I The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 11, 1985-- Page 8 Irish's Larkin invades brother's turf By JOE EWING Barry Larkin collected a lot of hits and provided a lot of excitement for Michigan fans during his three year career with the Wolverine baseball team. But when Barry's big brother Mike does his hitting at Michigan this Saturday, Wolverine faithful probably won't find it very thrilling. Nor will Bo Schembechler's offense. THE ELDER Larkin is an outside linebacker and the defensive leader for the No. 11 ranked Notre Dame football team, which invades Michigan Stadium this weekend for the season opener. And he also sports some pretty hefty football credentials that help distinguish him from his younger sibling. The fifth-year senior, who is one of the Fighting Irish's defensive cap- tains, is starting his first full year as an outside linebacker. In the past, despite two serious injuries, he had established himself as a defensive threat for Notre Dame at inside linebacker. After seeing action as a backup as a freshman, Larkin started all 11 games during his sophomore season in 1982 and was second on the team in tackles with 110. He sat out all of 1983 after breaking his arm in the pre-season, and then last year when he was initially slotted to move to outside linebacker, tragedy struck again. In pre-season drills, he tore ligaments in his left knee. "IT WAS exactly one year and one day after I broke my arm," said Larkin. "I'll tell you, it was pretty tough. I thought I must be living wrong or something. It was like, why is this happening to me." The injury may have gotten the economics major down, but he was far from being out. "The doctors told me I'd be okay and that I'd be able to play," he said. "Right then I decided that I'd come back stronger and bigger and better. I was determined to get back." AND HE DID, even before the '84 campaign was over. Midway through the season the cast that protected the injured joint was removed and Larkin returned to the gridiron, making at least four tackles in each of the final six Irish games. In a 30-22 victory over LSU he earned the game ball by coming off the bench to make six tackles and a key interception. He added 11 tackles against Navy and eight against both South Carolina and Southern California. While the strong comeback Larkin made may have been impressive, it was not a surprise. Football, and athletics, have always been a huge thing in Mike's life, just as they have been for the other Larkin brothers. Both Mike and Barry starred in both football and baseball at Cincin- nati Moeller High School, where current Notre Dame head coach Gerry Faust was the gridiron mentor. As a senior, Mike was a consensous high school All-American linebacker and helped the Crusaders to a state title. The following year Barry was the team's Most Valuable Player as a defensive back, the same distinction given two years ago to the Larkins' younger brother Byron, who is now a basketball player at Xavier Univer- sity. "THEY BOTH won the MVP award for football at Moeller," said the oldest brother. "I didn't, which is kind of ironic because I'm the one who is supposed to be the football player." Make that quite a football player. Coming out of Moeller, Mike Larkin was heavily recruited by several colleges. He narrowed his choices to Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State, Oklahoma, USC and LSU before he chose the Irish. Barry, likewise, had a slew of recruiters after him the following year for both baseball and football. "Yes, Barry came here, but I couldn't get him to play," said Michigan coach Bo Schembechler. "We recruited Mike very hard and I know the family well. He's a tremen- dous football player and we would have loved to have him here. I'm not sure how close I came to getting him, but I know Mike liked Michigan a lot." "MICHIGAN was my second choice," said the elder Larkin. "A close second." Mike debated for a long time with his mother Shirley over which school to attend. His mother pushed Notre Dame, while he was seriously thinking about becoming a Wolverine. "When I was young I always followed Michigan and hated Notre Dame," he said. "I always rooted for Michigan when they played Notre Dame." Notre Dame linebacker Mike Larkin and his brother, former Michigan shortstop Barry Larkin (far left), will have their school and family loyalty put to the test this weekend when Mike and his Fighting Irish Associated Press teammates invade Ann Arbor to meet the Wolverine football team in the season opener for both squads. BUT WHEN Faust made the move from Cincinnati to South Bend, Larkin decided to follow him. "He was a big reason," said the 6-2, 220 pounder of Faust, who has coached him for nine seasons. "He's really like a big brother. He knows me pretty well and I know him pretty well. I feel real close to him." But even Faust's and Mike's presense at Notre Dame was not enough to sway Barry to suit up in the blue and gold of the Irish. Instead, Barry, who was drafted this season by the Cincinnati Reds and will skip, his senior year to turn professional, came north on a baseball scholarship with an option to play football. Of course, he never used that option. SATURDAY would be an in- teresting day for Mike though, had Barry chosen the gridiron. "I know already that we wouldn't have direct contact because we both played on defense," noted the older Larkin. "We might have run into each other on the special teams. "I never thought before about haying to hit him," he went on. "But since you asked the question, I would probably say to myself 'he's the com- petition, he's the enemy and I'm going to have to hit him.' I'd probably show some favoritism though. I might not hit him as hard, I wouldn't want to hurt him. He's my brother and I love him." BUT JUST because there's love between the brothers doesn't mean there is no rivalry. "I think there's a great family rivalry between the two when it comes to Michigan and Notre Dame," said Faust, who knows both brothers well. "I think it's a big in-house thing as far as they're concerned with one being at Michigan and one being at Notre Dame. They're very close as brothers." "Michigan has always been a big game here at Notre Dame and for me, whether my brother's there or not," said Mike. "I want to be victorious."' "o>S v4 °sit y° a ~ 1 a e ,4 °1s as vat3n9 MMOU . SPORTS OF THE DAIL Y. r BR x 1 lf 3,xa xFb"( ti L C ,.. lh a 4 r" SwY e1 a"' L S <9U^r ' 5 y , y vr4 ,ry R ~i SPpN gA P}K : .pFyYy" a '9 RVAS Y aX' S r py ¢v w'S9 S { + Y fI; FKii YY Y Yt"Fl4up . " [ v4z kr