Rodney Culver ESPN Article

[Irish4Life09]

Rodney Culver's family keeps legacy alive through former players' memories

I've gotta say I feel bad I didn't know this former Irish player as he was well before my time.This is a truly sad story, but what his good friend/teammate and former IRiISH great Jerome Bettis did for his daughters almost had me in tears.

 

[ACamp1900]

Remember the day of the crash... I believe it was just after he had played in the Super Bowl (off memory)... he was a great one and won't be forgotten. Thanks for sharing, def looking forward to reading it.

 

[Big23Head]

Just read this, sad but a very good read.

 

[kmoose]

If people want to know why ND can't compete for a national title every year anymore, look back at the 1990 team, which had a backfield of:

TB
Ricky Watters
Tony Brooks
Dorsey Levens
Raghib Ismail*


FB
Rodney Culver
Jerome Bettis

* - Although Ismail was technically a Wideout, he was the team's 3rd leading rusher that season, with 571 yards on 67 carries.


Oh by the way, these marginally talented guys had to run behind a line of:

Tim Ryan
Mirko Jurkovic
Aaron Taylor
Tim Ruddy
Lindsay Knapp


ND just cannot put teams like this together anymore. These days kids can go to a MAC school and have the same exposure (in terms of NFL scouting) as if they went to ND or Alabama.

 

[Wild Bill]

If people want to know why ND can't compete for a national title every year anymore, look back at the 1990 team, which had a backfield of:

TB
Ricky Watters
Tony Brooks
Dorsey Levens
Raghib Ismail*


FB
Rodney Culver
Jerome Bettis

* - Although Ismail was technically a Wideout, he was the team's 3rd leading rusher that season, with 571 yards on 67 carries.


Oh by the way, these marginally talented guys had to run behind a line of:

Tim Ryan
Mirko Jurkovic
Aaron Taylor
Tim Ruddy
Lindsay Knapp


ND just cannot put teams like this together anymore. These days kids can go to a MAC school and have the same exposure (in terms of NFL scouting) as if they went to ND or Alabama.

I thought teams win championships, not players. Interesting.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Oh man...I remember this plain crash and when this happened. Stupid ValueJet.

 

[ozzman]

Damn guy in the cube next to me is cutting onions...

 

[Rocket 94]

Had a friend who was a walk-on for the ND basketball team in the early 90's and he had his dorm next to Rodney. Got to know Rodney and Rod Smith well during my visits to campus from 90 to 91. He was a great and humble man.

 

[kmoose]

I thought teams win championships, not players. Interesting.

That's the whole point; those teams were stacked from top to bottom, 2-3-4 deep, with elite football players. And Holtz got them to play like a team. There were so many GREAT RBs on that team, that the leading rusher(Culver) averaged less than 14(13.6) carries a game. 3 different guys(Culver, Watters, Brooks) had 100+ carries for the year, with Rick Mirer adding 98. None of them whined about not being "the man"; they simply busted their asses to be prepared to take full advantage of every carry that they got.

But, today; even if Kelly could get every single man to buy into the team concept, he could never assemble a roster like that one.

 

[Guest]

If people want to know why ND can't compete for a national title every year anymore, look back at the 1990 team, which had a backfield of:

TB
Ricky Watters
Tony Brooks
Dorsey Levens
Raghib Ismail*


FB
Rodney Culver
Jerome Bettis

* - Although Ismail was technically a Wideout, he was the team's 3rd leading rusher that season, with 571 yards on 67 carries.


Oh by the way, these marginally talented guys had to run behind a line of:

Tim Ryan
Mirko Jurkovic
Aaron Taylor
Tim Ruddy
Lindsay Knapp


ND just cannot put teams like this together anymore. These days kids can go to a MAC school and have the same exposure (in terms of NFL scouting) as if they went to ND or Alabama.

I remember that team, but good God that is an incredible list of talent.

 

[Cackalacky]

That's the whole point; those teams were stacked from top to bottom, 2-3-4 deep, with elite football players. And Holtz got them to play like a team. There were so many GREAT RBs on that team, that the leading rusher(Culver) averaged less than 14(13.6) carries a game. 3 different guys(Culver, Watters, Brooks) had 100+ carries for the year, with Rick Mirer adding 98. None of them whined about not being "the man"; they simply busted their asses to be prepared to take full advantage of every carry that they got.

