🍀 Notre Dame's New Weapons

It’s back!

The TLN Script Hat is one of the most popular merch items we have ever offered to our fans, and on Friday we’re dropping a fresh colorway!

Check out the new Blue Script below…

Our Red Script and Black Script hats both sold out an hour after they went on sale, and the Blue Script will likely fly off the shelves just as quick. If you want one of these hats, we highly recommend that you sign up for alerts.

Also, here’s a tip for The Lacrosse Newsletter readers: If you sign up for SMS alerts, you’ll have access to exclusive offers and a very special drop in the near future. We think you’ll like it, so hit the button below.

👀 Notre Dame’s New Weapons

As Notre Dame looks to defend its title as NCAA Champions, the Fighting Irish have a couple of football guys joining the fold in 2024.

Midfielders Jordan Faison (a freshman who plays wide receiver for the Notre Dame football team) and Tyler Buchner (a transfer who played quarterback for Alabama last fall) both hit the field for a preseason scrimmage against Air Force over the weekend.

Faison was a four-star lacrosse recruit from Florida who walked onto the football team last fall and developed into one of Notre Dame’s best receiving options. In just seven games played, he had 322 yards and four touchdowns on 17 receptions. He had his first career 100-yard performance against Oregon State in the Sun Bowl and was named MVP of the game.

Buchner’s route back to the lacrosse field was more circuitous. He committed to Michigan for lacrosse early in his high school career, before developing into a top quarterback prospect. He ended up playing football at Notre Dame and was even named MVP of the 2022 Gator Bowl for his five-touchdown performance (3 passing, 2 rushing).

Last year, Buchner transferred from Notre Dame to Alabama and started a game at quarterback for the Crimson Tide during the 2023 season. After the season, he entered the transfer portal as a lacrosse player and decided to make his way back to South Bend.

It remains to be seen what roles Faison and Buchner will play with the Fighting Irish this spring, but both players were well-rounded midfielders in high school and clearly possess elite athleticism as Power 5 football players. Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan has a pair of intriguing weapons in these two.

🥍 Lacrosse At The Super Bowl!?

Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest sports celebration in America. While you can expect a football game on Feb. 11 at Allegiant Stadium, three of the four teams left standing in the NFL Playoffs have a significant lacrosse connection.

Let’s start with the AFC Championship, where we have a couple of Lacrosse Guys going head-to-head in Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

In 2022, Jackson visited the campus at Morgan State University in Baltimore and surprised the lacrosse team by showing up to practice. He said during a press conference last year that his goal was to inspire those players to keep chasing their dreams.

“I think I was playing lacrosse a little bit,” Jackson said. “Just to give them motivation. You know, just reach your goals. ‘Cause that’s where I’m at. I’m having fun in my profession. A goal in mind that I wanted to reach, and I just want them to have the same thing.”

Meanwhile, Kelce played lacrosse with his older brother Jason (Philadelphia Eagles center) when he was growing up in Ohio. During an episode of the New Heights Podcast last fall, the Kelce brothers reacted to lacrosse being added to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

“[Lacrosse is] one of the funnest sports I have ever played in my life,” Travis Kelce said. “For those of you that have a lacrosse team or are thinking about playing lacrosse, highly suggest it.”

On the NFC side, the Detroit Lions have a former high school lacrosse player on the roster in star pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson. If you’ve never seen his highlights, you’re gonna want to check this out…

Back in high school, Hutchinson said his favorite part about playing lacrosse is “smacking dudes.” Try to imagine this 6-foot-7, 268-pound monster coming at you with a long pole for a second…scary stuff!

Of the four NFL teams playing in the NFC/AFC Championship games, the San Francisco 49ers are the only team without a well-known lacrosse connection. But could you imagine if 49ers tight end George Kittle had been exposed to the game as a kid?

“Who knows, there could be something else I like…maybe I love lacrosse,” Kittle once said during an episode of This Past Weekend with Theo Von. “What if I did that?”

“You would have been insane in lacrosse, dude,” Von responded.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t offered where I lived,” said Kittle.

Sounds like we need to grow lacrosse in Iowa, so the next George Kittle has a chance to one day play in the PLL.

📈 Lyle Thompson Scores 300th Goal

Lyle Thompson is in the midst of another prolific NLL season, as the Georgia Swarm superstar recently scored his 300th career goal in high-flying fashion

Thompson is just the third indigenous player to reach the 300-goal mark in NLL history, according to the Swarm. The all-time record for career NLL goals is 815 by John Tavares.

Now in his 8th NLL season, Thompson already has 35 points through seven games — including a team-leading 20 goals. The Swarm are 4-3 on the season and rank 5th in the current NLL standings.