The land of the echoes

Sporting News, The, August 22, 1994 by Terry Frei

Powlus, destined to be Notre Dame's starting quarterback last season as a freshman before suffering a broken collarbone in preseason practice, says he is healthy and ready to assume the No. 1 job.

"It's fine," says Powlus, a high school All-America from Berwick, Pa. "It's definitely 100 percent. No question about it."

His injury last season didn't turn out to be catastrophic for the Irish, because senior Kevin McDougal stepped in and had a strong season. This time around, the Irish don't have a quarterback with any game experience to step in if Powlus goes down.

But Powlus, who wore a yellow jersey and didn't take any hits in spring practice, isn't getting caught up in the pressure.

"If I go out and worry about my collarbone and think, 'Oh, my God, I'm going to get hit,' I won't be able to play the game the way I know how to play," says Powlus, who is 6 feet 2, 218 pounds. "It wouldn't be fair to me. It wouldn't be fair to this football team. It wouldn't be fair to anybody."

Part of the reason for so much attention being paid to Powlus is that he looked so good in fall practice last year before being injured. Lou Holtz, not prone to getting carried away in public, seemed virtually awe-struck.

But Powlus says not playing last season had its benefits. "I got a chance to be a regular student, to not worry too much about football and going to practice. There was a little less pressure on me in my first year here because of that. I got a chance to see things without being in the middle of everything, so that helped me out some.

"There's been a lot of hype. It's been a year now and it's coming up for the time to start again and it's getting a little bigger. I can't do anything about that. I just have to do what I can. I'm sure I'll have plenty of criticism, and hopefully I'll make some fans. All I can do is play the game."