Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 11, 2017 19 BY LOU SOMOGYI W hen all was said and done about junior tight end Alizé Mack and his first two sea- sons at Notre Dame, more had been said than done. A reverse is anticipated hereafter. A first-team USA Today and Max- Preps.com high school All-American from superpower Las Vegas Bishop Gorman, Mack fit the prototype of "Tight End U.," which since 1974 has seen 11 players at that position either be a first- or second-round pick or Pro Bowl selection, if not both, and see numerous others pick up NFL paychecks. This spring Mack was described by Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly as "virtually uncoverable." Meanwhile, Scott Wright of Draft- Countdown.com already has as- sessed that outside of offensive line- men Mike McGlinchey and Quenton Nelson, the third-year player Mack might be Notre Dame's best current NFL prospect. "He's got first-round type talent," Wright said. "He's one of the most physically talented tight ends in the country, and now it's just up to him to put it all together on the field." Yet for all the star rankings, re- v i e w s a n d a n a l y s i s , t h e 6 - 5 , 251-pound Mack has caught only 13 passes for 190 yards and no scores through two years, and all of those numbers were posted as a 2015 freshman. To reach his potential, Mack first had to endure a year of purgatory as a sophomore after getting declared academically ineligible. He was al- lowed to practice on the scout team, but the disconnection from not being able to travel or suit up for games humbled him immensely. "That time you have off you use to think," a reflective Mack said this August. "I had a lot of time to my- self. One of the things Coach Kelly first told me was, 'This is either go- ing to be the best thing to happen to you or the worst.' I took that and ran with it, and I believe that it will definitely be the best thing to ever happen. "There are a lot of careless deci- sions I made, on and off the field. As a person, I needed to grow up a lot. … That was something I kept in my mind every day, because I under- stood that I could have easily been a guy who fell off. "But I came here for a reason. I believe I'm the best at what I do, and I so I have to go out there and show it." Purgatory didn't quite come to an end when he began his junior season. A hamstring injury during practice Aug. 5 shelved Mack for about two weeks. The Irish coach- ing staff also proceeded with cau- tion because Mack's work volume numbers, measured by the Global Positioning System (GPS) Notre Dame utilizes, "are off the charts," per Kelly, which is why monitoring his rest is important. "He's very fidgety, he's high strung, so his GPS numbers top out at some of the highest we've ever seen," Kelly said. "A walk-through for him is like a full sweat, so we re- ally have to pace him down. "We treat him a little bit different from everybody else." Mack, too, is taking a different ap- proach to academics and football. "I'm taking advantage of tutors," he said of his academic and personal rebirth. "Studying. Not procrastinat- ing. Putting the phone away. Staying in more, not going out and partying. "It's all about just understanding what you want. I'm glad that [the academic suspension] happened, be- cause if it didn't then, it definitely would have happened sooner or later. I grew up so much from it, and I'm thankful it actually happened." Longtime academic counselor for football Adam Sargent and his staff have continued to keep Mack on the right path, but it's more voluntary now for Mack. "I just came in and I wanted to more so have fun instead take care of business," he explained. "That was the shift I made." Kelly now lauds Mack's "laser focus." For his part, Mack said his weekly meetings with Kelly last sea- son buoyed his spirits. "He really cares about his play- ers, and it showed me a lot," Mack said. "I gained so much respect for him taking time out of his day to talk to me. A lot of coaches probably wouldn't do that." Although Mack is labeled more as a detached tight end, similar to 2012 Mackey Award winner and first-round pick Tyler Eifert, he has concentrated on blocking, footwork and understanding myriad packages to be a complete tight end in new coordinator Chip Long's tight end- friendly offense. It helps that the play caller also happens to be the tight ends coach. Mack nearly recoils at the mention of an NFL future, emphasizing he has too much to prove in college to even contemplate the next step. "Coming here from high school as a teenager, you're here to grow up and be a man," he said. "You can't fight the system. One thing I tried to do is fight the system and do things my way. "I learned that it's not about me, it's about my team. I can't do things my way. I have to follow Notre Dame's way." ✦ GROWING UP A season without football helped junior tight end Alizé Mack get his priorities in order "ONE OF THE THINGS COACH KELLY FIRST TOLD ME WAS, 'THIS IS EITHER GOING TO BE THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO YOU OR THE WORST.' I TOOK THAT AND RAN WITH IT, AND I BELIEVE THAT IT WILL DEFINITELY BE THE BEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN." MACK ON HIS ACADEMIC SUSPENSION IN 2016 After making a splash as a 2015 freshman with 13 catches for 190 yards, Mack sat out 2016 for academic reasons. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA