Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/204831
W By Lou Somogyi hen Notre Dame's "All-Decade" team from 2010‑19 is assembled, current two-time captain and four-year starting left tackle Zack Martin might be heralded as the best offensive lineman from that era. However, chances are looking pretty good that Martin — who was exclusively on the scout team as a 2009 freshman — will receive competition from curre n t f re s h m a n Steve Elmer. The only issue will be whether Elmer becomes more renowned as a guard or tackle. Seldom has a freshman achieved the rare off- and on-thefield double play the massive 6-5½, 317-pound Midland, Mich., native already has. How many true freshmen anywhere in the United States can say they have already made the Dean's List academically while now also lining up at three different positions, including starting right guard? As an early enrollee for the 2013 spring semester, Elmer took five classes, including statistics and microeconomics, and achieved a 3.8 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale (Elmer graduated high school with a 4.3 GPA on a weighted scale in honors courses). His roommate, freshman wideout Corey Robinson, also made the Dean's List. "It seems to come to him so easy — and I put in the work all day," Robinson said with a laugh. "The work input is so different it always frustrates me. … He's always [stressing] education and he wants to do really well in football. He puts the time in and is very successful." Elmer 's work ethic instantly drew the attention of second-year Irish offensive line coach Harry Hiestand, who has coached that position group, including in the NFL, for three decades. "We're in the film room [in August] correcting the right guard, and half of the room that doesn't have anything to do with guards isn't paying attention — [Elmer's] paying attention because that's just who he is," said Hiestand, noting that Elmer had played only right tackle throughout the spring. "He's just always engaged, he's alert and usually that doesn't happen to players until they're older. That's what is different about him as a youngster. "He's engaged in what's going on everywhere and the importance of how the whole thing works. That's the hardest thing to learn, that's what takes the Glue Guy Freshman Steve Elmer is already helping hold together the offensive line