The fact that Jon Bon Jovi‘s son, Jesse Bongiovi, has walked on with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish could be news. But in looking at Notre Dame’s entire football roster, it’s really not surprising, given that Bongiovi is joining the children of Torii Hunter, David Robinson, Cris Collinsworth and a couple of other former NFL players.
The Fighting Irish are stacked in more ways than one with the addition of Bongiovi, a walk-on freshman cornerback. They also have Corey Robinson and Torii Hunter Jr. playing wide receiver, Austin Collinsworth at safety, Josh and George Atkinson (sons of 10-year pro George Atkinson) on the roster and DaVaris Daniels (son of former NFL player Phillip Daniels) suiting up, meaning the stands could get pretty full and rubbernecky during games.
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly insists Bongiovi is legit.
“Jesse has earned his spot on the 105,” he said, according to Comcast Sportsnet Chicago. “He’s a tough kid. The kids really like him. They respect him. They don’t look at him as a rock star’s son. They look at him as a kid that loves Notre Dame and wants to play football and help this team.”
Kelly said having several sons of big-name people hasn’t caused distractions.
“We have a lot of those guys in our program that are high-profile, but they handle themselves, and have in the past, with great class,” he said.
Bon Jovi was first connected to the program when Charlie Weis was coach, Comcast Sportsnet Chicago reports. The rock star is also known to be tight with another of Weis’ friends, Patriots coach Bill Belichick (check out the video below for proof). Dad may have paved Bongiovi’s football path about as well as anyone could.
Photo via Facebook/The Lancaster
