Notre Dame’s All-Unanimous Football Team
On Thursday night, Notre Dame senior rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah became the 30th different Fighting Irish player to achieve the rare unanimous All-America distinction when the Walter Camp Football Foundation was the last outlet to release its units.
The distinction between what comprises a consensus All-American and a unanimous one is slight, yet still profound. A “consensus” All-American is one who makes first team on at least half of the NCAA-recognized outlets. A “unanimous” makes them all. The five such recognized outlets in college football are:
• American Football Coaches Association (AFCA)
• Associated Press (AP)
• Football Writers Association of America (FWAA)
• Sporting News
• Walter Camp Football Foundation (the oldest All-America team).
Prior to Owusu-Koramoah, the most recent Irish player to achieve the distinction was guard Quenton Nelson in 2017. The following year, cornerback Julian Love was first team on four of the lists, but not on the last one released that year (AFCA).
Love joined some exclusive Notre Dame company who also just missed the unanimous distinction, including two-time consensus All-America linebacker Bob Crable (1980-81), the school’s all-time leading tackler who recently was enshrined into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Or how about George Connor and Bill Fischer, who both won the Outland Trophy in the 1940s, and likewise are in the College Football Hall of Fame?
Even Heisman Trophy winners Angelo Bertelli (1943), Paul Hornung (1956) and John Huarte (1964). They won the highest individual honor possible in the sport — yet did not make the unanimous list.
Nevertheless, Notre Dame now has 30 different selections as a unanimous All-American, and 35 total amongst five players twice selected: Frank Carideo, John Lujack, John Lattner, Ross Browner and Todd Lyght.
Especially notable is a full offense and defense can be assembled by Notre Dame’s unanimous picks. Here is the way to sort it:
Quarterback: 1946-47 John Lujack (Connellsville, Pa.), 1954 Ralph Guglielmi (Columbus, Ohio)
The oldest living Heisman winner and the lone player in college football history to start at QB for three national champs, Lujack would be our starter and also could be a nickel back on defense.
For that matter, so could Guglielmi, who intercepted 10 passes his last two seasons.
Running Back: 1949 Emil Sitko (Fort Wayne, Ind.), 1966 Nick Eddy (Lafayette, Calif.)
The fullback, now an obsolete position in most offenses, would be Sitko, the lone Irish player to finish as the team’s top rusher four straight seasons. The Irish were unbeaten in all (1946-49) of them, with three consensus national titles.
Eddy finished with only 553 yards rushing, 15 catches plus two kick returns for scores for the 1966 national champs, which goes to show glittering stats weren’t everything back in the day.
Receivers: 2009 Golden Tate (Hendersonville, Tenn.), 1987 Tim Brown (Dallas, Texas), 1990 Raghib Ismail (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)
Tate and Brown are the lone two members among the 30 unanimous All-Americans who weren’t part of an Irish team that finished in the top 10 or won at least 10 games in a season. Tate’s 2009 Irish were only 6-6.
Ismail also could be the return man on this squad.
Tight End: 1949 Leon Hart, (Turtle Creek, PA), 1977 Ken MacAfee, (Brockton, Mass.)
This is quite a double-tight end alignment when you can include a Heisman winner (Hart) and a Walter Camp Award recipient (MacAfee) from national title teams. MacAfee also was third in the Heisman balloting, quite rare for a tight end. Hart played both offense and defense in his time.
Offensive Line: 1932 Joe Kurth (Madison, Wis.), 1938 Ed Beinor (Harvey, Ill.), 1965 Dick Arrington (Erie, Pa.), 1980 John Scully (Huntington, N.Y.), 2017 Quenton Nelson (Holmdel, N.J.), 1993 Aaron Taylor (Concord, Calif.)
Scully, a virtuoso pianist who penned the “Here Comes The Irish” tune, is the center, with Nelson and Arrington — a wrestling All-American who lined up on defense as well — the guards.
At tackle, Kurth is one of only two players under Knute Rockne to make the unanimous list, and he started as a sophomore on his last team, the 1930 national champs. Lombardi Award winner Taylor is the other tackle, with Beinor as the top reserve.
Defensive Line: 1969 Mike McCoy (Erie, Pa.), 1971 Walt Patulski (Liverpool, N.Y.), 1972 Greg Marx (Redford, Mich.), 1975 Steve Niehaus (Cincinnati, Ohio), 1976-77 Ross Browner (Warren, Ohio), 1990 Chris Zorich (Chicago, Ill.)
Under assistant coach Joe Yonto from 1964-80, Notre Dame was “Defensive Line U.,” and this list has five of the six who were under his tutelage, with Zorich the exception (although he was a freshman in 1987 when Yonto was in his final season as a coach).
This rotation would start Browner and Patulski at end. Browner’s 77 career tackles for loss are an unbreakable standard, with no one else at 45. Patulski is the most recent Irish player taken No. 1 overall in the draft.
In the interior, Zorich already has joined Browner in the College Football Hall of Fame, and McCoy was the No. 2 overall NFL pick in 1970 after finishing sixth in the Heisman.
Off the bench would be Marx and Niehaus, who also was the No. 2 overall draft pick and started at both end and tackle for the Irish during his career.
Linebackers: 1966 Jim Lynch (Lima, Ohio), 1978 Bob Golic (Willowick, Ohio), 2012 Manti Te’o (Laie, Hawaii), 1990 Michael Stonebreaker (River Ridge, La.), 2020 Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (Hampton, Va.)
Golic also was an All-America wrestler like offensive lineman Arrington, and he even lined up at nose guard frequently.
Lynch is in the College Football Hall of Fame, and like Stonebreaker in 1988, he starred for the 1966 national champs that allowed 24 points on defense in the 10 games played.
Te’o spearheaded a 12-0 regular season his senior year that led him to capture a plethora of individual awards while also finishing second in the Heisman. Owusu-Koramoah likewise led an unbeaten regular season and saw the season end versus Alabama.
Defensive Backs: 1989-90 Todd Lyght (Flint, Mich.), 2002 Shane Walton (San Diego, Calif.), 1929-30 Frank Carideo (Vernon, N.Y.), 1952-53 John Lattner (Chicago, Ill.)
Carideo and Lattner were listed at quarterback and halfback, respectively, but with only two pure defensive backs among the unanimous choices, we can move the two-way stars to the safety slots.
Carideo was not even a passer (listed with three attempts for the 1930 national champs) but helped direct two national titles. Meanwhile, Lattner was not even the leading rusher on his own unbeaten team as a senior when he won the Heisman, but was a stalwart on defense with 13 career interceptions.
The corners are Lyght and Walton, who led a 10-1 start his final season. Lyght was a mainstay during the school record 23-game winning streak in 1988-89.
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