Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2019 Notre Dame Football Preview
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1133608
108 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2019 FOOTBALL PREVIEW his hometown of Laie, Hawai'i, a nonde- script city on the north shore of Oahu, 30 miles from Honolulu. Laie is only a stones throw from where former Irish standouts Manti Te'o and Robby Toma also lived and played. In fact, as a seventh-grader, Gilman and his buddies would frequently challenge Te'o and Toma to pickup basketball games at a lo- cal park when the two Irish play- ers were home on college breaks. "We didn't have TV," said Gil- man, who mentions chasing wild chickens around town among his favorite childhood pastimes. "We didn't have video games. We were there at the park." After his sophomore high school year at Kahuku High School, Gilman began a life journey that took him to Utah for a year, then back to Hawai'i to finish high school, then to Rhode Island for prep school, then down to Maryland as a freshman at the Naval Acad- emy, and finally to Notre Dame. Seven years, six schools and five states later, the best transfer Kelly has ever landed finally has a place to call home, three years removed from a difficult decision and a tough transfer from the Naval Academy in 2017. A three-sport athlete in football, basket- ball and track at Kahuku as a senior in 2015, Gilman was a lightly recruited defensive back who chose to attend Navy because his old-school upbringing left him well- equipped to handle its rigorous curriculum. And while Gilman feels no regret transfer- ring away from Navy, his year at the acad- emy's prep school and then another at the big campus in Annapolis, Md., made a life- changing impact. "I can definitely say that I am the person I am today because I went to Navy," Gil- man said. "There's just so many things that I learned, from time management, being tough, accountability, being a leader in dif- ferent ways." Transfer rules left Gilman ineligible, impatient and on the sidelines when he arrived at Notre Dame in the fall of 2017. In hindsight, that downtime may have lifted his upside. "That year, I found out who I was as a person," Gilman said in reflection. "It was a great year that really shaped me as a person and shaped me as a player as well." Gilman could not contribute on the field on Saturdays, but he made his mark on the Irish program at practice Sunday through Elliott has more career tackles (124) and interceptions (four) than anyone else on the roster, and his nine passes broken up are second only to senior cornerback Troy Pride Jr.'s 13. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA "It's like having two really good defensemen in hockey. They look good together, and that pair really works well together." HEAD COACH BRIAN KELLY ON GILMAN AND ELLIOTT