Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com JUNE/JULY 2017 61 98 yards) and a close loss at Boston College (22 carries for 109 yards), he had the greatest four-game stretch as a runner by an Irish signal-caller. Holiday wasn't the archetype QB the next year in new head coach Tyrone Willingham's West Coast of- fense, and by the following season he was shifted to wide receiver. 6. JARIOUS JACKSON (1996-99) Career Stats: 288 carries, 967 yards, 3.4 yards per attempt and 14 TD If a linebacker or defensive back saw the 6-1, 228-pound Jackson heading at him with the ball, he bet- ter have packed some Ibuprofen. Jackson played with a linebacker 's mentality and turned dozens of lost- yardage plays into major gains with his improvisational skills. Nine times he rushed for at least 60 yards, highlighted by a 107-yard effort on 15 carries in a 34-30, come- back victory versus Oklahoma in 1999. He led the team to a 9-1 start in 1998 before getting injured for, ironi- cally, taking a knee in the end zone of a 39-36 victory versus LSU in which he rushed for 80 yards. Without him, the offense couldn't function in a 10-0 loss at USC. 5. DESHONE KIZER (2015-16) Career Stats: 264 carries, 997 yards, 3.8 yards per attempt and 18 TD If he hadn't finished with minus-37 rushing yards (due to sacks) during last year 's finale at USC, he would have been the fourth Irish QB to fin- ish with more than 1,000 rushing yards in his career. His 18 touch- downs rank second. Kizer's top performance was a 143- yard effort in a 24-20 win versus Tem- ple in 2015. That was three yards shy of tying the single-game record by an Irish QB, 146 by Bill Etter in 1969. 3/4. JOE THEISMANN (1968-70) AND TOM CLEMENTS (1972-74) When it came to "extending the play" and making something out of nothing with their ability to ad lib, these two icons who directed Ara Parseghian's attacks were as good as they came in college football. Their careers and stats were so similar, it didn't seem right to separate them. Career Stats, Theismann: 327 carries, 1,091 yards, 3.3 yards per attempt and 16 TD His shiftiness and competitiveness made him the first of three Notre Dame quarterbacks to rush for more than 1,000 career yards. Theismann capped his Irish days with three- and 15-yard touchdown runs in a 24-11 upset of No. 1 Texas in the 1971 Cot- ton Bowl. Career Stats, Clements: 302 carries, 1,148 yards, 3.8 yards per attempt and 12 TD Still the best rollout passer, to his right or left, we've seen at Notre Dame, and his career rushing yard- age total is the second most by an Irish quarterback. He was a maestro with his legerdemain during the 1973 national title run. Clements ended that season by rushing for 74 yards on 15 carries in the 24-23 Sugar Bowl victory versus No. 1 Alabama. In the third quarter, he made a remarkable move in his own end zone to avoid a safety and rush for positive yardage when the Irish were trailing. 2. PAUL HORNUNG (1955-56) Career Stats: 186 carries, 892 yards, 4.8 yards per attempt and 13 TD Prior to succeeding College Foot- ball Hall of Fame member Ralph Guglielmi at quarterback, Hornung lined up at fullback as a sophomore in 1954. His running instincts never left him while averaging nearly five yards per carry at quarterback his last two years. Taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1957 NFL Draft, the Heisman Trophy winner was about to retire from pro football before Vince Lom- bardi became the Green Bay Packers head coach in 1959 and envisioned Hornung as his prototype left half- back. Today, Hornung is in both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. 1. TONY RICE (1987-89) Career Stats: 412 carries, 2,049 yards, 4.97 yards per attempt and 23 TD Rice was born to play quarterback in Holtz's offense and it was mani- fested while directing a school-record 23-game winning streak in 1988-89. He eclipsed 60 yards rushing in a game 18 times, including 75 yards on 13 carries (while also passing for 213 yards) versus West Virginia in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl to win the national title. Rice didn't win the Heisman like Hornung, didn't have as many 100- yard games as Carlyle Holiday's three (Rice had two), and he didn't possess Jackson's or Kizer 's power. He was to Notre Dame what James Street was to Texas (1968-69), Steve Davis to Oklahoma (1972-74), Dar- ian Hagan to Colorado (1989-90) and Tommie Frazier to Nebraska (1994- 95). Like the aforementioned four, he should be a serious (if not a given inductee) candidate to make the College Football Hall of Fame de- spite making only one first-team All- America team (Football News). ✦ NOTRE DAME'S TOP 10 RUSHING SEASONS BY QUARTERBACKS This data includes bowl games, which weren't included prior to the 21st century. QB (Year) Att.-Yds.-TD 1. Tony Rice (1989) 188-934-7 2. Tony Rice (1988) 134-775-9 3. Carlyle Holiday (2001) 156-666-2 4. DeShone Kizer (2015) 135-525-10 5t. Kizer (2016) 129-472-8 5t. Paul Hornung (1955) 92-472-6 7. Jarious Jackson (1999) 140-464-7 8. Jackson (1998) 125-453-4 9. Tom Clements (1973) 104-434-4 10. Joe Theismann (1969) 127-426-6 Tony Rice produced the top two single-season rushing outputs by an Irish signal-caller, and finished his career with 2,049 yards and 23 touchdowns on the ground. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS