By:Brynn Shoup-Hill
Malik Zaire was Notre Dame starting quarterback, but that soon changed when he broke his ankle in the second game of his junior year. This was definitely devastating for him and his football career, but he didn’t give up and worked very hard to try to nurse his ankle back to health for his senior year as a potential starting quarterback for the Norte Dame football team. Even though, football was one of the main reasons he came to Notre Dame doesn’t mean that the studies was non-existent and just trying out new experiences at Notre Dame was on of the many reasons why he chose Notre Dame for college.
Zaire broke his ankle on December 4th, against Virginia which left him out for the rest of the football season. But, even though that was very devastating for Zaire he still managed to support his team even when he wasn’t playing, saying that,”[He] wants to contribute to the team any way that he can,” which might even be cheering on your team from the sideline. Also, he didn’t give up completely after his injury, he worked very hard to get back to health next season, and possibly be starting quarterback once again for next season.
Many people just see Notre Dame for the sports, but it is actually a lot more than that. The athletes have to be able to balance sports and academics very well to be able to “survive” there. That is why it is very hard to get in with a scholarship with and without sports, and much harder to actually be able to stay. For example, Jack Nolan, a sports broadcaster stated, “have to be a great student to get in here and have to good academics to survive here.”
Zaire also is majoring in film and television and is minoring in peace studies. Zaire had a lot to say about how everybody should try to look into peace studies and how it has affected him as a person. For example, he is very inspired by the peace studies and how it is affecting him by just having a greater outlook on life and how he could make a difference on it. Also, he stated, “The world is crazy but we can make it better.”