Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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84 MARCH 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED LINEBACKERS COACH CLARK LEA New Notre Dame linebackers coach Clark Lea began his college career as a baseball player BY MATT JONES C lark Lea had dreams of be- coming a professional baseball player. He wound up becom- ing a fullback in the Southeast- ern Conference instead. That change shaped Notre Dame's new linebackers coach and taught him lessons he's hoping to impart on the Irish players. "Football's always been important to me," Lea said. "The men that shaped me the most in my life outside of my dad and other family members were my coaches." Lea, 35, joins new defensive coordina- tor Mike Elko's staff with the Irish. The two coached together at Bowling Green in 2012 and last season at Wake Forest. Lea was instrumental in the development of Demon Deacons star linebacker Marquel Lee, an All-Atlantic Coast Confer- ence second-team pick in 2016 who recorded a career-best 105 tackles while also posting a team-leading 20 tackles for loss. Over his 11-year career, Lea has held full-time roles at South Dakota State (2007-08), UCLA (2010-11), Bowling Green (2012), Syracuse (2013-15) and Wake Forest. Already, Lea sees Notre Dame senior linebacker Nyles Morgan — the team's leading tackler in 2016 — as someone extremely eager to learn the new defensive system. "Nyles has made himself available and beat down the door to sit down," Lea said. "I've talked more football with him than anybody else." Lea's path to Notre Dame is far from ordinary. After playing football and baseball at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Lea began his college career in 2001 playing baseball, first at Birmingham Southern and then Belmont. Lea didn't have much success at Belmont, playing in just five games and recording two hits in 2002. But during an intramural flag football game while with the Bruins, Lea discovered he still had a passion for football. "My approach in baseball was a little bit like a football player, and that doesn't always lend itself to positive re- sults," Lea said. "I was playing in an intramural flag football league, and it felt so natural. "With all the struggles I was having on the baseball dia- mond, when I was out throwing and catching the ball and playing defense, it felt like home. "I'm not naive enough to think that being good in intramurals means you can play in the SEC, but I knew that there was enough there that I could work hard enough and earn my keep." Through a connection with a friend on the Vanderbilt football team and a previous meeting with head coach Bobby Johnson — who lightly recruited him to Furman out of high school — Lea trans- ferred to Vanderbilt in 2002, where he walked on and eventually earned a schol- arship as a fullback on the football team. He said he transformed his body in the weight room under the direction of strength and conditioning coach John Sisk, bulking up to play fullback in the physical SEC. At 6-0, 230 pounds, Lea saw action on special teams and offense in his first year on campus. Lea took the field on the kick return unit against No. 12 Alabama, and was directed by Johnson not to take a step back and catch the ball if it came his way. Lea disobeyed his coach twice, returning two kicks with some success. "He met me about halfway on the field and absolutely reamed me that second time," Lea said. "I can tell you now I had two returns for 34 yards and a 17-yard average in my career. I'm pretty proud of that." His second most memorable moment from that year was the season finale against in-state rival Tennessee in Nash- ville. Lea was called into action at fullback early in the game, and vividly remembers the feeling of a big block he deliv- ered on a Volunteers linebacker. "I felt for the first time on the collegiate level what it meant to impose your will on the opponent," Lea said. "It was ad- dictive. I got under his pads and he ended up on his back. That was a moment that to this day I can still remember what that felt like." Lea hit the recruiting trail hard in his first few weeks at Notre Dame, touching base with the team's linebacker sign- ees David Adams and Drew White while assisting on late addition Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, whom he recruited while still at Wake Forest. "He's already done a really fine job in the recruiting ef- forts," head coach Brian Kelly said of Lea, the second-young- est assistant on staff, behind only 24-year-old quarterbacks coach Tom Rees. "He has built great relationships early on that have come to fruition for us in recruiting. I'm really pleased to add Clark to our linebackers position." A defensive turnaround in 2017 is the first objective. "These guys are so eager to win," Lea said. "They're ready to follow." ✦ Lea worked with defensive coordinator Mike Elko at Bowling Green in 2012 and at Wake Forest in 2016. PHOTO COURTESY COREY BODDEN FINDING HIS CALLING