M
ichael Mayer’s career began with a phone call.
Ted Edgington, his freshman football head coach at Covington Catholic (Kentucky) High School, didn’t know much about Mayer. But Mayer’s father, Andy, called Edgington and insisted his son needed to play football.
Mayer was focused on basketball and baseball and wasn’t interested in playing football. But Edgington told him to try it — if he didn’t like the sport, he could quit. Although Mayer later said Edgington “strong-armed him” to play, Edgington stands by the fact that Mayer was “right on board.”
Regardless, this call made Mayer pick up a football for the first time. Now, he leads Notre Dame in receiving yards and touchdowns as a tight end. He’s tied with Ken MacAfee for most career touchdown receptions by a Fighting Irish tight end. As a junior, Mayer is one of the top-rated tight end prospects for the upcoming NFL draft.
Before Notre Dame, Mayer was an eager learner who started late in the sport. He soon became a player who could do anything for the Covington Catholic football program, starting his legacy of breaking records.
Mayer’s delayed start did not hinder his ability on the field. Edgington admired his commitment to the game.
“I think that what made him so successful was his eagerness to learn,” Edgington said. “Besides, he’s just a hell of an athlete and that’s always a bonus. Then you got some tools to work with like he has, and it just comes easy for him.”
Edgington wanted to give Mayer the best conditioning program possible, making him do the same drills as the varsity team to help him “drink the Kool-Aid” and buy into the program. But after Mayer’s freshman year, Edgington pointed to varsity head coach Eddie Eviston as someone who helped Mayer learn the game more.
Megan Thompson | Digital Design Director
During three years on varsity, Eviston immersed Mayer into the game by having him play all over the field and be a crucial part of the offense and defense. Playing linebacker as well as tight end, Mayer was able to understand the defensive game plan and what a defensive player was thinking, Eviston said.
“You could tell as a sophomore he was going to be something special,” Eviston said. “Senior year he was Mr. Do-It-All. Everybody knew who he was and everybody game planned for him, and we didn’t shy away from using him as well.”
Eviston explained he would tailor Mayer’s practices to mirror “somewhat of a college pace.” He later received feedback from the coaches at Notre Dame who were impressed with Mayer’s preparation for the collegiate level.
In Mayer’s three seasons with the varsity team, Covington Catholic finished with a 44-1 record. During that time, Mayer was a part of two championship victories in his sophomore and senior years.
As an upperclassman at Covington Catholic, Notre Dame and Penn State were Mayer’s top choices. Eviston said Mayer was bolstered by the idea of “Tight End U” at Notre Dame when it came to the enrollment decision.
Notre Dame is well-known for developing tight ends for the NFL draft, which hit home for Mayer and his family. Eviston said the Mayer family was in touch with NFL tight end and Fighting Irish alumnus Kyle Rudolph, who played at Elder High School in Cincinnati, Ohio.
On Oct. 8, 2022, Mayer caught 11 passes for 118 yards along with two touchdowns in Notre Dame’s victory over then-No. 16 BYU. In this game, Mayer became the program’s all time leader in receptions by a tight end, passing former NFL tight end Tyler Eifert’s record of 140 college catches.
But Mayer just focuses on the game at hand. With this Saturday’s matchup against Syracuse approaching, Mayer looks to take a similar approach against a tough defensive secondary.
“It’s just playing ball. There’s nothing else to it for me,” Mayer said in a preseason interview. “I’m just going out there and playing the best ball I can play, and that’s really all I’m worried about.”
Published on October 26, 2022 at 10:51 pm
