Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/181992
The massive, $1.3 billion AT&T Stadium gives Notre Dame a new venue for its current team, but also a chance to attract prospects from Texas for the future. Photo courtesy Dallas Cowboys Even playing in the 2010 Sun Bowl in El Paso was a bonus. Including walk-ons, approximately 90 players from the state of Texas have matriculated to and played for Notre Dame during the program's 126-year football history. Notre Dame's 2013 roster includes eight Texans, the fifth-highest representation from a state: sophomore safety Nicky Baratti (Tomball), who is sidelined this season with a shoulder injury; junior corner Jalen Brown (Irving); freshman walk-on receiver Omar Hunter (Harlingen); freshmen wide receivers Torii Hunter Jr. (Prosper) and Corey Robinson (San Antonio); junior running back Cam McDaniel (Coppell); fresh- man tight end Durham Smythe (Belton); and fifth-year senior kicker Nick Tausch (Plano). Until 1969, when Notre Dame broke its 45-year bowl ban to play in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas versus No. 1 Texas, the Lone Star State hadn't really been a significant player in the Fighting Irish recruiting efforts, although they did play SMU eight times from 1949‑58, with the last three all in Dallas. Notre Dame's presence in the 1970 and 1971 Cotton Bowls versus the topranked Texas Longhorns helped make some inroads into the talent-rich state, led by the school's first officially titled recruiting coordinator, Brian Boulac, in the 1970s.