Marcus Freeman and James Laurinaitis go way back.
The College Football Playoff National Championship Game between Notre Dame and Ohio State already has connections to the wrestling world, as WWE Raw commentator Pat McAfee will be part of the broadcast.
Speaking at a media event ahead of the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was asked about his connection to James Laurinaitis, the linebackers coach at Ohio State. (Clip courtesy of Angelo Di Carlo of Sports Michiana)
“It won’t be something you think about once the game starts. But you talk about a guy that you care about more than the game of football. We have a personal relationship, our wives know each other really well, our kids know each other really well. He’s a friend, and at the end of the day, you care about friends. But when the game starts, the game starts. It’s gonna be about winning, and I look forward to the opportunity," Freeman said.
Freeman went on to note that he was a wrestling fan, and he later went to WrestleManias with Laurinaitis, the son of WWE Hall of Famer Road Warrior Animal. He also stated that he still tries to go to wrestling shows when he can.
"I grew up a wrestling fan, and he came in the year after I got to Ohio State. When I found out the son of the Animal was coming in, I was a fan, I was a wrestling fan. We did go to a lot of WrestleManias together, I can’t remember how many. But now my kids are fans. If we can get to a wrestling event and I can take my kids there, we try to. We went to one in Chicago, I can’t remember when it was, a couple months ago. It might have been before the season, but we went to a Friday Night SmackDown in Chicago. I grew up watching, I liked it, I don’t know, the characters. I think at different phases, you enjoy different things. When I was young, everything was real. You ended up idolizing the Hulk Hogans and Ultimate Warriors and all those guys, and then as I got to go to some WrestleManias with James, you got to know some of the people, and now it’s about seeing your kids happy, and if my kids want to go wrestling, as a father, I will try to do that," Freeman said.
Sheamus previously picked Notre Dame to win the national championship. Click here to see what he had to say.
NXT Champion Oba Femi recently said that Nick Saban had his eye on him when he was at Alabama. Check out his comments here.
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