Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 10, 2026 7 UNDER THE DOME BY ERIC HANSEN H is NFL résumé looks like a fractured dream, with multiple injuries, even more trips to the waiver wire and — most recently — a lot of doors that won't open when former Notre Dame cornerback Troy Pride Jr. shops himself to a potential seventh pro landing spot in seven years. "I'm healthy enough and willing enough to go help a team this Sunday if they need me to," Pride said this week, roughly nine months after his Indianapolis Colts prac- tice squad contract expired in January. Potentially more impactful, he's healthy and willing enough to share his story, even the darkest post-Notre Dame moments. That includes how the 2020 fourth-round draft pick of the Carolina Panthers was able to get back up from wave after wave of setbacks and strive to become a better version of himself by transcending each of those experiences. "I've started the process of writing a book," Pride said on the "Third & Gold Podcast." There's no title he's willing to share yet, but Pride has a clear concept of why he felt compelled to write it — the im- pact he hopes the book will have. The inspiration, cloaked in heartache, started toward the end of his rookie sea- son with the Panthers, one in which he played in 14 games with eight starts and collected 42 tackles. The 5-foot-11, 195-pound 28-year-old has appeared in just three games and made 3 tackles in the six years since. "It all happened in one year — a hip surgery and a knee injury that required two surgeries, so it was significant — I won't lie," Pride said. "But also it was empowering. It was life-changing, and it's made me who I am today and it's why I will continue to give it my all in everything I do. "I'd never truly been hurt before. I never really dealt with that side of foot- ball. And you know injuries are a com- mon occurrence in the sport, but what's not talked about is the mind that you have to reshape throughout. "For me, I had to reshape and rechange how I looked at things, how I judged suc- cess, how I conducted myself through my process and what I wanted to be known for — in not being injured and laying down, but being injured and standing back up and getting back to where I want to be, being who I say I am." The Greer, S.C., product's experience at Notre Dame gave him an early taste of adversity. Four games into Pride's fresh- man season in 2016, the Irish defensive coordinator — Brian VanGorder — was fired. Mike Elston, who handled defen- sive play-calling for the balance of the season, went with a youth movement in the Irish secondary, and Notre Dame improved but still finished 79th in pass efficiency defense. Two seasons later, that core helped the Irish to an undefeated regular season, the school's first-ever Col- lege Football Playoff berth and a No. 6 standing in pass efficiency defense. Then came the NFL experience, which at first felt like stepping into a dream. "I have dealt with the highs and the lows. The lows include being a prac- tice squad guy that nobody cares about, nobody looks at and nobody cares for. That's the business of the NFL, but it's a situation that sometimes a lot of guys can run into and they're not ready for. "I don't think I was ready for it early on. You kind of have to build your own confidence. You have to create spaces for yourself that are healthy, because it can snowball. It can affect your mental health pretty heav- ily. So this is a pro- cess of really trying to create this auto- biography and this self-journal of what I've been through, w h a t I ' ve s e e n , what I'm all about, who I am, because so much of football is the number on your back or the name on your jersey. "But if fans were ever able to see the full scope and view of a player's journey, I think that would be the beauty." Pride still sees the beauty in Notre Dame providing the runway for both his NFL experiences and the life he is start- ing to envision beyond football. He and his family have gotten to know current Irish head coach Marcus Freeman well in that process, including Pride spend- ing time in Freeman's office last month when he attended the Notre Dame- Michigan State game. "My Notre Dame experience was so impactful," Pride said. "You're a 16-, 17-year-old kid making that decision. It's probably the most mature decision I was able to make and not even realizing that it was happening. But I was chang- ing my life for the better." ✦ UNDER THE DOME KEEP STEPPING Former Notre Dame cornerback Troy Pride Jr. is turning the setbacks, self-discovery and lessons that followed into a book he hopes can help others Pride played in 14 games and collected 42 tack- les during his rookie season in the NFL, but has appeared in just three games and made just 3 tackles in the six years since. PHOTO COURTESY CAROLINA PANTHERS