BY ANDREW OWENS
F
ive years ago, Joe Schmidt begged Notre Dame for a spot
on its football team.
Now, he's an Irish captain.
While completing an impressive career as a senior at Mater
Dei High School in Orange, Calif., Schmidt earned scholarship
offers from Cincinnati and Air Force. Although he put some
thought into a future military career, he wanted to go Notre
Dame, but a scholarship offer did not come from the Irish.
That didn't matter to Schmidt, who badgered head coach
Brian Kelly and assistant Mike Denbrock — who then han-
dled California recruiting — for a spot on the team as a walk-
on.
Not An
AVERAGE JOE
From walk-on to starter to captain,
Joe Schmidt added another chapter
to his story at Notre Dame this fall
Kelly reminisced about the situation
after announcing Schmidt as one of
five team captains prior to the start
of the season. With Schmidt being a
potential walk-on addition to the pro-
gram, Notre Dame had to comply with
NCAA regulations about limited con-
tact with the linebacker. Otherwise,
playing Schmidt at any point during
his freshman season would have re-
sulted in him being added to the schol-
arship roster.
"We had to kind of not recruit him,"
Kelly said. "It was like, 'Joe, we can't
call you.' He said, 'Why aren't you
calling me? I want to come to Notre
