Saturday's Best

ESPN.com did a piece called Simply Saturday http://espn.go.com/ncf/feature/video/_/id/6681950/, basically ranking their top 50 college football players who didn’t exactly tear it up on Sunday afternoons in the NFL as they did on Saturdays in college.  On that list includes several formal Irish greats - several I never got the pleasure of seeing play, some I did.

At #46 is Tight End Derek Brown.  I remember Brown as a big tight end, and at 6’6’’ and 270 lbs., I am sure many defenses did as well.  As a freshman, Brown was a part of the 1988 National Championship Team.  By the time he was a senior, he was an All American and the first round pick (14^th overall) of the New York Giants, where I am sure they were hoping he’d pick up where Mark Bavaro left off.  In seven NFL seasons, Brown had only 43 receptions for 403 yards and 1 touchdown.   Don’t worry though; he owns three Quiznos shops and lives in Rexford, NY with his wife and two children.  

At #26 is Angelo Bertelli who I missed by almost 40 years.  He may be best known for being the first of Notre Dame’s seven Heisman Trophy winners.  The year he won the Heisman, Angelo only played in six games, where the Irish averaged 43.5 points a game, then he was called for active duty in the Marines.  Bertelli was in boot camp when Notre Dame won the national championship that year.  He went on to fight on Iwo Jima and Guam and was awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his service in World War II.  A knee injury ended his pro career after only three seasons in the All-America Football Conference.  As far as I am concerned, Angelo Bertelli did more after his college career than anyone with his service to his country.

At #24 is another Heisman Trophy winner, John Haurte, who had his best season as a senior, passing for 2,062 yards and 16 touchdowns after being injured for most his sophomore year (freshmen did not play varsity then).  Haurte’s greatest professional football accomplishment was being drafted by two separate teams, one in the NFL and one in the AFL.

At #17 is another member Notre Dame’s 1988 National Championship team, Tony Rice.  I have read a lot about Rice in several books regarding Notre Dame football and I would encourage others to do so.  Tony was a talented high school football player whose road to Irish stardom was a challenge (Prop 48 issues).  I was very impressed in the tales that I read regarding how he handled himself through it all.  I remember reading that he could easily throw the football 75 yards at Notre Dame.  Professionally, Rice played in Canada and in the World League.

At lucky #13 is someone who, in my opinion, was one of the most exciting college football players of all time.  Also a member of the 1988 National Championship Team, Raghib “The Rocket” Ishmail  was named #75 on the College Football News Top 100 College Football Players of all time.  I remember EVERY time he touched the ball or the ball was kicked or punted in his direction you would watch with bated breath.  I also remember him saying in interviews how his younger brother (later nicknamed “The Missile” at the University of Syracuse) was faster.  Although he was drafted by the Raiders in the forth round, he signed a record contract with the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL.  Ishmail did have a NFL career during the 90’s with the Cowboys, Panthers and the team that originally drafted him - the Raiders – putting up respectable numbers but never the recapturing the excitement he showed in South Bend.

At #11 is John Lattner, the third Notre Dame Heisman trophy winner on this list.  Lattner was what I would call the Larry Bird of his Irish teams, doing everything all the time.  In addition to the Heisman, he also won the Maxwell Award twice.  Amazingly, he did not lead the Irish in rushing, passing, receiving or even scoring yet he won both the Heisman and Maxwell Trophies in 1953.  After playing one NFL season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Lattner joining the Air Force.  Like Bertelli, Lattner provided more to his country after college than just football.

With six players out of 50 (at over 10% the most of any school) on this list, some Irish Fans may feel attacked.  I feel honored.  To me, this demonstrates the very high expectations put on Notre Dame Football players (maybe too high). And, in my opinion, the fact that there are three members of the 1988 National Championship team on the list demonstrates that it was one of the best college teams ever.

I also recommend uhnd.com’s All Time Notre Dame Draft Busts list at http://www.uhnd.com/articles/nfl-irish/time-notre-dame-draft-busts/ which includes Darius Walker who I always said should have stayed in South Bend for his senior season.  And while there were six Irish players on the “busts” list, there were also a number of ND football players who were steals in the drafts throughout the years, led by Joe Montana, taken in the 3rd round #82 overall.  Even though Montana was a good collegiate quarterback, looking back, none of the 81 picks drafted prior that turned out better.  For those interested, the Buffalo Bills had the first pick that year, drafting Tom Cousineau, a linebacker out of Ohio State.