Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/114977
the fifth quarter lou somogyi might refer to it as ���entitlement,��� while others might see it as ���finding the right fit.��� By now, we should all know how the drill works at Notre Dame, or other places: ��� Veteran QB Paul Failla is leapfrogged by ���Next Big Thing��� Ron Powlus, in 1994, so Failla opts for baseball instead. ��� Sophomore Zak Kustok falls behind freshman Arnaz Battle in the pecking order in 1998, so Kustok leaves to star at nearby Northwestern of the Big Ten. ��� Freshman ���Boy Wonder��� Matt LoVecchio helps the Irish to a BCS bid in 2000, but by next season classmate Carlyle Holiday supplants him and in 2002 LoVecchio bolts for Indiana University. ��� Christian Olsen, the MVP of the 2003 Blue Gold Game, is trying to push Holiday for the starting role ��� but as soon as freshman Brady Quinn moves past him that August, Olsen packs his bags for Virginia. Thus, when both Zach Frazer and Demetrius Jones enrolled in 2006, it was easy to conclude one wouldn���t finish his career here ��� especially once Jimmy Clausen drove up in a Hummer limousine in 2007 to announce he, too, was signing up. As it turned out, both Frazer and Jones departed. The better Notre Dame���s practice field becomes, the more probable it is for some non-starters, especially at quarterback, to wonder about greener pastures elsewhere. It is the trade-off to constantly striving to become better. ��� A Position Of Transfer Here���s a chronological list of the quarterbacks who left the Notre Dame program since 1977, with the year they were recruited in parentheses: Rick Buehner (1977) ��� Kentucky Randy Wright (1979) ��� Wisconsin Eddie Hornback (1979) ��� Mississippi State Scott Grooms (1980) ��� Miami (Ohio), but returned to Notre Dame a year later Ken Karcher (1981) ��� Tulane Joe Felitsky (1983) ��� Pittsburgh Duke St. Pierre (1984) ��� Boston College Kent Graham (1987) ��� Ohio State Jake Kelchner (1989) ��� West Virginia B.J. Hawkins (1990) ��� Virginia Wade Smith (1992) ��� ? Gus Ornstein (1994) ��� Michigan State Eric Chappell (1996) ��� Alabama A&M Zak Kustok (1997) ���Northwestern Matt LoVecchio (2000) ��� Indiana Christian Olsen (2002) ��� Virginia David Wolke (2004) ��� Western Kentucky Zach Frazer (2006) ��� Connecticut Demetrius Jones (2006) ��� Cincinnati, and then Division II Central State Dayne Crist (2008) ��� Kansas (but graduated from Notre Dame) Notes: One other quarterback who might be included is Paul Failla, who played from 1991���93 but opted for baseball after Ron Powlus was anointed the starter. Failla was a third-round pick in the Major League Baseball Draft, but then used his final year of NCAA eligibility at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1998. Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com