2019 Notre Dame Football Preview

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Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2019 Notre Dame Football Preview

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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2019 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 109 Friday, earning Scout Team Player of the Year On Defense honors. He parlayed that experience into a start- ing spot and an impactful season in 2018, when he finished second on the team with 95 tackles to go with two interceptions and three forced fumbles. Gilman, similarly to Elliott, displays the leadership qualities, work ethic and other intangibles that define his worth much more than numbers and superlatives. Kelly describes Gilman as bipolar, but in a good way. "When you put him on that football field, it's a different guy," Kelly said. "That's his office; that's where he goes to work. When he's on the football field, his personality comes out. His love for the game, his energy, his passion affect others who may not be that same personality on the field." Today, the Elliott/Gilman safety tandem has the makings to become the best in the country after combining for 162 tackles, 12 passes broken up, six interceptions and four forced fumbles in 2018. And beyond that? "Both guys are incredible leaders, just nat- ural leaders," Lea said. "Both have the abil- ity to be vocal and handle that as maturely and as well as any guys I've been around. "They engage their teammates at a very personal level, and it's really fun to be around." Lea and the entire Irish program are get- ting that, and then some, from this dynamic safety duo. "We've got to have a why," Elliott said in an impassioned speech to his teammates that was posted on Notre Dame's football Twitter account. "Why am I getting up at five or six in the morning? Why? It's to come in here and fight for our family, who is at home. I got their name on my back. Think about it like that." ✦ Despite being late to the Notre Dame football party after spending his freshman year (2016) playing at the U.S. Naval Academy and his sophomore season ineligible because of NCAA transfer rules, Fighting Irish senior Alohi Gilman began to realize the kind of attention his transfer would bring, positive and negative. While the Irish faithful celebrated the former when the roster added a gifted and proven starting safety last season to a depleted position group, Gilman also received a dose of the latter last December in an anonymous letter from a group of angry critics who took exception to his transfer by questioning Gilman's patriotism and academic record. The letter, namelessly signed by "six veterans and college football fans" and posted by Gilman in photo form on his Twitter account, was dated Dec. 30, one day after Notre Dame lost 30-3 to Clemson in the Cotton Bowl Classic. "We must express utter contempt for you and your educational and career decisions over the past couple of year," is how the grammatically challenged let - ter begins before it takes a nasty turn. "You spit on the flag and transfer because you believe you can make the NFL quicker. Much more talented players than you received their commission, served their country, and went to the NFL." Roger Staubach, a Naval Academy alumnus, the 1963 Heisman Trophy winner and a Hall of Fame NFL quarterback is the best example. Staubach spent two years serving in Vietnam after graduating from Navy in June 1965. Player urgency and earning power have drastically changed in the 48 years since Staubach became the full-time starter for the Dallas Cowboys, eight years after his college graduation, and Gilman faced a decision he still calls the toughest he has ever made. "I had to do what I felt was good for me and what I felt in my heart to do," he explained. By Gilman's own admission, NFL aspirations were the rooted reason for his trans - fer to Notre Dame. An intersection of unexpected circumstances and bad timing was another contributing factor. Convolutedly flip-flopping its guidelines, the U.S. Defense Department in 2016 relaxed a long-standing rule that required all military academy enrollees — includ - ing those interested in professional sports — to immediately serve five years of active duty upon graduation by adding a provision for student-athletes with special circumstances to indefinitely defer their service time. This deferment attracted Gilman to the Naval Academy because the school pro - vided a superb education and a path to follow his dream immediately after college instead of forfeiting those five important years of a possible professional career, which lasts an average of only 3.5 years for NFL players. In a blind siding about-face, the defense department less than a year later re - scinded its decision and reinstated the previous rule, which obligated Gilman to his five-year commitment post graduation, if he stayed at Navy. "I didn't feel like I was passionate about the service commitment, so I stepped away," Gilman explained, stressing that his first career choice after college is playing in the NFL. "The whole transfer process was tough. It was a big decision. "It was scary because you have a set future in the military." Gilman's tenuous transfer will forever remain part of his journey as a college football player. But with his ongoing success at Notre Dame and a promising professional football future ahead, his relocation decision looks to be as wise as it was difficult. "We didn't want to lose him because he's a really good kid, a good person," said Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo, who fought vigorously to keep Gilman from leaving his program. "Forget the football part, he's just a good person. "He did everything he is supposed to do. He was good in school. He was good on the military side, and he was one of our best football players." Gilman, who could return to Notre Dame for a fifth season in 2020, acknowledges that Niumatalolo's powerful persuasion — the player and coach hail from the same small town in Hawai'i — coupled with the camaraderie built among his teammates and classmates during the intense Naval regimen made this transfer process almost unbearable. "Coach [Niumatalolo] didn't think I was making the right decision," said Gilman, who as a freshman at Navy in 2016 finished second on the team with 76 tackles, logging 12 of those in a 28-27 upset win over Notre Dame. "It was hard for me to hear, but at the same time I had to do what I felt was good for me." — Todd D. Burlage A Difficult Decision Gilman played one season at Navy and then transferred to Notre Dame, where he had to sit out one season before taking the field last fall. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA

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