Oct. 17--To Sheldon Day, Mother's Day is not only the second Sunday of May.
To Day, every day is Mother's Day.
The Notre Dame defensive lineman's mother, Carol Boyd, won't let him -- or anyone else within earshot -- forget that.
Never has -- not when he was playing for Warren Central High School in Indianapolis.
Never will -- not even with 81,000-plus at Notre Dame Stadium.
" 'That's my baby. Go, baby,' " Notre Dame safety Matthias Farley said Wednesday, doing his best impersonation of Boyd. "It's no secret when she's there."
And it's no secret that Day keeps no secrets from her, that he's a mama's boy. Day called their relationship "probably the best I have."
Day said he thought he might be in trouble the first time he heard her words at Notre Dame. They pierced through the crowd before landing in his ears. He was warming up for a game.
"She said, 'Boy, if you don't look at me,' " Day said. "So it was kind of like, 'Do I look at her? What do I do?' "
The solution was simple: Day gives his mom a hand sign to confirm that he received her message.
"The first time, definitely it was scary," he said. "She knows how to get under my skin and make me do the right things, for sure."
That hasn't been a problem this season for the 6-foot-2, 285-pounder. Carol's boy has been the man on the Irish defensive line. The ankle and knee injuries that ailed Day in the past have passed, he said, thanks to the Irish training staff.
Day has eight tackles for a loss, a team high by 2 1/2 and more than he had last season. He's also tied for the team lead with two sacks and he has a team-high nine quarterback hurries.
"He wants his last year to be his best year," coach Brian Kelly said. "He came back ... to help Notre Dame and help himself, and he's living up to all those things."
By helping himself, Kelly is talking about Day's NFL draft stock, which has skyrocketed. Some projections have Day as a first-round pick.
Before deeming him fit to play on Sundays, Kelly said, the Irish wanted to make sure Day was fit to play on Saturdays.
"Increase a lot of his numbers so they would reflect somebody that could get drafted higher," Kelly said. "That physical prowess is showing itself on Saturdays."
This Saturday, Day hopes that prowess shows against USC. He didn't play in last year's 49-14 loss to the Trojans, thanks to a bum knee. Day said the loss left a bad taste in the Irish's mouths. And they had a month to think about it before their bowl victory against LSU.
The fact Day will be on the field this time makes Farley happy. He said this season's version of Day is the best he has seen.
"He's playing with his hair on fire, and that's infectious for the D-line," Farley said. "It's something that our defense really pulls a lot of energy from because Sheldon has been balling. It's big for him, but it's really, really big for us."
Just like his mother's support is really, really big for Day.
"Everybody always gives me a hard time about my mom, but everybody loves her," Day said. "Every time you see her, you can't do anything but smile."
To hear her is to see her, though Day held out hope that big college crowds might drown her out.
"I definitely thought that, but it only got worse," he said.
In other words, it only got better. Just like Day has.
pskrbina@tribpub.com
