Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/561665
UNDER THE DOME Captains Of The Ship Earlier this spring, junior Malik Zaire admitted that potentially continuing a two-quarterback system with Everett Golson (now at Florida State) was not ideal. "At the end of the day, there's only one Captain Jack Sparrow of the offense," Zaire said of the fictional character from the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean." That doesn't mean there will be a lone captain of the ship for the 2015 Notre Dame football team. In fact, Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly has somewhat of a pleasant dilemma on his hands with almost too many captain candidates, including two returning from 2014: center Nick Martin and defensive lineman Sheldon Day. The team vote on captains was to take place Aug. 24, the day Blue & Gold Illustrated went to press. According to Kelly, Notre Dame's Faculty Board in Con- trol of Athletics has approved the selection of 10 players highly worthy of team captaincy. It reached a point where Kelly has become almost reluctant to officially name them once the names are submitted to the team. "The hesitancy is when you name a few, the other guys not necessarily feel slighted, but I don't want them to take a back seat either," Kelly said. "But we have a strong unity council as well. So I'm not in a hurry to name them … be- cause the group is running pretty good on their own right now. "For me not naming them is not one of indecision or that we don't have any. We have too many, more than anything else." Strong student-athlete leadership should not become an issue for the 2015 Fighting Irish. Fifth-year senior center Nick Martin served as a team cap- tain in 2014, and is one of several candidates for that role again this fall. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA