Here’s the criteria I used:

• First, the game has to be against a quality opponent.
• Second, that team has to be from a major conference.
• Third, I cannot pick all the openers against Michigan.
• Fourth, it has to be a win.
• Fifth, the game has to be played after 1964, which I consider the start of the modern era.

#5 Northwestern Sept. 3, 1994 (Soldier Field, Chicago)

I was a junior in College, at tiny Beloit College (WI). After playing in our football intrasquad scrimmage early in the day, some teammates and I headed south to Chicago. This would be the second Notre Dame game in my life that I would attend in person. The Irish were ranked #3 and the long awaited start of the Ron Powlus era was set to begin in a game nationally televised by ABC. It could not have gone better. Powlus was 18-24 for 291 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Irish dismantled Northwestern, 42-15. The two Heismans appeared to be in the bag and every Saturday would look like this, although the rest of the story didn’t quite turn out this way. Nevertheless, on a day that provided so much optimism, it will always stick out to me.

#4 Maryland Aug. 31, 2002 (Meadowlands, NJ)

The start of the Tyrone Willingham era and other nationally televised game that I was in the stands for. Maryland would actually finish the season at 11-3 and destroy Tennessee in the Peach Bowl on their way to a Top 20 final ranking. On this day, the Irish used a smothering defense, five field goals from Nick Setta, a 76 yard punt return for a touchdown by Vontez Duff, and three interceptions from Shane Walton to handily dispatch the Terps. Notre Dame would ride this momentum to eight straight wins before their meltdown versus Boston College. Though the Irish would finish 10-3, it did little to convince the masses that Willingham was the guy.

#3 Michigan Sept. 5, 1998 (Notre Dame Stadium)

Michigan was coming off a national championship (Well…a share of one) and would finish the season 10-3. As I mentioned in a previous article, this was likely the signature win of the Bob Davie era. Notre Dame trailed 13-6 at the end of the first half, but would outscore Michigan 30-7 in the second half to win going away. In my mind this was Davie’s best team, but an injury to quarterback Jarious Jackson in Week 10 staggered the Irish to a 9-3 finish. It was the typical inconsistency that would plague the Davie era.

#2 Texas Sept. 5, 2015 (Notre Dame Stadium)

Some people…especially Notre Dame haters will chuckle at this one. Texas isn’t good anymore….blah, blah, blah. Texas is Texas! A hugely anticipated game as I felt the previous season Notre Dame had greatly underachieved given the talent they had. Brian Kelly helped feed the hype by suggesting the players go kick “Texas’s ass” on Showtime. This was a Saturday Night contest on NBC and the Irish did not disappoint. Malik Zaire lived up the hype as he hit on 19-22 for 313 yards and three touchdowns. The Irish defense also looked much improved and you couldn’t help but come away from this game thinking the Irish would make a serious run at the playoffs.

#1 Michigan Sept. 10, 1988 (Notre Dame Stadium)

Notre Dame was coming off a 1987 season that featured three losses to close the season. The last two versus Miami and Texas A&M were largely blowouts. Though the Irish appeared to be trending upward, the experts still predicted they were a “year away” from contending for a national championship. In a game that typified “What though the Odds,” the Irish used four field goals from walk-on kicker Reggie Ho, excellent defense, and a punt return touchdown from Ricky Watters to knock off the Wolverines. The game, which kicked off the last national championship at Notre Dame, was not decided until Michigan kicker Mike Gillette missed a 48-yard field goal with 3 seconds remaining.

The post Five Great Opening Games for ND Football appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Let that little factoid wash over you.

Steph Curry, Rihanna, Adele, Haley Joel Osment, Emma Stone, and Michael Cera were all born the year the Irish last hoisted the crystal football, or whatever they hoisted back then. It was probably a rough-hewn marble tablet or something. Something sepia toned, and in the newsreels everyone moved too fast, and all the men wore hats.

Vietnam is known as “The 10,000 Day War.” Only in retrospect, through the lens of history, can we now plot way-points, such that Dien Bien Phu is the sort of beginning and the Fall of Saigon the sort of end. With Notre Dame, we’re not able to do that, yet. We don’t even know if we have another 10,000 days ahead of us. HOLY ISH BALLS WE MIGHT GO ANOTHER 10,000 DAYS?!?!??!??!?

In that same amount of time, other Irish sports have amassed 16 national championships. And we call ourselves a football school.

The 1988 Fighting Irish ran the table to win the national championship in the Fiesta Bowl, defeating West Virginia 34-21. In victory, Coach Holtz channeled his inner-Morrissey and remarked that, “[t]his team will go down as a great football team because nobody proved otherwise.”

In 2013, Alabama proved the Irish to be other-than-great, despite going undefeated in the regular season. Had the Irish won, I’m sure that some of you would still be debating Brian Kelly’s membership in the pantheon of Notre Dame head football coaches, but no one would be debating that squad’s “greatness.” But this post isn’t about “greatness,” it’s about championships.

It’s also about the uncertainties of the pre-playoff era, a time when chain-smoking sports-reporters and coaches gathered together in a transparent elections-system to which today’s presidential campaign can only pretend. The Irish had a case to argue in 1989, when they went 12-1. Their only loss came against The U, the season’s eventual champions.

Same again in 1993, but this time it’s personal. I was there, a senior, to watch the implausible Kevin McDougal vanquish Charlie Ward’s Seminoles. It was a battle of #1 versus #2, and the first foray of College GameDay outside the friendly confines of Bristol, Conn. It was the first “Game of the Century.” Since then, we’ve had – what? – 50 of them? The Irish won, 31-24, and then lost the next weekend to Boston College, 41-39. HOLY ISH BALLS WE LOST TO A TEAM WE BEAT BY 47 POINTS THE SEASON BEFORE?!??!?!???!??!??!

