Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BY DAN MURPHY I rish safety Harrison Smith was the first player to enter the room. He settled into a plush, blue chair in the fourth row of the large au- ditorium used for player meetings and press conferences still wearing his practice uniform — ankles taped, cleats laced up, shoulder pads still strapped tightly to his chest. On the final day of media interviews before the end of Notre Dame's regular season, the fifth-year senior patiently fielded questions that ranged from the keys to stopping Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck to the seating arrange- ments at his Thanksgiving dinner. Teammates shuffled in and out wearing blue and gold sweats or jeans and polo shirts. When they had all left Smith was still in his seat talking to reporters, fiddling with the gloves still on his hands and the scarred gold helmet at his feet. This is nothing new. Since taking over as the team's lone captain last December, Smith has served as a constant image of a Notre Dame football player. He is the blue- print of the type of player Irish head coach Brian Kelly wants in his pro- gram in South Bend. "He's the kind of guy that you can model as to what your program should look like because of the way he handles himself all the time," Kelly said. "Whatever we've asked him to do, on the field, off the field, he's been there. He's been a great teammate. He's been a great leader and captain, and he's been a darned good football player." Smith has always found it easier to talk through his pads. They have spo- ken for him during most of his col- legiate career. Even in meeting rooms with the Irish secondary, Smith is not a player who voices his opinions often. The laconic leader had to overcome his natural fear of public speaking this season as the team's front man. "He can go out in front of 80,000 people and he's fine, but if you have him say a speech in front of his team- mates he's a jittery mess," safeties coach Chuck Martin said. The new role as the team's mouth- piece did not come easily, and Smith still chooses his spots carefully. But when Notre Dame needed a strong voice in the locker room the captain delivered. Like when he rallied the troops after a gut-wrenching 0-2 start to the year. Or after divisive com- 14 DECEMBER 2011 ments left team chemistry balancing on a twig following a loss to Southern California. Smith gathered information and ad- dressed his teammates to expedite the healing process. Those words carried a lot of weight. As defensive coordi- nator Bob Diaco put it, Smith quietly became the team's E.F. Hutton. "You just have to know exactly what you're doing every time because when I make a call or if I speak up, then people are going to listen, so it better be right," Smith said. Poster CHILD playing without him patrolling the back of the defense, and they pep- per him with questions throughout the week in the film room and on the practice field. "I ask him about 400 questions a day," said sophomore Austin Collin- sworth, who converted to defensive back at the start of the season. "Just little nitpicky stuff, and he's always helped me. He's always been great to me." Smith has been there before. As a junior in 2009, he bounced back and forth between safety and outside line- backer and looked lost at both spots. The confusion rendered his natural football instincts and his athleticism useless. He became Public Enemy No. 1 on an Irish team that was once again failing to live up to expectations. When Kelly and his staff arrived Harrison Smith has set a good example and a high bar as a team captain He is rarely wrong. Missed assign- ments and momentary lapses of focus don't go unpunished in the secondary. When a safety makes a mistake it usu- ally results in a big play or points for the opposing team, and you can count on one hand the number of times Smith has been burned during the last two years. His stretch of five interceptions in the last four games of 2010 (notably three against Miami in the Sun Bowl) led to several preseason All-America mentions this year. He hasn't disap- pointed. Entering the season finale, the strong safety led the team with nine pass breakups and his 80 tackles were second only to junior linebacker Manti Te'o. More importantly, Smith has served as the defense's "Ask Jeeves" on and off the field. When Maryland ran a wrinkle the team had never seen be- fore in the first quarter earlier this month, Smith figured out a solution before the coaches had a chance to talk to the team. His improvised ad- justment was exactly what they were planning to tell the players to do. Teammates say that can't imagine that December, they were told that Smith was a placeholder who needed to be replaced. The coaches were pleasantly surprised when they got a chance to see him in action. "It was probably five days into the first spring, and I told him, 'You're going to be a high NFL draft choice or I know nothing about football,' " Martin said. At the time Smith was more con- cerned about whether or not he would keep his starting spot under the new regime. It turns out Martin does know a thing or two about football. Smith was one tackle away from tying Tom Zbikowski for the most career tackles by a Notre Dame defensive back head- ing into the game against Stanford with 299. He was also only six pass breakups shy of tying 1972 graduate Clarence Ellis for that school record, too. NFL scouts have noticed. Most draft projections currently have Smith as the third- or fourth-best safety pros- pect in the country. The strong performances on the field helped Smith step into a role as a team leader and set an example that Kelly and his staff plan to use for a long time with their football players. That initial shot of confidence was all the captain needed to feel com- fortable in his pads again. It's easy to see why he never wants to take them off. ✦ Entering the season finale, Smith led the team with nine pass breakups, and his 80 tackles were second only to junior linebacker Manti Te'o. PHOTO BY AARON SUOZZI BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED