This weekend will be the annual Notre Dame spring football game, better known as the Blue and Gold game to Fighting Irish backers. We’ll make a big deal about the events leading up to the game, over value a few performances from it, and be left without in-game action after it until late August.
The Blue and Gold game brings back memories of me to much more innocent times. Headed to South Bend for my first one over 20-years ago, thrilled to get to meet the likes of Grant Irons, Rocky Boiman, and a little-known walk-on named Jessie DeSplinter after the game.
It’s not a game that traditionally features a bunch of epic moments or everlasting memories aside from the personal ones. Well, except for one play that was somehow 10 years ago this year.
After a star showing in 2012 that had many thinking he’d be a top pick in the NFL draft, nose tackle [autotag]Louis Nix[/autotag] III stayed at Notre Dame for his senior season in 2013. Unfortunately a knee injury that season would mean Nix never turned into the first round draft pick and he was quickly out of the NFL without ever really catching on.
Brutal news came a couple of winters ago when Nix died at just 29-years of age. For a young man I never met, that one stung an incredible amount to hear for me as it did a lot of Notre Dame fans.
For as long as the spring goes on I’ll get excited about it as significant or insignificant as it may ultimately be, and I’ll always think of Nix’s two-put run that left everyone watching with a smile.
Here is what [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] said about Nix’s two-point conversion after the untimely passing:
“I lost a bet with Louis. We had a bet relative to some of the things I needed Louis to do a little bit better around his weight. He did it. He lost some weight. Maybe you couldn’t have seen it. Maybe some people kidded me at the time and said he lost a little weight in his wrist. He lost some weight and maintained it. I said if you did that, we were going to give you an opportunity to run the football. It worked out pretty good, but it was a lost bet to Louis. That will be a fond memory for a lifetime.” – Brian Kelly
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