Since then, since that precise moment, Notre Dame didn’t so much as sniff the beer- and sweat-scented air of the Natty until 2012. The closest Dame-fan could get was a deep-inhale in the Dirty Thirty until that got shut down when the U.S. signed off on the Fourteenth Hague Convention.

And let’s face it, the air itself came out of the program when Holtz left. The Davie years, 1997-2001, were essentially the Reader’s Digest version of the Book of Exodus. Tyrone Willingham, 2002-2004, was so ineffective that then-Athletic Director Kevin White terminated his five-year contract after just three years. But hey, at least he got to improve his short-game.

Charlie Weis coaches the Notre Dame football team during a September 2009 game. (Courtesy of Flickr user Larry)

Speaking of air, Charlie Weis blew into the Gug in 2005, bringing with him some Super Bowl rings, a decided schematic advantage, and dozens of pairs of Sansabelt pants. His high-water mark, which ironically saw its denouement play out in post-Katrina New Orleans, came in 2006. That 10-3 season was the “best,” and now even language seems awful to me, until 2012.

Call me a “Kelly apologist,” but I think we’re closer to being out of the desert than at any time since 1993. I don’t think it will be another 10,000 days. The program, in the last six seasons, has been punched in the nose by awful luck and circumstance and still, a championship was played for and double-digit seasons were achieved. We were in the playoff-mix last year, too, if you can remember back that far.

Maybe in 365 days, we’ll be talking about the chances of a repeat.

The post 10,000 Days: Fighting… For Another Championship appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Q: Growing up in Sarasota, Florida, how did you end up playing football at Notre Dame and not at a school near home?

Courtney Watson at practice (Photo: AP Photo)

A: “I wasn’t really interested in playing football at Notre Dame until I met Coach Urban Meyer. The only things I knew about ND were gold helmets and Touchdown Jesus. Coach Meyer took me through an education process of what Notre Dame is all about from the time I met him until the time I got up there. Being from Florida, where a ton of kids go on to play football for a school in the state or at an SEC school, I decided to take a leap of faith and follow the opportunity that I was being offered by Notre Dame. I let my academics and football skills take me somewhere I normally would not have gone.”

“I played both football and basketball in high school so I made my recruiting visit to Notre Dame while the students were on winter break and barely anyone was on campus. My student host was Tony Fisher and I also spent time with Terrance Howard, Brock Williams and Jabari Holloway.”

“I really hit it off with the guys on my recruiting visit. We were similar in a lot of ways. They told me that if I came to Notre Dame I would get a great college experience, that I would be pushed academically to achieve success in the classroom, and that unlike many other schools the athletes were not separated from the rest of the student body. This was a big selling point for me but I didn’t completely realize this until I was a student at ND. By not spending all of your time with other football players you gain so many more collegiate experiences. You get a chance to make lifelong friends outside of this little bubble of football. That’s very rare at most big-time football schools. I was able to sit around my dorm, make friends with people who were different from me, from different parts of the country. They were interested in me and I was interested in them and they truly inspired me.”

Q: What is your best Notre Dame football memory?

A: “Wait, I have to pick one?” (laughs)

“Off the top of my head the first thing that comes to mind is when I got to speak at the pep rally before the Michigan game (it was either my fifth year or my senior year). At the time I was on the student senate and my Zahm Hall guys were seated front and center at the pep rally. They all made signs with my head shot from the football program on them. There were 50 or 60 of them chanting “Senator Watson” through the whole pep rally…no matter who was speaking (including through Coach Willingham’s speech). Until it was my turn to speak, of course, and then they got quiet.”

“On the field my favorite memory would have to be playing (and beating) Florida State in Tallahassee. Being from Florida I had a ton of family and friends at the game and I also had an interception. To play that well, to beat FSU at home, that was such a high for me and for the whole team. There were very few games that I remember being nervous before, having butterflies, and not being able to control my emotions — this was one of those games.”

Q: What was it like playing for Bob Davie? Tyrone Willingham? 

Courtney Watson tackles Michigan tailback Chris Perry.
(ZAPOTOSKY / TOLEDO BLADE)

A: “The biggest difference that I noticed between the two coaches was their management styles.”

“Coach Willingham was a delegator. His management style was looking at the big picture. He let his coaches do more of the teaching and day-to-day instruction. Once he and his staff decided on the game plan for the week and what we were going to be taught, he was a “macro” manager. Coach Willingham understood that there was much more to being Notre Dame’s head football coach than the day-to-day coaching.”

“Coach Davie was more of an Xs and Os guy. He was very hands on in the everyday process. Because of Coach Davie’s style of “micro” managing there was a lot of back and forth and changes made to the game plan during the course of the week. Sometimes when you micromanage like that you can get tunnel vision on certain things and forget about everything else that needs to be done. Coach Davie was one of those mad scientist type of guys. You could lock him in a room for 12 hours and what he’d emerge with would be nothing short of brilliant. However, what happens when you have such tunnel vision is you lose focus on everything else that is going on. Coach Davie didn’t want to deal with all of the global head coaching responsibilities — all he wanted to do was coach football. Unfortunately there is much more to the job than just that.”

“They were both able to get results. They just each went about it very differently.”

Q: Can you talk about your bookstore basketball success?

