Notre Dame, IN (UHND.com) – Luke Schmidt came to Notre Dame last summer after rushing for 4,831 yards as the starting tailback for Jasper High School, but with a listed weight of 230 pounds, it was not long before Schmidt found himself at fullback, a position he had not played. Now that he’s had a full season under his belt, however, Schmidt is ready to use his first spring practice to continue his learning process and challenge for playing time.
“Switching positions and everything its been even more of a transition, but I think I’m doing alright with this,” he told the media Monday about his switch from high school tailback to college fullback.
Schmidt would go on to add that, “I didn’t have the speed that most people do at tailback so fullback was just a better fit for me because of my body size and everything.”
Despite his lack of elite tailback speed, Schmidt did get a few looks from some colleges at the tailback position, but those few schools were smaller schools that Schmidt was not really interested in playing for.
“Two or three,” was his response to how many schools looked at him as a tailback. “They weren’t anywhere near the stature of Notre Dame,” was how the first year fullback described his suitors that offered the opportunity to play tailback. Despite the enticement of playing tailback, Schmidt explained, “I wanted to play just on bigger stage than these schools were offering me.”
Charlie Weis did not simply pigeonhole the talented Indiana native to fullback as soon as he reported to campus last summer. Weis would give Schmidt a look at tailback to see what he had to offer. “He told me he’d look at me at tailback as well as fullback,” said Schmidt of Weis’s intentions last summer.
Schmidt’s look at tailback, however, would end up being rather short lived. “I got my chance at tailback but obviously there were more talented guys in front of me,” explained Schmidt. He would add, “We made a decision I would be a fullback and right now I’m just trying to do what I can for the team”
Doing what he can for the team has meant learning a new position and watching from the sidelines – something he wasn’t used to doing after being one of the top running backs in the state of Indiana over his final two years of high school.
“It was somewhat frustrating,” Schmidt said of having to watch his teammates play while he stood on the sideline. “It was tough at first, but I got over it and after that I just did what I could to help the team best”
Nine months into his fullback education, helping the team best could mean becoming an offensive weapon for the Irish offense. “I know the offense a lot more know than I did in the fall,” was how Schmidt described what’s different between this spring practice compared to last fall.
Early reports out of spring practice have said Schmidt has shown good hands out of the backfield as well as good speed for the fullback position. Asaph Schwapp missed most of 2006 with a knee injury, but Schmidt adds a different dimension to the fullback position and could see some playing time this fall.
While Schwapp is a huge, physical fullback, he does not add the speed or threat in the passing game that Schmidt could add to the Notre Dame offense. If Schmidt can continue to learn the offense and show Weis and the offensive coaches that he can be trusted as a blocker in passing situations, he could see the field fairly early into the 2007 campaign.
