Starting from his rural roots at 1A, Pioneer High School, Jack Kiser, a sixth-year senior linebacker for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish was selected as a captain of his team in the National Championship game. When Jack was in second grade, his father, Aaron Kiser, coached the third-grade football team for Jack’s former school, Pioneer High School. EssentiallySports.com’s Shreya Nag said, “Aaron offered his son the opportunity to suit up for the games only if he practiced with the team throughout the week. But Jack, the most humble and sensible kid, did not want to bother any third-grade player by taking an unnecessary favor.’’ This past summer Kiser visited a youth league practice at Pioneer and gave all the athletes tickets to the Irish’s upcoming home game against Miami of Ohio. “I remember in second grade I was coming to practice and putting on the pads and hoping to play,” Kiser recalled. “And then through youth league and into junior high and high school, I got to play on this exact field.” “He’s converted a lot of people to Notre Dame, my family included,” Pioneer Football head coach Adam Berry said. “Historically, there are some Notre Dame fans (Royal Center is 70 miles from South Bend) but mostly IU or Purdue. You see a lot more Notre Dame gear around Royal Center and Cass County these past six years.”
Jack Kiser gradufrom ated Pioneer High School in 2019, he then made the decision to play football at Notre Dame. “He earned his undergraduate degree in three and a half years, taking summer classes to get ahead and finishing with a 3.82 grade point average while majoring in business analytics” (Forbes). After graduating from Notre Dame in 2022, Kiser continued his studies by enrolling in the one-year Master of Science in Accountancy program. Before Notre Dame’s 2024-25 football season, captains were selected. These captains included quarterback, Riley Leonard, defensive tackle, Rylie Mills, cornerback, Benjamin Morrison, safety Xavier Watts, and linebacker Jack Kiser. This was also the first year that the NCAA allowed helmet communication. Only one player on each side of the ball with a green sticker could be on the field at a time. Jack was selected as one of the green stickers for the defense. Jack led the team in regular season tackles with 58 through 13 games and 90 through the end of the season. He also holds a record for most games played at Notre Dame with 70. Notre Dame entered the twelve-team playoff as the seventh seed and defeated Indiana in the first round to advance and play the University of Georgia in the quarterfinals in the Sugar Bowl. The Irish beat the Bulldogs to get to the semifinal game against Penn State in the Orange Bowl. The Irish escaped the Nittany Lions winning to make it to the College Football Playoff Championship for the first time since 2013 when they got beat by the University of Alabama 42-14. The Irish were hoping to get their twelfth CFP Championship, their last one coming in 1988 under Lou Holtz.
Notre Dame fell to Ohio State in the CFP Championship game 34-23 after a rough second quarter. Writer Andy Nesbitt from KGET Sports Illustrated said, “Emotions were running high afterward, especially for six-year senior linebacker Jack Kiser, who let the tears flow during his post-game press conference. Kiser’s message about his days at Notre Dame and what he’ll remember the most about them was pretty powerful.” Kiser said, “I think when you look at the six years I’ve been here, what I remember is the people. From when I was a small underclassman just trying to learn the ways, looking at a Drew White, Bo Bauer, to being a guy running with my boys in JD and Marist, and then this year coming back and feeling like I had a chip on my shoulder and getting to meet amazing guys like Riley coming in and just kind of going on the journey we went on. To have Coach Freeman, yeah, it’s about the people. It’s the people that’s made this place different. It just shows where this program is heading. The people in this building are the best, absolute best.”
During Jack Kiser’s road to the National Championship over his six years at the University of Notre Dame, he amassed 276 total tackles; 166 solo and 100 assisted tackles. Kiser had four interceptions including two that he returned for touchdowns. He also played in 70 total games which is a Notre Dame record. Jack Kiser played in the same youth football leagues as many of us did, and we watched that same kid from Royal Center play in a National Championship in Atlanta, pretty amazing for the kid from Pioneer!
