Blue and Gold Illustrated

UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE about his relationship with Denson. A younger demographic knows Den- son as the rookie Irish running backs coach. An older generation remembers Denson as the program's all-time lead- ing rusher. Prosise knows him as both. With 4,318 rushing yards, Denson has gained more than anyone in Notre Dame. And with 43 career rushing touchdowns, Denson also ranks second all time behind only Allen Pinkett (49). But yardage and touchdowns aside, Denson remains God-fearing, gracious and grounded in life and on the job, making him the perfect mentor for Pro- sise and the rest of this position group. "I was so humbled when I got here because so many of the guys knew who I was, and I'm old," said Denson, 38, a 1999 Notre Dame graduate. "I went through this place a long time ago." What's most interesting to this re- markable ascent and arrival for Prosise at Notre Dame is that it started with a basketball dunk, not a football play. In an effort to showcase his amazing athletic abilities to Notre Dame and other football programs for recruiting purposes, the 6-1 Prosise included a clip on his high school highlight video reel from his days at Woodberry For- est in Petersburg, Va., of a high-flying Michael Jordan-esque dunk from just inside the free throw line. Even Brian Kelly acknowledged that "the dunk" was a selling point, though the Notre Dame head coach couldn't have imagined that a defensive recruit, turned slot receiver, turned running back would become one of the most surprising stories in the nation. "It was him dunking a basketball at his high school, and I saw this athlete," Kelly said of his three-star football re- cruit that barely made the list of top 400 players in the country. "I said, 'I don't know where he's going to play, but we've got to take him. We've just got to find a place for him to play.'" It took awhile, but Kelly has indeed found Prosise a place to play, in no small part because of the Denson's guidance. "Autry Denson does a great job," Kelly said. "He's able to have con- versations about the position that are real. He's played the position, so he can really impact [Prosise] with a lot of knowledge. That's been very helpful in his learning curve." And for Prosise, that single picture of Denson reminds him during every meeting of what it takes to be Irish. "When you walk in that room and see Coach Denson on the wall, and he's in there coaching, too, you definitely want to be great," Prosise said. Actually for Denson, who coaches with the same conviction and commit- ment with which he played, "great" isn't good enough. "I want guys that want to be legend- ary," Denson said. "That means you really want to give maximum effort in everything you do, so that when you leave Notre Dame you can be legend- ary. You want to be the best at every- thing you do." And Prosise is well on his way. ✦ Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com

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