Few Notre Dame fans will forget the unbelievable comeback victory the Irish snatched away from the Michigan State Spartans in 2006. (If you want a reminder, check out this link.) While the offensive heroics were supplied by Brady Quinn, Rhema McKnight, John Carlson and Jeff Samardzija, the key defensive plays were supplied by cornerback Terrail Lambert, whose touchdown and interception return put the Irish ahead in the final two minutes, and whose acrobatic interception with 40 seconds left in the game put the nail in the Spartan’s coffin.
Terrail turned in a stellar career at Notre Dame, and is hoping to continue his football career in the NFL this season, waiting by the phone and staying in shape after being one of the last cuts by the San Francisco 49ers. Terrail was kind enough to trade messages and emails with me until we could find a time to talk late last night. He had plenty of insight on the Irish, playing Michigan State, and what the guys need to do to rebound from last week’s tough loss.
On getting past a difficult loss:
It’s one of the things that you learn when you develop into a mature football player, and it’s just a part of the process of becoming a college football player. And I can say that when we found ourselves in that position, we’d say, ‘Okay, let’s identify what we did wrong or what got us in those situations and how can we avoid them,’ and two, ‘What’s at stake with this next game?’
Every game that we approach we always did our best to approach each game as a one game entity. That game, that week, is our national championship game. That’s the mindset we tried to develop, and that’s one of the building blocks that they’re developing right now. It’s still a relatively young team. And looking at it from a positive standpoint, it’s a great opportunity to show the maturity of the team, and I think they’ll follow through with it.
On the transition between Willingham and Weis:
On his infamous cousin Lorenzo Booker, and his influence on choosing Notre Dame:
He was definitely one of the guys I really listened to in terms of being able to possess the capacity to make the decision that I had to make for myself. It’s a big step, it’s another chapter in a young man’s life, and he gave me real sound advice in that regard.
One of the things he told me was that you’re making the decision and it’s the one time in your life that you want to be as selfish as you possibly can. Because when you’re there for those 4 or 5 years at that institution of learning playing college ball, it’s going to be you there, not anybody else in your family or your circle of friends or peers. At the very least, if you end up not liking it, you can hang your hat on knowing that you made your own decision.
I chose Notre Dame just because I always saw myself as a kid from the hood who got good grades and could play ball, and I wanted to be a part of something special. And I got that at Notre Dame.
On his epic Michigan State game:
Believe it or not, I wouldn’t call it the highlight of my career, but more like my coming of age. I had come off a subpar game the previous week in the Michigan game giving up two touchdowns, but that week and the week following Michigan State, I remember going back to my room and learning the lesson that the most important thing on defense is the next play.
Just accepting the fact that when they throw the ball your way, someone is going to come down with it, and they’re going to strike up the band one way or the other, so it might as well be you with the ball.
On what the Michigan State rivalry means to ND:
The first thing you know when you’re playing Michigan State is that they’re coming in with the mindset that they’re the underdogs and they’re the second class citizens and they’re trying to prove something. That’s their mentality, their identity, and they love to do that through their play on the field, and use that attitude of a blue-collar tough guy. And they are, I’ll give them that respect.
It’s a game you need to prepare your mind for. They’re coming in with that attitude. There’s going to be a lot of trash talking, maybe even a couple cheap shots, and it’s going to get nasty, bottom line.
On the change to life in the NFL and his goals for after the NFL:
The biggest thing I noticed in the NFL is that the game is simpler in the standpoint that everybody is doing the same thing, but it all boils down to the execution. Execution is just so much more important at that level. The game is so cerebral. The physical aspects are different, and the speed is faster, but it’s not as dramatic as people make it out to be.
After football, I’ll pursue a career in cinematography. Hopefully a life behind the camera. It’s a niche I developed, I took classes in it, and I got first hand experience behind the film cameras that people in the mainstream film industry actually use. I learned how to work with Final Cut Pro, use all sorts of industry software, and design three-dimensional sets using architectural software, as well as getting behind the camera, doing some grip work, and learning about lighting.
On picking Notre Dame and what makes it such a special place:
The passion is one of the things that makes Notre Dame so special. It’s the fact that you can go across to other college campuses across the nation, it’s been a trend for decades now where you really don’t want to say it but you feel it as an athlete that you’re being alienated away from the students because you’re a football player or a basketball player, but that just wasn’t the case at Notre Dame.
Because the students... they identified with you, they sympathized with you. If there’s a loss on Notre Dame’s campus, everybody’s having a bad day. And if there’s a win on campus, regardless of sport, but especially football, everybody’s going to have a good day. Teachers, students, all the faculty members across the board, and I think that’s because everybody identifies with each other.
A special thanks to Terrail for making time for Inside the Irish. Here’s wishing him good luck on getting back onto the field.