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Notre Dame's All-Time, All-Pro Team: Defense & Special Teams

The 2020 NFL Pro Bowl that was played last weekend in Orlando, Fla., is not a game to watch for football purists, but it still holds an esteemed honor for the players.

This year, Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith made his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl (he was a first-team All-Pro in 2017 and second team in 2018).

Smith, who played from 2007-11 with the Fighting Irish, trails only guard Zack Martin — who has been in six straight Pro Bowls since his rookie year in 2014 — among current Notre Dame alumni in the NFL.

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Safety Harrison Smith, who was at Notre Dame from 2007-11,  made his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl this year.
Safety Harrison Smith, who was at Notre Dame from 2007-11, made his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl this year. (Brace Hemmelgarn/USA TODAY Sports)

Yesterday we listed our 23-man Notre Dame all-time NFL team — starters and alternates — on offense. Today, it’s our 23-man unit on defense and special teams.


Defensive Line

Alan Page, Bryant Young and George Trafton in 3-4 — and Justin Tuck in 4-3

In a 3-4 alignment, Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Trafton — who also was a center — is our nose guard, with Page and Young as the ends.

Trafton, who played for Knute Rockne’s 1919 unbeaten team that received national title recognition, was an original “Monster of the Midway” for the Chicago Bears from 1922-32 and made the 1920s All-Decade Team. Legendary running back Red Grange referred to him as “the meanest, toughest player alive.”

Page finished with 215 consecutive starts after not starting the first three games of his 1967 rookie season. He was selected to nine straight Pro Bowls while recording 148 1/2 career sacks, and was the league’s MVP in 1971, a first for a defender. Page and wide receiver Tim Brown have the most Pro Bowl appearances by Irish alumni .

Young was the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year for the 1994 Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers and a four-time Pro Bowl pick during a 14-year career. Selected to the NFL’s 1990s All-Decade team, Young recorded 605 tackles, with 89.5 sacks, while often facing double teams. Like Page, he was remarkably durable, starting all 208 games he played, but did have to come back from a severe knee injury.

Tuck played 11 seasons and made two Pro Bowls (and an alternate two other times). The four-time New Giants captain made the franchise’s Ring of Honor. He recorded 66.5 sacks among his 510 tackles. An argument could have been made for him to be Super Bowl MVP in both titles won by the New York Giants during his time while registering two sacks apiece of Tom Brady in upset wins.

In a 4-3 set, we would have Tuck in for linebacker Jim Lynch or Myron Pottios.

Alternates: Leon Hart, Bob Golic, Bob Toneff and Ross Browner.

Hart was All-Pro on offense and defense in his second season during his eight-year career with the Detroit Lions. He was most productive on offense, where he caught 174 passes and scored 26 TDs, and he later lined up at fullback, but he was a force on defense as well.

Toneff played six years apiece at San Francisco and Washington and was a four-time Pro Bowl pick from 1952-64.

Golic played 14 years at nose guard (1979-92) and made the Pro Bowl three consecutive seasons with the Cleveland Browns. He made 160 career starts in the NFL and could rotate with Trafton at nose guard.

Browner never was selected to the Pro Bowl but had a strong 10-year career in which he recorded 516 tackles with 59 sacks (second in Cincinnati Bengals franchise history) despite getting moved to the inside. He also holds the Super Bowl record for most solo tackles by a lineman (10, including a sack of 1977 national title teammate Joe Montana) in the 1982 Super Bowl won by San Francisco, 26-21.


Linebackers

George Connor, Nick Buoniconti, Jim Lynch and Myron Pottios

Connor made All-Pro at three different positions — including linebacker — on offense and defense. Although Connor was a lineman in college, his bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame refers to him as “first of the big, fast linebackers” in the league’s history. Paul Hornung referred to him as the greatest football player who graduated from Notre Dame, and Connor helped revolutionize the linebacker position.

The late Buoniconti (1962-76) was the ringleader of the Miami Dolphins’ vaunted “No Name” defenses, highlighted by the perfect 17-0 team in 1972. He was chosen first team on the All-Time AFL/AFC team and could play both the run and pass (32 career interceptions). Buoniconti made the AFL All-Pro teams six times and was twice in the NFL Pro Bowl en route to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Lynch played in 142 consecutive games for the Kansas City Chiefs, helping them to the 1970 Super Bowl title. He was overshadowed by linebacker teammates Willie Lanier and Bobby Bell, both in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but Lynch also made it to the Pro Bowl by his second season of an 11-year career.

Pottios played 14 years in the league and was a Pro Bowl selection three times in the 1960s.

Alternate:Jim Martin.

A 14-year pro, Martin started at left tackle and left guard before moving to linebacker and, later in his career, at kicker. He made the Pro Bowl in 1960 when he was 38 years old.


Defensive Backs

Dave Duerson, Dave Waymer, Todd Lyght and Harrison Smith

Duerson played in four straight Pro Bowls from 1985-88 and was a cog on one of the most fearsome defenses ever, the 1985 Chicago Bears.

Waymer’s 48 career interceptions in 13 years (1980-92) are the most by an Irish alumnus. He and Lyght both played 13 years in the league, and both made the Pro Bowl once.

Lyght made 132 consecutive starts, picked off 37 passes and made the Pro Bowl in 1999, the year his St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl.

The lone captain at Notre Dame in 2011, the aforementioned Smith eclipsed Duerson, for the most Pro Bowls by an Irish alumnus in the secondary. He has recorded 658 career tackles, 56 passes defensed and 23 interceptions, four returned for scores, for the Minnesota Vikings.


Alternates/Nickel: John Lujack, Dick Lynch & Bobby Taylor

Lujack played only four years in the NFL and made the Pro Bowl twice as a quarterback. But as a rookie with the Chicago Bears in 1948, he tied the franchise record with eight interceptions.

Lynch, best remembered for his 1957 TD sweep on fourth down that ended Oklahoma’s NCAA record 47-game winning streak, led the league in interceptions twice (nine apiece in 1961 and 1963) during a stellar career with the New York Giants. Like Lyght, he had 37 career interceptions in the NFL.

Taylor played 10 years from 1995-2004 and made the Pro Bowl in 2002 with the Philadelphia Eagles. He recorded 19 career interceptions in 109 starts.


Special Teams: John Carney (kicker), Craig Hentrich (punter), Allen Rossum (returns)

Carney ranks fifth on the all-time NFL scoring chart with 2,062 points and made the Pro Bowl at age 44 in 2008 before retiring.

Hentrich was the NFL’s first million-dollar punter and completed his 17th season in 2009 while on injured reserve. He played in 241 games, was on Green Bay’s Super Bowl champs in 1996 and fell just short of 50,000 career yards punting.

One of the fastest players ever to suit up for Notre Dame, or anywhere, Rossum was a Pro Bowl pick as a return man. He had six career TDs off of returns (two more than Tim Brown), and another in the playoffs.

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