ESPN: Five star-set to join Notre Dame.

By the time Jack Kiser’s Notre Dame football career ends he may be ready to start drawing social security. The Fighting Irish linebacker played his 54th career game in five seasons when he and his teammates beat Oregon State in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. That won’t be the end of Kiser’s career though, because he has already announced he will return for a sixth season in 2024.

“There’s a lot of factors and I had a lot of conversations,” Kiser recently said when asked about his decision to use his sixth year. “Trying to pick out people that I felt, had my best interest in kind of knew the environment I was operating in and making a decision on, and I think ultimately I got some advice that they were saying, like, if you feel there’s anything left that you haven’t accomplished, or anything left that still needs to be done at Notre Dame. It’s like there’s no wrong decision, but coming back to Notre Dame is obviously not a bad decision. …. I think I can still become a better football player. I think that this team can do something really special, and I want to be a part of it, and so that’s kind of, ultimately what led to my decision.”

Kiser finished the season with a career-high 62 tackles, which was third on the Irish defense, trailing only linebacker JD Bertrand (76) and defensive tackle Howard Cross III (66). The Sun Bowl was his final game playing alongside Bertrand, who chose not to take advantage of his sixth season opportunity.

Kiser will have the luxury of playing behind defensive linemen Cross and Rylie Mills though in 2024. Both have announced their return as well, but neither of those decisions factored into Kiser’s own choice to play one more season.