Chicago native seeks to teach the game
he arrived at Notre Dame as a 17-year- old freshman, even though he had no idea what an A gap was. He in- tercepted passes and scared receivers away from the middle of the field, but he had never heard of a hook-to-curl pass drop. The USA Today and Parade High
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2000-04 Linebacker Mike Goolsby, WHERE HAVE YOU GONE? BY DAN MURPHY
ike Goolsby had authoritatively filled hundreds of "A gaps" when
School All-American was one of the top defensive recruits in the country as a senior at Joliet Catholic High School in 1999, and he got there almost solely on athletic ability. "I didn't know anything," he said.
"My strength when I was playing at the high school level was just that I was bigger and faster." Goolsby played specials teams al-
most exclusively during his first two seasons in South Bend while he tried to catch up with the terminology and technique of collegiate football. When he did, he racked up 172 tackles in two seasons as a full-time starter at inside linebacker. Even then, he said he wouldn't have been in position to make most of those plays without fel- low linebacker Derek Curry helping
Goolsby founded the Game Changers Academy, which employs a program that is designed to take the physical tools a high school prospect brings to
the field and make the most out of them. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS
