Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1507383
18 SEPT. 16, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA B rad Taylor has hundreds and thousands of former players who could have come to mind when he heard a quote while watching the most recent rendi- tion of HBO's "Hard Knocks." He chose Notre Dame defen- sive back Thomas Harper. The head coach at Karns (Tenn.) High School — just outside of Knoxville — for seven seasons, Taylor had Harper for three. When Tay- lor heard New York Jets wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni say an undrafted free agent who made the Jets' 53-man roster "has a high 'give-a-s*** factor,'" he instantly thought of Harper. God gifted Harper with qualities of a "natural-born leader," declared so by Taylor's predecessor and Karns' athletics director for the final three years of Harper's high school career, Tobi Kilgore. But some traits, like caring, are learned. When you see others do it, it makes you want to do it yourself. That's how it was with Harper and his uncle, Michael T. Mozie Sr. Harper and his older brother, Devin, learned a lot from their mother's brother. From bas- ketball in the driveway to football and baseball in the yard, Uncle Mike put the Harper boys through the ringer — in a good way. Right up until May 2, 2020, the day he died of myeloma, cancer of the plasma cells. A day Thomas won't ever forget. " I t wa s h a rd ," Thomas told Blue & Gold Illustrated. "He was the life of the party. He was always happy and always had a smile. It hit us hard. It hit the whole family hard." When Uncle Mike died, a piece of the Harper boys' childhood went with him. But it didn't all disappear. The memories linger in perpetuity. The profound effect Uncle Mike had on the Harp- ers won't ever fade, so long as they keep tapping into it. They sure have. "My brother was very competitive," Alacia Harper, the brothers' mother and Uncle Mike's sister, told Blue & Gold Il- lustrated. "He'd do anything to win. He'd play hard. With him being that way, it just made Devin and Thomas even more competitive. They all want to win so bad. It rubbed off on them." It sure has. Thomas parlayed a successful four-year stay at Oklahoma State into a graduate season at the University of Notre Dame. Not bad for a 5-10, 195-pound de- fensive back who once thought his future was Division I basketball until his brother bluntly told him he was too short. That took some coming to terms for Thomas, and he didn't really achieve that until he Harper made his first Notre Dame start in the Irish's 56-3 win over Tennessee State Sept. 2. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER FAMILY FAMILY MATTERS MATTERS The memory of an uncle The memory of an uncle and being an uncle himself and being an uncle himself drives Notre Dame defensive drives Notre Dame defensive back Thomas Harper back Thomas Harper