Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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52 NOV. 28, 2016 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED WHERE HAVE YOU GONE? The starter from day one shined in two bowl wins over No. 1 teams BY LOU SOMOGYI T he 2016 Notre Dame football season has featured the youngest defensive backfield in school history. Through the first 10 games, freshman Devin Studstill started in seven games at free safety, while freshman cornerbacks Ju- lian Love (six starts), Donte Vaughn (four starts) and Troy Pride Jr. (two starts) have cracked the opening lineup at various times. A fifth freshman, Jalen El- liott, also has been seeing more time. The season has hit home for former Irish safety Randy Harrison, the first football player in school his- tory to receive five mono- grams during his playing career from 1974-78. In head coach Ara Par- seghian's final season at Notre Dame (1974), Har- rison found himself sud- denly thrust into the start- ing lineup for the defending national champions well be- fore the season commenced. The free safety posi- tion graduated All-American Mike Townsend, and star 1973 freshman strong safety Luther Bradley was suspended from the school prior to the 1974 campaign. Then during the summer, designated starting safety Tim Simon suffered a severe eye in- jury at home that ended his season. "So much in sports is about being at the right place at the right time," said Harrison. "You look at someone like Joe Montana [Harrison's room- mate at Notre Dame]. He's third team, suddenly gets the call, and the rest is history." In the first scrimmage with the team that August, the freshman Har- rison picked off a pass by senior Heis- man Trophy candidate Tom Clements and turned it into a long return. "Next thing I knew, my name was at the top of that depth chart," Har- rison recalled. "It was a shock, but a great honor and I approached it like that. I was playing with men, incredible players like Mike Fanning, Steve Niehaus, Greg Collins, Drew Mahalic — and I had just turned 18. I just happened to be one of the fastest players out there and was kind of a natural fit at free safety." He joined sophomore strong safety John Dubenetzky and junior corner- back Randy Payne as green first-time starters, with senior cornerback Reg- gie Barnett the Cole Luke of that sec- ondary as the lone proven veteran. Harrison started the opener at Geor- gia Tech (a 31-7 victory) in a Monday night televised game on ABC-TV and every game thereafter, highlighted by a 13-11 win versus 11-0 and UPI No. 1 Alabama in the Orange Bowl. "I don't really know if I knew what I was getting into," Harrison said. "The only nerves I had in that opening game were I was also returning punts, and I didn't want to drop one while everyone was watching on Monday Night Football. Fortunately, I didn't. Afterwards, it all kind of sunk in. I guess at that time I didn't know what I didn't know. The veteran guys gave me a lot of support and confidence." During the season, Harrison scored in back-to-back games against Miami and Navy on interception returns, the latter late in the fourth quarter when the Irish led only 7-6. The hard-fought 14-6 win versus Navy prompted Parseghian's decision to resign from coaching at the tender age of 51. In 48 quarters of foot- ball that season, the Irish allowed only 88 points in 46 of them. However, a 24-point first quarter by Purdue (including an inter- ception return for a score) and a 35-point explosion by USC in the third quarter helped prevent a second straight national title for the 10-2 Fighting Irish. N o t e v e n i n c l u d i n g the terrific performance against Alabama in the Or- ange Bowl, that 1974 Notre Dame unit finished No. 1 in the country in total defense. THE FIVE-YEAR PLAN Under new coach Dan Devine, Harrison started every game as a sopho- more too, and then as a ju- nior in 1976 he recorded 17 tackles in the opening-game loss versus even- tual national champ Pitt and then nine more in just the first half the following week against Purdue. Alas, on the last play of the half when the Boilermakers attempted a Hail Mary pass into the end zone, Harrison broke his arm and was side- lined the rest of the season. He had played enough (30 min- utes) to earn a third monogram, but not enough to lose a medical redshirt season. Thus, Harrison became the lone five- time monogram winner in football at Notre Dame and believes he might be the only Irish player ever to start the season opener five straight years. A fractured rib suffered in the Randy Harrison, 1974-78 Free Safety As a freshman, Harrison stepped in as the starting free safety in 1974 and later aided a national title campaign. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS