Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Dame in Indiana is a must, not just for the blue-chips but the sometimes overshadowed figures, too, from cur- rent center and another team captain in senior Nick Martin to freshman safety Drue Tranquill, already a starter on special teams and a regular on de- fense. One of the favorite moments for Kelly was keeping the nation's No. 1 linebacker recruit Smith within the borders in 2013. "We go into every state in the coun- try, and we pull out one of their kids — it's a dogfight," Kelly said of the importance of landing Smith. "When you go down to Florida or you go to Texas or you go to California, you've got a fight on your hands. "We would like to think if you came into Indiana for a great prospect you'd have a fight on your hands with Notre Dame, too." Along with Ohio, Illinois and Penn- sylvania, Indiana is one of only four states where more than 200 players have seen game action for the Fight- ing Irish. Here is our all-time "All-Indiana" starting unit: 11 players on offense and 11 on defense, plus special teams. The all-time starting offense rates with any state in Notre Dame history, but three players who were known mainly for their prowess on offense — Bob Livingstone, Bob Kuechenberg and Anthony Johnson — we moved to defense to get "the best 22" on the field on both sides of the ball. QUARTERBACK: RICK MIRER (GOSHEN, 1989-92) Notre Dame's highest NFL Draft pick from the state — No. 2 overall in 1993 — was a three-year starter who helped lead major bowl victo- ries against No. 3 Florida (Sugar) and 12-0 Texas A&M (Cotton) his last two seasons. Blair Kiel (Columbus, 1980-83), who helped direct several major upsets, in- cluding at Alabama in 1980 and at No. 1 Pitt in 1982, and was good enough to play seven seasons in the NFL, merits honorable mention. RUNNING BACKS: EMIL "SIX-YARD" SITKO (FORT WAYNE, 1946-49) AND VAGAS FERGUSON (RICHMOND, 1976-79) Sitko and Ferguson represent two of the four Irish running backs since the end of World War II to earn con- sensus All-America notice. The other two were Illinois' John Lattner (the 1953 Heisman winner) and Califor- nia's Nick Eddy in 1966. Sitko is the lone back in school his- tory to lead the team in rushing all four of his seasons. Notre Dame never lost a game during that time and cap- tured three national titles. He was in- ducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1984. As a sophomore Ferguson rushed for 100 yards and scored three touch- downs (including a 17-yard pass) to earn Offensive MVP honors in the 38- 10 rout of No. 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl to win the national title. As a junior and senior, he became the first Irish back to eclipse 1,000 yards rush- ing in consecutive seasons. The first- round NFL pick rushed for 1,437 yards as a senior, which still stands as the regular-season record at Notre Dame. Others from the Hoosier state who