Whatever It Takes
Alex Semadeni
Marco Notarainni has a unique pregame tradition.
The night before each game, the team is permitted an hour of family time at the team hotel. Norarainni’s parents haven’t missed a single Boise State football game all season, and are a consistent presence during the team’s visiting hours.
During the hour, Notarainni, his parents and a few teammates gather around a large gourd and drink maté prepared by Notarainni’s mother, Romina.
Maté is the national beverage of Argentina, where Romina was born and raised. One of the country's many traditions is to drink the tea-like liquid with family and friends. The drink gets passed around while the group, which is typically comprised of those in your inner circle, socializes.
“The tradition is you share maté with people you consider family,” Notarainni explains. “When you sit down with your cup of maté, all your phones are away. You're not talking about whatever you have going on in your life, like work or school, or in this case football. It's a chance to really connect with your family. I've carried on that tradition over here.
“There's some pictures that you guys might see on our social accounts,” Notarainni continued. “I have a leather bag strapped around my shoulder that I carry everything in. I bring the whole setup. I’ve got multiple guys on the team hooked on it. They’ll sit with us during family time the night before the game. We’ll drink a little and then pass it around and just talk. You spark different conversations. It's a way to honor my mom a little bit and also bring us all closer together."
The pregame ritual showcases Notarainni’s emphasis on keeping a tight-knit group. He has grown from a fearless freshman into a first team all-conference football player whom has gained tremendous respect in the locker room. Notarainni has battled many adversities during his time in the Bronco program, and without his support system, wouldn’t be where he is today.
On the precipice of the 2024 Old Trapper Mountain West Championship Game, Notarainni will sit among friends and family and talk about anything else but the stakes, the noise, the implications of the game. Instead, the redshirt junior linebacker will spend the hour laughing, joking and drinking maté, thankful for his closest friends and family that have stood by him throughout all the obstacles that were thrown his way.
Notarainni has an acute appreciation for what this game means. He’s battled through two different injuries, an assortment of roles, and limited playing time. Through it all, he has learned to embrace one simple mindset: do whatever it takes to help the team win.
The San Diego native has been playing football ever since he could remember. He played pretty much every sport imaginable growing up, but narrowed in on football and lacrosse once he began walking the hallways of Torrey Pines High School.
The Falcon football team didn’t have a very large roster, so Notarainni had the opportunity to play on both sides of the ball. On defense he starred as a linebacker. On offense, he was one of the wings in the Wing T offense.
Notarainni’s teammates consisted of guys whom he had been playing football with his entire life, and therefore the team had a tight bond on the field. With a majority of his friends playing on both sides of the ball, the squad developed a combination of toughness and camaraderie that few high school teams possessed.
One of the guys that Notarainni had grown up playing with: Matt Lauter, who ended up committing to Boise State as a tight end.
Though he played on both sides of the field, Notarainni had a clear preference.
“Defense has always been my thing,” Notarainni said. “With almost every sport that I've played, I’ve always been okay at offense, but defense was my thing for whatever reason. In basketball I considered myself a lockdown point guard. In lacrosse, I didn’t get many reps on offense. I was a defensive guy that was hard to get past.”
His passion for that particular side of the ball was especially evident on the football field.
“I like it because it’s a guessing game,” Notarainni said. “There's a lot of reading and reacting. On offense, you always knew what play you were going to run. It’s fun carrying the ball don’t get me wrong, but I think delivering the blows is a lot more fun.”
Known for his physicality and his ability to be a menace all over the field, Notarainni began receiving offers as early as his sophomore season. He heard from several Ivy League schools, numerous Mountain West teams and a few Pac-12 programs.
Notarainni’s recruitment was stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic, so he never had the opportunity to undergo an official visit. Through phone calls with the coaching staff, he had been impressed with the program’s general philosophy, and became more impressed when he took a trip to the Treasure Valley to check out the city.
“I was really drawn to the way the coaches talked about the blue-collar attitude and growing guys into young men,” Notarainni said. “I came up here with my dad because the team couldn’t have me. We just kind of drove around town. The way people in this town treated us without even knowing who we were really spoke to me. Everything about this city really sold me on this place.”
Notarainni arrived on campus in the summer of 2021. Known as a linebacker that thrived on physicality, the difference between the strength of players in high school and college didn’t initially phase him. Instead, it was the X’s and O’s that gave him the most trouble, along with finding ways to contribute to the team’s success while not receiving playing time on the field.
“The biggest adjustment was the IQ,” Notarainni said. “I’m still not even close to where I need to be with it. Every year I’m finding a new way to grow in that department because you can never reach a limit on that. It’s definitely a humbling experience for sure, but you learn a lot about yourself and your dedication to being committed to your role on the team.”
Notarainni redshirted his first year with the Broncos. While playing on the scout team, he dedicated himself off the field to developing in the weight room and studying the playbook and coverages.
As he began his redshirt freshman year, he looked for ways to get himself into action on the field. Utilizing his affinity for contact as a strength, Notarainni began playing on special teams. Though the position wasn’t his end goal, he knew it was not only a great way for him to develop, but also what was best for the team.
“Stepping into a new role in special teams was an adjustment for me,” Notarainni said. “You have slower starts in the games, so getting into the rhythm was a little bit tougher. I always fell back on the idea of how a good teammate would respond to the role that they're put into. The team needs me in a special team’s role. They need me to star in that role and hop in on defense when necessary, so I’ve got to buy into that. I'm going to do it in the best way that I can. How can I maximize that role but also grow into a new one when the time comes?”
Unfortunately, Notarainni’s mindset had little time to develop. He appeared in two games during his redshirt freshman season, before tearing his ACL against New Mexico in week three of the 2022 campaign.
The linebacker was devastated. After getting confirmation of the injury, Notarainni experienced a whirlwind of emotions. The rehab process seemed like a monumental task, and throughout the journey admitted he had many moments of self-doubt.
“Tearing an ACL was one of my biggest fears as an athlete,” Notarainni said. “The whole process was scary. You definitely hit a point where you’re just separated from the team. When the team is in season and I’m injured, I mean, I knew I could help the team. That’s where it hurt the most. I do have a lot of great support systems which is nice. I think the university and the team provides a lot of that, and then obviously my family first and foremost. But that journey is not easy.”
Notarainni admitted to briefly considering hanging up his cleats during the process. Though it seemed like a blur in hindsight, Notarainni continued to show up to rehab every morning, and before he knew it, he had been cleared to play.
“Finally stepping on the field and proving to myself that I belong there again was a huge moment for me,” Notarainni said. “I was in a scooter for four months, so just being able to walk again, to have my muscles get sore again, was a blessing in and of itself. I definitely took stuff like that for granted. It definitely gave me a new perspective. There were a lot of blessings that came out of it and a lot of lessons learned. It’s really defined my mentality and the way I lead, for sure.”
Notarainni entered fall camp prior to the 2023 season determined and hungry to get back on the field. However, the Broncos were stacked at the linebacker position, and Notarainni specifically was slated behind sixth-year all-conference linebacker DJ Schramm.
Notarainni continued to make an effort to stand out on special teams, becoming a leader in that role. He got his number called abruptly when unfortunately, Schramm missed a stretch of games midway through the season due to injury.
“Football is just such a crazy sport,” Notarainni said. “You never really know when your number is going to get called, how it's going to get called, or if you're even going to be called in the position that you want to be called into. I was coming off an ACL tear and hadn’t really played in a game since my senior year of high school, so I had lost a lot of confidence. I was able to shake off that rust with the huge support system behind me. At the same time, it was never about me stepping in and doing well or thinking that it was my time to shine. I was just trying to do my role at an elite level for my teammates and limit the amount of mistakes I made. That was my mindset and the rest of it would just fall into my lap.”
Notarainni’s preparation paid off. The linebacker found action in nine games during the 2023 slate. He recorded a season-high 13 tackles against North Dakota on Sept. 16, including a solo sack and forcing a fumble. He notched eight tackles against both Memphis (Sept. 30) and San Jose State, and tallied 10 tackles at Colorado State. He also had a moment of recognition on the special teams unit against the Rams, returning a blocked field goal 44 yards.
Though he missed the month of November with a foot injury, Notarainni was still recognized by the Mountain West, garnering all-conference honorable mention honors. He finished the year with 53 tackles, 4.5 TFLS, three sacks and one forced fumble.
Despite the success, Notarainni demanded more from himself. He went into the offseason eager to put in the work and earn a spot on the field among a talented linebacker core.
Even with an internal desire to increase his workload on the defensive side of the ball, Notarainni never lost sight of doing what was best for the team. The week after the loss to Oregon on Sept. 7, in which the Broncos gave up two special teams touchdowns, Notarainni (who had recovered a fumble against the Ducks) asked to play additional snaps on special teams.
“I felt like there were more plays out there for me to make," Notarainni said. “I thought that there needed to be some sort of leadership that needed to step up in the special teams and coverage units. I went up to Coach D and told him, ‘I’m not really tired during these games. What do you think about giving me a shot on special teams and see what I can do?’”
His progress on learning the schemes and coverages was also evident early on in the season. He was one of the top choices of wearing the green dot (the new coach-to-player communication system that allows one player on each side of the ball to communicate with a coordinator preplay) early during fall camp. Since Alexander Teubner has been out the past few weeks due to injury, Notarainni has held the responsibility of communicating with defensive coordinator Erik Chinander.
“Honestly I've always considered myself a tweaker on the field, and I tend to over communicate and make sure everybody's on the same page, so it makes sense.” Notarainni said. “It’s definitely weird having a walkie talkie in your ear. It just feels like I'm on some special ops mission or something, but it helps a ton. I’ll get the call and relay the call. Chins reminds me of the down and distance, the personnel the other team has in. It definitely helps my game a lot because I can play a little bit faster. It gives me a little bit more confidence, knowing that I have eyes in the sky.”
The Broncos will need all the leadership they can get from Notarainni as they prepare for the biggest game of the season. Boise State will face off against UNLV in Albertsons Stadium this Friday night, with a chance at becoming the first back-to-back Mountain West Champions in league history – and a spot in the first iteration of the 12-team college football playoff – Notarainni knows what’s at stake. He also knows how powerful this team is.
In all the sports I’ve ever played, all the teams that I’ve ever been on, this is the closest team I’ve ever been a part of. We really truly care about each other and know each other really well off the field. We have come back in a lot of games and won those games, and I think a lot of that has to do with how much we trust each other. I’m just trying to enjoy it as much as possible. I’m trying to soak it in with these guys as much as I can.Marco Notarainni
But despite the noise and pressure that comes with stakes such as the ones on Friday, no football will be discussed as Notarainni, his parents and teammates sit around and drink maté. It will be left unsaid, though known by all. But in the moment, Notarainni will cherish the hour he gets with his friends and family before taking the field Friday evening.
“There’s really no greater team sport in the world,” Notarainni said. “There’s just a connection that I have with my guys, and the diversity in our group is really special. In football you have so many different cultures, and there are a lot of guys that maybe I wouldn't have interacted with on a normal basis, and now through football, they're really good friends of mine.”
