Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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one-year anniversary and college grad- uation. "It's definitely been a busy semester," the running back said, comfortably let- ting his ringed hand hang in view. "As far as free time goes, a lot of that, a ma- jority of it, almost all of it is spent with my wife. It may not be much, but that's where it is right now." His teammates worry about balanc- ing schoolwork with football respon- sibilities and finding time for social lives on the side. McDaniel balances schoolwork with his personal football responsibilities as well as captain du- ties while doing his best to be a loving husband preparing for his first child. Pick a cliché about multiple duties, and it fits to McDaniel. His plate is filled. He has to juggle a lot. He wears many hats. Fortunately, he knows and antici- pated as much. "Obviously, we come here to get our degree," he said. "That's one thing that you're extremely intentional about. Me being intentional the last three years has allowed me to set this semester up where I can be intentional with this semester as well as my football and making sure that I'm doing everything I need to do to be the best player that I can be as well as a leader on the football team. "Also, to be a husband to my wife. I feel like all of those things are com- ing in place. Sometimes it's difficult to juggle it all. We're not always perfect, and I'm still trying to figure it out." McDaniel's past three years of prepa- ration will allow him to finish his un- dergraduate degree with online courses in the spring. He does still have NFL aspirations, after all. But before then, Notre Dame has a title dream to chase, with McDaniel helping lead the offense alongside senior quarterback Everett Golson. A week earlier, the chaos that sur- rounded college football — five of the top eight teams in the country fell in upsets — led to many quotes about the need for focus due to the parity in col- lege football. McDaniel was well aware of the upsets and he'd tell you he was focused long before them, so he did not need to see them. That's fortunate, be- cause he didn't. "After the games on Saturday, some- times I'll come back and watch football," he said. "I know my parents usually are, some of my family that are in town. "I just turn it off and spend time with my wife. I see all the results the next day. I couldn't honestly care less about all that stuff right now, because if we take care of business, then we're going to be where we need to be at the end of the season. That's all we can do. I'm going to control what we can control. Everything else will take care of itself." McDaniel will be able to control only so much for so much longer. Soon, his firstborn will dictate his sleep patterns. Already, a wife alters his football view- ing. But for now, McDaniel can still influence matters on the football field, "I FEEL LIKE ALL OF THOSE THINGS ARE COMING IN PLACE. SOMETIMES IT'S DIFFICULT TO JUGGLE IT ALL. WE'RE NOT ALWAYS PERFECT, AND I'M STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT." MCDANIEL ON BALANCING SCHOOL, FOOTBALL AND HIS HOME LIFE