Chiefs’ Tranquill Speaks Out After Notre Dame Snub, Declines Bowl

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Pete Bevacqua was incensed.

As Drue Tranquill and his Chiefs teammates prepared for a Sunday night game against Houston, officials unveiled the field for the 12-team College Football Playoff. And while Tranquill’s words weren’t as heated as those of the Notre Dame athletic director, the linebacker was just as miffed after he found out.

“Yeah, it's unfortunate,” said Tranquill, who played his entire college career for the Fighting Irish under Brian Kelly, before Marcus Freeman took over in 2021. “I really thought Notre Dame was one of the 12 best teams in the country.

“And I thought Coach Freeman had the boys humming, and it seemed like they were one of those teams that could win a national championship this year. And I think everybody would consider them -- maybe there's a handful, five, six of those teams -- that could.”

drue tranquil — Dec 29, 2018; Arlington, TX, United States; Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Drue Tranquill (23) in action during the 2018 Cotton Bowl college football playoff semifinal game between the Fighting Irish and the Tigers at AT&T Stadium Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Before NIL, transfer portal

Tranquill played in South Bend, Ind., before the college football landscape changed dramatically after the legislation to allow payments to players related to name, image and likeness (NIL), as well as advent of new transfer-portal rules.

At Notre Dame, Tranquill played with future seven-time Pro Bowler Quenton Nelson as well as Chiefs teammate Jerry Tillery. Together, they helped to turn around a program that finished 4-8 in 2016. The following season, Nelson’s final year while lining up in practice opposite Tillery and Tranquill, Notre Dame finished 10-3 and beat LSU in the Citrus Bowl.

After the Colts took Nelson sixth overall in the first round of the 2018 draft, Tillery and Tranquill led the program to a 12-1 finish, its only loss to Trevor Lawrence and Clemson in the College Football Playoff at the Cotton Bowl.

Tillery went in the first round the following spring (28th overall), Tranquill in the fourth (130th overall), both selected by the Los Angeles Chargers, who ironically come to Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday (12 p.m. CT, CBS/KCTV, Channel 5, 96.5 The Fan).

On declining bowl invitations

On Wednesday, Tranquill said those rule changes that have dramatically changed college football could be a factor in why Bevacqua, Freeman and the program declined to play in a bowl game after the CFP slammed the door in their faces.

“I don't know all the factors in the decision that went into it, the background there,” Tranquill added. “I know the A.D. and Coach Freeman had discussions about that. College football's a little wonky right now with the scheduling.

“And so, I mean, you play in a bowl game, you spend three or four weeks preparing for an opponent in a game where some of your players probably aren't going to play. And then, you miss out on all that time putting your energy toward the portal and the recruiting … it's a wild landscape right now. They got some problems to figure out.”

Watch Tranquill discuss below...

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