Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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100 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2018 FOOTBALL PREVIEW BY TODD D. BURLAGE T here's a fitting and telling photo posted on the Twitter account of Jus- tin Tranquill that validates the theory that a picture is worth 1,000 words. The split-screen shot comes from about three years ago with Justin and his older brother Drue Tranquill donning surgi- cal gowns in their respective hospital beds shortly after each underwent repair work for a similar football knee injury. Justin, now a junior safety at Western Michigan, and Drue, a fifth-year senior line- backer and team captain at Notre Dame, both provided a message of hope and dedication in their photos, with a dash of sibling rivalry to go with it. On the top photo, a smiling Drue in his Irish ball cap shows a black Sharpie message transcribed across his flexed and bulging biceps that simply states, "I Will Be Back." Below, Justin strikes a similar pose with the written promise across his biceps, "I Will Be Back Faster." The accompanying caption reads "Let's get after it DT #ACLBros" as an inspira- tional kicker note from Justin to Drue. Such is life for these two brothers bonded by football, family, faith, fate and fellow- ship. If one of the brothers was having a bad day during those ensuing months of rehab, the other was there to pick him up, and vice versa. "Having someone like Drue there to walk with me through that long recovery was comforting to say the least," Justin recalled. "His work ethic, his attitude, the way he carries himself, it made the entire recovery process more tolerable." The trials and triumphs that come with rehab and recovery are nothing new for the Tranquill brothers, each of whom has under- gone surgeries on both of their knees after football injuries, most of those of the freak- ish and non-contact variety. Drue had to overcome two season-ending knee injuries and subsequent surgeries in consecutive seasons. The first one, which came against Louis- ville in November 2014, cut short Tranquill's freshman season by two games when he tore his ACL in his left knee in the first half but remarkably played the entire second half with the injury. Less than 10 months later, Tranquill was sidelined again just three games into the 2015 season, this time after an unfortunate and infamous injury to his right knee that he suffered while celebrating after breaking up a pass against Georgia Tech in the corner of the Notre Dame end zone. "It was difficult and frustrating," recalled Tranquill, explaining that both rehabs took about six months. "To go through all of that and have it happen again, it takes a toll mentally." But as bad as Drue had it physically, Jus- tin faced even more. Just last season against Michigan State Sept. 9, Justin, a starter for Western Michi- gan, tore his ACL, his MCL and his PCL when a Spartan was blocked into his leg. It was the third season-ending knee injury for Justin in four years. "Once is enough as it is," Justin explained during his most recent rehab. "But tearing it a second time and now a third time puts a new level on the frustration aspect of it because you know what's ahead as far as the rehab goes." In what might be best described as cruel irony, the two brothers both suffered their second knee injuries in 2015 only about two weeks apart. And according to Justin — illustrated by the aforementioned Twitter photo — their si- multaneous rehabs created a bond and com- petition between the two brothers. "We were able to go through it all on a similar timetable," Justin said. "We were able to kind of do the same things. We could do similar workouts." Fully recovered, Justin is expected to re- turn as a starting safety for the Broncos in 2018. Drue has stayed injury free and played CAPTAIN COMEBACK Drue Tranquill has bounced back from a pair of knee injuries to excel in every way at Notre Dame Tranquill's first two seasons were both cut short by knee injuries, but he bounced back to start all 25 games the last two years. PHOTO BY COREY BODDEN