By John Brice
Special Contributor
Marist Liufau could attempt to calculate how long it had been, except the answer would be never.
Not since Liufau, a Kalihi, Hawaii, native, first started playing football had he gone so long between games.
On the cusp of potential stardom a year ago, having been almost universally the buzz of Notre Dame’s entire 2021 preseason camp, Liufau suffered a gruesome break in his ankle/lower leg during a mid-August practice that necessitated season-ending surgery – before the season had ever kicked off.
So Liufau waited; 610 days from his last appearance with the Fighting Irish – the 2020 College Football Playoff semifinal against Alabama – until his five-tackle performance in Notre Dame’s 2022 season-opening near upset of No. 2 Ohio State.
“It’s been a while, before I ever started playing football was the last time it had been this long,” said Liufau, whose father was able to make the journey to Columbus, Ohio, to see his son’s return. “I started tackle football in seventh grade.”
UNIVERSAL RESPECT
Al Golden had nearly helped the Cincinnati Bengals to a world championship, having coached the team’s linebackers en route to Super Bowl LVI and a three-point loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Golden, however, wanted to return to college football, where he first had carved a reputation as a masterful coordinator of defenses and ascended to head-coaching posts at both Temple and Miami.
Too, Golden always had an affinity for Notre Dame – a program of which he said, “There’s only one Notre Dame … a special, special place.”
Golden and first-year Irish coach Marcus Freeman connected; they’d already known each other, and Golden agreed to become Freeman’s first defensive coordinator.
When Golden arrived, he kept hearing about some Marist Liufau kid.
“You gotta see this guy,” Golden said he was told.
Only, Golden couldn’t find him on film. Not from the Irish’s 2021 season.
“OK, so my first interaction was really people telling me about Marist,” Golden said, “because I was watching all the film and he wasn’t on the film. So my first interaction was, ‘Wow, they keep talking about this guy,’ and I’m saying, ‘Well, now these other guys look pretty good and they’re all coming back.’ So they’re talking about this guy and he didn’t play?
“So I actually went back to watch some practices and things of that nature. Then we got out here in the offseason program and spring ball and it was like, this guy is really talented.”
Liufau, an omnipresent smile affixed to his 6-foot-2.25-inch, 235-pound frame, possessed a dedication that matched the talent Golden first saw on limited practice film and then witnessed first-hand as Notre Dame progressed through spring ball and August camp.
Surgery was performed almost immediately after the injury prior to last season, and Liufau pursued the rehabilitation process with the same focus he had utilized to first carve a niche on the Irish’s special teams units.
“Either one or two days after the surgery, I was already getting something; I was already getting something in with my right leg,” Liufau said. “Obviously with a cast I couldn’t move my ankle or foot, but I was getting something in.
“The early rehab process, it was I would come in in the morning, and I would just stay in the training room, I was probably in there for most of the day. I want to say most of the day, every day.”
It could have been a lonely time. For Liufau, it never was.
THE BROTHERHOOD
Hardware, now anchored in Liufau’s leg, largely has become an afterthought. He has felt 100%, Liufau shared, since at least late spring.
There’s no fixation on exactly what Notre Dame’s orthopedic team had to insert in his body to get him on the road to a return.
“I forget how many screws there are but there’s a plate on the side along my fibula and there’s screws going in from my ankle up to the middle of my shin-area,” said Liufau, with 10 tackles through the Irish’s first two games this season. “Now I just forget about it and it doesn’t feel like anything happened.”
Teammates, however, never stopped thinking about Liufau last season; neither did Freeman. Liufau felt embraced by all of them.
“There wasn’t one day where I felt alone,” said Liufau, who noted Freeman visited him at his apartment after the injury. “The Notre Dame Community was always there for me, they helped me. My parents were able to come and they helped me, too.
“There really wasn’t any day where I felt alone or felt I didn’t have any help. The process was just so much easier because of that.”
The iconic golden helmets, Notre Dame’s on-campus golden dome and a leprechaun and shamrock all are tangible fixtures of the Fighting Irish; the shared brotherhood is unseen but no less an integral fabric.
“At Notre Dame, you get a lot of guys like that that care for each other and everybody appreciates that because, at the end of the day, it is a brotherhood,” veteran defensive back TaRiq Bracy said. “Even if you’re having hardships, we’re all here to rally for each other.
“Marist stuck with us, and he’s back and it’s everything he’s hoped for and prayed for. I’m really glad to see him back on the field.”
In Liufau, Golden has marveled at both the person as well as a physical talent and skill-set as glaring as sunrise.
“He’s such a great soul. When you’re talking to him, you’re like, man, this guy, you just love being around him,” Golden said. “So he’s yearning to learn, he’s trying to get better and I’m really happy.
“He’s gotten so much stronger in the offseason, Coach (Matt) Balis and his staff did an amazing job. Hopefully, God willing, he’ll continue to stay healthy. Because he looks good, (in camp), he’s looked really good.”
Now with a 15th career appearance to his credit and slated to start as Notre Dame hosts Marshall in Freeman’s home debut as head coach, Liufau also has shown his teammates he’s back.
“Marist, what I like about Marist the most is that he’s positive all the time,” Bracy said. “But when he straps up the pads and puts them on, he’s ready to play; he flips the switch and has a killer mentality that every linebacker I think should have.
“He’s a very special athlete, and he’s going to do great things.”
With an impact and a smile, really, Liufau already has.