Best ND Players Of The Past 25 Seasons - BGI

[BGIF]

BGI's 25th Anniversary Countdown

http://www.blueandgold.com/content/printversion.cfm?aid=1355

by LOU SOMOGYI Associate Editor
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To commemorate its 25th year, Blue & Gold Illustrated begins its daily countdown of the 25 most memorable players to don the Gold and Blue (and sometimes green) over the past quarter century. The criteria are based on: 1) impact on the Notre Dame program; 2) skills/production; 3) number of years he made an impact; 4) personality.

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  Offensive Guard - Tim Grunhard​
  </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>No. 25 Jeff Samardzija
• No. 24 Mark Bavaro
• No. 23 Jeff Faine
• No. 22 Pat Terrell
• No. 21 Tim Grunhard
• No. 20 Brady Quinn
• No. 19 Shane Walton
• No. 18 Bobby Taylor
• No. 17 Andy Heck
• No. 16 Derrick Mayes
• No. 15: Bryant Young
• No. 14: Jeff Burris
• No. 13: Autry Denson
• No. 12: Jerome Bettis
• No. 11-9: Stams, Stonebreaker and Pritchett
• No. 8: Ned Bolcar
• No. 7: Aaron Taylor
• No. 6: Allen Pinkett
• No. 5: Todd Lyght
• No. 4: Tim Brown
• No. 3: Chris Zorich
• No. 2: Raghib Ismail
• No. 1: Tony Rice

 

[BGIF]

BGI is doing a daily feature on each of the 25 above. Shark's article is up today. I disabled the player links as the daily articles require a subscription.

 

[ralphwaldoemerson]

I know with Quinn/Shark you want to wait till this season to really "anoint" them and put them like top 10 (top 3 at least in Quinn's case), but Quinn behind Shane Walton? I love Shane but Quinn's definitely already passed him, just with last season. Also the top ones I'd have gone Rocket, Brown, Rice, Zorich. A Heisman is huge - it takes a very very once in a generation guy to beat a Heisman guy - which is what Rocket was. Rice was great but just, a little behind the other two, even though a QB.

 

[jiggafini19]

Honorable mention: QB sack masters Kory Minor and Justin Tuck.

 

[BGIF]

Lack of coaching is the easy answer to the mediocrity of the Davie/Willingham eras but note only 4 players Shark, Faine, Quinn, and Walton were recruited by them.

Davie gets credit for Faine and Walton
(don't bother with Walton was "found" on the soccer team. I wrote an article during his recruiting season that he would come to commit to ND for soccer with the understanding that he could walkon for football. He was a CIF CB, California All-State)

Willingham gets Quinn and Shark.

Faust brought in Bavaro, Heck, Stams, Pritchett, Pinkett, and Brown

Holtz gets the other 15
Terrell , Grunhard, Bobby Taylor, Mayes, Young, Burris, Denson, Bettis, Stonebreaker, Bolcar,
Aaron Taylor, Lyght, Zorich, Ismail, Rice.

 

[Dannyboy Ayers]

what about ryan harris, rick mier( even though he sucks in the pros ), reggie brooks?

 

[A2McGowan]

That list is about as dead-on as you could be......this upcoming season could dramatically effect those rankings. 7 out of those top 11 hold a NC ring.

 

[BGIF]

Looking at the breakdown above Holtz is the dominant recruiter, right?

Now look at Holtz with and without Recruiting Coordinator Vinny Cerrato.

With Cerrato ('86-90), 12: Terrell , Grunhard, Young, Burris, Bettis, Stonebreaker, Bolcar, Aaron Taylor, Lyght, Zorich, Ismail, Rice.

Without Cerrato ('91-'96), 3: Bobby Taylor, Mayes, Denson


N.B.
I put Terrell, Stonebreaker, Grunhard, and Bolcar in the Holtz era as they signed with Holtz in '86. I don't recall if any of those 4 commited to Faust before his departure or to Holtz after he took over in Dec '85.

 

[irishfan]

I'm not quite sure why the shark is in the top 25 and Stovall is not. Stovall had very similar numbers to the shark last year and add that in with his 3 previous years, I feel like he should be ranked ahead of him. Stovall was a three-year starter, and got a lot of playing time as a freshman. the shark got minimal playing time as a freshman and sophmore, and came into last year as the 4th receiver. Im not trying to say he doesnt deserve to be in the top 25, but maybe Maurice Stovall does too.

2005 Jeff Samardjiza: 77 catches, 1249 yards, 16.2 average, 15 touchdowns
Maurice Stovall: 69 catches, 1149 yards, 16.7 average, 11 touchdowns
2004 Jeff Samdzija: 17 catches, 274 yards, 16.1 average, 0 touchdowns
Maurice Stovall: 21 catches, 313 yards, 14.9 average, 1 touchdown
2003 Jeff Samardzija: 7 catches, 53 yards, 7.6 average, 0 touchdowns (should have RS)
Maurice Stovall: 22 catches, 421 yards, 19.1 average, 3 touchdowns
2002 Jeff Samrdzija: not on team
Maurice Stovall: 18 catches, 312 yards, 17.3 average, 3 touchdowns

Career Stats
Jeff Samrdzija:101 catches, 1576 yards, 15 touchdowns
Maurice Stovall: 130 catches, 2145 yards, 18 touchdowns

Considering that the top 25 rankings are to date, (otherwise BQ qould be ranked in the top 10 atleast) Maurice Stovall should be ranked ahead of the shark

 

[BGIF]

Mea culpa!

My title for this thread is incorrect. I wrote "Best ND Players Of The Past 25 Seasons" while B&G actually rated "the 25 most memorable players to don the Gold and Blue (and sometimes green) over the past quarter century."

I'll submit those 25 are pretty close to the Best 25 but B&G's criteria were:

1) impact on the Notre Dame program;
2) skills/production;
3) number of years he made an impact;
4) personality.

 

[Famboo28]

If Brady wins the heisman this year, would he move up to the number 1 spot on that list?

 

[ralphwaldoemerson]

"Jeff Samrdzija:101 catches, 1576 yards, 15 touchdowns
Maurice Stovall: 130 catches, 2145 yards, 18 touchdowns"


I think when you consider that Mo put those numbers up in 3 (or 4?) years of starting while Shark nearly matched Mo's career numbers in one year, it kind of explains why one's on the list and one's not.

 

[irishfan]

"Jeff Samrdzija:101 catches, 1576 yards, 15 touchdowns
Maurice Stovall: 130 catches, 2145 yards, 18 touchdowns"


I think when you consider that Mo put those numbers up in 3 (or 4?) years of starting while Shark nearly matched Mo's career numbers in one year, it kind of explains why one's on the list and one's not.

Yes, but one of the categories for why the players were chosen is years of impact on the program. The Shark will have made an impact for 2 years by the time he gradiates, while Stovall will have for 4 years. I think that the shark will have better stats after 2006, but the top 25 rankings are for right now, not projected stats. Right now, Stovall has better stats and has been a key part of the offense for four years, while samardzija has been a key part for just one year.

 

[onenybrother]

We'll see

We'll see

In the next 5 yrs we will see how great Charlie is gonna be as a coach. Let's see the players he recruit knock some of the Great Damers out. Now I no some people will like to throw Shark and Quinn on his resume because of the break out season they had. But there are not his recruit.

 

[ralphwaldoemerson]

Yea but Stovall was a major part of a lousy offense. When he became a big part of a major offense, he was second to Samardzija. It's not just length of service, or even quality of service, but quality of the offensive unit you're serving. Mo was a starter for three or four years and was only on a good offense and a really good team for one of them. Samardzija was the best wideout on the best offense and team ND has had in over a decade, and will likely make it two for two this season.

 

[KMac151993]

If Brady wins the heisman this year, would he move up to the number 1 spot on that list?

No way, he's not even the best QB over the past 25 years.

 

[jiggafini19]

No way, he's not even the best QB over the past 25 years.

With a Heisman and or National Championship, plus every QB passing record in the ND book that is going to be pretty tough to argue.

He's got 12 games left in his career at least. Let's see what happens.

 

[KMac151993]

With a Heisman and or National Championship, plus every QB passing record in the ND book that is going to be pretty tough to argue.

He's got 12 games left in his career at least. Let's see what happens.

Oh I will, I was just going off the comment about the Heisman, a National Championship added to that and his stock would rise in my book....still Tony Rice lost 2 games in his career as a starting QB at ND, won a national championship, and probably played and won the biggest game in Notre Dame Stadium history, thats pretty tough to argue with.

 

[jiggafini19]

Absolutely.

 

[irishfan81]

Can you put pics of the top 25 so I can make a Greatest Irish Collage for my Football room for my house?Thanks.

 

[irishfan]

Stovall or Samrdzija?

Stovall or Samrdzija?

Yea but Stovall was a major part of a lousy offense. When he became a big part of a major offense, he was second to Samardzija. It's not just length of service, or even quality of service, but quality of the offensive unit you're serving. Mo was a starter for three or four years and was only on a good offense and a really good team for one of them. Samardzija was the best wideout on the best offense and team ND has had in over a decade, and will likely make it two for two this season.

While Stovall was a major part of a lousy offense for three years, Samardzija wasn't even a part of it for two years. The criteria are based on: 1) impact on the Notre Dame program; 2) skills/production; 3) number of years he made an impact; 4) personality.

Stovall has made a great impact on the program over the past 4 years, even being on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 2002. (Now if being on the cover of SI doesnt have an impact on the program then i dont know what does.) He has much better career recieving numbers than Samrdzija, and although Samrdzija will pass him after this year, the rankings are not a prediction, but of where the players stand right now. Obviously Stovall has made an impact for 4 years, and Samrdzija just one. And as for personality, I would have to give it to Samardzija, but thats mainly because he seems much more outgoing than Stovall. (Dancing on the sideline during the Purdue game/Taunting the Stanford players chasing after him during his touchdown catch and run.

 

[ACamp1900]

I usually don't give into the top whatever lists, but this one is pretty good aside from T. Rice at number one... no one else thought that was REALLY reaching???? I LOVE Tony, but if he hadn't even made the list I wouldn't have thought twice about it... I'd put Aaron Taylor a bit higher also

 

[tommy]

the good and bad thing is we didnt have to pick between these players bad thing one is gone

 

[tommy]

oh im sure you guys could argue anything 10 years is a long time 2 build a palace just depends on how big you want it i just dont want 2 hear any storys like ok miami auburn lsu