Greer Martini made the decision first, but Doug Randolph will get there first. Either way the Woodberry Forest (Va.) teammates are excited that they’ll continue to play together in college at Notre Dame.
Martini, a 2014 linebacker prospect, chose the Irish back in July while Randolph, a 2013 linebacker, made the flip from Stanford to Notre Dame official last month. Both will be following former Woodberry Forest safety C.J. Prosise, who is a freshman for the Irish now.
“It’s special because by the time I’m a freshman there, we’ll be the trio there,” said Martini. “That’s kind of neat.
“I’m excited Doug’s going to be there because it’s just one more person I will know. I know Doug’s a great player, so he’ll also help us out there. I’m excited Doug committed there and it’s special that all three of us from the same high school will be at Notre Dame together.”
Martini had the chance to return to South Bend earlier this month for the Irish’s game victory over Stanford.
“Other than the rain, it was awesome,” he said. “We were right there in the front row with great seats. It was just a special thing. Everybody rushed the field at the end of the game. I was ecstatic and I couldn’t have been happier after the game just to see how exciting the stadium was.”
Martini reunited with the Irish staff and found out the coaches are just as excited as ever to have him as an early member of the 2014 recruiting class.
“It was refreshing to see that they were very interested,” he said. “They expect me to be getting better and they’re recruiting for my class now and we have a good base to our class. I met some of the guys that I’ll be playing with, so that was kind of neat.”
As excited as Martini was to find out Randolph was committing to Notre Dame, he was equally – if not more – excited to find out Randolph was returning to the field for Woodberry Forest from a broken foot that had kept him out at the start of the season.
“With Doug back now, I think it’s helped a lot,” he said. “I can flow over the top and make more tackles. It kind of frees me up, so I’ve been playing much better these last couple of games.”
Martini and Woodberry Forest head coach Clint Alexander have focused on Martini taking more of a role as a quarterback on the defense this season.
“Coach Alexander and I will go over the defense before the team learns it,” said Martini. “During the week, I’ll make sure we make adjustments if the offense shifts to different formations and stuff like that.
“It’s just great to know that we know what our check is before the offense even does it. They're trying to make us shift into a base defense, but we already know what specific check we need to make and we’re almost one step ahead of the offense.”
Woodberry Forest sits at 5-2 as the season nears the end.
“Everything is going great,” said Martini. “We have the last three-game stretch of the season. So far, our team has been getting better each game.
“We have to win out to win our Prep League championship and that’s our goal right now.”
