Junior who? Jabbie shines early
SOUTH BEND -- If you'd have polled Notre Dame fans prior to Saturday's Blue-Gold Game and asked how the word "Junior" would be most used, the landslide winner likely would have been in reference to any third-year member of the team.
But Junior Jabbie, a seldom-used senior? Probably not.
There was the 5-11, 201-pound Jabbie, however, previously an afterthought first at cornerback and then at running back, hearing his name called 13 times. What he did with those 13 carries was slug, slice and slash his way to 87 rushing yards and Offensive MVP honors as the Gold posted a 10-6 victory over the Blue Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium.
"I'm a running back, I like to run the ball," the Plainfield, N.J., native said, a diamond-studded "J" dangling from his neck. "There's no problem running the ball. If you want to give me the ball, hey, I'm just running with the best of my ability."
For his first two years on campus, Jabbie was a defensive back, and he did not play a single down. He left the team prior to 2006 spring practice (Jabbie declined Saturday to say why), but returned that fall. Jabbie requested a position switch to running back, and Weis approved. Still, Jabbie didn't log a single carry, his biggest contributions coming on special teams.
As spring practice 2007 commenced, not many expected Jabbie to be a contributor to a running game that must replace two-time 1,000-yard rusher Darius Walker. The leading candidates are fifth-year senior Travis Thomas, sophomore James Aldridge and freshman Armando Allen.
"Everybody wants to talk about just Travis and James, and obviously Armando is the new blood," Irish coach Charlie Weis said. "That's what we've seen out of Junior the whole spring. He's definitely played himself into, you know, deserving to be in contention."
Weis wasn't the only member of the program who has taken note of Jabbie.
"He's been doing that since Day One this spring," Thomas said. "Nobody knows about him. He was on the scout team last year and he was running like this last year."
"The way Junior played today, that's exactly how he played all spring," tight end John Carlson said. "He runs with a lot of energy, he's kind of a little jitterbug out there moving around and shaking and baking a little bit."
Jabbie is one of only six players remaining from what was a 17-man class on signing day 2004. In his three seasons on the team, Jabbie never had played in a spring game and logged a grand total of 22:30 playing time in the fall.
But there he was Saturday, accounting for 91 total yards (87 rushing, 4 receiving), which was good for 66 percent of the Gold's 137 total yards.
"I think Junior is very happy today," classmate Maurice Crum said with a smile, "and I'm happy for him."
[More at www.southbendtribune.com]
