Checking His Ego

The famous sign every Notre Dame fan is familiar with outside the Irish locker room is the one that reads “Play Like A Champion Today.”

But there is another sign that hangs in the doorway of the locker room that delivers an equally important message. It reads “Check Your Ego At The Door.”

Aldridge believes he brings a dynamic element to the fullback position.

The words probably applied to nobody more this preseason than James Aldridge. Coming out of Merrillville High School in Indiana, Aldridge was a five-star prep recruit and considered a top-50 player in the country. Many believed that Aldridge would be the next great tailback to wear the Blue and Gold.

But things don’t always work out as planned, so when Aldridge slipped down the depth chart, he checked his ego at the door and agreed to move from tailback to fullback.

“The way this is going down, he’s really taken the second seat to Armando (Allen),” Irish coach Charlie Weis said. “And sometimes people can’t handle that. Not only has he handled that, but he’s handled his role very well. He’s very much involved in the mix in what we’re doing. And on top of that, he got picked as the leader of the running back position and he has taken that responsibility seriously.”

Aldridge could have stayed in the logjam for carries at tailback but he realized the better strategy would be to embrace the situation, and make the position switch – a move that should help both the player, and the entire offense.

“Once I got word of it, I jumped on it. It’s a great opportunity,” Aldridge said. “I got my own position. I’m cool with that. I’m not complaining at all. My ego went out the window a long time ago. I feel really good about this situation.”

As a gifted runner and receiver, Aldridge at fullback really does bring an interesting dynamic and many more options to the offense.

“I can make the position a little bit more dynamic,” Aldridge said. “It’s really not known as a position that gets a lot of glory but I feel like I can bring some light to it…If I get a block and it goes for 60 (yards), I’m happy. That ego went out the door a long time ago.”

The options are many. Weis could send Allen in motion out of a two-back set with Aldridge. You could line up Aldridge and Robert Hughes together in a short-yardage power formation. You could run a traditional two-back look with Aldridge and Allen. You could even feature Aldridge as the ball carrier, a strategy Weis has been testing recently by giving his senior some work in practice.

“The other day during the scrimmage, I gave him a whole bunch of reps at halfback too,” Weis said. “So that he doesn’t get rusty and just think that he’s just a full-time fullback.”

Fullback and/or tailback, Aldridge has proven that whatever it takes to help the team, he’s on board, ego set aside.

“We’re deep and we’re talented. That’s always a good thing for an offense,” Aldridge said. “The thing about it is; if somebody goes down, we got somebody that can come in and do just the same, if not more. There is just so much ammo that we have now, and that’s a good thing to have.

“I’m still grinding day in and day out, because if I am not on my Ps and Qs, we got somebody that can replace me to.”