Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/83107
Gentle Giant Louis Nix does things differently on the defensive line By Dan Murphy Junior Louis Nix might be the worst trash talker in college football. The 326-pound nose guard should be intimidating. His increasingly quick burst and growing stamina should make him a nightmare. He’s toppled opposing linemen like bowling pins during the first few weeks of the 2012 season. But then he picks them back up again. And gives them a hug. Nix does plenty of jawing throughout the course of a game. After a few minutes with the gregarious self-proclaimed teddy bear it’s hard to imagine him not striking up a conversation even in the passing seconds before and after a play. He’s far more likely, though, to dish out compliments than threats or ill will. “It’s not like I hate you or I hope you die or anything like that,” said Nix, who clearly isn’t in the habit of snapping off scathing insults in a moment’s notice. “Like last year against Stanford, I was complimenting Andrew Luck on how good he was.” Nix happily defended his excitement over hugging the future No. 1 pick after Notre Dame’s 28-14 loss in Palo Alto — “Have you hugged a first-round guy? See, I hugged a first-round guy. That feels good.” He called the Cardinal offensive line the nicest group of players he’s faced in his college career. It’s easy to be nice, of course, when you’re paving the way for 196 rushing yards in a winning effort. It’s easy, too, to twist Nix’s honest words into a portrait of a player who lacks a passion for the game. It’s easy, but it’s wrong. His stats speak for themselves. A year ago, Nix finished seventh on the team and first among defensive linemen with 45 tackles in his first season of college football. He was second to sack-machine Aaron Lynch in tackles for loss (4.5) along the defensive line. This year he started the season with seven tackles in his first two games and a pair of batted passes all from his spot as the run-clogging center of Notre Dame’s defensive foundation. Nix loves his teammates and he loves football. He also happens to love talented opponents, fans, his mother, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and just about anything else that crosses his path. Nix doesn’t have the stereotypical rabid-dog-chasing-raw-meat mentality of the biggest and baddest defensive linemen. He does things his own way. “He’s comfortable in his own skin. He’s going to be who he is,” said Deran Wiley, Nix’s former coach at Raines High School in Jacksonville, Fla. “He knows who he is, and he knows what he’s about. He’s very confident in his playing ability.” Refreshingly, football doesn’t define Nix. Irish head coach Brian Kelly calls him a “multi-faceted guy.” The film and television major says football is a priority near the top of his list, but not necessarily at the top. Nix sees himself in front of a camera someday. He already has a strong start with the eponymous YouTube hit “Chocolate News,” derived from his nickname Irish Chocolate. “I’m at Notre Dame now. I have a lot of things to think about,” he said. “I want to do something else with my life, not just football. If I get a chance to go to the NFL, play big time, get some money, I’m down with that. But I really want to go have a career somewhere.” Football has long been a means to an end. He didn’t want to suffer through the 6 a.m. workouts at Raines High before Wiley convinced him that they could be his ticket to college. Nix was a project, but Wiley, who played defensive back at the University of Louisville, knew he had a Division I prospect the first day he laid eyes on the quick and coordinated 260-pound high school freshman. Succeeding at Notre Dame was another struggle at the start. He had never left Florida before landing in South Bend. Homesickness, schoolwork and a lack of playing time pushed him to the brink of packing his bags and heading home. Nix and his coaches say those insecurities have passed now in his third year at school. “That’s the fun part of this business,” Kelly said. “When you see the maturation of those young guys turning into the young men they’re going to be.” It’s still not easy for Nix to pull his head off the pillow on the day of a game. His roommate and fellow nose guard Kona Schwenke kicks him out of bed on Saturday mornings in the fall. He sneaks in another quick nap after a breakfast of four bowls (five if he’s lucky) of his favorite cereal. He dreads game day up until the minute he steps inside the stadium. Then he flips his switch. The Irish offensive linemen who face the affable Nix in practice each day say they see how good he’s become at flipping that switch. He’s even been known to flash a little bit of a mean streak if pushed far enough. It cropped up once or twice during his four-tackle performance against Purdue, but subsided quickly. “I’m still the nice guy after that,” Nix said. “I’ll still help him up and give him a hug.”