Junior receiver Will Fuller and teammates Mike McGlinchey and Josh Adams will return home to Philadelphia this weekend for Notre Dame's trip to Temple, a game few circled on their calendars before the season.

Now, it's a top-25 matchup and one the Irish must win to remain in College Football Playoff discussions.

"We have already had a little conversation about it," head coach Brian Kelly said of the three players returning home. "We are going to practice at Mike McGlinchey's high school. They will have to settle into the game and they will. They have played in some big venues. They understand that there's going to be some excitement about it. And I'm sure they will be excited, but they are going to have to settle into the game.

"We'll have a conversation, and I know I've already talked to Mike about it, but Will and Josh, they are going to need to settle into the game because they are going to have to play well for us to win."

Fuller said he was recruited by Temple as a junior and even visited campue a couple times, but added he "never really thought about going to Temple."

He said he did not attend a game growing up as big as this one, with the Owls selling out Lincoln Financial Field (also home of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles).

"Growing up, it was always the Eagles," he said. "I don't think college football was really that important in Philadelphia. But seems like they are now since Notre Dame is coming to town, so it will be fun."

Temple fans took notice of Fuller's take on his hometown and expressed their displeasure on Twitter with the perceived slight.

Fuller said he isn't worried about being overhyped this weekend. The Biletnikoff Award candidate has been held out of the end zone just once in seven games this season &mash; the 24-22 loss at Clemson on Oct. 3.

"We know we have to continue to win, and Temple is doing a real good job right now," said Fuller, who estimates he will have 100 family members and friends at the game. "They are 7-0 and their defensive statistics are off the charts, top-25 in every category. This is a real important game for us and we know it; not just this game but all five games left. We have to win these five games, so we are just going to take it one game at a time and see what happens from there."

Fuller's transformation into one of the nation's top receivers didn't happen overnight, although Kelly said he took notice of the receiver's skills when the Philadelphia product was a freshman in 2013.

"We felt at that time that he had an element that could help us win," Kelly said. "So I think any time you play a true freshman, you have high hopes that in a couple years, he's going to be a potentially game-breaking player for you, or you wouldn't play him as a true freshman."

Fuller said the moment he realized he could eventually be among the nation's elite was during 2014 fall camp when Kelly took him aside.

"I think it was one of the first practices we had," Fuller said. "Coach Kelly came up to me and said, 'You know, you're my guy, you're going to be the star receiver for us, and I just took that personal. He has faith in me and believed in me, and I just started working my butt off ever since he said that to me. I had a great season after that. Coach Kelly put it in my head that I can be a great receiver here.

"I didn't think I earned it yet. It surprised me a little bit when he came up to me and said it."

Fuller caught 15 touchdown passes in 2014 and has eight through seven games in 2015. He's already accomplished a great deal in a Notre Dame uniform, but on Saturday he can show his former city the type of player he has become.