Oct. 13, 1999
by Bo Rottenborn
“I just wanted to get away from home and grow as a person and a football player.”
These words were spoken by Irish defensive tackle Lance Legree when asked why he chose to attend Notre Dame.
When any football standout enrolls at Notre Dame, he hopes the next four years will provide an experience which will help him grow in every way possible. Little did Legree know exactly how much he would grow.
The most quantitative and obvious kind of growth is that which occurs physically. Legree credits strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti, who came to Notre Dame in 1998, for his physical gains, claiming who Marotti was the one who put fire in him when he arrived at Notre Dame.
“I’m a subtle person,” says Legree. “Mickey has helped add a lot of aggressiveness that I didn’t have.”
Working in the weightroom allowed Legree to add 25 pounds following his freshman season of 1996. The following offseason, Legree added another 20 pounds to his increasingly-powerful frame. After some more bulking up before this season, he is currently listed at 6-1 and 292 pounds.
Legree’s progress on the field has been far more gradual, but has nonetheless been ever-present. In fact, the growth of Legree’s skills has been as steady as that of a certain turtle in a well-known fairy tale.
Legree brought a focus and intensity to Notre Dame after an outstanding high school career at St. Stephen High School in his native St. Stephen, S.C.
Legree was determined to lead the Irish to similar defensive dominance that he was used to in high school. But, he realized he had a lot of room to grow and improve. He was playing behind some quality veterans and future National Football League players and, as a result, he did not see the field his freshman year.
He noted the differences in high school and college football, saying that the speed, size, strength of
the players is so impressive and adding that everyone has an excellent knowledge of the game.
“It took a while to adjust,” says Legree. “I don’t think I got fully adjusted until my junior year. Then I started to feel good about what I was doing.”
After his freshman season, Legree was moved to nose guard from outside linebacker.
“It wasn’t a bad switch,” says Legree. “I was always a bigger linebacker so it wasn’t a problem at all. I just wanted to do anything to get on the field and be able to contribute and help the team.”
After making some progress at linebacker, Legree was now faced with a whole new set of challenges. But, he downplays the difference between the two positions.
“Basically it was just mental adjustments,” says Legree. “You still have to play tough if you’re playing linebacker or defensive line. It’s just mental adjustments like learning how to play blocks and learning how to pass rush. That was the biggest thing for me. I had never done that before.”
Legree’s commitment to making those mental adjustments and steady progress since arriving at Notre Dame began to pay off in spring practice of 1997.
The No. 2 spot on the depth chart at nose guard belonged to Legree on opening day of the ’97 season. Starter Corey Bennett was injured in the season opener against Georgia Tech, forcing Legree into the starting lineup.
Legree started the next four games – and the Irish lost all four games. But Legree gained valuable experience, learning what it takes to compete at a top collegiate level. He finished the season with 16 tackles and a sack in 133 minutes of playing time.
In 1998, Legree took over the starting role at noseguard. He had 33 tackles in 177 minutes while starting nine games.
This steady improvement led to great expectations for the 1999 season. But in the fifth practice of fall camp, one of Legree’s teammates fell into his knee, tearing his medial collateral ligament. Legree missed the first two games of the season, but recovered ahead of schedule to return against Purdue four weeks ago.
“I am pretty much completely recovered,” assures Legree. “I’ve had no problems with it.”
Legree now plans on trying to improve steadily for the rest of the season.
“You have your personal goals as a senior,” says Legree. “You want to do everything to better yourself, to better your position in football and academics.”
In high school, Legree was an all-around athlete, serving as three-year captain of both the football and basketball teams at St. Stephen, while also lettering in track. In his first year as captain, Legree led his team to a perfect 10-0 regular season in which they also captured a league title. The following season, Lance registered 133 tackles, 10 sacks, and three interceptions from his outside linebacker slot.
But the best was yet to come. Legree’s final prep season saw him shatter the school record by making 194 tackles and 12 sacks. Legree was named all-state and was an all-American selection.
Perhaps his most impressive accomplishment was on the team level. In 1995, St. Stephen’s defensive unit did not give up a single point in the final 19 quarters of the season.
“We had lost a couple games at the beginning of the year and we made a conscious effort to make sure we didn’t give up any points,” Legree says. “It was a personal goal of the defense. We did well with it. We didn’t get scored on. That was personal accomplishment of mine, as well as my team.”
After graduation from Notre Dame, the history and computers major plans to go into consulting.
He only hopes he can grow as much in the next four years as he has in the past four.