SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Pat Coogan wasn’t afraid to talk about the darkness.
Wasn’t shy about whether some R-rated words slipped out while he did, or how much the emotion welled up when he related how playing — and starting — for Notre Dame had been a dream since he was 5 years old.
And how Notre Dame’s rich offensive line culture and tradition kicked in when a new reality breached that dream just ahead of the senior season for the player who started at left guard all 13 games in 2023.
Demoted … but not defeated.
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And now the 6-foot-5, 310-pound senior from Palos Heights, Ill., has a second chance and a second wind.
“I think from an early age, I learned how much it mattered how much you showed up every day,” Coogan said Tuesday after practice in preparation for Saturday’s home game for the 17th-ranked Irish (2-1) with Miami (Ohio).
“That was something that I was taught that separated Zack Martin when he was here [2010-13]. Every single day he was the same person. Positive attitude, positive energy, made the guys around him better.
“That’s one of my biggest takeaways ever since I’ve been at Notre Dame and I learned at an early age. I try to replicate that every day. Obviously, Zack Martin is one of the best to ever do it, but that’s always in the back of my mind.
“No matter what I’m going through, whether I lost my job or I’m starting, I just try to be the same guy every day. Hopefully, my teammates see that through my actions, and I think [O-line] coach [Joe] Rudolph has seen that through my actions, so I know he can trust me.”
Twenty efficient snaps at his new position, center, Saturday at Purdue, after junior starter Ashton Craig was lost for the season with a knee injury with 6:51 left in the second quarter of the 66-7 road romp, was a nice foundation on which to build more trust.
Sophomore Joe Otting finished up during mop-up time.
And Coogan will have a kindred spirit next to him Saturday when he makes career start No. 14 of his career. Another displaced 2023 starter, senior Rocco Spindler, will make career start No. 11 at right guard in place of injured junior Billy Schrauth.
Spindler, who started the first 10 games last year until a season-ending knee injury at Clemson last November truncated his season, came into the Purdue game Saturday midway through the first quarter. That after Schrauth suffered an ankle injury that has a timeline for recovery set for sometime in October.
“I think on Saturday, we looked at each other,” Coogan said of him and Spindler, “and were like, ‘Let's ride.’”
And Saturday they not only rode but fit in seamlessly with first-year O-line starters junior Aamil Wagner at right tackle, sophomore Sam Pendleton at left guard and freshman Anthonie Knapp at left tackle.
“They're both tough guys that love to mix it up, love to bloody their nose,” Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock offered of Coogan and Spindler. “I think their leadership kind of calmed the guys around them when we lost those other guys kind of early in the game, because of the experience that they have.
“I think it kind of let everybody else settle back into what was going on. And then I thought the way they performed was really, really solid and really, really productive. And I think that, hopefully, can continue and we can kind of not skip a beat there.”
It was Pendleton who beat out both Spindler and Coogan for the starting left guard spot. Schrauth had so dominated in the spring that he locked up the top of the depth chart there, leaving the two seniors to battle for one open spot in training camp.
But in the final couple of weeks before the Aug. 31 opener at Texas A&M, Pendleton overtook both of them, and Knapp beat out grad senior Tosh Baker at left tackle.
“I took it as an opportunity, as a challenge,” Coogan said once he got past the disappointment. “I told myself I was going to take the challenge head on, show up, and help the guys the best that I could.
“Help Sammy, the best that I could. Help Knapp, the best that I could. Help those young guys, because they needed my help. It’s not easy the position that they were in. They’re young guys playing really talented players across from them, in high-level football games. So, it was helping them and seeing them come along that was a great moment for me too.
“After those games, after those victories, I knew that I was a big part of this team. Obviously, I wanted to be out there, and it sucked not being out there. … Definitely the competitor in me helped me, but at the same time it was a personal decision to keep going. I’m glad I made it, that’s for sure.”
And now the challenge becomes the offensive line, as a whole, growing into an asset rather than a vulnerability. But with Coogan’s and Spinder’s experience — including lots of snaps with the 1s in the offseason — it doesn’t feel like a complete reset when it comes to cohesion and chemistry.
Miami, meanwhile, has struggled at the point of attack on defense. The Redhawks, in dropping games to Northwestern (13-6) and rival Cincinnait (27-16), have landed at No. 109th out of 133 in the FBS in rush defense and 108th in sacks.
One week down the road, though, is Louisville (2-0), which ranks 25th and second, respectively in those categories.
Coogan, though, is ready to work, and there’s no ambiguity in what’s driving that.
“My love for this university is so much stronger than any personal goal or accolade or representation of my own self,” he said.
“I think it goes back to what coach [Marcus] Freeman talks about all the time,” Denbrock said. “Is it team glory or personal glory? And, hopefully, there's enough team glory to go around that everybody gets a little personal glory at the same time.”
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