Grace?s aim for the 2013 season? Having the ND coaching staff proclaim him their guy at inside linebacker, a position currently vacant due to the graduation of a certain All-American.
To help win that job, which became a huge vacancy the minute the BCS National Championship Game ended and the post-Manti Te?o Era began, the junior-to-be Grace is tapping into reams of advice he received while playing behind Te?o for two seasons.
?One thing that we?ve talked about is you can?t try to be the best player right away, and I think his game exemplifies this. He really works on one thing at a time,? the 6-foot-3, 240-pound Grace said prior to last week?s BCS National Championship Game.
?I think I?m really going to try to embody that advice because other guys are going to get caught up in trying to fill the voids left after this season. You can?t do it right away. You just have to work on your game piece by piece and hopefully put it all together and just keep building like a pyramid to get to the top and be the best player you can be.?
Despite the loss of Te?o, Notre Dame returns a wealth of experience at linebacker. Starters Danny Spond and Prince Shembo will be seniors while the two players who shared the inside spot opposite Te?o ? Dan Fox and Carlo Calabrese ? both retain a fifth year of eligibility, although decisions on fifth-year players have not yet been made.
Grace, listed as Te?o?s backup in 2012, knows that being next on the depth chart one season doesn?t guarantee a starting job the next.
?I?m just going to try to focus on myself,? said Grace, who played at Cincinnati public school power Colerain. ?Hopefully, I can secure that role, but at the same time, everyone?s going to be fighting for that role and we?ll constantly be evaluated.?
Grace?s action this past season came mainly on special teams, where he finished with 12 tackles, 101 fewer than Te?o recorded on his way to winning numerous national awards.
Grace?s previous season was spent strictly on the scout team, which was an about-face from what he had been accustomed to as an all-state linebacker.
?At first you?re a little uneasy. It kind of feels weird, especially the first Friday night. You?re like, ?Wow, I don?t have a football game right now.? And then on Saturday, being on the sidelines the whole time, you feel a little uneasy, a little anxious,? he said.
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