Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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because that unity council this year was a real strong mover. "He was that guy. Just things with off-field behavior and how they handle themselves, a lot of that is driven by Collinsworth. That's the kind of influ- ence he has. Personal conduct, the way kids do things, how they represent the university. That's really been a big push from him." When senior linebacker Joe Schmidt's season ended with an ankle injury Nov. 1, Notre Dame was left with plenty of underclassmen, but not enough leaders. "He certainly would have been a much more visible player for us this year in our defense," Kelly said. "We could have used his knowledge and leadership, no question. Especially when we lost Joe, he could have helped us a lot. The story would have been a big senior year, in my estimation." Collinsworth, whose father, Cris, is a former NFL wide receiver and cur- rent NBC broadcaster, said he never felt pressured to make a decision about returning to the field despite the injury. Even with the elder Collinsworth's ath- letic background, he has mostly stood back and allowed Austin to make his own decisions, including the one that landed the captain at Notre Dame. He often tells the story of Austin's official visit, when he had to restrain himself from asking Austin, "Are you crazy?" when the then-high school se- nior said the visit to South Bend was just "okay." "He didn't want to push me in one direction," Austin said. "He stayed out of the process, but [saying it was only 'okay'] was kind of a lie. I loved it when I first came here. I might've said it was okay talking about something specific, but I did love Notre Dame. "I visited and when we were leaving we sat at a restaurant and I said, 'I love it here. I'm staying.'" Last year, Collinsworth participated in Notre Dame's senior day, but he called it an unemotional afternoon, knowing that he would be invited back for a fifth season. He admitted his final senior day, against Louisville on Nov. 22, carried a lot more weight. "Last year I was like, 'I don't even know why I'm running out there to- day,'" Collinsworth said. "Last year there wasn't much emotion involved with it, but this year's [was] a little bit of a choke-up moment for me." Collinsworth has spun a bit of a happy ending to his Irish career by working his way back onto the field for the final stretch. He said he's constantly reminded by the motivation for his re- turn — his teammates. "I walked around to every one of the players and told them I love them and thanked them because they gave it their all," Collinsworth said of the postgame locker room scene after losing to Lou- isville. "I told them beforehand, 'You leave that soul on that field and there's no regrets.' They did and I love them for it." Although he has not determined his future plans yet — he has not made up his mind on an NFL push — he's grate- ful for what the past five years have brought him. "[I think about] just how lucky and blessed I was to be here for five years," he said. "It's the greatest fan base and the greatest university in the world and I'm blessed to be a part of it." ✦