A: “I participated in the Bookstore Basketball tournament for three years. My team won the tournament twice and we made it to the final four three times. To my knowledge I am the only scholarship athlete that can say they won it twice. Carlisle Holiday and Justin Tuck were both Division I basketball recruits (in addition to football) out of high school and neither one of them can say that. I loved playing bookstore basketball. I loved playing basketball growing up, even more so than playing football probably. I quit football for a while in high school to focus on basketball until my coach (who coached both teams) told me that I was an idiot and that I needed to go back and play football.”

“Basketball was always my first love. I always played on a bookstore basketball team with guys in my dorm. It was never a super team, but we played all year round and had a really great time. We played a lot of pickup games at the Joyce Center together. It was really important to me to go out and play with the guys that I lived with. We built a great camaraderie living and playing ball together. Bookstore basketball is such a remarkable thing — I love how the student body comes out to support all of the teams. It was a great way to end spring football and celebrate the arrival of spring on campus. I always explain to people how our dorms acted as our fraternities and sororities on campus.”

Q: Can you talk about your role as a Zahm senator?

A: “Prior to moving into Zahm Hall I heard a lot of bad stories about the dorm from some of the upperclassmen on the football team, but I absolutely loved living in Zahm. I loved my roommates. The guys were crazy and completely nuts — probably because everyone said the guys who lived in Zahm were crazy and nuts and they were trying to live up to the reputation. You know, the day before first semester finals start, the guys run through LaFortune and the second floor of the library wearing, um, bells. Yeah, those are Zahm guys. Not only were they crazy, but they voted for me to be their student senate representative.”

“The year they voted me to the student senate they had a legitimate candidate — he had posters, gave speeches, was on the ballot. Then two days before the election my buddies convinced me to run. We got a bull horn and walked around the night before the voting and told people to vote for me/write my name in on the ballot…and I won. Those crazy Zahm guys!”

Q: Tell us what it was like to be on the student senate?

A: “I’m not sure I realized going into it how much of a time commitment was required of you when you were on the student senate. We would meet every Tuesday. There was one person from every dorm on the senate, plus a president, vice president, and secretary. It was my job to represent what the guys from Zahm wanted from the different issues that the student senate was discussing. It was really cool. I would do a weekly meeting in the dorm to tell them what we talked about at the last senate meeting and what was up for discussion at the one. It was really fun and I wished I could have done it again but time wise it was tough.”

“Tuesday was our long day of football practice and in order for me to go to the senate meetings I would have to miss part of the team meeting and the first part of practice. Coach Willingham was okay with that for one year but I didn’t want to push my luck beyond that. It was an amazing experience. It was nice to be part of something bigger and to see how the student senate went about getting things accomplished. All of the student activities on campus that are not sponsored by a specific group – they are all put on by the student senate. At first I had no idea they did so much. I really got to see the inner workings of what happens on campus.”

Q: Can you compare the highs of 2002 with the lows of 2003?

A: “They are very similar for me. When you have those highs, you try to keep everything in check, so it is really not that high. And the same goes for the lows. You try to take everything in stride, regardless of how good or bad it’s all going, and you work hard every day to get even better. You are always focusing on the next year. The next season.

But at the same time, to have those highs and to have them at Notre Dame…that was incredible. I’d rather have those highs at Notre Dame than anywhere else. I haven’t been there in almost ten years, and we didn’t win a national championship, but the teams I played on are remembered as if they had played for a championship. At most other schools you don’t get remembered unless you won a championship. We didn’t realize at the time that our team was going to go down in Notre Dame history. It made me incredibly proud this past season when they compared our team to the 2012 team — they compared me to Manti Te’o. We are considered one of the great all time defenses at ND.”

Q: How do you remember your NFL draft?

A: “My NFL draft wasn’t supposed to be very stressful, but of course, it was. It didn’t need to be, but it was self-inflicted. We had a good idea as to what round I was going to be drafted in, just not which team. I had family over to the house and I was feeling pretty comfortable. For me it was going to be a celebration regardless of where I went. It started out mostly as family being with me watching the draft but as the day wore on more and more people came over. I knew I wasn’t going to be drafted in the first round. There was a chance that I would be drafted in the middle to end of the second round but more likely at some point in the third.”

Stay tuned for more in the “Where are they now?” series!

“The problem was that myself and my agent thought I would go ahead of certain other linebackers, so when people like Boss Bailey and Teddy Lehman came off the board before me my mood started to change. I really thought that I would go before them and they were coming off the board much earlier than we had anticipated. It was another 20 picks before I was drafted. That was only about an hour time difference but it seemed like a week.”

“You had to submit two different phone numbers for the draft and so I had two phones sitting in front of me. It got to the point where I had people checking to make sure the phones were working. I was sure that there must be something wrong with my phones. I was frustrated and completely distraught. I went into the back room and just closed the door. I had to separate myself from what was going on. Calm down. Talk myself back into reality. When the phone rang I ran out to get the phone and it was Jim Haslett from the Saints telling me they were going to draft me, and then I heard everyone out in the front room screaming because it was at the bottom of the TV screen. My Dad and Mom and my aunts all jumped on top of me on the bed. It was a great feeling.”

Q: What was it like playing in the NFL? 

A: “The low for me was not the first time I got cut, but the second time I got cut, because at that point I pretty much knew that was it, that my NFL career was over. You don’t get much lower than that.”

“The highs? Every game that I was able to go out there and play, to do what I had wanted to do my entire life — that was a high for me. I’m not a person who gets all jacked up before a game, but to have that feeling, to know this is what it’s like to accomplish a lifetime goal, that was huge. Every time we went to a new city, a new locker room…every Sunday was better than the Sunday before. Those feelings were just the best feelings for me. It was the entire experience. There are only a select group of people who can say they graduated from Notre Dame and went on to play in the NFL — I am in that select group.”

Q: What was it like to play for the Saints post-Katrina?

A: “Post-Katrina was crazy. It was tough because a lot of people don’t remember that you couldn’t even get back into the city after the hurricane hit. Even if you didn’t have any damage to your material things you couldn’t even get back in to get them.”

“First you couldn’t get in to the city at all. Then they were letting people in but only during the day time. Very quickly we realized, even though they were letting people back in, the city should not be open at all. There was no trash pickup. They had curfews set up to help prevent looting and vandalism. Marshall Law was in place. The National Guard was there, armed, sitting on top of Humvees. Gangs were fighting for territory. There were shootings every day. The NFL sends us back there and we had to live like that. I was renting in New Orleans and my home was in Florida so I had to find a new place to rent in a decent area…which just didn’t exist. There was just random crime all the time.”

“The NFL and the Saints did a great job at putting a band-aid on the dome but the city was in absolute chaos. It was very sobering to see. It was an experience like no other. It was sad to see how many people not only lost everything they owned, but loved ones, too. The whole experience was crazy. You could go weeks at a time and it would not come up…but even now, every time it comes up, it completely takes me back there and I can remember it vividly.”

Q: Where did life take you after football?

A: “During my first year after I was cut from the NFL I pretty much worked out in the hopes that someone would pick me up. I tried to stay in shape and showcase my talents but no one expressed any interest in bringing me back to the game. I didn’t want to do that for two or three years. After one year I knew it was really over. There are always younger guys coming out of college who can do it faster, better, and cheaper. So at that point I knew I was truly retired.”

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do post-football. I planned on playing in the NFL for ten more years than what I did so I was not prepared for the transition into my next career. While I was playing in the NFL I had opened a restaurant back in Florida. My dad was running it and I was just kind of helping out, but I knew I wanted to do more than that.”

“I ran into a few guys I went to high school with who were firefighters and one friend who was a fire chief and decided I wanted to learn more about what it took to be one. I signed up for the academy to see if it was something that I wanted to do. I knew I had a great degree from Notre Dame but I didn’t want to have a 9-5 job, that just wasn’t for me. The further along I got in the academy the more I knew this was where I belonged. I loved the crazy schedule. I loved being outside, working with the guys as a team. I really took to it and have not looked back since.”

“I finished the academy and some medical schooling as well … it took me a year to finish the academy and I got hired by a fire house within three weeks. I started in July of 2009 and just celebrated four years here. I love it. It’s been the best decision that I’ve made since my decision to go to Notre Dame. I get to use my business degree as I move up the ranks and my schedule allows me to do side work as well.”

“In addition to my work with the firehouse I speak to kids and sports teams and help out with their clinics here in the area. I have also developed a successful personal training business. I train young people/athletes, as well as doing personal training for individuals who are looking to get in better shape. My schedule allows me to do a lot of different things. I can give back to the community while I further my career. One of my long-term goals is to get more minorities into civil services — both firefighting and the police. Where I grew up you were either really smart and went to college, or you really didn’t have any direction regarding your future. You don’t have to go to college to go into civil service. It’s a really good thing for kids who either can’t afford to go to college or don’t feel like college is a good fit for them. I want to create awareness within minority groups to the opportunities available to them in civil service. It’s a great way to have a career and be able to give back to your community.”

“There is a lot of carryover from football to the police department and firefighting. Instead of being in a locker room you are in a fire station, but you still have to work together as a team, and you still need to be prepared for the situations you are going to face before you face them. You have to already know how you are going to react. Especially in dangerous situations, if you are not prepared, a life or death situation could go wrong very quickly. For those of us who played sports, we have developed a skill set that works very well in this sort of career – that’s a skill set that many people don’t have.”

Q: What was it like being a student-athlete at Notre Dame? How did being a student-athlete at Notre Dame prepare you for life after college?

A: “Being a student-athlete at Notre Dame is quite a challenge. If you cannot manage your time well you will not succeed in the classroom or on the field. I’ve heard from talking to other guys who I played with in the NFL that they felt the NFL demanded so much of our time. If you don’t come from a place such as Notre Dame where that is the norm, you are going to struggle.”

“At Notre Dame you are taking a real class schedule with your peers who are very smart. 85% of my classes are legit classes that everyone else had to take. You have to manage class, practice, games, media request. You’ve got to eat and try to have a social life, too. Notre Dame taught me how to juggle all of the demands that were put upon my time.

Being a red shirt freshman was great for me. I knew I was not going to play that first year, but that if I showed up on time and worked out I would have chances. That year gave me an opportunity to transition into school and the rigors of Notre Dame. If I had been like Julius Jones or Gerome Sapp and have played as a true freshman it would have been a lot more difficult for me. I took the year to learn about myself, about being away from home, and how the system worked. I got myself into a groove and was more than ready to play the following year.”

“My freshman year in Zahm, each section had a flag football team. The games were at night during the week and I played in every flag football game with my freshman section. This helped me stay in shape while I was red-shirted. What I learned is that when there are so many demands on your time, when you actually have some free time, you should do your best to fill it with something you like to do. When you have a free hour, take advantage of that free hour and use it well because you never know when you’re going to have another one.”

“As a red shirt freshman, I went from being a starter in high school to being a whipping boy and stuck on the sideline at Notre Dame. Playing flag football with my Zahm dorm mates gave me an opportunity to be out on the field and having some fun playing football which is all I ever wanted to do!”

Q: What advice would you give current student athletes?

