Considering the great and iconic history of Notre Dame football, this turned out to be a more difficult task than even I thought it would be. This list is an attempt to list the top-20 players regardless of position with the full understanding that there will be a number of deserving players left off the list.
I attempted to list the players solely on what they did at Notre Dame and disregarded their NFL careers. I gave great consideration to how they were evaluated during the era that they played in. I felt that one of the best ways to do this was to research which players were consensus All-Americans.
I found that there were four Notre Dame players who were not only two time consensus All-Americans, but were unanimous selections both years. These four players are my first four selections:
(1) Johnny Lujack - quarterback - 1946 and 1947
(2) Ross Browner - Defensive end - 1976 and 1977
(3) Frank Carideo - quarterback - 1929 and 1930
(4) Johnny Lattner - running back - 1952 and 1953
This next group consists of players who were two time consensus All-Americans, but were unanimous picks only one of those years. I will put a * next to the unanimous pick year:
(5) Leon Hart - DE/TE - 1948 and 1949*
(6) Ken MacAfee - TE - 1976 and 1977*
(7) Emil Sitko - fullback - 1948 and 1949*
(8) Todd Light - corner back - 1989* and 1990
(9) Chris Zorich - defensive line - 1989 and 1990*
(10) Aaron Taylor - offensive line - 1992 and 1993*
(11) Mike Stonebreaker - linebacker - 1988 and 1990*
(12) Marchy Schwartz - running back - 1930 and 1931*
The next group consists of players who were two time consensus All- Americans, but were never a unanimous pick:
(13) George Connor - defensive line - 1946 and 1947
(14) Bob Crable - linebacker - 1980 and 1981
(15) Bill Fisher - offensive lineman -1947 and 1948
(16) Bob Dove - DE/TE - 1941 and 1942
The next group consists of players who were only consensus All- Americans for one year, but were unanimous picks in the year that they were named:
(17) George Gipp - running back - 1920
(18) Rocket Ismail - flanker - 1990
(19) Tim Brown - flanker - 1987
(20) Quenton Nelson - offensive line - 2017
There you have it. Is the list perfect? Perhaps not. The first thing that jumps out at me is having George Gipp at #17. Most people would argue that the top two ND players of all time are Gipp and Lujack. However, I wanted to make the list based on certain criteria and this list is what I came up with.
*Note, I made an error in my original post and overlooked a small handful of players that were only one year All-Americans, but were unanimous. A very difficult choice, but I picked Tim Brown from this group and thus he bumps Luther Bradley from the list. My only excuse is that there was a ton of data to go through with so many great ND players.
** Note - here is the source material for my making my list.
https://und.com/news/2017/12/13/Que...Unanimous_All_American_In_School_History.aspx
http://ndfootballhistory.com/the-nd-heritage/nd-all-americans
I attempted to list the players solely on what they did at Notre Dame and disregarded their NFL careers. I gave great consideration to how they were evaluated during the era that they played in. I felt that one of the best ways to do this was to research which players were consensus All-Americans.
I found that there were four Notre Dame players who were not only two time consensus All-Americans, but were unanimous selections both years. These four players are my first four selections:
(1) Johnny Lujack - quarterback - 1946 and 1947
(2) Ross Browner - Defensive end - 1976 and 1977
(3) Frank Carideo - quarterback - 1929 and 1930
(4) Johnny Lattner - running back - 1952 and 1953
This next group consists of players who were two time consensus All-Americans, but were unanimous picks only one of those years. I will put a * next to the unanimous pick year:
(5) Leon Hart - DE/TE - 1948 and 1949*
(6) Ken MacAfee - TE - 1976 and 1977*
(7) Emil Sitko - fullback - 1948 and 1949*
(8) Todd Light - corner back - 1989* and 1990
(9) Chris Zorich - defensive line - 1989 and 1990*
(10) Aaron Taylor - offensive line - 1992 and 1993*
(11) Mike Stonebreaker - linebacker - 1988 and 1990*
(12) Marchy Schwartz - running back - 1930 and 1931*
The next group consists of players who were two time consensus All- Americans, but were never a unanimous pick:
(13) George Connor - defensive line - 1946 and 1947
(14) Bob Crable - linebacker - 1980 and 1981
(15) Bill Fisher - offensive lineman -1947 and 1948
(16) Bob Dove - DE/TE - 1941 and 1942
The next group consists of players who were only consensus All- Americans for one year, but were unanimous picks in the year that they were named:
(17) George Gipp - running back - 1920
(18) Rocket Ismail - flanker - 1990
(19) Tim Brown - flanker - 1987
(20) Quenton Nelson - offensive line - 2017
There you have it. Is the list perfect? Perhaps not. The first thing that jumps out at me is having George Gipp at #17. Most people would argue that the top two ND players of all time are Gipp and Lujack. However, I wanted to make the list based on certain criteria and this list is what I came up with.
*Note, I made an error in my original post and overlooked a small handful of players that were only one year All-Americans, but were unanimous. A very difficult choice, but I picked Tim Brown from this group and thus he bumps Luther Bradley from the list. My only excuse is that there was a ton of data to go through with so many great ND players.
** Note - here is the source material for my making my list.
https://und.com/news/2017/12/13/Que...Unanimous_All_American_In_School_History.aspx
http://ndfootballhistory.com/the-nd-heritage/nd-all-americans
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