But, today; even if Kelly could get every single man to buy into the team concept, he could never assemble a roster like that one.

Those ND teams benefited from Prop 48, lax recruiting rules ( like Vinnie Cerrato and Holtz's time and experience in the SWC) and a really good class of kids nationwide. The classes from 1989-1994 had some epic players.

 

[palinurus]

Good article; Culver was a fine player and great guy. (Nit and point of information: Culver was not Notre Dame's first black captain in 20 years, as the author says. The Irish had many in the years leading up to Culver.....Todd Lyght, Watters, Tony Rice, Stacy Toran, many others)

 

[MNIrishman]

That's the whole point; those teams were stacked from top to bottom, 2-3-4 deep, with elite football players. And Holtz got them to play like a team. There were so many GREAT RBs on that team, that the leading rusher(Culver) averaged less than 14(13.6) carries a game. 3 different guys(Culver, Watters, Brooks) had 100+ carries for the year, with Rick Mirer adding 98. None of them whined about not being "the man"; they simply busted their asses to be prepared to take full advantage of every carry that they got.

But, today; even if Kelly could get every single man to buy into the team concept, he could never assemble a roster like that one.

Interesting that Kelly's depleted team is putting up 7 more points a game than the 1990 team. That 1990 team also lost to an unranked 5 win Stanford team and let Navy score 31 points.

 

[Rocket 94]

Those ND teams beniffitted from Prop 48, lax recruiting rules ( like Vinnie Cerrato and Holtz's time and experience in the SWC) and a really good class of kids nationwide. The classes from 1989-1994 had some epic players.

Think ND only had 3 total prop 48 players in Foley, Rice and Zorich. The last great recruiting class was 1990 with Bettis as Monk started to raise the standards. That showed in the 1991 recruiting class as Cerrato was neutered and Holtz had to scramble to fill the class with Chicago area kids. The 92 and 93 recruiting classes were elite again but 1994 was one of the worst classes of the last fifty years.

Seems like we have never recovered from Monk, even 10 years after he was gone in 2005. Not sure if the university will ever allow recruiting classes like 87 to 90 again with the current university leadership.

 

[ACamp1900]

I didn't know Zorich was a 48 guy... Also didn't follow recruiting to know that 94 was epically bad... Is that true? Anyone have that class list anywhere?

Wasn't Denson a member of the 94 class?

 

[Rocket 94]

I didn't know Zorich was a 48 guy... Also didn't follow recruiting to know that 94 was epically bad... Is that true? Anyone have that class list anywhere?

Wasn't Denson a member of the 94 class?

Denson was the 1995 class which would have been epic with Randy Moss and James Jackson.

Some names from that 1994 class that I recall was Ty Goode, Damien Peter, Clement Stokes. The only impact players from the class were Luke Petitgout and Allen Rossum.

 

[Cackalacky]

Think ND only had 3 total prop 48 players in Foley, Rice and Zorich. The last great recruiting class was 1990 with Bettis as Monk started to raise the standards. That showed in the 1991 recruiting class as Cerrato was neutered and Holtz had to scramble to fill the class with Chicago area kids. The 92 and 93 recruiting classes were elite again but 1994 was one of the worst classes of the last fifty years.

Seems like we have never recovered from Monk, even 10 years after he was gone in 2005. Not sure if the university will ever allow recruiting classes like 87 to 90 again with the current university leadership.

I'd say those were three pretty influential guys.

The 1990 class was really good because it had Jeff Burris. Nuf said.

My point was the things that made.those classes great are not in place any more for multiple reasons.

 

[palinurus]

Think ND only had 3 total prop 48 players in Foley, Rice and Zorich. The last great recruiting class was 1990 with Bettis as Monk started to raise the standards. That showed in the 1991 recruiting class as Cerrato was neutered and Holtz had to scramble to fill the class with Chicago area kids. The 92 and 93 recruiting classes were elite again but 1994 was one of the worst classes of the last fifty years.

Seems like we have never recovered from Monk, even 10 years after he was gone in 2005. Not sure if the university will ever allow recruiting classes like 87 to 90 again with the current university leadership.

And yet, even with these higher standards, the Irish still have the 9th most players in the NFL. They are still getting the talent to win.