A: “Try to get engaged in non-football activities while you are in school. It is a great chance to go out and meet people who will become lifelong friends. There is more to life than just football. Mingle, meet people who can support you in the non-football aspects of your life. Take advantage of all opportunities put in front of you in college. Get engaged and be involved.”

“I worked in the Zahm hall cafeteria on Sunday nights cooking pizza and selling soda. It was awesome to be an integral part of the dorm and have a chance to really meet and get to know people. I went to college to get an experience and I wanted to take advantage of everything I possibly could.”

I’d like to give a big thank you to Courtney for stopping by the blog. It was an absolute pleasure to walk through his journey with him. Stay tuned for many more great stories in the “Where are they now?” series!

If you enjoy these “Where are they now?” pieces, please check out my new book: “Echoes From the End Zone: The Men We Became.”

Cheers!

Lisa

The post Where Are They Now? Courtney Watson appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Q: How did you become interested in playing football for the University of Notre Dame instead of becoming a WVU Mountaineer?

Chris Yura, Notre Dame Safety, Fullback and Special Teams

A: “I remember the first time I saw Notre Dame play was in the National Championship game in 1988 when I was 8 years old. I grew up 20 miles outside of Morgantown and we didn’t have cable television (in fact, we only had two channels growing up), but we did get the national title game. I remember how excited everyone was that WVU was in the national championship game, but even more so than that, I remember how excited everyone was that our opponent was Notre Dame. After that game Notre Dame took on a whole new life for me. ND wasn’t just a football school, it was a legendary place. I respected Notre Dame very early on in every aspect. Being from a small state I learned very quickly that in order to be noticed by colleges I needed to work harder than everyone else and produce on the field. The mountains in West Virginia were a great tool for me. They were great for agility and training leg strength. I trained in the woods and was lucky enough to excel at the high school level and began to receive offers from colleges including Notre Dame. I was one of the first players from my high school football class to commit. Notre Dame called and made me an offer right after signing day in February of my junior year.”

“My home state was not happy with me. My older brother Jon was a linebacker for the Mountaineers and everyone thought I would follow in his footsteps when, in my junior year, I was named the best player in the state. When I committed to Notre Dame I received some pretty bad backlash from the state. Players would punch me when we were piled up after a play. People in the crowd held up angry signs. Even some of the parents made comments to me about my decision. Notre Dame just meant so much to me I could not imagine going anywhere else and it did not matter to me what they thought.”

“The first time I went campus I was in awe. I remember going to camp at ND after my sophomore season and that’s where I first received some recognition from the coaching staff. Sitting in front of the Joyce Athletic and Convocation Center and watching these huge guys show up for camp left quite an impression on me. I wasn’t really all that big or anything but I worked hard and made them notice me. The Notre Dame coaching staff cares about getting the best players they can get and about getting quality student-athletes who will do something after college. Fortunately for me I performed well enough at camp and got offered a full ride to the school. Driving home my dad and I were both in awe … like, did that really just happen?”

“The friends that I made at Notre Dame were from all over the country. Many of us came in as freshman not knowing a single soul. One of the things that makes ND so great is the diversity among the student body. The only other football player at Notre Dame who was from West Virginia was Bobbie Howard. (I met Bobbie at the football camp I attended at ND when I was in high school. Bobbie graduated before I was a freshman.) He made a big impression on me. He was very excited that there was a kid from West Virginia at camp. He was very welcoming and was a great advocate for the University, as well as being a great representative of the state of West Virginia. He left big shoes to fill but it was a tremendous experience.”

“Notre Dame becomes something that is always a part of you. Every time I go back to campus I feel very connected, as if I had never left. There is a real emotional connection to the University. I care as much about ND now as I did when I was there.”

Q: What is your best Notre Dame football memory?

A: “It is extremely hard to select one memory as my best Notre Dame football memory. There are so many moments that you remember. The first time I walked out of the tunnel and onto the field at Notre Dame Stadium; that was incredible. It was quite an accomplishment to get the opportunity to play as a true freshman, to get the chance to play in the home opener “Kickoff Classic” against Kansas in 1999. You get such a sense of awe seeing the fans, the spirit of the crowd, walking out of the tunnel, the feeling of being on the field for the first time, and knowing the responsibility of what you have to do. I don’t think I ran faster in all my life as I did on that opening kickoff. But at the same time you are so nervous. A few short months ago you were playing with high school kids, and now you are facing guys who have three and four years under their belt. You’ve been training in camp and feel prepared for the job, but nothing truly prepares you for that moment.”

Notre Dame Wide Receiver Arnaz Battle

“We were undefeated my senior year going into the FSU game (on the road in Tallahassee). On the first play of the game Arnaz Battle caught a touchdown pass. Putting points up on the board so quickly like that and beating FSU at home to remain undefeated was an unforgettable moment for sure. From a game perspective, that was my favorite game. So many people thought we were untested and to go into Tallahassee like that to beat them was incredible. There are plenty of little memories that stay with me as well, like the fake punt against Boston College to get the first down, but everything about that FSU game was memorable. And not all memorable moments were winning ones. When we played Nebraska, stayed with them the whole game, but then lost in overtime. Even though it was gut-wrenching to lose on one play like that, we knew we had played our hearts out and gave it our all – that’s something I’ll never forget.”

“A lot of my favorite memories are off the field. The weight room was one of my favorite places, one where I felt the most at home. Such wonderful friendships were forged in the weight room — Gerome Sapp was my workout partner my freshman year. We had 6 am workouts, and we had to be there 10 minutes prior to the start time or we’d be punished. I lived out in Carroll hall, so in order to be up and ready in time to walk all the way across campus I had to get up at 4:40 am and leave the dorm at 5:20 am. All of my roommates were sleeping because they didn’t have class until 8 am. The mental toughness that is created from those situations, the friendships that are formed, the relationships with the coaches (my favorite strength coach: Mickey Marrotti) … those last a lifetime.”

