A sleeping giant: How Notre Dame DE Isaiah Foskey’s success starts at home
On the evening of Oct. 26, Isaiah Foskey couldn’t tell you the all-time Notre Dame single-season sack record he’s within reach of. But he could tell you how many hours of sleep he got the night before. Just over eight.
Those two things go more hand-in-hand than you might think.
The junior defensive end wasn’t always so fastidious about taking care of his body. Like a lot of gifted athletes in high school, all he had to do was show up to win at least half of the battle. In Foskey’s case, maybe more. But college football presents a heightened challenge, especially at a place like Notre Dame.
Foskey had to flip a switch at some point after arriving in South Bend if he was to ever maximize his potential. With a defensive coordinator change from Clark Lea to Marcus Freeman came a change in Foskey’s mental makeup and dedication to the game. No player at any position can be great if he doesn’t meet his coaches halfway. That hasn’t been a problem with Foskey.
“He’s great to work with,” head coach Brian Kelly said. “He’s got a great attitude every day. The kid is — and we all know we use this word — a ‘freak,’ but he takes care of himself.”
That’s where the sleep total comes into play.
Notre Dame football players wear Oura Rings, electronic wristbands that calculate three scores: sleep, activity, and readiness. The sleep score answers a basic question: “How did you sleep last night?” by analyzing deep sleep, REM sleep, light sleep, nightly heart rate, bedtime schedule and more.
The activity score is determined by analyzing daily movement and rest. The readiness score takes the first two scores into account to answer the question: “How much can you and your body take on?”
For Foskey, the answer is usually pretty simple: A lot.
Foskey tries to average around eight hours of sleep per night. Take a walk around any quad on Notre Dame’s campus and ask a random student how rare that is, especially for a student-athlete starting on the football team. For some, it’s impossible. Foskey said it hasn’t been all too difficult, though. It comes down to weighing what’s important.
“I just try to go to bed at 10:30,” Foskey said. “I get back at 8 o’clock. I jam in all the homework I can do. I really don’t talk to my roommates.”
And they don’t talk to him much either.
Foskey said junior linebacker JD Bertrand and sophomore defensive lineman Alexander Ehrensberger have similar post-practice routines. Books then bed. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence two of the three roommates — Foskey and Bertrand — are two of Notre Dame’s most important defensive players, and the other is a second-year player who has a ton of upside once the upperclassmen on the Irish defensive line depart the program.
Bertrand leads the team in total tackles with 71. The next closest player on the roster? Foskey. He has 39 coming from a position that isn't called upon to do much more than rush the passer. He's done a whole lot of that, too. He has 8.5 sacks. The next closest Irish player is senior Jayson Ademilola with 3.0.
Foskey is on the verge of becoming the first Notre Dame player with a double-digit sack season since Stephon Tuitt (12.0) in 2012. Kelly certainly isn’t surprised.
“He is so prepared,” Kelly said. “When he comes to practice, you can throw some stuff on him, and he handles it very well. Some guys wouldn’t, but he does.
“He’s more than just this outward appearance of an athlete. He’s really locked in and a smart guy.”
Tuitt, meanwhile, was as menacing a figure as they come in college football. His facemask had more lines than an amusement park. He was a whopping 6-6, 312 pounds. Foskey is a much trimmer 6-5, 260. Kelly said their personalities were as different as their body types. Tuitt, very boisterous. Foskey, much more reserved.
Their physicality at the point of attack, though? Incredibly similar.
It takes a special player to make a run at Justin Tuck’s 2003 single-season sack record of 13.5. Foskey knows the number now, by the way. But he had to learn it from a group of reporters. Tuitt came close nine years ago. Foskey needs to average just more than a sack per game in Notre Dame’s final five, assuming he plays in the bowl game.
It also takes someone who isn’t caught up in the hysteria of chasing records and playing for himself. Foskey gets more sleep than the average Notre Dame student every night so he can help the Fighting Irish win football games, not so he can record 14 sacks in a single season.
But if the former lends itself to the latter, then that just means he did his job at his position better than anyone who has ever worn a gold helmet that came before him. And that’s all he could ever ask for.
“It would be great to get it, but I’m not aiming for it,” Foskey said. “I’m just playing the game. I’m not going to be upset if I don’t get a sack in a game.
“I know if I don’t get a sack, someone else got a sack. I’m happy for everyone else.”
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