salerno did not end up as a member of the football team, he probably would still have planned to attend Notre Dame as a student. The California native has been a Notre Dame fan for as long as he can remember and his Irish ties run deep.
“I grew up loving Notre Dame, my whole family loves Notre Dame football,” Salerno explained with an excited laugh. “I have got to visit Notre Dame a few times recently to visit Matt and the campus is just amazing. There is no feeling to describe Notre Dame. Academically and athletically, it’s just the best.”
Salerno’s grandfather, Frank, played football at Notre Dame for a short time and passed on his love of the Irish through the generations.
“My grandpa led us to where we are in terms of loving Notre Dame and being Notre Dame fans,” Salerno said. “We are Notre Dame everything.”
The Salerno family are a bit unique in the sense of being Notre Dame fans in the heart of California. USC, UCLA, Stanford, and others are the usual schools of choice for California kids but there is something special about Notre Dame, Salerno says.
“I feel like there are more Notre Dame fans out here than I would have expected,” Salerno said. “There are definitely a lot of USC fans who like to make comments to me about Notre Dame, but there are quite a few Irish fans, no doubt.”
Chris will be enrolling at Notre Dame in the fall of next year and he is already counting down the days to when he heads out to South Bend to join his brother and realize his dream of being a part of the Notre Dame football team.
“It will be a lot of fun, Matt and I have dreamt about this for a long time,” he said. “I got to experience playing with him a bit in high school when he was a senior and I was a freshman but now being at Notre Dame together, it is going to be very exciting and it’s amazing we are getting to live our dream together.”
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