The subject was Brother Rice senior Jack Lausch.
The topic was whether the two-sport athlete could play quarterback at Notre Dame.
During a phone conversation in the spring, Brother Rice football coach Brian Badke and Notre Dame quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees discussed that exact possibility.
Rees, who ranks top five in 21 categories as a quarterback for the Fighting Irish and passed for 2,572 yards as a senior in high school at Lake Forest, offered up the question.
Badke provided the answer.
“I said, ‘Tom, no offense to you, but I think he’s better than you when you were in high school,'” Badke said. “I was kidding around with him, but I believe Jack will be a tremendous athlete and will not only play his junior and senior years, he will be a captain.”
Lausch is heading to South Bend to play both baseball and football. As a football player, he would be a preferred walk-on, and not many walk-ons end up starting at quarterback for Notre Dame.
Badke is looking for Lausch to be an exception.
“Don’t tell this kid he can’t play football at Notre Dame,” Badke said. “It’s going to happen. You are going to find this guy on the football field at some point in his career. He’s just a special kid. He’s a natural-born leader, and he loves when people bet against him.”
Lausch opened his senior season in a big way Friday, completing 13 of 18 passes for the 163 yards and two touchdowns and also rushing 11 times for 79 yards and three TDs in a 42-6 victory over Hillcrest in Country Club Hills.
The debut of senior running back Aaron Vaughn, a Providence transfer, was put on ice due to an injury. Starting tight end Henry Boyer, an Illinois recruit, and offensive lineman Carter McAlilly also were out with injuries.
But Lausch met the challenge right away for the Crusaders with a quick 51-yard pass to Danny White, and the rout was on.
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Flash back to the final Friday in August 2020. The scheduled opening day for fall football was supposed to take place, but the Illinois High School Association postponed the season because of the coronavirus pandemic.
He can’t remember which Midwest city he was in that night, but he said he was playing in a baseball tournament with the Cangelosi Sparks travel team.
“I was playing fall baseball for the first time in forever,” he said. “But I was missing football.”
Playing football this year has been more to his liking.
“It felt normal again, which was awesome,” he said.
The three injured offensive players could be back by the third week of the season, when Brother Rice plays host to Benet.
In the meantime, Badke was impressed with Da’Kobie Wordlaw, Tommy Bennett and Khary Shaw. Wordlaw had three catches for 32 yards and two TDs, while Bennett added 35 yards on four carries and Shaw had a 12-yard TD run.
Lausch said he doesn’t want to give up either sport. In recent years, Notre Dame has produced two-sport athletes in Jeff Samardzija and Cole Kmet, both of whom have gone on to play professionally.
“Those guys are awesome,” Lausch said. “I talked to people who have known them, and they gave me insight of what it’s like to play two sports at Notre Dame. I hope to someday meet them and ask them some questions.”
If playing sports ends in college for Lausch, he said his dream job would be as a general manager of a professional team.
For baseball? Or football?
His answer is not surprising, given the unknown of his upcoming journey at Notre Dame.
“I don’t know yet,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.