Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/311901
BY LOU SOMOGYI A few years ago, ESPN.com listed its "Simply Saturday" choices for the top 50 players who excelled at the collegiate level but "barely made a ripple in pro football." Six former Notre Dame players were on the list: 1988‑91 tight end Derek Brown (46th), 1943 Heisman winner Angelo Bertelli (26th), 1964 Heisman winner John Huarte (24th), 1987‑89 quarterback Tony Rice (17th), 1988‑90 flanker/tailback/return man Raghib Ismail (13th) and 1953 Heisman win‑ ner John Lattner (11th). The top three from any school were running backs Archie Griffin (Ohio State) — the game's lone two‑time Heisman Trophy winner, who did amass 2,808 yards in seven NFL sea‑ son — Glenn Davis (Army) and Ernie Davis (Syracuse), who died from leu‑ kemia before he could play his first NFL game. An interesting way to look at this is the relationship between high school "five stars" for college and college "five stars" for the NFL. Players such as Rice and linebacker Michael Stonebreaker (1986‑90) were five‑star college performers — but the NFL viewed them as two‑star pros‑ pects for their league. Rice wasn't drafted because he wasn't a classic pro‑style passer, while the relatively undersized Stonebreaker was taken in the ninth round and played only three years. Notre Dame's top 10 in this category — with at least one player from each position group — were selected based on: • How brilliant their college ca‑ reer was in comparison to what was achieved in the NFL. • How high they were taken in the draft. • How long they lasted in the NFL. If their careers were as long or less than college (four years), that gets them higher on this list. Also, the se‑ lections include only players from the last 50 years, when making a living in the NFL became possible and offsea‑ son jobs were not required to make ends meet. 1. KEN MACAFEE (1974-77) — The three‑ time All‑American tight end won the Walter Camp Award and was third in the Heisman voting during Notre Dame's 1977 march to the national title. A College Football Hall of Fame member, he was the No. 7 overall pick in 1978 by the San Francisco 49ers. The only two tight ends taken higher since then have been Kellen Winslow II in 2004 and Vernon Davis in 2006, both at No. 6. MacAfee played only two years on two 2‑14 teams and caught 46 passes (five for scores) before head coach Bill Walsh wanted to convert him to guard. Instead, MacAfee opted to attend dental school and is now a renowned oral surgeon, lecturer and philan‑ thropist. He is a classic example of making football work for him rather than the other way around in the Not For Long (NFL) league. 2. WALT PATULSKI (1969-71) — The Lom‑ bardi Award winner as a senior and the last Irish player taken No. 1 in the NFL