Notre Dame tight end took unique path

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WISH) - Fort Wayne’s Tyler Eifert has become Notre Dame’s most prolific tight end, but his ride into Fighting Irish’ lore almost never happened. 

90 miles from South Bend, the young Eifert was going unnoticed at Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger High School. 

“Notre Dame wasn’t really in the picture, but he really wanted to go to Notre Dame,” said his father, Greg Eifert.   

That’s when his son took matters into his own hands, employing the help of a former high school teammate, John Goodman.

“I was always telling him, ‘Talk to them about me, tell the coaches about me,’ and he helped get me to the one day camp,” said Tyler Eifert. 

His tryout of sorts turned out to be during lunchtime of Notre Dame’s kids camp. 

“We drove up there and Ty slept all the way up there.  I mean, I was a nervous wreck, and here’s Ty just sound asleep,” said the elder Eifert. 

“[Once the camp broke] he caught everything that came to him and these linebackers and defensive backs they were looking at, he just made them look silly,” he added.  “Coach Weis came up to him afterwards and said ‘I wasn’t expecting to like you, but I like you a lot.’  He goes, ‘Give me a couple of weeks and we’ll figure something out.’”

Soon after, Eifert was on his way to Notre Dame, but even when he got to South Bend, there were doubts he’d ever see the field. 

“There were probably six tight ends on the depth chart when I committed here,” said Tyler. “A lot of people wondered why I would come here.  I was just trying to get on the bus, see where I fit in and figure out a way that I could help the team win.”

He got a break his sophomore year after a season-ending injury to Kyle Rudolph propelled him into the starting role.  That season, he finished with 27 receptions for 352 yards and two touchdowns.    

Since that day, Eifert has continued to rack up the accolades. He’s become the school’s all time receptions leader and won this year’s Mackey award for the nation’s top tight end. He also had a junior year so good, he considered making the leap to the pros. 

“If the NFL would’ve been best for me, that’s probably what I would’ve done, but coming back was definitely the right choice,” said Eifert.

His parents, however, tell us the decision was a little more complicated than that.   

His dad Greg said as a family, they weren’t pushing him to make a decision either way.  Instead, they sat down at the kitchen table and made a pro-con list to nail down one of the biggest decisions of his son’s life. 

At first, Tyler wanted to go, but after talking with former Irish tight ends now in the pros, John Carlson and Kyle Rudolph, he decided to come back.

“[They said] go back, get your degree and have fun,” said Greg. “During that whole decision, I think he thought if he did go, it was walking away from his teammates, walking away from finishing something he started with getting his degree, and I think he just realized ‘I want to be a kid one more year.’”

Coming back has given his family one last shot to see him play close to home, and now it’s giving Tyler a shot to play for a national championship.