As the Notre Dame Fighting Irish try and settle who will be the team's quarterback for the 2014 season, a player has emerged as the team's leader on the defensive side of the ball. Joe Schmidt is showing the Irish that he can shoulder the weight of being the teams defensive leader.

Who Has The Inside Track In Notre Dame's QB Battle

Coach Brian Kelly spoke about the man that is becoming the heart and should of the Irish defense and about his emergence during the spring.

"Joe Schmidt is the leader on our defense. There's no one probably that has the kind of leadership and understanding of our defense than Joe has right now. Right now he can't come off the field. His knowledge base in terms of getting people lined up and having them execute what we do defensively -- he's absolutely integral to what we're doing."

Schmidt went from walk-on player to one of the teams most valuable assets it seems overnight and it is mostly due to his thought process about the game. He has a mind for the game that most defensive players need to make an impact and he has the instinct you can't teach. Don’t just take the team’s word for it, let Schmidt himself tell you about his transition.

"I think that at a young age I had a lot of good coaching, and then I think I learned to think about the game in the right ways so I think about it more -- instead of like memorizing things I think about how everything fits together. So if the safety's moving here, where I got to move in relation to that, that's just how I think, and I think it's really benefited me with going at different defenses from high school to college and here switching a little bit."

The Irish have many questions to answer before they become National Championship contenders again, but it starts with the new and improved defense they are building for 2014.

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