Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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the Hoosier State's top prospect for the third consecutive season. Both sites consider him to be one of the 100 best prospects in the country this year. His climb in national acclaim came later than most. He got there with an inde- fatigable work ethic and a dedicated supporting cast. "I've been blessed with the oppor- tunity to go to Notre Dame. I've been blessed with all the rankings. I don't want to take any of it for granted," he said. "I want to keep working." *** Mike Carter first started to take an interest in Brent early in his sopho- more year. Brent was a regular in the weight room by then. Carter was an assistant coach for the football team who also organized its lifting program. The military veteran was happy to ar- range his schedule at his day job to make time to train with Brent when he saw the young receiver's dedication. In the winter, Carter and Brent moved one of their three daily work- outs to the football field so they could set up agility drills and run passing routes. The field was covered in snow on their first day outdoors, so they brought a shovel and cleared a path large enough to work. "He'll take everything we say, and he'll work on it 50 times in a row out there on the field," Carter said. "We wore out our football machine because I would throw him 200 balls a day, and then we'd run routes. He's all about perfection. He doesn't quit." Weekends were spent crisscrossing the Midwest in Carter 's van on the way to some camp or skills combine. He was still more than a year away from the flood of recognition and wanted to showcase his strength and precision against stiffer competition than the school's Class 2A schedule would provide in the fall. They drove to South Bend during the first weekend in July before Brent's