Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/234294
UNDER THE DOME Anniversaries In Notre Dame Athletics History: February 25 Years Ago: Feb. 8, 1989 After winning the national championship one month earlier, Notre Dame signs its third consecutive No. 1-ranked recruiting class. The 25-man harvest is headlined by the nation's top quarterback Rick Mirer, a local product from nearby Goshen, Ind. Three line prospects — Junior Bryant, Chet Lacheta and Stuart Tyner — are named to the USA Today first- or second-team All-America unit, and a half-dozen linebacker prospects are inked, including California's Erik Simien, Washington's Demetrius DuBose and Iowa's Brian Ratigan (Notre Dame's current team orthopedic surgeon). Despite signing elite running backs Ricky Watters and Tony Brooks in 1987 and six more All-American running backs in 1988 — featuring Raghib "Rocket" Ismail — this class still reels in another AllAmerican in New York's Dorsey Levens and Oklahoma's Reggie Brooks, the overshadowed younger brother of Tony. "Speed is what we won with and speed is what we're going to continue to win with," Notre Dame recruiting coordinator Vinny Cerrato said. 15 Years Ago: Feb. 5, 1999 Notre Dame's Board of Trustees unanimously votes not to join the Big Ten. Earlier, the Notre Dame Faculty Senate had voted 25-4 in favor of joining the Big Ten to have access to the CIC, an academic consortium of the 11 conference schools and the University of Chicago.