IRISH INSIDER: Busy man on campus balances football, ROTC
By JOE LICANDRO
Sports Writer
Think you're busy. Think again. Meet Ed O'Connell, the busiest man on this campus.
As if walking on to the football team were not time-consuming enough, the senior from Chicago also takes on additional responsibility as a member of the ROTC program. On a typical day, O'Connell wakes up at 5:30 in the morning for physical training with Marine Corps Officer's program.
From there, he heads to Loftus for weightlifting with the football team. From 9 to 2, O'Connell goes to class where he is currently finishing his degree in finance. After class, he gets ready for three grueling hours of football practice. When practice ends, he finally returns home to his off-campus apartment where he somehow has the energy to study. At about midnight, an exhausted O'Connell goes to bed so he can get up and do it all over again the very next day.
"It's something I definitely take a lot of pride in. Both organizations have been very understanding," O'Connell said. "The Marines know that I have football commitments in the afternoon, but it is very important for me to be out there training with them in the mornings."
O'Connell arrived on campus four years ago as a lifelong, die-hard Irish football fan, but he never had any intention of playing football, let alone joining ROTC. Although he played offensive guard and served as the long-snapper for his high school football team, O'Connell hoped to play a different sport at Notre Dame.
"Growing up, I was always the `Notre Dame' kid. Whenever Notre Dame lost, my friends always ragged on me," said O'Connell. "… When I came here, I actually wanted to play baseball … but they had too many catchers so it didn't really work out."
As O'Connell found out during his freshman year, sometimes life's twists can really catch you by surprise.
"I was really just looking for something to do," O'Connell said. "… In the spring of my freshman year, there was an ad in the paper to come out and try to long-snap so I gave it a shot. My RA during my freshman year at Siegfried got me interested in ROTC at about the same time. All of the sudden, I went from doing nothing to having my day completely filled with ROTC duties and football practices."
In the wake of last year's disappointing 5-7 season, it would have been easy for someone with as many commitments and responsibilities as O'Connell to choose not to come back out for another year. After all, the life of a walk-on is not glamorous. But quitting and giving-up is simply not in Ed O'Connell's nature. With the success of this year's team, O'Connell knows he made the right decision.
"There's a lot to be said for the guys who have stuck around and persevered," said O'Connell. "I guess it could have been easy to jump ship and say this isn't worth it any more. But for me, I couldn't picture myself doing anything else. I wouldn't change a thing."
After initially making the team as a long-snapper, O'Connell's role on the team has expanded over the last three years to serving as a tight end, linebacker and defensive end at times. As a second-team special teams player this season, he not only suits up for all home games but has traveled to every away game.
When O'Connell graduates from Notre Dame in May, he will spend at least the next four years of his life in the United States Marine Corps and could eventually be placed in a combat situation.
"As a newly commissioned officers, they will go through at least a year of training before they I go into a situation like that," said O'Connell. "I knew when I signed on the dotted line that war was a real possibility. … For me, there's a sense of duty. The fact that I can represent what this country and the Marine Corps stands for is something I take a great deal of pride in."
All Sports Stories for Friday, November 22, 2002