“They are not just your teammates or your friends … they are individuals who will sacrifice for you to make you successful, and you would do the same thing for them, no questions asked. It was a big contrast for me compared to what I was used to in high school. What I saw at Notre Dame was there weren’t any stars – we were all equal and all on the same level. We didn’t really feel a great deal of competition, but rather we all worked together towards what either became everyone’s success or everyone’s failure. I really felt that I was a part of a cohesive unit, I felt that we were working together as a team, and that was a really amazing thing. A lot of Notre Dame players were the best player from their high school, city, or state; it was pretty much up to them to carry the load prior to college ball. But at Notre Dame we played as a team. The commitment level in high school was not across the board. At ND, everyone is working so hard, no individual stood out – we were united. Hard work with a group of people all buying into the same concept creates such a strong brotherhood and camaraderie – win or lose you all become successful.”

“It was really important to the coaches that every player knew they were an equal. Whether you were a first string quarterback or a walk-on, everyone’s effort and contribution was extremely important and a high level of production was expected from everyone. By doing this you eliminate the egos. If you let yourself not perform to your highest level you not only let yourself down but your teammates as well. I think training in this manner translates well onto the field. We had first round draft picks come out of that team, but for us as a team we never looked at anyone as a “star.” And those guys never felt they were better than everyone else. If I blocked for Julius (Jones), I was just as happy as if I was making the running play myself.”

“It is a refreshing feeling. In so many sports the focus is on the individuals. Football really is a team sport. You can see how one person’s block can either make a play happen or make a play NOT happen. Our coaches were very adamant in pointing this out, to make everyone see that everyone needs to do their part in order for a play to work. This was drilled into our heads and it was a huge takeaway for life after football. If you work for a company, every person’s job is crucial to the company’s success. In my business, some days I spend my time on the phone in conference calls, and some days I spend my time on the line tagging and bagging t-shirts. Both jobs are equally as important. There is no hierarchy here; we all need to pitch in to make this work. When you manage people like this, your employees see that they are an important part of the process even if all they are doing is packaging t-shirts for the consumer.”

Q: What was it like playing for Tyrone Willingham? And Bob Davie?

A: “I only got to play for Willingham for a year. From an engagement standpoint he was a super engaging guy. He was invested in all areas of the team. He would come out and run and catch balls at the beginning of practice. He brought in assistant coaches who formed a great supporting cast for him and who really supported and cared for us. My time with Coach Willingham was very positive and I’m glad that was my last season. We had so many great players on that team. I had some elbow injuries during my sophomore year and started dislocating my elbow repeatedly and so I was limited as to how productive I could be. At that point blocking was my biggest strength. To be a fullback and have your left arm taken away from you causes you to have to relearn how to do things. I could no longer take a handoff. This was another great learning experience for me: know your role. Know what your role is and that it is important. Take the limitations that you have and do your best. For me it was to block – that is what I did to help the team.”

“Coach Davie was the same way, he wanted production. In order to be productive you have to find a way to stay on the field. We had a great coaching staff that helped me find a way to stay out on the field.”

“I really liked Coach Davie a lot, too. He played at Youngstown State and he was familiar with kids from West Virginia and the way that we were raised. Kids from West Virginia may be from a small state, but it is a small state made up of strong individuals. I remember the first day he came in. He said, “I don’t want fine china, I want Tupperware.” That statement really stood out to me. I knew exactly what was required and expected of me. I needed to stay healthy, or get healthy, so that I could be productive. For me, his attitude towards toughness was spot on because he expected excellence and he rewarded excellence. So did Coach Meyer. He wanted you to be the best player you could be. It was proven time and time again on the field: if you were willing to work hard and be productive you were going to get a chance to play.”

“They switched me from safety to fullback and special teams after my freshman year. I spent a lot of time with Urban Meyer working on special teams. He saw my work ethic and what I could offer to the team. That I would do whatever it took no matter what my size. Size really is a relative thing and leverage is the name of the game. That group of coaches really knew how to bring out the best in us. I respected Coach Davie as a person and I really enjoyed playing for him. Having two years with Coach Meyer helped me develop a great deal as a player. He likes guys who are willing to give 110 percent all the time and it’s a great plan for heading into the rest of your life.”

Stay tuned for more in the “Where are they now?” series!

“Effort is a choice, talent is not. I love being able to look back at a situation and being able to say that I did everything that I possibly could have done. There never was a day when I didn’t. Knowing that is extremely satisfying. I have no regrets. No “woulda, coulda, shoulda” moments. And I take the same approach to my business. There are days where you have disappointments, but as long as you worked as hard as you could have then you will still have peace with the situation.”

“Having that internal determination helps when you face the road blocks and keeps you humble in your successes. I’ve been in business (SustainU) for four years now and we’ve grown so much, but all of the disappointments we’ve been through have been great learning lessons. Even if it doesn’t work, as long as you’ve given it your all, it’s all good.”

It’s like a mountain; just take it one step at a time. If you doubt yourself at the beginning, you’ve already failed.

“Our strength coach, Mickey Marrotti (now at Ohio State), would always push us until we could go no further. Push us so hard that it would take away our mental limitations. If you have no gauge as to when you’ve reached your goal, you just keep going. It’s a great tool to be used and be taught. It can be taught if you’re willing to give the effort no matter how great or small your talents.”

“My Dad was a Child Psychologist for years and then went into Forensics. He knew no limits.”

Q: In the 2001 Fiesta Bowl (against Oregon State) – Did you have any idea how good Oregon State really was?

A: “We knew that Oregon State was going to be tough. We trained very hard going into that game — maybe too hard. We were hitting at practice every day and quite a few of us were pretty worn down by the time we got to game day. (We didn’t hit as much during the weeks of that season as we did during the weeks leading up to the Oregon State Game under Coach Davie). Between the season wearing us down and the hard practices going into Arizona we may have been a bit overextended. Going into that game we felt confident in our abilities, but we just weren’t able to produce.”

“I’m not sure that we thought that Oregon State was THAT good. Before it was announced that we were playing them we didn’t even realize that they were in the mix, let alone that talented. The only teams that we had both played were Southern Cal and Stanford, and we beat USC pretty handily that year. It’s difficult to compare schedules. They had a lot of guys from the Junior College system that year and they had a lot of fresh players. I remember feeling that a lot of us were just really beat down by the time we got to that game.”

Q: What was your biggest challenge as a Notre Dame student-athlete? How did Notre Dame prepare you for life after college?

A: “You are not just asked to compete on the field but in the classroom as well. I really enjoyed that challenge, academically, to be put in the same classes as kids who had this incredible intellect – the kids at the tops of their high school classes. The minute I stepped onto the field at Notre Dame I got so much faster because the competition was so much faster. My brain had to evolve to being faster and quicker. In the classroom the same thing happened. You are suddenly in class with these very bright students and they push you to get better and better.”

“I remember feeling that everyone else knew so much more than I did academically. I asked my roommates what their SAT scores were and they had these crazy high scores. I had never even heard of anyone scoring so highly on those college entrance exams. We had a great tutoring network at Notre Dame and I found myself becoming more studious and organizing my time better. I learned that I enjoyed writing, which I had never done much of previously. I did better than I had ever thought possible and it was only the first semester my freshman year. I evolved so much in the classroom.”

“They held us to the same standard academically that they held us to athletically. They had the infrastructure and support system in place to make this work. If you have enough talent to get into Notre Dame you will be successful both on and off the field. For me it was a challenge but I was more than ready to accept the challenge. I became a much better person based on the people with whom I surrounded myself. This really set me up for success in life not just after football but after Notre Dame.”

“The smarter the student-athlete is off the field, then the smarter they are on the field. If you learn the strategy in the classroom, it absolutely translates onto the field because football is such a strategic, thinking game. This made us a better team all-around and helped us to perform better on the field. I think that is such a huge part of the concept of the student-athlete at Notre Dame. I hope they never stray from that mantra. Notre Dame does a great job at setting up its student-athletes up for success both on and off the field, because let’s face it, football does not last forever and you need to have something to fall back on after your football career is over.”

“Notre Dame does a great job of choosing people who will represent the school well both on and off the field. You need to be a Notre Dame man (or woman)- there is no separation between who you are on the field and who you are off the field. You are a student-athlete: it’s all one being, and that is very unique about the culture at Notre Dame especially when you look at what other schools expect out of their student-athletes.”

Q: Where did life take you after football?

Chris Yura, CEO of sustainable clothing company.

A: “Like anything in life, I don’t think anyone knows where they are going to end up. You end up where God wants you to be. I definitely believe there is a purpose behind all things. All of the experiences I had leading up to Notre Dame, being at Notre Dame, and life after Notre Dame all somehow fit together. Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a strength coach. I attended a training camp that was held at WVU back in the 1980’s and I got this training booklet and did the workouts every day from when I was 12 years old. I loved that part of football. It was impactful to me and you always want to be impactful to others in your life.”

“When I graduated from Notre Dame I wanted to go on and get my masters degree, but before that I decided to go into personal training for a while. I got a job at the Four Seasons hotel in Miami through an alumni connection. They did a cheesy promotional photo of me, in a tuxedo shirt with a dumbbell in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other, which ended up running on the front page of the Miami Herald. As a result of that photo I got a call from Ford Modeling and was offered a job modeling in New York City.”

“When I was at ND, the guys used to tease me that I looked like an Abercrombie model, but then when you get approached like that to model in New York City for a top modeling agency, what could they say? It was crazy.”

“I didn’t know anything about modeling but I knew I wanted to get as many life experiences as possible and wasn’t sure if I really wanted to pursue strength coaching so I seized the opportunity and moved to New York City to model for Ford Modeling agency. I thought to myself, ‘Why not?!’ I learned about all different walks of life, I learned what it was like to live in a big city, and I got the chance to volunteer with charities in the city which exposed me to urban poverty. I also learned a great deal about the fashion industry.”

“I began to see the relationships between clothing and people. I thought about “The Shirt” back at Notre Dame. How the money raised from “The Shirt” project does so much good for students in need at ND. How clothing has this unifying effect on people. You see it in many other things like pink breast cancer awareness clothing. What I was also seeing is that sourcing and materials were coming from third world countries, exploiting people and using materials that were harmful to the earth. So even though “unifying” clothing was doing good things (i.e.: breast cancer awareness and “The Shirt”), it was being harmful as well.”

“What if clothing could be more sustainable? What if you could make clothing and help people in the process? I began to do some research into how clothing was made and what happened to the factories in the Carolinas after NAFTA. In 1997, 40 percent of the clothing we wore was made in the United States. Now it is around 2 percent.”

“I started to wonder what happened to these vacant factories. I did some research in the New York City public library and at the Fashion Institute of Technology Library, learning about what fibers would be better to use, how to produce clothing with less chemicals, fewer pesticides in the cotton, without using child labor. I started to learn about all of the environmental impacts from the production of clothing. Being from West Virginia, a coal state, I saw what the aftermath of the coaling industry. It is something I’ve cared a lot about since I was a kid because I love the state I am from. West Virginia is one of the prettiest places on earth with incredible natural beauty, but when the extraction of natural resources is not kept in balance it can produce very negative effects for the people and environment. I also was exposed to reality of poverty in the United States from an early age and wanted to find a way to create jobs in my home state with an environmental progressive mantra. I started to see potential in clothing industry to create jobs domestically with innovation and more sustainable fibers. The light-bulb went off and I felt that this could be a great business idea and something I could bring back home.”

“Living in New York City, I was in disguise as a model and trying to start a clothing business. I started making contacts and cold calls: can I come work in your factory? Can I learn more about your business? I moved to North Carolina and worked in a factory putting labels in t-shirts. I started learning about recycled fibers and where 100% recycled fibers could come from. I learned about all of this cool technology and that there were a lot of domestic resources that I could tap into.”

“The Appalachia/Tennessee/Carolina region had so many resources. I got some really great breaks, wrote a business plan, got some interns from West Virginia University to help me out, moved back home into my parents house in 2009 (right when the recession hit) and told my mom and dad that this could be really great, could create jobs, and make a difference. They knew I was going to work hard and give it my all. My dad had been let go from his job so in order to help me get the capital that I needed to start my business they took out a third mortgage on their house and I started buying the materials to make one single shirt.”

“A university group who does education in sustainability became interested in what I was doing and was willing to buy 1,000 shirts from me if I was able to make them from recycled products. The challenge was on and it worked. With the help of interns who are now a part of my full time staff, who were willing to take a chance and learn this domestic apparel business, I was able to take on the investment, have paid off the lien on my parent’s house, and have been in business for four years now.”

“I truly believe that God has a plan for you; you just have to trust that you are where you are supposed to be. A green clothing line in West Virginia? Come on!”

“I knew that there were vacant factories out there and that people wanted to work — especially in these regions. The people who lost their jobs at the factories in the Carolinas and Tennessee, they didn’t want to lose their jobs. The work had been shipped off to China and the Dominican Republic and they had no say in the matter. There is so much greed in the fashion industry. What if you took away the greed and replaced it with principles that matter and with sustainability? That is exactly what we did in creating SustainU.”

SustainU: For ND By ND

“In 2009, we sold 10,000 shirts that first year, and this year (2013) we’ll sell over a quarter of a million. Next year, hopefully, we’ll sell a million shirts. This will create more green jobs and just keep giving back. People have realized that once we ship jobs overseas we become a shell economy, so growing jobs domestically is very important right now. The biggest honor for me was when we got the license to sell Notre Dame apparel. The licensing department at Notre Dame has been extremely helpful to me in supporting my cause. They’ve been behind me completely. I held off on reaching out to them until we were strong enough as a business to support the demand of the Notre Dame family, and that the business was where we wanted it to be before we put it in front of the Notre Dame alumni and fans. I am so proud to be able to make a 100 percent recycled, USA made Notre Dame t-shirt.”

“People are really in tuned into what we are doing as landfills are becoming full, and it makes sense because we can actually make things from these recycled products and create jobs all at the same time. To be able to make something in America out of recycled materials is incredible. To be able to make this with environmental stewardship makes so much sense for us.”

“We should not be exploiters of this world. We should all be looking into how we can reinvest in the infrastructure that we have abandoned. We only have two percent of people in the United States wearing American-made clothing so we have a lot of room for growth. This is very exciting for me. How does this become scalable? How do we grow? The scaling of all of this has been a lot more feasible than I ever imagined. As we produce more our price becomes more affordable. We have a very unique offering in today’s marketplace but I hope that more clothing companies get into this market as well. As other companies are looking to enter our market we are being looked to for advice and counsel. So many people don’t know that there are companies in the United States that CAN do this. It is a very exciting time for me. Lots of challenges are ahead but it’s the perfect time to invest back into the American economy. Being able to make Notre Dame products is the icing on the cake for me. I stand for the same values and principles as the University that I love. As an alumni and a former football player I want to be able to give back to the school who gave me the tools to get where I am today.”

Q: What advice would you give current student athletes?

A: “Football is an amazing medium, but what else are you in school for as a student-athlete? Football was a way for me to get where I am today. People in my company make fun of me because I use so many football analogies (all the time), but everything we learned on the field is all relatively the same in terms of how you go about the challenges in your life. Notre Dame prepared me for not only talking about the glory days of football but also to be a productive person in society.”

“My advice would be that if you are not taking a class right now that you feel really passionate about, find one. If there is a topic that you do feel passionate about, look and see where that could potentially lead in your life and where that can lead you to your future.”

“I can point exactly to the classes in my sociology major which sparked the ideas that have led me to where I am today.”

“If you don’t have a class like this, then change your schedule – find it and see where your passion might lead you further you in life. Whatever job you end up in, you should feel passionate about it.I know guys who make a lot of money but are miserable because they hate what they do. If you have passion for what you do, you will be successful in life and you will be impactful on others.”

Check out Chris’ clothing line at SustainU.com and Forndbynd.com

I’d like to give a big thank you to Chris for stopping by the blog. It was an absolute pleasure to walk through his journey with him. Stay tuned for many more great stories in the “Where are they now?” series! If you enjoy this series, you can also read more stories in my new book, “Echoes From the End Zone: The Men We Became” available for purchase on August 1st.

Cheers!

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