The last few days the headlines haven’t been pretty for college football. Mughshots of Chris Rainey, Heisman’s returned by a suddenly righteous Reggie Bush. Meanwhile, law student and starting left guard Chris Stewart goes about his self-proclaimed “boring” life and the USA Today’s Mike Lopresti was there to follow along.
Here’s a snippet from a day in the life of Stewart’s, after a morning of weightlifting and a legal writing class.
10:40 a.m.
Twenty minutes before contracts class. Just time enough for one of six daily small meals: a protein shake, a nectarine, rice cakes with peanut butter.
The schedule quickly has become routine. “I’ve done football. I’ve done undergrad. I’ve worked on campus (two internships),” he says. “It’s weird to say, but this is already my domain.”
His father, George, has a car dealership in Texas and mother Lusia is a retired schoolteacher in Mississippi. As Lusia Harris, she was a member of the 1976 silver medal Olympic basketball team and one of the first women to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Both parents have seen him play but never at Notre Dame. Maybe Senior Day.
12:30 p.m.
Now that he’s done analyzing a case on binding contracts, he heads back to study Michigan State film, then team meetings, then practice.
What about the NFL? “That’s always been a dream,” he says. The courtroom, he hopes, can come later.
But football and law both demand attention now. “You can’t be thinking about law school homework during practice. The hardest part is being in law school and not thinking about football.”
Not a day can be easy.
“It’s been a good journey. It’s still going.”
Here’s hoping that Chris Stewart’s season begins getting just a fraction of the headlines that guys like Rainey and Bush have been hogging. I also hope that both of Chris’ parents make it to Senior Day to watch their son play his final home game at Notre Dame Stadium. It’ll be a great celebration of a true student-athlete.