Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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four NFL picks. There is one crucial X-factor among those three teams: It possessed a game-changer at quarterback. Stanford's Andrew Luck was the No. 1 overall pick and USC's Matt Barkley could be in 2013. (USC might have as many as four first-round picks next sea- son.) Michigan's Denard Robinson isn't a coveted NFL prospect at quarterback, but he's one of the greatest dual threats in col- lege football history. Quarterbacks are always an interest- ing dynamic. Boise State tied this year for fourth most players drafted this April — but one of them wasn't Kellen Moore, who was 50-3 as a four-year starting quarter- back. players chosen. An eighth would have been added had two-time All-American receiver Jeff Samardzija not opted for a career in Major League Baseball instead. Thus, eight in one draft is a form of Holy Grail by one school. National champ Ala- bama led the 2012 NFL parade with … eight. Next up were Oklahoma and Geor- gia with seven apiece. Boise State, Miami, Michigan State and Wisconsin had six each. Still, one has to be cautious about evaluat- Conversely, Wisconsin's Russell Wilson was not quite measured six-foot tall yet was chosen in the third round (take heart, Everett Golson). In the 18 NFL Drafts (1995-2012) since the Irish's amazing aforementioned run from 1990-94, the most picks Notre Dame has produced in a single year is seven, and that occurred three times: • Notre Dame had seven selections in 1999 — the spring after it started 9-1 before losing 10-0 at USC in great part because of Irish starting quarterback Jarious Jackson's knee injury the previous week in a victory versus LSU that sidelined him against the Trojans. • The Irish had seven selections in 2003, the year after first-year head coach Ty Will- ingham was named Sportsman of the Year by Sporting News for an 8-0 start that also turned into 10-1 … before falling to 10-3. • Finally in 2007, after back-to-back BCS campaigns led by first-round quarterback Brady Quinn, the Irish also had seven JUNE/JULY 2012 114 ing what defines "good recruiting" because it's a chicken-and-egg inquiry. Does strong player development by the coaches create "great" classes, or does the influx of top players create great coaches? It generally is a combination of both. Frank Leahy didn't suddenly become a bad coach when the talent level fell precipi- tously in 1950, leading to a 4-4-1 record af- ter a four-year run of 36-0-2 with the Irish. It also wasn't a coincidence that after going 19-30 the previous five years from 1959-63, Notre Dame started 9-0 the next year and moved up to No. 1 with a dy- namic new coaching staff headed by Ara Parseghian. It takes both. At Notre Dame, the standard generally has been that an "average" recruiting class will have four to six players drafted, a very good one about eight, and a superb one can reach double digits. The unknown in this formula is whether better player development by the coaches could have led to better results on the field and in the draft. ✦ Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com