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Notre Dame Football: Move Over Rudy, Joe Schmidt Is The Greatest Notre Dame Walk-On Ever

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By @MattHeinz_Rant

 

Joe Schmidt Notre Dame

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Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger was a great story, don’t get me wrong here; he was an undersized kid from blue-collar Joliet, Illinois, got a roster spot on the most prestigious college football team at the time, and even got a sack against Georgia Tech in the final minutes. Rudy however, never started, was never second on his team in tackles, and never delivered the powerful physical blows that former walk-on Joe Schmidt does for Notre Dame.

Schmidt is also a great example of how Brian Kelly is extremely good at developing talent. Players arrive at Notre Dame as raw athletes and leave as fundamentally sound football players.

This is something that was a huge knock on former coach Charlie Weis. Kelly was asked if he is surprised at the level of play everyone is seeing from the former walk-on linebacker, and credited the program’s focus on player development. He also gave credit to Schmidt’s work ethic during Tuesday’s press conference, saying that the player has aided the team’s efforts to bring him along.

Schmidt’s love for Notre Dame is why he turned down scholarship offers from Cincinnati and Air Force to pay his own way to South Bend. Many are wondering how Schmidt didn’t have more offers coming out of high school, and Kelly compared him to J.J. Watt, who also did not receive many offers at the same stage of his career.

Schmidt is not Watt by any means, but he is also a much better story than how Hollywood portrayed Rudy to be. My father was at the now-infamous Georgia Tech game in 1975 and claims he didn’t even know who Rudy was until he read about the story in the paper after the game. Others at the game have also said that only part of the student section was chanting his name, not the whole stadium. I’m not taking away from Rudy’s incredible heart and desire, but he certainly is no Schmidt.

Somewhere between Watt the undervalued recruit and Rudy the lovable walk-on is where Schmidt fits. Where his legacy goes from here is yet to be determined, as the Irish still have a lot of tough games on their schedule and as goes the wins, so goes the legacy.

For more college football related information and opinions follow Matt Heinz on twitter @MattHeinz_Rant

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