Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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4 NOV. 23, 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED E very wide-eyed and hopeful freshman ready to play foot- ball at Notre Dame comes to campus with the same three- pillared plan: graduate, win a national championship and play in the NFL. As a member of Notre Dame's 1988 national championship team, current Fighting Irish cor- nerbacks coach Todd Lyght did it. He graduated and was drafted in the first round in 1991, then enjoyed a terrific 12-year profes- sional career. Lyght even added a fourth pillar when he won a Su- per Bowl title with the St. Louis Rams in 1999. Offensive linemen Tim Grun- hard, a member of Notre Dame's 1990 graduating class, is another. Grunhard, the father of current junior Fighting Irish center Co- lin Grunhard, was a mainstay on that 1988 national championship team before spending 11 seasons as one of the best offensive line- men ever to play for the Kansas City Chiefs. Today, the elder Grunhard is using his Notre Dame degree as a successful business inves- tor and a popular football analyst on Sports Radio 810 WHB in Kansas City, Mo. "It makes me immensely proud," Grunhard said when asked about his time during and after Notre Dame. "What the school meant to me and what it has enabled me to accomplish is hard to put into words." Much has changed since then. When Grunhard was in college, incoming freshmen wouldn't arrive on campus until late in the summer when fall training camp was set to begin. But in a new age of college football where no advantage is too small and no sacrifice too great to reach pro- gram prominence, summer school enrollment became mandatory in 2005 for all incoming Notre Dame football freshmen — and now a growing number of players arriving well before that. Among the 22 members of Notre Dame's 2019 recruiting class (the cur- rent freshmen), a record 10 enrolled last spring to get a head start on foot- ball and coursework. And so far, at least eight of the 17-member recruiting class of 2020 (high school seniors), will be on cam- pus after winter break, juggling a full academic schedule with their spring football workouts. The freshmen who can handle and follow the academic load upon their enrollment are provided a three-and- a-half-year December graduation option instead of waiting until the following May to earn their degree under a traditional four-year plan. Undergraduate Fighting Irish play- ers generally take at least two classes (six credits) in summer school, and at least four classes (12 credits) dur- ing the traditional spring and fall se- mesters, all while moonlighting as football players. Because these student-athletes will accumulate at least 18 credits dur- ing the summer school sessions of their freshman, sophomore and ju- nior years, they can add a fifth course during the spring and fall semes- ters to the four-class requirement and open a path to a December graduation after three and a half years. With a full-time course load upon their January arrival, the early spring semester enrollees enjoy an even heftier head start before their freshman fall semes- ter even begins. "It starts to add up," Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly said. "You can figure out the numbers, which can put you in a position where you're graduating a lot sooner." And while the accelerated program was never easy, senior wide receiver Chase Claypool is a prime example of how the benefits can far outweigh the sacrifice. "You grind through it," Clay- pool said. "It's worth it." Claypool graduates in Decem- ber with a degree in management consulting. Then he can focus his full attention the following four months on training for the 2020 NFL Draft. Under the mainly four-year graduation plan from the 1990s, Lyght and Grunhard were able to wait a little longer toward degree day while still joining the NFL. Today's accelerated course plan doesn't fit every player. But for those who are willing and able to follow it, academic flexibility and professional opportunity await. "It's a big jump start," said junior tight end Cole Kmet, who will gradu- ate under the accelerated plan in De- cember 2020, then can immediately begin his professional prep for the 2021 NFL Draft that April. "You're not coming here just to play football — you come here for the school portion," Kelly explained. "That is a big deal to the guys, they work hard at it, and that's why they are able to graduate in three-and-a- half years." ✦ Not Easy For All, But Worth It For Some UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com Senior wide receiver Chase Claypool will graduate this December and then begin training for the 2020 NFL Draft. PHOTO BY ANDRIS VISOCKIS