SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Jake Tafelski got the call on his way to opening day at Comerica Park, en route to watch the Detroit Tigers on Friday, April 5. He answered. Because figuring out what’s next means not letting it go to voicemail.
The walk-on from Central Michigan had entered the portal a couple of months earlier as a graduate transfer, either as a running back or a special teams ace, depending on the program’s point of view. He was a special teams captain for the Chippewas during his final two seasons in Mount Pleasant. Tafelski made enough of an impression to be invited on head coach Jim McElwain’s radio show. He’d also rushed for 21 career yards in 25 games. Tafelski has always loved playing running back. He just knew the position wouldn’t take him higher than the Group of 5.
And this call was not coming from the FCS. It was Chad Bowden, Notre Dame’s director of player personnel, phoning the 6-foot, 220-pound running back.
“My heart kind of dropped,” Tafelski said. “He asked if this is a school I’d want to come play at, and if it is, we’d love to have you, that I should apply and they’d help me get through the process.
“That was probably the best call I’ve ever received. I turned in my application on Monday.”
Two weeks later, Tafelski visited Notre Dame for the Blue-Gold Game, having dinner with running backs coach Deland McCullough and special teams coordinator Marty Biagi. He met head coach Marcus Freeman, who told Tafelski he could help the Irish win games this fall. If there was a sales pitch, Notre Dame didn’t need to actually deliver it. Ten days later, Tafelski was accepted into school and will join the Masters of Nonprofit Administration program with two seasons of eligibility.
Tafelski has no fantasies of beating out scholarship running backs for carries. He also believes he’ll do what Freeman predicted, help win games for Notre Dame this season. He started on all of Central Michigan’s special teams the past two seasons. During summers, he’d coach up younger players on the Chippewas special teams units, introducing them to drills and concepts.
Jake Tafelski’s second cousin, Mike Tafelski, was a walk-on at Notre Dame in the mid-1980s. (Courtesy of Jake Tafelski)
When Central Michigan played at Notre Dame last season, Tafelski was on the field for only seven special teams snaps, limited by the reps he took at running back that week due to another player’s illness. And if it felt like Tafelski had a cheering section for every one of those special teams reps, it’s because he did.
Tafelski had at least 25 family members and friends at that game, including his second cousin Mike Tafelski, who was a walk-on in the early days of the Lou Holtz era. His name is listed on the Ring of Names among monogram winners inside the Joyce Center, where Mike got a picture pointing to it during the weekend. Jake’s grandfather Bill grew up a diehard Notre Dame fan in Michigan, packing the family in the car to attend games in South Bend with two sons (John and Tom) and one daughter (Sue). Tom is Jake’s father, who attended Michigan. John is Jake’s uncle, another diehard Notre Dame fan who remembers sitting soaked in Spartan Stadium in 2006, not leaving even when the Irish went down 17-0 in the first quarter.
The family played the Warren Golf Course before the Central Michigan game and heard the Victory March waft north from campus. When Bill Tafelski walked into Notre Dame Stadium that Saturday afternoon, his son John described it as the Ned Beatty scene as he sees Notre Dame Stadium to watch his son Rudy. The family sat in the south end zone by the video board, giving them a view of Touchdown Jesus as Jake ran out of the other tunnel.
“That was a weekend our family will always remember. And I’m an insane Notre Dame fan,” John said. “Jake would have crawled on broken glass from Mount Pleasant to South Bend.”
Tafelski will graduate from Central Michigan this weekend with a degree in sports management. Then he’ll start looking for apartments next week around South Bend. He’s already been encouraged by his family to rent an extra bedroom. Or two. There will be more car trips from Dearborn, Mich., coming.
Tafelski will have at least one familiar face in South Bend in guard Rocco Spindler, who’s trained with the running back home in Southeast Michigan. Spindler sent Tafelski a DM of congratulations after the commitment. Tafelski plans to enroll at Notre Dame in June after working out at home the rest of this month because there’s no time to lose.
“I’m going to compete every single day, give it my all. Whatever they need me to do, I’ll do it,” Tafelski said. “I want to win at end of the day. I’m sure every single one of my teammates wants to win, too. Notre Dame is the only place in the country with elite-level academics and championship-level football. How can you pass up an amazing opportunity like this, a chance to win a national championship?”
On Tuesday, Tafelski received a text from Bowden, asking the running back to call Notre Dame as soon as possible. He only sort of did, checking in with his dad and uncle first. They told him to get off the phone with them and call Bowden back. That’s when Tafelski got the news he’d been admitted to Notre Dame.
The next Tafelski family trip will be on the weekend of Sept. 7 when Notre Dame opens its home schedule against Northern Illinois. The last time they wore Central Michigan gear, with a few exceptions for Notre Dame. Now there won’t be any mixed loyalties.
“Just gonna be awesome,” Tafelski said. “I’ve gotta figure out the ticket situation.”
(Photo courtesy of Jake Tafelski)
