Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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6 APRIL 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY LOU SOMOGYI S teel is forged through fire, which helps explain the selection of line- backer Drue Tranquill, center Sam Mustipher and punter Tyler New- some as 2018 captains. Tranquill overcame two ACL sur- geries during a 12-month period in 2014-15, Mustipher conquered the yips while adjusting to center in 2016 and Newsome battled back from sig- nificant injuries at age 16 to become the first kicking specialist captain at Notre Dame. Head coach Brian Kelly stressed that getting elected as a captain revolves highly around the question, "Who is a guy you don't want to let down?" Tranquill, who received his engi- neering degree last semester, was se- lected for the second straight year to become the 23rd two-time captain in school history. His 85 stops last year (10.5 for loss) at rover were the third most on the team, and he will move to Buck linebacker this spring. Mustipher likewise is an engi- neering major and has started all 25 games the past two seasons. New- some also captured more than 50 per- cent of the vote. Kelly said the balloting was so close among so many players for the fourth captaincy that he will let them compete for it this spring, on and off the field, with the players making the vote again. TRANQUILL SPIRIT Nobody is more qualified to be the face of Notre Dame football than Tranquill, the devout Christian and Academic All-American who will play his third position the past three years. Per Kelly, Tranquill received a team-high 85 percent of the vote. "I remember when I was like 12 years old, I was sitting in my room and ambitiously dreaming of what my future might look like," Tranquill recalled. "And I remember taking a poster off the wall in my room and writing on the back, 'Lord, I trust you, the plans you have for me. If you give me the platform so I can influence oth- ers, I'll give it all back to you in full.' "I have to thank my Lord and sav- ior Jesus Christ. It's been cool to kind of see that come to fruition. … But with that comes a lot of responsibil- ity and I recognize that. It's a lot of work, and I saw that last year." Tranquill has started all 25 games the past two seasons. In 2014 it was at safety, where he was the second- leading tackler, and last year it was at the hybrid rover spot, where he thrived under linebackers coach Clark Lea, now the first-year defen- sive coordinator. This spring, Tranquill was moved to Buck linebacker, where the gradu- ated Greer Martini and top tackler Te'von Coney (now at Mike line- backer) rotated in 2017. "It's always fun coming into spring ball because I'm taking my first reps at a new position," the 6-2, 233-pound Fort Wayne product said with a chuckle. "… All of them will contribute to help me be a more ho- listic player and have a better under- standing of football as a whole." The move to Buck (weakside line- backer) became a "recruiting pitch" to Tranquill by the coaching staff because weakside linebacker is pro- jected to be his natural position in the NFL. He will be involved in much more physicality than in the open space he had at rover. One of Lea's constant messages is to be "humble workers," because ev- eryone is a work in progress. "We can't control the outcome, but we can control our response," Tran- quill summarized. With the engineering degree in hand and marriage to his fiancée com- ing this summer, Tranquill could have easily chosen to begin a new chapter in his life beyond Notre Dame. Yet … "I just love this team so much, love this university and the opportunity to play," Tranquill said. "There's just something special about college football." If only all decisions could be as easy as making Tranquill a team captain. CENTERPIECE In the throes of a 4-8 campaign in 2016, then junior center Mustipher — playing his new position for the first time in his football career — became a poster child of how the operation was unraveling. Several errant snaps in a monsoon at North Carolina State helped result in a 10-3 loss and an infamous sound bite from Kelly on how "atrocious" the snapping was. A week later in a 17-10 loss to Stanford, a Mustipher snap that went out of the end zone for a safety helped propel the Car- dinal's comeback from a 10-0 deficit. About 17 months later, after help- UNDER THE DOME LEADING THE WAY Drue Tranquill, Sam Mustipher And Tyler Newsome Named Captains Tranquill, who is moving to the Buck (weakside) linebacker position this spring, received a team- high 85 percent of the vote. PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL