Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/219972
Under the Dome After December surgery and clearance from the medical staff, Hegarty partook in all 15 spring practices and, just a year after his major setback, helped the Irish to a 23-13 victory over BYU while playing the final three quarters in place of Martin. Head coach Brian Kelly thought Hegarty acquitted himself well against BYU and attributed the transition to spending two years of football purgatory on the scout team, practicing against star nose guard Louis Nix III and "getting his brains beat in." Getting through that experience while learning how to play center — which he did not do in high school — made the BYU game more of a "snap," be it conventional or shotgun. "He's been able to take all and he's been able to develop through that," Kelly said. "When the wind was 30 miles an hour and there was snow blowing around and we were on the 4-yard line and he was on the shotgun snapping, all of that worked for him. "He's a very confident young man and he believed that he's a BCS football player — because with the kind of physical setback that he had, if he didn't believe in himself, I don't think he would have been able to come back," Kelly said. Backing up Hegarty will be junior guard Connor Hanratty, who started at left guard against Navy when Chris Watt was injured and also rotated with freshman Steve Elmer at right guard after Christian Lombard was lost for the year in late October because of back surgery. Interestingly, Martin, Hegarty, Hanratty and even sophomore Mark Harrell, a high school tight end, did not play center as high school seniors, but they have made the adjustments necessary there under the tutelage of secondy e a r o ff e n s i v e l i n e coach Harry Hiestand. Kelly said the center position requires great intellect because of different calls that have to be made, but even more important is a calm demeanor. "You've got somebody on you [a nose guard] and you've got to snap the ball," Kelly said. "You've got to be able to listen to cadence and count — there's a lot going on. You cannot be a high-strung guy in there. "Just picking an Olineman that's a road grader and physical, that's not enough. You have to really drill down deeper when you're looking for a center in the recruiting process. That requires a lot more work."