Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com APRIL 2021 9 UNDER THE DOME lades, safety Zeke Motta was named Defensive MVP (Te'o was named Team MVP) for controlling/leading the inexperienced secondary, and Stephon Tuitt with his 12 sacks be- came the first Notre Dame sopho- more defensive lineman to earn first- or second-team All-America notice. Yet nobody was more valuable in that dominance during the 12-0 regular season than Nix's work in the middle. He didn't merely occupy blockers to help free up stalwart- forces such as Te'o and Tuitt, but he was a playmaker in his own right at a position where stats don't tell the full story. Once again Nix paced the line in tackles (50), was third in stops be- hind the line of scrimmage (7.5) and was first in passes broken up (five). The Notre Dame offense that year av- eraged merely 25.8 points per game, easily the lowest through Kelly's 11 seasons, but was carried by an Irish defense that allowed a paltry 10.3 points per contest. Yet where Nix was just as valued was with a personality and efferves- cence as big as his frame. He became Our life plan community for those over the age of 62, provides residents with exceptional personalized services, a secure atmosphere and carefree luxury lifestyle – while making it possible to ease into further healthcare levels as needs change throughout retirement years. Powerful Personality It takes all kinds of personalities to comprise powerful team chemistry: grizzled veterans, hungry youth, serious leaders to maintain focus, cocky, on-the-edge personalities who can back it up, and even comic relief to keep the program loose. Louis Nix III was an amalgamation of all of them. After a 32-31 record from 2007-11, with at least five losses each season, head coach Brian Kelly noted how his third season in 2012 — the Cinderella 12-0 regular season and first No. 1 ranking in 19 years — was borne of powerful personalities such as Nix. "He cut a lot of the tension in the program," Kelly recalled. "When I got on board, there was a big weight on Notre Dame's shoulders relative to winning. Louis took a lot off of the shoulders of the play- ers … Louis' personality — plus some really good football players — the way he interacted with people … had a lot to do with transforming the program." It was somewhat akin to legendary nose tackle Chris Zorich from Chicago Vocational School in the late 1980s. "Louis kind of began to unravel that myth that you needed to go to a profile school. No, you didn't," Kelly emphasized. "What you needed was the want and the desire not only to prove you were capable, but that you wanted something more — and he did. He came here with the purpose of wanting some- thing more: a degree from Notre Dame and wanting to prove to a lot of people that somebody could come out of a non-profile school, or just the inner-city public school, and he made that statement. "… We've been able to see more and more players come through our program that are not part of those profile schools and do exceedingly well here. I think Louis began to open that pathway for many of the student-athletes." After Nix was shot last December, there was regular communication via text messages from the football office and Nix. "He seemed to be in good spirits," Kelly said. "We weren't getting any negative reports in terms of where he was. We weren't tipped off to anything that gave us a sense that he was in a bad place. "We're certainly on guard for things of that nature and there's a pretty strong network out there if we felt like there was something, and we certainly would have reached out." — Lou Somogyi