The Chicago Tribune ran a piece recently on Notre Dame's new quarterback Dayne Crist, and his support for various causes, including stamping out homophobia.

On a July afternoon, Crist, a two-year starter at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High, arrived early for an appointment at the Guglielmino Athletics Complex, wearing red workout shorts and a black T-shirt. On the shirt’s front, in large white lettering, was a slogan: “StaND Against Hate.”

It was a week on campus dedicated to ending hate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Crist had a tough time remembering it. But then he has served McFlurrys to terminally ill children, worked with the homeless in San Jose, read to children in South Bend-area libraries and recruited 50-plus teammates to shave their heads in the name of childhood cancer research.

It all tends to blur together. Next thing you know, he will go to Africa to build libraries. No, really. He might do that.

Linebacker Manti Te’o labeled Crist “a perfect Notre Dame role model,” noting he often bails out less eloquent teammates in meetings with recruits’ parents, offering “those answers that you’re just like, ‘You’re the golden boy.’ “

(via outsports)