Blue and Gold Illustrated

Oct. 15, 2012 Issue

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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T BY LOU SOMOGYI as "Special K," but he just as easily could be dubbed "Fast Forward." From the moment eammates refer to Notre Dame fresh- man cornerback KeiVarae Russell when Russell immedi- ately struck up a mile- a-minute introduction about how "we're gonna love it up there at Notre Dame." Goodness, Russell will Russell enters the in- terview room at Notre Dame, he is in fifth gear — and then enters overdrive. Tape record- ers will need to be re- wound several times just to catch every word he states in a rapid, enthu- siastic tone. "'K' is a funny dude," said his more laid-back classmate and nickel back Elijah Shumate. "The life of the team — the life of the freshman class. Always a smile … he's just a happy kid." Shumate first met Rus- even hug reporters he has built a relationship with in the past. It's little wonder that last May Russell was one of a handful of Everett EXTREMELY ATHLETIC. HE'S PICKED IT [PLAY- ING CORNERBACK] UP SO QUICKLY." HE'S SO CONFIDENT IN HIS ABILITY. HE'S "THERE'S ALWAYS A COUPLE OF KIDS THAT JUST HAVE IT. HE'S A GREAT KID. HEAD COACH BRIAN KELLY ON RUSSELL sell last January at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, with Everett, Wash., na- tive Russell on offense for the West and East Orange, N.J., resident Shumate on defense for the East. Oftentimes it's the citizens to win the May- or's Youth Achievement Award for having a positive influence on the community. It's also no surprise that he was the student body president at Mariner High School. "We knew ever since Jersey kids who are ste- reotyped as brash and talkative, but even Shu- mate was taken aback his freshman year that KeiVarae had such a bright future — not so much in athletics, but in life," said Russell's high school head coach John Ondriezek, who is in his 20th season at Mariner. "His goal is to make a difference. While you could see he was an out- standing athlete, what stood out more was his enthusiasm and cha- risma as a leader." One of Ondriezek's favorite recollections is how the high school's star athlete sat at the lunch table with the spe- cial needs students at Mariner. "What was nice is he did it on his own, and he does so many things when others aren't watching," Ondriezek said. "He cares about doing the right thing, and he cares about peo- ple." Mariner High special education teacher John McQuirk wrote in one letter nominating Rus- sell for one of numerous leadership awards about how, "I just wanted to shake his hand and thank him for his excel- lent example of citizen- ship." When Ondr iezek joined Russell on his of- ficial visit to Notre Dame last year, he quickly dis- covered his pupil and the school were made for each other. "The camaraderie at the school, valuing com-

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