Punter Ben Turk comes from the closest thing to a pipeline program for Notre Dame these days, St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida. Turk picked Notre Dame over Cincinnati and was rated as the No. 6 kicker in the country by Rivals.com and a three-star recruit.

Insights caught up with Turk at his home in Florida before he left for Notre Dame.

Irish Insights: As you get closer to college, what's going through your head?

Ben Turk: "Nothing's really changed, just the same things, working out like I've been doing all off-season."

II: Not even routine-wise or schedule-wise, I just mean getting ready for some sort of an adjustment in college?

BT: "Yeah, I'm excited to go up there. It'll be fun. I'm just excited to go up there. I'm ready to be able to go on to the next part of my life."

II: When did you start getting antsy for that?

BT: "Toward the end of senior year, when I knew school was almost over."

II: Was it something like you kept looking at a calendar or kept reminding yourself?

BT: "I just kept reminding myself. Really, once high school was over, I knew that in my mind that I had to start training and get ready to come up there and, I mean, it's just been exciting the whole thing."

II: You said you've been training a lot. What's your training regimen been?

BT: "I punt like three times a week and work out every day."

II: When you go through a punting regimen, how many are you making?

BT: "Depends on what kind of day I'm doing. A heavy day I'll punt 80 balls. A light day probably like 40."

II: Like good ones or whatever they are, they are?

BT: "Usually, I'm working on directional then I'll go a certain number and right and a certain number left. But sometimes if I want to go out and just hit some balls, I'll hit some. Whatever I feel like doing."

II: What excites you the most about what you're about to embark on?

BT: "The football games, getting ready to go play."

II: On the other side, what are you most worried about?

BT: "The whole transition into the college level. And my dad makes me nervous when I go punt with him. He'd be watching me, basically."

II: Is he the person who influences you the most with punting? If he tells you you had a bad day does it eat at you?

BT: "Nah, not really. I get over it. Being a punter, it's all mental, forgetting about your last punt and moving on to your next punt."

II: Taking football out of it, what concerns you the most about the transition?

BT: "Just the school aspect also is going to be a big difference, being on my own, having to do my own shopping, my own laundry and things like that, the little stuff will be a lot different."

II: Have you been practicing the laundry?

BT: "Yeah. (But) I've done my own laundry before."

II: What are you doing when you're not playing football?

BT: "I like working out. It's a hobby of mine, I like working out. That and playing video games."

II: What's your favorite video game?

BT: "NHL and Fight Night."

II: You're a Florida kid, how are you liking NHL?

BT: "I don't know, it's just a good game."

II: Do you actually like hockey or just the hitting videogame aspect of it?

BT: "I just like hockey video games. They are fun to play."

II: Is there a team you use?

BT: "No."

II: Getting back to football, what are your expectations going in?

BT: "To punt to the best of my ability and we'll see what happens. I don't really have, my expectations are just to be the best I can be next year."

II: Do you think you'll be starting, have hopes for that or thinking about sitting and watching and when Eric (Maust) leaves, taking over from there?

BT: "However it works out, it works out. If I'm not starting, it's whatever God has planned. If I have to start next year then I will and I'll do a good job but if I'm not, then that's all right too."

II: Have there been other recruits you've become close with other than Jordan (Cowart)?

BT: "No."

II: What's the relationship like with you and Jordan?

BT: "It's good. We're good friends."

II: Have you guys worked out a lot together?

BT: "We snap and punt together. We don't really work out together. We punt and snap together all the time."

II: Will that help you when you get to Notre Dame, that in theory you could have the same snapper for eight years?

BT: "I mean, it's an advantage but whoever is snapping the ball, but it is an advantage to have your timing down and everything because I've known him."

II: Kickers and punters, they always seem to have quirks…

BT: "Well, kickers have more of a quirk with their holders. To have a holder for four years is a lot different. The ball is going to come back to me either way, it's not going to matter. But it is cool that he's going to get to come up there and someone from there that I know."

II: Are you guys trying to live together?

BT: "We're rooming together over the summer but in the fall, we're not."

II: Are you a superstitious guy?

BT: "No, I'm not. No, not really at all."