Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com DECEMBER 2017 19 BY LOU SOMOGYI N ine Novembers ago, the na- tion's No. 1 defensive re- cruit — Hawai'ian linebacker Manti Te'o — took his official visit to Notre Dame. It was as miserable a football week- end as there ever has been for the Fight- ing Irish. In freezing temperatures — ones that forced Te'o to later watch the game in the Guglielmino Athletics Complex — the Irish lost to 2-8 Syra- cuse, head coach Charlie Weis' job status was called into question … and Te'o seemed destined to sign with USC, which was vying for the national title annually, despite the indefatigable ef- forts of Irish lead recruiter Brian Polian. Inexplicably, Te'o would sign with Notre Dame in the 11th hour and spear- head a 12-1 season as a senior in 2012. Fast forward to November 2016, when the Irish capped a miserable 4-8 campaign with a 45-27 loss at USC, one of the nation's hottest teams again. Taking his first official visit as a college recruit, Ewa Beach, Hawai'i, native and defensive lineman Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa was on the USC side of the field and had little knowl- edge about Notre Dame. "I do recall walking down the tun- nel, I was walking next to DeShone Kizer," Tagovailoa-Amosa said this November. "I just kept my head down and kept walking towards the USC locker room with the other recruits. "My initial thought was I was go- ing to stay at USC. To see how it is now is pretty ironic." Just like in December 2008 with Te'o, the Irish football operation was reeling and there were numerous questions about head coach Brian Kelly's future. However, one of the six new on-field coaching hires was Polian, who went back to his old stomping grounds in January to recruit Tagovailoa-Amosa. "He's a real familiar guy with the Islands," Tagovailoa-Amosa said of Polian. "When he comes out there he knows the slang and is talking to me in slang." In the final month of recruiting, Ta- govailoa-Amosa took official visits to prominent academic institutions Geor- gia Tech and Vanderbilt, and the day before his trip to Notre Dame, he and his family visited his brother Adam, a sophomore reserve offensive tackle at the United States Naval Academy. For a brief spell, Myron thought about joining him. Yet the more he thought about it, the more he real- ized, "I'm not really a military per- son." What he did envision someday was playing in the NFL. "Initially as I went [to Navy], they were a big interest for me," he said. "But when I really sat back and thought about it, 'If I get the opportunity to go here, I won't get the opportunity to go to the NFL,' so I kind of lost interest." Football prominence was hardly the deciding factor for Tagovailoa-Amosa, whose parents are both pastors and non-denominational Christians. "My mom is the type to ask every question in the book just to make sure she knows I'm making the right deci- sion," Tagovailoa-Amosa said. "Just the way I was raised — we are strong- minded people. … She kind of got that sense if my son comes here I know his spiritual side will still be intact. "I'm not downing any school if they don't have any opportunity for church, but where you have a school that in- corporates church into a tradition and lifestyle in each of the students, it kind of gave my mom that confidence boost that I will be okay here. "My faith is such an important role to me in the way I was raised. Just knowing that this is Notre Dame and everything they do they incorporate God, country, football. They really got to know me and my parents re- ally well, so I guess that's what kind of boosted their interest." "The first time I met Myron I told the office that, like with Manti, he had the makeup and courage to go against things that people wanted him to do," Polian said last February. Through 11 games, Tagovailoa-Amo- sa's 299 snaps (27.2 per game) were third to junior Jerry Tillery (584) and senior Jonathan Bonner (425) among the interior linemen. The power of the 6-2½, 293-pound Tagovailoa-Amosa is evident, but it is his first-step explo- siveness that is most effective. Twice this year he has made mo- mentum-changing stops. With Notre Dame leading only 14-10 at Boston College in the second half, the Eagles went for it on fourth-and-one at the Irish 30 — but the freshman's penetra- tion stopped them short and the Irish offense took over thereafter in the win. Against NC State, the Wolfpack had fourth-and-one at Notre Dame's 6-yard line and trailed 28-14, and Tagovailoa-Amosa knifed through again to record a one-yard loss. "Sometimes guys just have that sense and awareness to get off blocks, and he just has a great first step," head coach Brian Kelly said. "If you look back on some of the key plays that he's made this year, it's been by penetration. "So one of his really unique skills is that he has that quickness off the ball." The physical skills of Tagovailoa- Amosa have not been a surprise to the Irish coaching staff, but how quickly he was able to mesh them with his football acumen has been. "He had the size, he had the physi- cality, but can you learn our defense and apply it right away?" Kelly noted. "So that's that football IQ. That's that awareness that he took and ran with immediately when he got to camp, and that was a pleasant surprise for us." The soft-spoken Tagovailoa-Amosa admits he's surprised himself. "It's been easier than I thought it would be," he said. "You kind of get a sense of homesickness, and Hawai'i and South Bend are like two different places in terms of weather and scen- ery. But I guess keeping in contact with my parents all the time really helps, and knowing I have a brother on the East Coast, too, gives me more of a confidence boost." Just like he has for the Fighting Irish defense. ✦ MORE HAWAI'IAN PUNCH Freshman Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa has already strengthened Notre Dame's interior defense Tagovailoa-Amosa has taken the third-most snaps (299 through 11 games) among the Irish interior defensive linemen. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA