Greg Mailey has a unique role on the Notre Dame roster. Every single call that you see in Notre Dame Stadium is relayed through the senior wide receiver from Hudson, Ohio.
Mailey was offered a preferred option walk-on at Ohio State, but chose Notre Dame instead and has served on the scout team for the Irish for three years. The choice to come to Notre Dame wasn’t a difficult one to make for him as his second cousin, Kevin Mailey, graduated from Notre Dame in 1974. Kevin Mailey was a member of the 1973 National Championship team that beat Bear Bryant’s Alabama team 24-23 in the Sugar Bowl. And the love for the program has remained in the family. Mailey started attending Notre Dame games when he was just six years old, and said the moment he really fell in love with the school was when he came face to face with Brady Quinn.
“One of the games, one the players walked by — Brady Quinn, he high-fived me and I was freaking out like it was like the biggest deal in the world,” Mailey said. “And ever since then… I fell in love with Notre Dame and I was always a huge Notre Dame fan. And then I got the preferred walk on offer to Ohio State. And I was like, alright, well, I mean, that's awesome. But I've always wanted to play football at Notre Dame, and I reached out and that ended up working out.”
Mailey also touched on his role of throwing on the headset on Saturdays and calling plays for second-year offensive coordinator Tommy Rees' ever developing scheme.
“Yeah, that's been awesome. Really feeling like I have a roll on game day and everything,” he said. “And you know, it's really cool to be on the front lines and kind of know what's going on right before it happens on the field and everything so yeah, it's been awesome. Being on the headsets is a cool feature as well.”
Mailey detailed what exactly he is hearing when he throws on the headset and starts waving his arms.
“It's cool to hear everything that goes on, right before what goes into a play call and what the thought process is and then, you know, as well as in between drives, and in between plays. It’s just you know, the general thought process of everything. And if Coach Kelly's yelling, the ref will hear that too. So it's kind of funny to pick up on some of that stuff."
As far as the rest of the season goes, Mailey’s outlook remains strong.
“I think that we got an awesome opportunity to hopefully sneak in the playoffs, and we really have everything that we've been working towards still ahead of us. But yeah, it definitely should be an awesome finish."
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