Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME CHRIS SALVI EARNS A SCHOLARSHIP FORMER WALK-ON fall, Irish senior Chris Salvi is back for his final season — and this one will be on the house. Head coach Brian Kelly informed the special teams standout After joining Notre Dame's walk-on turned celebrity club last that he earned a full scholarship in front of his teammates following a grueling early morning workout known as "Camp Kelly" in late February. The news kicked off a memorable week for Salvi, which ended eight days later in a championship box- ing match. Kelly said Salvi's toughness turned him into a major contributor last season and illustrates the importance of Notre Dame's walk-on program. "Any program that's worth its salt needs an outstanding PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND bat. First of all, half the free world can't stand you walking in because you're at the place. And then about half the [people] at the place can't stand you. There's plenty of people at Notre Dame who could care less about ever seeing me, or me seeing them." Former Irish head coach Charlie Weis in an interview with Sporting News "That university, you're a good guy or you're a bad guy right off the THEY SAID IT evant. Notre Dame is relevant whether they win or lose. If they go another 20 years without winning a national title … I don't think they ever become irrelevant, I just don't think they will. Even when they're losing they're a story." — Beano Cook, ESPN "Notre Dame is still Notre Dame. A lot of people at ESPN say Notre Dame is irrel- get into the club. Its record barely mattered because of its broad appeal and fan fol- lowing. … [The BCS committee] must know that Notre Dame football is mediocre, has been for a while. Strip away the label and the Irish are Northern Illinois — which is an insult to Northern Illinois. In the last decade, the Huskies are better than the Irish by seven wins." — Dennis Dodds, CBSSports.com "For decades, N.D. has been the hot blonde butting ahead in the velvet rope line to was a match made in heaven. …When I came on my recruiting visit, I remember pray- ing and receiving a revelation that this is where I need to be, and where I can make a difference, and really become a great player, a great person and a great student. I feel even more strongly that way now." — Notre Dame safety Chris Badger, who returned from a two-year Mormon mission in Ecuador on March 2, in an interview with the South Bend Tribune "The one thing that didn't change while I was gone was my feeling that Notre Dame [head coach Mike Brey] did his thing. The thing about Brey is he's always known who he is. He's never tried to be somebody he's not. He's always waited for the right op- portunities. This is just a great example of a perfect fit of a coach and a school and a community." — CBS college basketball analyst and Sports Illustrated writer Seth Davis in an interview with UND.com "When [senior Tim Abromaitis] went out, we all just kind of flushed them. Then walk-on program," Kelly said. "Chris has proven himself in our program. He was one of our better special teams players last year. He's done everything we asked him to do in represent- ing our program, and we're fortunate and happy that we're able to award him a scholarship. I think it says a lot about our walk-ons." Salvi transferred to Notre Dame after playing for the Butler University football team as a freshman. The Lake Forest, Ill., na- tive has a strong family lineage at Notre Dame and decided to try to chase down his dream of playing for the Irish. He left But- ler with no guarantees of a spot on the Irish roster, but worked his way on to the field three games into Kelly's first year. Last season, Salvi made 10 tackles on special teams and con- tributed several key blocks, including one that flattened two Michigan State defenders to spring freshman George Atkinson III on an 89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. The coaching staff picked Salvi to be the team's game-day captain in a 56-14 win over Navy in late October. "It feels good to have a tangible reward, I guess you could call it, for my production and hard work for the team," he said of his scholarship. Salvi focused his hard work on another team this semester as well. He joined the men's boxing club and fought in the annual amateur tournament known as the Bengal Bouts. One week after learning that he wouldn't have to pay for his final semes- ter of college, Salvi defeated senior Adrian Moreno to win the 188-pound division in a split decision. For the first time since coming to Notre Dame, the 5-10 Salvi wasn't an underdog in the size or speed categories. He controlled the first two rounds, but Moreno pushed him to the edge in the third and final round to make for a dramatic finish. "That was probably the single hardest physical activity I've ever done in one go-around," Salvi said. "I was completely exhausted. I was ready to fall over and I really had to dig down deep to keep fighting back." It was an exhausting two months for Salvi, who worked out State there and wander into a regional final for the first time since losing to Magic Johnson and Michigan State in 1979. On ESPN, analyst-jester-homer Digger Phelps sticks matching green highlighters in his ears and dances a jig. The run ends with a loss to Kentucky, but Gunner Kiel's spring practice debut takes everyone's mind off it." — Yahoo!'s Pat Forde on the best-case scenario for Notre Dame prior to the start of the 2012 NCAA Tournament "Benefitting from a bracket collapse, the Fighting Irish beat interloper South Dakota 12 APRIL 2012 with the football team each morning and then went to boxing practice in the afternoon. He trained for the bouts with his older brother Brian, a law student who won a Bengal Bouts title last spring. Salvi's attention flipped fully back to football in March to gear up for spring practice. He said that he expects his role to expand in his final year with the Irish. He expects to be the team's top contributor on special teams and be available to help out when needed in the Irish secondary that has some gaps to fill this fall. — Dan Murphy BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED