SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Before Kevin Bauman could venture beyond the leading edge of the soul-searching process this winter, destiny knocked on his door.
The same messenger who had delivered to him three season-ending injuries in his Notre Dame football career, all of which increasingly seemed to be hinting at him to walk away. For good. This time, however, the message to the veteran tight end and one-time prodigy was starkly different.
Those dreams that looked so undaunting five years ago to sync up to reality were still there for him to chase. And at Notre Dame, no less.
“I thought they were going to kick me out the door, to be honest,” Bauman said on Friday after a Notre Dame spring football practice session. “I told that to them.”
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Instead, offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Mike Denbrock very casually asked Bauman if he had a second to talk. About a sixth year of college football — and in an Irish uniform.
With a chance to be the ultimate wild card this spring and an opportunity to translate that into much more than a sentimental journey in the fall, starting with the season opener at Miami against his brother, Alex — a senior-to-be for the Hurricanes after transferring in from Tulane in January — no less.
“I expressed, like, ‘Shoot, I feel like I still have a lot left.’” Bauman related of his conversation with Denbrock at the time. “And, you know, kind of throughout this last season, it did take a while to get my feet back under me after not playing for two years.
“So, obviously I hold myself to high expectations and wanted to play and all that. But in reality, it took me some good time to get back to a state where I really could play and have an impact. So, I told them, ‘Hey, I think I’ve still got it. Thinking of maybe heading out, transferring.’
“That conversation kind of opened up into, ‘Well, let’s just stay here.’
“I said, ‘I wouldn’t want to do it anywhere else.’”
And a third of the way through Notre Dame’s 15 spring practices, the 6-foot-5, 260-pound Red Bank, N.J., product is doing it like he’s never done it at Notre Dame. Almost as if the broken left fibula in 2021 and the ACL tears of 2022 and 2023 (also on the left leg) hadn’t happened.
“I’m feeling great,” Bauman said, later qualifying this spring is the best he has felt since before the first ACL tear. “And like I said, I’ve still got a lot left. I feel like I’m playing some of the best football I’ve really played in my career here.
“And, again, I just have a sense of confidence, where I’m out here giving it my all. This is getting everything I have. And regardless of what that outcome is, I know I’ll be able to sleep well at night knowing I gave this my all at the best university in the world. That’s kind of my mindset, just keep working and get better and keep going.”
Five years of hard work haven’t been reflected in the numbers. Bauman has a modest six catches for 67 yards with one TD in his career, including just an eight-yarder this past season — a healthy season — the only one of the five in which he appeared in more than five games (11 total).
But that added up to 71 snaps, and only seven of those combined came over the last eight post-October games the Irish (14-2) played in.
But No. 1 tight end Mitchell Evans, ND’s leading receiver in 2024, has exhausted his eligibility and has moved in, as has former walk-on Davis Sherwood. Junior-to-be Cooper Flanagan is out until likely November if not all of next season with a Achilles injury, sustained in January during ND’s CFP run.
Senior Eli Raridon, a veteran of two ACL tears himself, and sophomore Jack Larsen join Bauman as the only healthy scholarship tight ends participating in spring football. Arkansas transfer Ty Washington and four-star recruit James Flanigan join the tight end room in June.
Raridon is the favorite to be the starter, but Denbrock likes to use multiple tight end sets with regularity.
“He does have it all,” Bauman said of Raridon. “I mean he’s a physical specimen and has got an incredible work ethic, incredible personality and way about him. Incredible guy. He’s one of my best friends here.
“The football side, he’s always looking to get better. We’ve put in a ton of work in the offseason, me and him, in the tight end room. He wants it and obviously has the physical capabilities and the mental side of it to take that next step. So, he’s more than capable of doing it and I have no doubt that he will.”
As far as Bauman’s scouting report on himself vs. the pre-ACL surgeries version?
“I feel even more confident than then, more physical than then, better in the route game than then,” Bauman said. “Weighing in a little bit lighter than then, so feeling a little better in and out of my breaks and stuff.
“During those [missed] years I had a lot of time to learn about the game. And even though I couldn’t physically take reps, I’ve taken countless mental reps. Just seeing that come to fruition where I can put that into real work now is pretty awesome.”
Bauman’s recruiting pedigree suggested he’d be awesome or something close to that. He and former Irish All-American Michael Mayer came to ND in the same recruiting class, both Rivals Top 150 recruits overall in the 2020 class, with Mayer the No. 3 tight end nationally and Bauman No. 5.
“It’s crazy, he [Mayer] is going into Year 3 in the NFL and he’ll give me [crap] for still being here in Year 6,” Bauman said with a laugh. “He’s my best friend in the world. You don’t have a plan of staying here for six years when you come in as a freshman.
“We talk often and we’ll kind of bounce things off each other. Things he’s going through, things I’m going through.”
And sometimes Bauman just talks to himself.
“A ton, a ton,” he said. “And that was the biggest thing, you know, going through injuries like that wasn’t easy. As much as you would like to say it’s not there, it’s still in the back of your mind. ‘What if?’ So, that obviously played a big part and it still does.
“That’s part of that process of coming to terms with myself as a player but also as a human being. Like, I know I’m giving it my all, and if God has a different plan for me, then so be it. So, I feel like the biggest thing I’ve reached is just a point of peace, where, hey, I’m going to give this my all. I know I can still do it.
“That’s not the question, but like I said, if God has a different plan for me, OK. It's kind of just getting into that headspace where, I’m not naïve, I’ve obviously been through some stuff and it could happen again, right? Just coming to that headspace of: ‘I’m good just giving this my all and taking it one day at a time.’”
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