Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/204831
raindrops from the hood of a recently waxed car. His confidence and shortterm memory are important traits to playing at one of football's most vulnerable and exposed positions. As much as his personality helped him last season, it held him back from getting to the next level at the start of his sophomore year. Russell needed a few scratches in his Teflon demeanor for the lessons in front of him to fully stick. "The struggle really helped me," he said. "I really did need to struggle in order to see where I was. I was thinking I was really at a level where I really wasn't." Cooks has said in the past that all cornerbacks need to be burnt a few times for motivation. Russell's struggle came against Michigan in Septem- ber. He was one of four players who couldn't drag Jeremy Gallon to the ground on a 61-yard catch and run in the first quarter. He later extended a big Wolverines drive with a pass interference penalty. The next day Cooks told Russell, who now already has 22 career starts under his belt, that he had the potential to be an NFL Draft pick after his junior year. It was a comment that stuck with the sophomore, a needed confidence boost after a rough night and a final push he needed to grow from an athlete to a cornerback. "I don't want to leave early, but I thought about it just to have that opportunity a year from now. I've got a chance, I was like, 'Whoa that's coming on me quick.' … Now I treat it as my job. I go to work." ✦