August 24, 2011

Pete Sampson
IrishIllustrated.com Editor

The versatility of Troy Niklas showed long before he arrived in South Bend.

Recruited as a defensive end by Notre Dame but moved to outside linebacker barely a week into summer drills, the former four-star prospect from Fullerton, Calif., has proven a jack-of-all-trades and master of some. USC wanted him at offensive tackle. Stanford saw a tight end. Servite High School played Niklas at about a half-dozen spots including offensive guard. His parents just projected a son capable of taking out the trash.

On all fronts Niklas can deliver, albeit with occasionally comical timing.

On the day of Brian Kelly’s in-home visit, the 6-foot-6, 250-pound athlete spaced his chores, picking up a parental reminder just before the recruiting sitdown. And as Niklas rolled trashcans to the curb a limo pulled up with Kelly and Mike Denbrock.

“‘Hey coach! Wish I could shake your hand,’” Niklas remembers blurting out. “The Notre Dame head coach is coming out of this limo and I’m taking out the trash.”

The awkward moments for Niklas these days involve getting flattened by Mike Golic Jr. in practice while learning to stay under control while rushing. Or the academic reality that his summer school sociology professor wasn’t joking when she asked Niklas to outline one chapter and read another two on the first day.

“It was like 70 pages and I was like, ‘All right, that’s a little much, right?’” Niklas said.
“I actually got an A in that class.”

Through it all the last player to commit to Notre Dame last cycle has developed into one of the class’s biggest surprises, not because of his athletic ability but for how quickly he’s turned that into production.

“His ability to play in space is extraordinary,” Kelly said. “Whatever adjective that you would use, you would throw one on that kid. He’s a pretty special kid.”

Niklas is running third at the “Dog” linebacker position behind Prince Shembo and Danny Spond while working his way into special teams roles.

“It’s exciting to see a guy so young with that kind of mentality, trying to get better every day,” said Darius Fleming. “If you didn’t know (he hadn’t played linebacker), you wouldn’t know because he comes to practice with an attitude. His athletic ability allows him to do great things. He’s adapted really well.”

Having close friend and walk-on Joe Schmidt on the roster has helped that acclimation to Notre Dame where Niklas’ off-beat humor can sometimes elicit blank stares. Nicknamed “Hercules” by teammates after “Troy-a-cles” didn’t catch on, Niklas has been rolling with it.

“Too many syllables,” Niklas laughed. “This camp has been a real big eye-opener for me. It’s been very humbling. Just the toll and the physical beating that you receive from the other players, it’s a lot different from high school because it’s more dog eat dog here.”

The tallest of Notre Dame’s long freshman class has the claws to scratch his way up the depth chart, but he’s been knocked down more than once during the past three weeks. Even in failure, there have been lessons for Niklas.

“Every play you’ve got to go 100 percent because if you don’t you’ll end up on your butt,” Niklas said. “I was coming around on a loop and I was a little reckless and Mike Golic just tagged me. I just fell right on my butt. Didn’t feel good.”

Down is one position Niklas isn’t used to playing. Don’t expect him to stay there.