Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1529460
16 NOV. 23, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY JACK SOBLE A s he watched Notre Dame's Week 1 win over Texas A&M, Kurt Hinish shed a tear. Hinish began the night stand- ing next to his brother, Donovan, outside the Kyle Field tunnel while Irish head coach Marcus Freeman hyped his team up. The two brothers, one former and one current Notre Dame defensive tackle, locked eyes and hugged each other before Donovan Hinish sprinted onto the field and yelled at nearby Aggie fans with ev- ery trash-talking bone in his body. "This is the little kid that grew up run- ning around the house in diapers, trying to stab everybody with forks," Kurt Hin- ish, now playing for the Houston Texans, told Blue & Gold Illustrated. "Now he's playing a huge SEC football game." Donovan Hinish made 5 tackles, in- cluding 2 defensive stops (tackles that result in a failure for the offense), that night. He helped the Irish escape Col- lege Station, Texas, with a 23-13 victory. From the sideline, Kurt Hinish saw his brother take on double teams, shed blocks and make plays in the backfield. It's not as sexy as rushing the passer, he explained, but it showed the strides Donovan Hinish had made from his sophomore to junior seasons. The pass rush came two months later, when Donovan Hinish picked up the first 2 solo sacks of his career against Florida State. On his second sack of the night, Hin- ish swept by redshirt freshman FSU left guard André Otto with a vicious right- handed chop. Freshman quarterback Luke Kromenhoek tried to duck under him, but Hinish engulfed him with both arms and swung him to the ground. The Hinishes aren't the same player, although both are below the proto- typical defensive line height require- ment at 6-foot-2. To paraphrase Kurt, a 296-pound nose tackle, he'll try to run through your face. Donovan, at 278, will also try to run through your face. But he can run around you, too. "He's gonna make you look silly," Kurt Hinish said. "He's extremely athletic. He's able to use finesse moves very well." What they do share, though, is a te- nacity about their games. A nastiness. As Donovan Hinish makes his first ca- reer start in Week 12 against Virginia, he'll always bring that to the table. "Coming in undersized, that's just the thing right there," Donovan said. "I'm going to try to break you." PROVING THEM WRONG The Irish are not in the habit of re- cruiting undersized nose tackles. The ones they do, though, make an impact. Graduate student Howard Cross III, whose ankle sprain opened the door for Hinish to start, is one of them. Listed at 6-foot-1, Cross is an All-American because he's as quick with his feet and violent with his hands as anyone in the country. Hinish appears to be another, and Notre Dame suspected he would be after its experience with his brother. "As you look at what Kurt did and the impact Kurt Hinish had on our de- fense, without hesitation, you say, 'Hey, Donnie might not be 6-3, 6-4, but we know what we're getting out of him,'" Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said. LEAVING A LEAVING A LEGACY LEGACY Like his brother Kurt, Donovan Hinish is on the Notre Dame defensive line to wreak havoc