Academically, Evan Sharpley, the third-string quarterback at Notre Dame, works exclusively at a high school level. At some schools this would be scandalous -- at even more it would hardly be unexpected -- but for Sharpley, it is simply vocational training.Sharpley, or Mr. Sharpley as he is known to his five classes of geography and history students at South Bend Adams High School, is spending his entire final semester at Notre Dame student-teaching. "My first class starts at 7:45 and except for Fridays I'm here until 2:10," says Sharpley, a fifth-year senior by eligibility standards. "I'm busier this year than in any of my previous years at Notre Dame."
Which is somewhat ironic, because except for football, Sharpley is rarely at Notre Dame. He lives off-campus and only ventures on to visit his younger brother Bryan, a pitcher on the baseball team who resides in Alumni Hall. In fact, the education program through which Sharpley is earning his teaching certificate is run not through Notre Dame but rather the female-only school across the street, St. Mary's.
"Oh yeah," says Sharpley, who turns 23 next month, "I'm definitely a SMC chick."
Sharpley holds a unique and dubious place in Irish football lore. He started two games in his career, both of them through very little fault of Sharpley's, both among the most ignominious in recent history. In 2007 he was the starter for the 38-0 loss to USC (the worst home loss in school history) and two weeks later for the 46-44 triple-overtime loss to Navy (the first defeat to the Middies in 44 years). The Savior whose figure adorns the south facing of the Hesburgh Library may be the most renowned sacrificial lamb in history, but certainly He must gaze down upon Sharpley and think, "Dude, I feel for you."
"What do I remember about the USC game?" says Sharpley. "I remember getting hit. A lot. I remember big, fast guys who are now playing in the NFL. It was like, 'Evan, here's your chance to start. Oh, by the way, it's USC. Good luck.'"
Sharpley was sacked seven times that afternoon as the Trojans put a defense on the field that (including current Trojan safety Taylor Mays) had eight future NFL first- or second-rounders.
While not a savior in the messianic, or Montanaesque sense, two autumns ago Sharpley rescued Notre Dame's bacon when the offense was at its lowest ebb. The previous spring four quarterbacks had dueled for the right to succeed Brady Quinn: Sharpley, who'd been Quinn's back-up in 2006; true freshman Jimmy Clausen, who'd enrolled a semester early; Demetrius Jones and Zach Frazer.
Frazer transferred to Connecticut when he learned he'd finished last in the competition. Jones quit when he lost his job to Clausen after the first game. When Clausen, who was not physically prepared for the weekly sack-fest he was thrust into, was benched as a life-saving measure midway through the Boston College game, Sharpley was ready. What Duckie was to Andie as a prom date in Pretty in Pink, Sharpley has been to the Irish offense for four years now."Last spring Coach Weis advised me to at least apply for a fifth year," says Sharpley, who switched from finance to a history major after two years and has nearly 150 credit hours to his name. "I knew that I wanted to finish up my education training and I thought, 'They've used me. This is my chance to ... use them.' "
No longer second-string due to the arrival of Dayne Crist, Sharpley now spends each week as the scout team quarterback. Two years ago he went up against Mark Sanchez; this week he is impersonating Matt Barkley.
"Each week I joke with (Notre Dame defensive coordinator) coach Tenuta that once again I'm better than than the other team's starting QB, and I'm third string," says Sharpley, who has already run Nevada's Pistol and Michigan's Spread offense this autumn. Indeed, the only third-string quarterback in the nation more accomplished than Sharpley may be the Trojans' Mitch Mustain.
Sharpley, who was drafted in the 50th and final round ("Number one thousand, four-hundred and ninety-three," he says) by the Seattle Mariners last summer, accepts his gridiron role. "During the week I understand that I'm not likely going to play," he says, "but come Saturday, yeah, it's hard. How do you motivate yourself when you know that you're not going to play? I've come to look at it like warm-ups is my time."
Come 2010 Sharpley, who led the Mariners' Arizona rookie league team in batting last summer with a .333 average, will likely return to the valley of the Sun. He also harbors hopes to be a football coach. "I like the mental aspect of football," says Sharpley, "the game-planning, exploiting the other team's weaknesses."
When Sharpley returns to the desert, he might want to look up Steve Belles. Like Sharpley, Belles entered Notre Dame as a highly-touted quarterback only to fall between the cracks of Steve Beuerlein and then Tony Rice. Like Sharpley, Belles was a loyal soldier, becoming a special teams cult hero for the '88 national championship team. These days Belles is the head coach at Chandler Hamilton High School, where he has won two state championships in the past four years at the state's highest level. The Huskies are currently 7-0 and No. 1 in the state.
But that's a long way off. Mr. Sharpley still has eight weeks of class preps to do, hundreds of papers to grade, and at least six more opposing quarterbacks to impersonate. And maybe, the player to whom Weis once turned when there was nowhere else to turn will have a shot to add to his total of five career touchdown passes. That would be, as the Irish appear to be returning to relevance, justice; no one in the past three seasons has taken one for the team more than he.
