Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 FEBRUARY 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME 40 Years Ago: Feb. 13, 1981 After only two months on the job, first-year head coach Gerry Faust took the college football recruiting world by storm by signing what was rated as the consensus No. 1 class in the country. The 27-man haul featured an unheard of 13 Pa- rade All-Americans. Alphabetically, the 13 Parade All-Americans were: tight end Mark Bavaro, fullback Mark Brooks, tight end Robbie Finnegan, defensive lineman Mike Gann, defensive lineman Mike Golic, safety Joe Johnson, quarterback Ken Karcher, linebacker Mike Larkin, flanker Van Pearcy, defensive lineman Tony Piccin, linebacker Tom Roggeman, tailback Chris Smith and offen- sive lineman Larry Williams. Brooks and Larkin both played for Faust at Cincinnati Moeller High. The nation's top recruiting maven at the time, Joe Terranova, said one eastern legend who knows quarterbacks said Karcher could be "the next Joe Willie [Namath]," while Terranova said that Smith "may be the only player in America to compare favorably with [Georgia superstar] Her- schel Walker (from a pure strength standpoint)." Williams was rated as the best offensive line- man in the state of California, while Jay Under- wood and Mike Kiernan were elected Linemen of the Year in their respective states of Virginia and Kentucky. "The incoming linemen have such enormous size that if they hold out their left arm they may well be mistaken for a railroad crossing," Ter- ranova wrote. All in all … maybe the greatest class in college football history, on paper. 35 Years Ago: Feb. 12, 1986 Unlike five years earlier, the first recruiting class under new head coach Lou Holtz arrived with a little less fanfare. Ten of the 22-man haul were from the Chicago area, with five alone coming from St. Laurence High. The three top recruits from that high school were linemen Paul Glonek, Jeff Pearson and Mike Harazin, while another offensive lineman, Tim Grunhard, was not as highly ranked. The fifth, running back/athlete Stan Smagala, was reluctantly accepted by Holtz only because predecessor Gerry Faust already had promised him a scholarship. (Grunhard and Smagala went on to become three-year starters and future pros.) The Irish also signed local product Anthony Johnson, a running back/linebacker from South Bend John Adams. Headlining the top-15 caliber class were USA Today Defensive Player of the Year Chris Zorich from Chicago St. Rita and Woodruff, S.C., and quarterback Tony Rice, an option wizard and Parade All-American. The Irish also tapped into Louisiana by inking linebackers Michael Stone- breaker and Rod West. 15 Years Ago: Feb. 1, 2006 In his first full season as a recruiter, head coach Charlie Weis and his staff landed what he termed "a killer class" that was ranked as high as No. 3 by Tom Lemming. The 28-man class was the highest in volume since the 30 in 1987 and was allowed because three players — running back James Aldridge, wide receiver George West and offensive guard Chris Stewart — were the first football early en- rollees at Notre Dame and were applied to the previous year's record-low 15-man haul. Despite the numbers, the Irish fell short along the defensive line, but the six-man offensive line haul was deemed the best in the land, led by five-star tackle Sam Young, who edged out quar- terback Tim Tebow as Florida's Gatorade Player of The Year. Five Years Ago: Feb. 3, 2016 Notre Dame inked a 23-man class that included seven recruits from Florida, tying it with the 1987 haul for the most ever signed from the Sunshine State by the Irish in one campaign. The seven were: offensive guard Parker Boudreaux (Or- lando), linebacker Jonathan Jones (Orlando), run- ning back Tony Jones Jr. (St. Petersburg), running back Deon McIntosh (Pompano Beach), wide re- ceiver Kevin Stepherson (Jacksonville) and safety Devin Studstill (Palm Beach Gardens). That 2016 haul also held the distinction of in- cluding seven prospects that had initially com- mitted to other schools — quarterback Ian Book (Washington State), defensive ends Khalid Ka- reem (Alabama) and Ade Ogundeji (Western Michigan), linebacker Daelin Hayes (USC), safe- ties D.J. Morgan (Arizona State) and Spencer Perry (Florida), and cornerback Troy Pride Jr. (Virginia Tech) — while the Irish did not lose any of their verbal commitments. It marked the first time in head coach Brian Kelly's first seven years that a player did not switch to another school after originally pledging to Notre Dame. It also was the first time it didn't happen to the Fighting Irish since 2006. Rivals ranked the Notre Dame's class No. 12 nationally, while Scout had it at No. 13, 247Sports had it at No. 15 and ESPN had it at No. 16. Anniversaries In Notre Dame Athletics: February UNDER THE DOME In 1981, first-year Irish head coach Gerry Faust landed 13 Parade All-Americans while signing the nation's consensus No. 1 recruiting class. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS