Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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"Sometimes you've got to work harder to get that young man to come to Notre Dame because he wants to go off on his own," Kelly said. While his kids were growing up, Joe Bars joked the family food budget was "more than a second mortgage." Three scholarship student-athletes in the fam- ily now provide a nest egg for travel expenses throughout the fall to "divide and conquer" with a family representa- tive — headlined by wife Sally doing all the planning — at each of the boys' game, when possible. "The best thing now is no late high school football games on Friday night," said Joe Bars, originally a Michigan resi- dent who moved his family to Nash- ville in 2003 to operate in real estate development before partnering with his brothers-in-law to start a family-run in- surance business. "Lauren has her vol- leyball match on Friday finished much earlier, and now we get about a four- hour head start on the driving trips for Saturday. The only thing we're out on is the Notre Dame trips to California." By the time Alex becomes an up- perclassmen, that too might be in the works. It's all part of the "raising of the Bars." ✦ FILM ANALYSIS Strengths Bars is very strong, powerful and tough … Arguably the most physical offensive lineman in the Irish 2014 class … Crushes defenders as a run blocker … Not an elite athlete as a lineman, but athletic enough to get to the second level and make an impact … Very polished compared to most his age … Finishes blocks with force. Areas For Improvement Needs to improve his quickness to be a left tackle … May be better suited for the right side based on athleticism and speed … A technician, but can be too mechanical at times … Aggressive nature is a plus, but occasionally misses blocks if he gets too aggressive.