2 way recruits

[NDbrbkny]

Have we ever signed a recruit in recent memory that has played both ways examples: Eric Weddle and Owen Marecec Or do we just have them play only one side of the ball?

 

[BGIF]

Have we ever signed a recruit in recent memory that has played both ways examples: Eric Weddle and Owen Marecec Or do we just have them play only one side of the ball?

Whose recent memory?

Jeff Burris was an AA DB for Holtz in the early 90's and a staple in Holtz's Full House Backfield goal line offense. Scored about 10 rushing TDs. He also was a pretty fair punt returner averaging better than 10 ypp. He was a first round draft choice.

There have been a number of ND players that have made a ton of Special Teams appearances in a season. Tim Brown won a Heisman as a WR/KR/PR. Desmond Howard at UM did the same. Deion Sanders is one of the few that played both ways but I think he was got rest. (Gordie Lockbaum in Div 1AA got Heisman votes for being a two way player.)

I can't think of a 60 minute ND man since Ara arrived in South Bend in '64 when the NCAA rules were changed to allow platoon football. Prior to that all but 2 or 3 players in the game "went all the way".

Marecic played a lot of minutes but you have more fingers and toes than he had carries. He was a blocking back on offense with probably as many carries as ND fullbacks have had in the past few years. (Armando Allen probably caught more passes in a game that Marecic did in his career.) Weddle got some solid "O" PT I believe the last year he played but prior to that he had a handful of carries a year.

Te'o might be capable of playing both ways IF Kelly used a Fullback. But why would you want to run him both way and then let him get beat by a Southern Cal RB coming out of the backfield late in the 4th Q? You want fresh legs, not rubber one. Plus the other obvious question why raise the risk of injury with the additional PT?

There have been a lot of HS players that were two way starts in HS, like Zibby QB/DB, but just about everybody ends up on one side of the ball or the other.

 

[phillyirish]

Travis Thomas was used as both an outside linebacker and a running back. In his senior year he had 5 rush TD and 30+ tackles

 

[military_irish]

Tony Driver played RB and Safety, but not sure if he did them both in the same season or not.

 

[ACamp1900]

There was a guy named Gipp who lead college football in just about every single stat on both sides of the ball...