SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Dick Corbett Head Football Coach Marcus Freeman and graduate student linebacker Jack Kiser have been nominated for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, which recognizes college football athletes and an honorary coach each season for their unwavering commitment to community service and their “good works” off the field.
In addition to being actively involved with a charitable organization or service group, each player must also maintain strong academic standing to be considered for a spot on the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team.
The final roster, announced in September, will be comprised of 11 FBS players; eleven players from FCS Division II, Division III and NAIA; and one honorary head coach.
Freeman is an avid, consistent supporter of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Michiana, an organization which helps patients and their families during extended hospital stays. Each Friday before home games during the season, Freeman visits the patients and their families, bringing along student-athletes who would like to join him. The group delivers lunches and brings Notre Dame gifts and games to the patients. However, the most important part of the visit is the time spent with each patient, getting to know them and playing games.
Freeman has also taken part in numerous charitable engagements, including visiting local schools such as St. Adalbert Catholic School in South Bend, where he surprised students with tickets to the spring football game, and speaking at philanthropic events, such as Erin’s House for Grieving Children, which supports families who have experienced a death.
Kiser has participated in several community-facing initiatives during his time at Notre Dame. In the offseason, he has organized teammates to visit local charities. He served as the Fighting Irish Fight for Life football team lead for the past three years, from Fall 2020-Spring 2023, a program which pairs a local pediatric patient with Notre Dame Athletics teams to become a true teammate. Additionally, Kiser worked with local low-income families to perform tax returns this past spring on a weekly basis leading up to Tax Day.
Kiser has also been involved in the Notre Dame chapter of Uplifting Athletes, supporting the local rare disease community and their families, and would also regularly visit patients and families at the Ronald McDonald House with Freeman. He earned selection to the 2024 National Football Foundation Honor Society, and in 2023 was awarded the Dean’s Graduate Business Award and the Tom Frecka Academic Achievement Award, recognizing the top GPA in the Master’s of Science in Accountancy program at Notre Dame.