Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ongtime recruiting analyst Tom Lem- ming has often stated that Notre Dame should produce eight to 10 guys a year in the NFL Draft. That is an im- mensely high bar that has not occurred, not coincidentally, since a five-year stretch from 1990-94, when head coach Lou Holtz's jug- gernauts produced nine (1990), 10 (1991), eight L (1993) and 10 (1994) draft picks. (1992), nine What is more no- table is that of the 46 Irish players selected during that time, nine were chosen in the first round, 10 in the second and four in the third — meaning that half (23) went off the board in the first three rounds. No High Winds Yet In Irish Draft THE FIFTH QUARTER LOU SOMOGYI head coach Joe Kuharich and interim coach Hugh Devore combined for a 19-30 record and zero winning sea- sons. Yet even after those five campaigns the Irish produced 24 draft picks — 10 more than the past five years. 1981-85 (30-26-1 over- all record), the Irish still produced 23 draft picks, or an average of about 4.6 per year. Now, Faust Former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn was one of seven Irish players drafted in 2007. The pro- gram has not come close to matching that kind of NFL output in the five years that followed. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS During the rough five-year regime of Gerry from 2008-12, when a total of 14 Notre Dame players were selected in any round, with four this year (see pages 18-21). That is eas- ily the fewest ever over a five-year stretch by the Irish. Contrast that with the last five years from The worst five years of on-field football at Notre Dame were from 1959-63, when • Michigan finished 11-2 with a BCS win this past season and had three selections, one fewer than Notre Dame. • USC was 10-2 with a No. 6 Associated picks alone are what constitute a success- ful college program would be false, as some traditional Notre Dame opponents have recently shown: to say NFL Press poll finish, but had only three selec- tions — and like Notre Dame, two of them in the first round. • Stanford is coming off back-to-back 12-1 and 11-2 campaigns with BCS bids, and both times it had a relatively modest JUNE/JULY 2012 113