Blue and Gold Illustrated

IRISH IN THE PROS a lot of obstacles," Brindza told report- ers. "They did a great job on it, and I'm here today. I look at what I did, to be able to overcome everything to be able to make my dream come true." Brindza — the all-time Notre Dame leader with 57 made field goals — im- pressed the NFL world with a stellar preseason at both kicker and punter in Detroit. However, the Lions already had starters cemented in those roles, so they traded him to Tampa Bay. In week two with the Buccaneers, Brindza made 4 of 5 field goal attempts — including a 55-yarder — in a 26-19 win over the New Orleans Saints and seems to be back to the clutch ways that represented most of his collegiate career. "One of the things that's always sep- arated Kyle is the fact that his inner drive [is so strong] — and I see kickers all the time that have as much talent and potential as Kyle does, but they don't see it fulfilled," said Brandon Kornblue, a kicking instructor that has mentored Brindza for several years. "Kyle's just one of those rare guys that takes his potential and actually has followed what I've recommended in terms of being consistent with keep- ing the technique the same and not trying to make things too complicated, but just trying to perfect what has worked." Despite his struggles down the stretch in South Bend, Brindza had an overall body of work that earned him an invitation to the NFL Combine. After the Music City Bowl win over LSU, Brindza returned to Kornblue to hit the reset button and get his mind cleared before his NFL Draft work- outs. What arguably caused the Novem- ber struggles for Brindza — or was at least a contributing factor — was Notre Dame's dreadful holding, which first cost the Irish against Stan- ford in October before becoming an even larger issue in November. Head coach Brian Kelly eventually replaced holder Hunter Smith with Malik Zaire, but the damage had been done, and Brindza did not recover until the bowl game. "That's not the only issue, and when he came down in January to do his combine training for two months with me there were some technical things we had to change that were off and were causing inconsistency with his field goals," Kornblue said."I've been saying it the past two years to anyone that will listen that the holding issue at Notre Dame has been very poor, and it's been an issue. And it's still an issue if you look at [freshman kicker Justin] Yoon now. "It's amazing to me that they can't get that fixed and find somebody to hold. It's not that difficult a thing to do, but it's so important." NFL NOTES Through Sept. 24 • After releasing running Jonas Gray (played at Notre Dame from 2008‑11) prior to the start of the regular season, the Miami Dolphins have signed him again and added him to the team's 53‑man roster. He spent training camp with the New England Patriots prior to his initial brief stint in Miami. • Quarterback Jimmy Clausen (2007‑09) will get his chance in Chicago with starter Jay Cutler sidelined

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