Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE L eave it to Joe Schmidt to put team pursuits ahead of personal misery, practically right up to the minute he went in for season-ending surgery to repair a broken and dislocated ankle. The senior middle linebacker, and heartbeat of the Irish defense, was in- jured in the third quarter against Navy Nov. 1 and spent his time before sur- gery putting together a short to-do list, none of which involved feeling sorry for himself. 1. Let his parents know the severity of the injury. 2. Get his instructions and specifics for his operation. 3. Start working with his on-field replacement at Mike linebacker, fresh- man Nyles Morgan. Check, check and check. "Those are the three things on his mind," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said rather matter of factly. "That's just Joe." As the team's leading tackler and the quarterback of the defense, Schmidt's production and presence will be desperately missed on the field. But through a willingness to stay involved in practice and to make his understudy better, Schmidt will still help the Irish the rest of this season and beyond. The situation with Schmidt help- ing Morgan is almost identical to last year when selfless team leader Danny Spond was lost for the season with chronic migraine headaches. Spond went from starting drop linebacker to pseudo coach in charge of develop- ing freshman linebacker Jaylon Smith, who became an unexpected starter at Spond's former position. The difference is that Spond's career was over, while Schmidt will return in No Ordinary Joe Senior Joe Schmidt is willing to help freshman Nyles Morgan be the best player he can be the rest of this season, even though it could result in him losing his starting job at Mike linebacker next year. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA