Who says you can’t go home again?
Notre Dame linebacker JD Bertrand is doing exactly that as he was drafted Saturday by the Atlanta Falcons in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL draft.
Bertrand is originally from Roswell, Georgia, which is just under an hour from the Mercedes-Benz Dome where the Falcons call home. That’s where he was on Saturday when he got the call that he was being taken in the NFL draft.
“I was ecstatic,” Bertrand said in a conference call with Atlanta reporters from suburban Roswell, Ga. “Right when I looked down, I saw the Flowery Branch number, and I said, ‘Let’s go.’
– JD Bertrand
Bertrand being drafted two rounds after Marist Liufau means that it was the first time since 2002 that Notre Dame saw a pair of linebackers drafted (Rocky Boiman, Tyreo Harrison).
Bertrand started 12 games and recorded 76 tackles for Notre Dame in 2023.