Hunter Bivin has been to Notre Dame more than 10 times already.
The Kentucky offensive lineman camped in South Bend a couple summers ago, he’s been to the Irish’s last two Blue-Gold games, he’s visited for a Junior Day in the spring and another visit in the summer. And he’s been to Notre Dame Stadium for at least six home games over the past two seasons.
This weekend, Bivin will take his official visit to Notre Dame.
“I’m pretty pumped,” the Irish offensive line commit said.
By now, the lifelong Notre Dame fan is pretty familiar with the school, the campus and the program and isn’t sure how this weekend will be different.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know what they’ve got planned for me. It’s me and my mom and my brother and his wife going. We’re excited to see what they have planned for us.”
But he’s still excited for his final trip to South Bend before signing his National Letter of Intent with Notre Dame next month.
“It feels pretty good,” he said. “I talked to everybody and they seem to have a good time on their officials and get some one-on-one time with the coaches. I think there’s a Junior Day this Saturday, so the coaches might be a little busy with that, but I’ll get to hang out with some of the players and that kind of stuff. I’ll be there the whole weekend, so I’m excited to see what it’s like to spend the whole weekend up there.”
Bivin will also have the opportunity to spend time with the five members of his class who enrolled in classes at Notre Dame earlier this week, including fellow offensive lineman Steve Elmer.
“I just want to see what the lifting is like and going to class and staying in the dorms and that kind of stuff,” said Bivin. “Just general stuff.”
Bivin is also looking forward to continuing to build his relationship with offensive line coach Harry Hiestand, which has already become quite strong in less than a year.
“It’s grown quite a bit,” Bivin said. “We keep getting more comfortable with each other and keep having more and more casual conversations. I really like Coach Hiestand, he’s my kind of coach.”
Bivin was never really concerned with the reports of Brian Kelly interviewing for the Philadelphia Eagles job last week.
“It didn’t really bother me much,” he said. “I stayed away from social media and all of that stuff. I was going to go to Notre Dame either way. I committed to Notre Dame because I love Notre Dame football and the academics and the tradition.
“Coach Kelly is definitely a great coach. I’m glad he did stay. He’s real professional and business-like. He’s what you think of when you think of a good head coach, so I’m definitely glad he stayed.”
