Notre Dame Football: Get Ready For The Danny Etling Story

Danny Etling, the starting quarterback for the LSU Tigers in the upcoming Citrus Bowl against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, is pretty familiar with the team from South Bend. For Notre Dame fans... be prepared for a Tom Hammond / Pat Hayden type of broadcast.

You know the one - the one that takes the "human interest" story and makes it the biggest thing possible. The one that keeps saying the same "no shit" type of facts over and over again.

Why's that? Because Danny Etling is very familiar with Notre Dame.

Etling was a 4 Star quarterback from Terre Haute Indiana for the 2013 class. Etling grew up a Notre Dame fan, as any good Catholic boy from Indiana would do, thanks to his momma. He attended games inside Notre Dame Stadium, has jerseys on the wall of his bedroom at home, and was just a big fan.

Notre Dame did not recruit Danny Etling. Actually, there weren't many big programs that did in 2013. For being rated as a 4 Star prospect, Etling lacked the offer list that most 3 Star quarterbacks have. Quarterback is a position that rarely sees more than one took in a recruiting class, and the Irish had their man (and future Florida Gators man) in 4 Star Malik Zaire.

Etling ended up with the Purdue Boilermakers. As a freshman, he redshirted and saw the Irish escape out of West Lafayette with a 31-24 win.

As a sophomore, Etling started against the Irish in the 2014 Shamrock Series game in Indianapolis. Etling wasn't horrible as he went 27-40 for 234 yards and 2 touchdowns, but he also threw 2 interceptions. The Irish won easily, 30-14.

Just a few months later, Notre Dame would face Etling's new team in the Music City Bowl. Notre Dame beat the LSU Tigers in that game, 31-28.

Fast forward a few years, and Danny Etling is once again set to play quarterback against the Irish for his new school LSU.

All of those above facts are bound to be 65% (or more) of the banter during the ESPN broadcast. The announcing crew for the game consists of Mark Jones, Rod Gilmore, and Quint Kessenich. Jones and Gilmore are pretty decent "football guys" but are generally atrocious in the commentary department. Much like Hammond and Hayden, Jones and Gilmore will latch on to the lowest hanging fruit (in this case Danny Etling) and gobble it up in front of a national audience.

It will be horrible and comical in one Disney-packed punch. Just thought I should warn you.