Notre Dame Quarterback DeShone Kizer spoke with ABC57 about how he's handling the ups and downs of the season. One thing he talked during the interview surprised us, and may surprise you.

"Love country music. Thomas Rhett right now. You know growing up I was always trying to be different from everyone else in my family and my family is so far away from country music, I mean my sister's going to be upset just watching this video that I say I like country music," Kizer said.

So how does a city boy fall in love with country music?

"It was my get away in baseball. I didn't listen to country music at all until one of my best friends in high school turned on a song. I was like I want to do something different. I learned to love it. Going out there shagging fly balls with that in the background, you eventually just learn to know the lyrics on your own," Kizer said.

His love of country music has led him into a love of the country lifestyle.

"Got a truck my sophomore year, every song references a truck so I felt like I was one with the music and it was just something that always pulled me back down. Country music is just a way of me just relaxing. I go to Faster Horses every summer with some of my friends from back home. Faster Horses is a country music festival up at Michigan Speedway, where for three days we pretend like we're as southern as can be. We all pretend to be cowboys with our boots and our jorts," Kizer said.

Kizer admits to wearing jorts - or jean shorts. He says he has embraced all of the so-called country accessories.

"Of course I have a cowboy hat. I have the boots, the jorts, the Wranglers, you know the big belt buckle," Kizer said.

Even his iPhone has gone country with a special playlist on Spotify.

"My playlist goes from Thomas Rhett to Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesny, Luke Bryant all the way down. My country playlist, there's a time and place for it. I'm very diversified in what I listen to, there's a time and a place for it but there are one or two days when I'm definitely listening to it," Kizer said.

The song he has on repeat is Die a Happy Man by Thomas Rhett.

"That's just a song that came out a while back, may not be hip with all the new stuff right now, but anytime that one comes on you have to turn that one up, all the way up and listen to it all the way through," Kizer said.

Kizer says that while he has eclectic taste, he finds comfort in the chaos in country music.

"I still use it today to step away from all the noise that happens here," Kizer said.