Irish Sweepstakes : Focus Is on Freshman Rob Powlus as Notre Dame Searches for a Quarterback

Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz doesn’t waste his Shecky Greene A-material on just anyone, which is why you can bet that before season’s end, freshman Ron Powlus will be the starting quarterback for the Irish.

Just the other night on “Larry King Live,” Holtz was asked, point-blank, who would be running his offense. Holtz stared into the eye of the camera and delivered the company line.

Senior Kevin McDougal is his starter . . . junior Paul Failla has had a boffo fall camp and is right there . . . Powlus has shown a lot of poise . . . freshman Tom Krug is competing, too.

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times from Holtz.

But then Holtz was drawn back to Powlus, the too-good-to-be-true freshman from little Berwick, Pa. Powlus, 19, hasn’t been at Notre Dame very long--a few months for summer school, back again Aug. 9 for the beginning of fall practice--but he has made an impression.

“He’s so mature that he must have gone to high school on the G.I. Bill,” Holtz told King, who cackled appropriately.

Holtz likes maturity. He likes quarterbacks who don’t make mistakes. His offense is like Rush Limbaugh, conservative and big. In fact, McDougal remembers the time Holtz got upset that a pass play worked too well during a practice session.

“Bring it back,” Holtz ordered. “We don’t need the big play.”

The Irish, however, do need a quarterback. Rick Mirer, their starter of three years, is gone, as is the rest of the Notre Dame backfield of a season ago. Holtz has to have someone back there for the opener against Northwestern on Sept. 4.

At last Saturday’s scrimmage, Powlus played well enough to raise eyebrows, to say nothing of conjecture regarding the quarterback race. Holtz wouldn’t allow the Notre Dame sports information staff to keep statistics on Powlus that day, but it was evident who had the best day. Another scrimmage is scheduled for Saturday.

But until then. . . .

“Right now, starting out, it’s Kevin McDougal,” Holtz said.

A ringing endorsement for job security, it isn’t. But after spending the last three seasons as Mirer’s caddie, McDougal will take what he can get.

“You do get a little more excited,” McDougal said. “Now you know you’re No. 1. You know you have to come through.”

Mirer and McDougal talk all the time. Usually the conversation has nothing to do with football, but on occasion they can’t help themselves. Through it all, Mirer has offered only one piece of advice: “When you make a mistake, don’t worry about it.”

Easy for Mirer to say. He’s in Seattle with the Seahawks. McDougal is still in South Bend, where they call 911 if the Irish don’t win a national championship.

“That’s the whole thing about it,” McDougal said. “Expectations are so high. Coach Holtz has this saying: ‘I want you to be perfect. If you can’t come to that spot, I want you to come so close that I can’t tell the difference.’ ”

McDougal is doing what he can, but he might turn out to be the right quarterback at the wrong time. That’s because Failla--”No. 1A,” as Holtz calls him--is impatiently waiting for his chance to stick McDougal back on the bench and keep Powlus, the nation’s top recruit, there, too.

It’s nothing personal. Failla gets along with McDougal. He gets along with everyone, including Powlus.

“When I met the kid, I liked him,” Failla said.

Failla has spent the last two years biting his tongue. He was on his way to Stanford or Arizona State to play baseball when he suddenly found himself recruited by Notre Dame. Assured by Holtz that he could play both sports, Failla decided on the Irish.

For whatever reason--and Failla doesn’t necessarily blame Holtz--the deal hasn’t been everything it was cracked up to be. By playing baseball, Failla wasn’t able to devote all his athletic energy to football. It showed on the depth chart.

“It’s definitely played a part,” Failla said. “I don’t think this situation would be what it is if I had just been a football player.”

Translation: Perhaps Failla was penalized for trying to do two things.

“It’s been disappointing,” he said. “It’s something else I have to overcome. It’s not a negative thing. I can see (Holtz’s) perspective.”

He can also see himself nipping at McDougal’s heels.

“I’m approaching (the season) like I’m expecting to be the No. 1 guy,” Failla said.

So is Powlus.

Actually, he didn’t put it in those exact words. In fact, he didn’t put it into any words until receiving assurances that a brief interview would be limited to questions about life at Notre Dame, not the quarterback race. That’s because Holtz has issued a gag order on the freshman until he appears in an actual game.

“As far as me coming in (and playing), the media jumped into that,” Powlus said. “Kind of crazy.”

Kind of typical for Notre Dame, where interest in Powlus is so high that reporters asked Holtz about the freshman’s chances after the annual Blue-Gold spring game. They asked even though Powlus had bought a ticket and sat in the bleachers at Notre Dame Stadium.

“He didn’t do anything to impress me,” said Holtz, trying to defuse a budding quarterback controversy.

It won’t work. Powlus didn’t come to Notre Dame to hold a clipboard on the sidelines. Holtz knows it. The subway alumni know it. Powlus’ parents and high school coach know it.

Word has even trickled west to Seattle, where Mirer has kept an eye on the situation.

“Todd Norman (Mirer’s former roommate at Notre Dame) said that the freshman looks good and he could play, maybe by the end of the year,” Mirer said. “(Holtz) will give it to the older guys if they’re ready to take it. But he won’t lose a game just to keep somebody from playing.”

Holtz has his own agenda.

“I can’t control the fans, but our team will not pick a quarterback,” Holtz said. “The fans will try, but our team will not pull for certain people. Obviously, they would like to see a guy they grew up with, matured with in college, be the quarterback. But they will support whoever is in there.”

Right now, that’s McDougal. Soon it could be Failla, or a combination of McDougal and Failla. And Holtz, who has never started a season with a freshman quarterback, isn’t ruling out appearances by Powlus or Krug.

“Whatever gives our team the best chance to win,” he said.

If that’s the case, then Failla and McDougal figure the two freshmen had better pick out nice comfy spots on the bench.

“I can’t see him being ready to play this year,” Failla said of Powlus. “He’s going to have a great future here, but I would be real, real surprised if it happened (in 1993).”

Said McDougal: “Maybe at other schools you might be able to do it. They’d coddle you. At any other school, (Powlus) might have been able to start.”

But Notre Dame’s football program is like no other football program. Failla learned that much during a practice early in his freshman season. After botching a play, he heard Holtz ask another coach, “Who gave this kid a scholarship?”

McDougal also has felt Holtz’s wrath.

“I can’t remember what happened, but I made a mistake,” McDougal said. “Coach Holtz got so mad that I just wanted to cry. (Mirer) came over and said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ In that respect, I know what (Powlus) is about to go through.

“Coach Holtz will make you feel like nothing. Ask any quarterback and they’ll tell you that the games are so easy because he makes practice so hard. . . . Playing in front of 75,000 people is nowhere near as hard as playing in front of Coach Holtz.”

Powlus has already played in front of 40,000 fans. It happened at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium during his sophomore season at Berwick. It was his first start . . . not that you could tell. Powlus completed 17 of 23 passes.

“In my opinion, Ron Powlus may be the finest high school quarterback I’ve ever seen anywhere on any level,” said Berwick Coach George Curry, who has dubbed his program, ‘Quarterback High.’

“A lot of recruiters come through here--and this isn’t me talking--and they say it’s him and (Dan) Marino. Him and (Joe) Namath. . . . He’s gotten those kind of raves. He not only gets them, he lives up to them.”

Curry would know. This is his 27th year of coaching, his 23rd at Berwick. He has sent 11 quarterbacks to Division I programs, won two USA Today national championships and recorded 242 victories, which is the most of any active prep coach in football-crazy Pennsylvania.

A few years ago, when Powlus was just beginning to make his mark at Berwick, Notre Dame recruiting coordinator Tony Yelovich stopped by Curry’s office. Yelovich was there to watch film of several other Berwick prospects, but kept noticing Powlus instead.

“Who’s your quarterback?” asked Yelovich.

“He’s only a 10th-grader,” said Curry. “You’ll be able to come back and recruit him in a couple of years.”

Powlus didn’t remain a secret for long. By his senior season, he needed a wheelbarrow to bring his mail in. At one point, the phone rang every three or four minutes with a recruiter on the other end.

Berwick is like a lot of small towns in northeast Pennsylvania, tough, ethnic--Italians, Ukrainians, Poles, Russians, Irish--and resilient. There used to be a railroad-car manufacturer in Berwick, but no longer. There was a steel mill, too, but it’s gone. Were it not for the local potato-chip plant, Berwick’s economy would hardly have a pulse. As it is, unemployment is disturbingly high.

Powlus was born and raised in Berwick. So were his parents, Ron and Sue Powlus. So were their parents.

“There’s not much, I’ll tell you,” said Sue Powlus. “It’s pretty much a blue-collar town. But it’s a good town. It’s a good town to raise your kids in.”

People in Berwick gather at three places: church, the corner bars and Berwick High football games.

“Football is the king,” Curry said. “It’s intense. It’s a way of life. It’s a passion.”

On game nights, the 10,000-seat Berwick stadium is packed. If it had another 2,000 seats, the entire population of the town could fit.

Berwick season tickets are in such demand that it takes someone’s death to free one up. Wills have included provisions concerning Berwick seats.

Funerals have been rescheduled to make way for Berwick playoff games. Marriage ceremonies have been postponed. Even the Powluses planned their daughter’s rehearsal dinner so it wouldn’t be on the same night as a Berwick game.

“It would be unheard of for us to miss a game,” Sue Powlus said.

Curry once was summoned to the local hospital to see an elderly gentleman who was gravely ill. The old man, a lifelong Berwick fan, was presented an official jersey and cap. Later, when he died, a letter was found containing a single request. The old man wanted to be buried in a Berwick championship letter jacket.

Curry donated the jacket.

There was little doubt that Powlus Jr. would play at Berwick. But where? The first time Curry saw him, Powlus was trying out for fullback.

“Then I watch him play catch one day,” said Curry. “I said, ‘C’mon here, you. What are you doing playing fullback? You’re playing quarterback. You want to give it a shot?’ ”

So Powlus became a quarterback. And a top student. And a civic leader. And a celebrity.

If there was a bloodmobile drive, Powlus was there. He raised money for cancer research, for the Heart Assn. He worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He volunteered to read to children.

None of this surprised his parents, who had seen the same sort of devotion for years.

“Ronny has always been that way since he was little,” Sue Powlus said. “When he committed to something, he did so totally. When he was a paperboy, you were supposed to have the papers delivered by 7. He would have them delivered by 5:30.”

By Powlus’ sophomore season at Berwick, it was apparent that he was special. Even Powlus admitted that much when he told his mom one day, “If people are saying I can be one of the best in the country, I want to prove it.”

Pennsylvania high school records have never been the same. He finished his three-year career with 7,339 yards passing, 62 touchdowns and 444 completions in 795 attempts. He rushed for 1,679 yards and 45 touchdowns.

Powlus had a routine on game day. He would leave the house early and go to the stadium by himself. There he would sit in the stands for an hour or so.

The same sort of thing happened when it came time to choose a college. Powlus asked his parents not to tell him which school they preferred. Instead, he wanted to make a choice unburdened by bias.

“I’ve always admired that he takes about three steps back before he jumps into it,” said Sue Powlus. “He’s always clear thinking.”

In the end, he visited Miami, Penn State, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame. One recruiter, whose school didn’t make the final cut, kept calling anyway, claiming he kept losing the Powlus’ home address.

Four days before he was supposed to announce his decision at a news conference, Powlus sat at the family dinner table and said: “I think I’ve made up my mind.”

It was Notre Dame, with Penn State a close second. Turns out Notre Dame was the choice of Ron Sr. and Sue, too.

When he officially announced his choice in a packed school cafeteria, television remote trucks beamed the news all the way back to South Bend. By then, recruiting coordinator Yelovich had already heard the decision.

“Believe me, it was a great feeling,” he said.

There were a few tears shed when the family dropped Ron off at Notre Dame this summer. There will probably be a few more as Powlus tries to survive his first year in the nation’s most-watched football program.

“I’m very excited about it,” Powlus said. “I think it’s going to be a wonderful experience for me.”

It’s going to be a wonderful experience for somebody--McDougal, Failla, Powlus, maybe even the little talked-about Krug.

Now Holtz just needs to make up his mind.