1997, Davie was down to 50 something scholarship players. He suspended contact practice for fear of more injuries.
If I recall correctly The injuries weren't as prevalent preseason nor result in as many full season losses nor surgeries. There were an inordinate amount of muscular injuries such as hamstrings that occurred in the first half of the season. (There was considerable discussion that the S&C coach literally had the players "wound too tight". Back then there was no MBeckha too enlighten us.)
At the Stanford game presser, Davie announced that two more LBs had gone down making it a half a dozen LBs that were unable to play. On the Irish Recruiting Journal I titled a thread, "Two More LBs Lost. Suit Up The Leprechaun!"
In less than three minutes I received a PM from an ND beat writer asking if he could use my title on his article that day. He noted he was on deadline and needed a quick resonse. I PM'd back, "Sure as long as there's full attribution like I give you when I pinch a phrase from one of your articles." He replied, "Can't do that." I replied, "Then don't use it." He didn't but it confirmed a longtime suspicion that the writers do follow the boards for material.
That weekend Davie had two walkons at ILB and two Stanford RBs nobody remembers had each had a career day rushing as ND got trampled.
