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Friday, March 29, 2024
The Observer

Family ties reinforce ND loyalties for Feist

While senior defensive linemen Lincoln Feist is set to graduate this semester from the Mendoza College of Business, it’s the time as a member of the Notre Dame football team that's been invaluable for him.

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Irish senior offensive lineman Lincoln Feist runs onto the field before Notre Dame's 24-17 win over Michigan on Sep. 1 at Notre Dame Stadium.
Irish senior defensive lineman Lincoln Feist runs onto the field before Notre Dame's 24-17 win over Michigan on Sep. 1 at Notre Dame Stadium.


Growing up by the mountain region of the Black Hills in South Dakota, Feist attended a small Catholic institution called St. Thomas More High School and lived in Rapid City, which has a population of around 74,000. Feist played a plethora of sports while at St. Thomas More, participating in football, basketball, baseball and track and field.

Feist’s efforts did not go unnoticed, as he was selected as one of the 20 finalists for the U.S. Army–Pro Football Hall of Fame Award for Excellence, given each year by the Pro Football Hall of Fame to someone who shows excellence and leadership on and off the field. The multi-sport star was a four-time all-Black Hills Conference selection, helping More to a Class 11B runner-up finish in 2014.

Feist would go on to receive multiple scholarship offers, including one from Air Force. He also received a preferred walk-on offer from Oregon. When it came to his decision over which college to attend, Feist chose Notre Dame because of his family ties — Feist’s mother graduated in 1992 from Notre Dame Law School and his sister graduated in 2015. In 2015, Feist joined the Irish football team as a walk-on and in that same year received the Rapid City Sports Hall of Fame and Sports Recreation Male High School Athlete of the Year award.

During his time here, Feist has been a member of the scout team for the Irish, and made his on-field debut against Miami, Ohio, in 2017. Feist described the defensive line as a diverse close group that he loves.

“The defensive line is a very tight-knit group we have,” Feist said. “We have a lot of characters on the line and it’s fun to see everybody’s personalities and characters come out. At the end of the day, you love each and every one of them and you go to war for them every day.”

When responding to the question of what his favorite part of being on the team is, Feist echoed these sentiments of love and brotherhood for his teammates.

“My favorite part is memories of playing cards with the boys at camp and stuff, just hanging out with them during that gruesome time of year," he said.

For Feist, the brotherhood lives on even past college. He knows that it will be there for him after December when he graduates with a degree in finance, and he knows that it will be there for him wherever he goes in life, even when moving back to his home state for a job in South Dakota.

"[I'll] turn back to the brotherhood, and all the relationships that I’ve made,” he said. “All these brothers that I have now that I can always turn to in any time of need in my future life — I’m looking forward to that.”