Irish Football Alumni in the NFL Spotlight

With the Super Bowl approaching between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks once again Notre Dame bred talent finds itself on the roster.  Actually for the seventh time it finds itself on both rosters (15^th consecutive game with at least one team represented by the boys from South Bend).  This fact will ensure that there will be a 39^th former Notre Dame Player to win a Super Bowl. 

Golden Tate and David Burton were teammates for Notre Dame in 2007 and 2008.  While playing for the Irish Tate won The Biletnikoff Award in 2007 which is presented annually to the nation’s outstanding college football receiver.  Tate also was named unanimous first-team All-American before forgoing his senior season and being drafted in the second round (60^th overall) by Seattle.  Tate in three years in South Bend had 157 receptions for 2707 yards (17.2 yards per catch) and 26 touchdowns, he also had 31 rushed for 227 yards (7.3 yards a carry) with 3 touchdowns, oh yeah he also returned a punt for a touchdown.  In four years for the Irish David Burton recorded 214 tackles and 7 interceptions.  Burton was then selected in the fourth round (114th overall) by the Denver Broncos in 2009.

On Saturday February 1 the eve of the Super Bowl at the Selection Committee's annual meeting the 2014 Inductees from the fifteen finalists will be announced.  Two of the fifteen Finals are Notre Dame Football Alumni; Jerome Bettis and Tim Brown, Irish All Time greats.  In three years at South Bend Jerome Bettis racked up 1912 rushing yards on 312 attempts (the majority of those in his last two seasons) averaging 5.7 yards per carry and 27 touchdowns.  In addition to being a force on the field Bettis also was a popular player with the fans getting the nickname “The Bus” while at Notre Dame.  Bettis was a first round draft pick (11^th overall) in 1993 by the Rams.  Tim Brown, who happened to be the last of Notre Dame’s seven Heisman Trophy winner completed his career at Notre Dame with 137 receptions, 2493 yards and 12 touchdowns though the air.  Brown was an all around offensive weapon rushing for 442 yards with 4 touchdowns on the ground and 3 kickoff returns for touchdowns and 3 punt returns for touchdowns.

Although this is great source of pride for Notre Dame Football past, don’t kid yourself this is very good for the current program.  It can keep current players fired up and encourage future recruits to join the party.