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OH CB/ATH Kyle McCarthy (Notre Dame signee)

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ND's McCarthy a true blue-collar guy
College Football
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September 12, 2009
BY BRIAN HANLEY, Sun-times News Group

When Kyle McCarthy takes the Michigan Stadium field Saturday, perhaps Notre Dame's fifth-year senior safety will allow himself a quick trip down memory lane; a flashback of 15 years, to when the then-8-year-old from Youngstown, Ohio, got his first taste of some serious Irish stew.

"My first Notre Dame football game was Notre Dame-Michigan, and it wasn't one that I enjoyed all that much at the end,'' McCarthy, the 6-foot-1 and 210-pound defensive captain, said of witnessing a 26-24 loss at Notre Dame. "I think it was Derek Mayes got a touchdown in the end zone. And Michigan came back and hit a 40-yard field goal to win in the end.''

Fuzzy facts not withstanding - it was a 42-yard Remy Hamilton field goal with two seconds left that sealed the Irish fate that day - the rivalry resonated with McCarthy.

"It was obvious from a young age,'' he said. "And I'm just so, so happy and so humbled to be a part of it. Notre Dame (and) Michigan are two of the most storied programs in college football. We take every game, you know, seriously, and each week we treat each game the same. Then again, not every game is Notre Dame-Michigan. So this is definitely a game that we're fired up for.

"Our team's going to be ready for it," McCarthy continued. "The tempo, and the heartbeat, of the team is up, so we're excited to play this game. And there's not much more to say. It's Notre Dame-Michigan.''

The McCarthy family ND roots trace to 1943 and grandfather Jack Mayo's baseball days and include brother Brian's graduation in 2006. Still, Kyle and sophomore sibling Dan, also an Irish safety, didn't necessarily bleed blue-and-gold coming out of Youngstown's Cardinal Mooney High School.

"I absolutely considered other schools,'' said Kyle, who as a quarterback led his high school to the 2004 Ohio State championship. "The school that came in second was Ohio State. So I'm sure Michigan fans would like that. Then my younger brother was actually probably down between Notre Dame and Michigan, because Michigan wanted him to play quarterback. So that would have been a good story.''
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ND's McCarthy a true blue-collar guy :: The SouthtownStar :: Sports
 
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Notre Dame football: McCarthy a believer
After early struggles, senior safety making an impact on Irish defense.
By ERIC HANSEN
Tribune Staff Writer
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SOUTH BEND - In chalk on the sidewalk, on signs taped to doors on campus buildings, even seemingly blowing through the semi-arctic breeze, the message pervaded every corner of campus. ...

Even Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis' bunker in the Gugilelmino Athletics Complex.

?We believe!?

?I haven't felt it like this ever since I've been here,? Weis said of the thickness and intensity of the pregame buzz for Saturday's Notre Dame Stadium showdown between the 25th-ranked Irish (4-1) and No. 6 USC (4-1).

?Every player and every person who works in the building - and it's not just the university - it's the town. Everyone's looking forward to this game.?

Maybe no one more than Irish senior strong safety Kyle McCarthy, who was so wound up for the game on Wednesday that he actually thought it was Thursday.

And perhaps no player on the team needed to be reminded less about believing than McCarthy.

The 6-foot, 210-pound fifth-year senior, ND's leading tackler and momentum-twister, embodies it.

It's not just because he came in with a disheveled recruiting class, hastily duct-taped together by Weis after coach Tyrone Willingham's dismissal late in 2004. It's a class whose only two prospects rated higher than ho-hum three stars gave up football (tight end Joey Hiben) or transferred to an Football Championship Subdivision school (Northern Iowa wide receiver D.J. Hord).

It's not just that the former all-state option quarterback for Ohio state champion Youngstown Cardinal Mooney showed up tipping the scales at 165 pounds, then had his weight-lifting regimen escrowed because of shoulder surgery.

It's that he was living a dream for two - himself and his grandpa, Jack Mayo.

Mayo is a former Notre Dame baseball captain who played for the Irish in the mid-'40s

?I was a brainwashed Notre Dame fan diehard,? McCarthy, captain of the Irish defense, said with a smile. ?Just being an Irish Catholic kid, last name McCarthy, I didn't really have a chance.?
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South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football: McCarthy a believer
 
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Work Ethic Kyle McCarthy hopes hard work pays off with selection in NFL Draft
Published: Wed, April 21, 2010
By Joe Scalzo
[email protected]

When Danny McCarthy was a kid, spending his weekends playing football in the backyard or on his knees on the family room floor, he could count on his older brother Kyle to show no mercy.

?It was kind of a tough love situation,? he said, chuckling. ?He?d pick on me and bully me around but if there was ever a situation when someone else was doing that, he was always the first to stick up for me.

?And ever since we were little, I always looked up to him. He excelled at whatever he did.?

Sometime during this weekend?s draft, Kyle McCarthy hopes to get a call from an NFL team and see his name scroll across the bottom of the TV and make the seemingly inevitable transition from All-Ohio quarterback to Notre Dame captain to NFL defensive back.

But things are never so simple.
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Youngstown News, Work Ethic Kyle McCarthy hopes hard work pays off with selection in NFL Draft
 
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