Notre Dame & USA Today All-American History
The 2016 USA Today high school football All-American teams were released this week, and for only the fifth time in the publication’s 35-year history, Notre Dame did not have an incoming player on the first or second team.
In the first 20 years from 1982-2001, Notre Dame was the leader with 51 first-team picks (and then followed with a record five in 2002). A distant second was Florida State with 32. Yet in those same 20 years, the Irish finished in the top 10 on the field only five times – while many of their faithful lamented the inability to lure quality talent or the high academic standards that precluded reeling in elite prospects.
Some things never change.
Here is the year-by-year breakdown of Notre Dame players on USA Today’s first team, with the years representing their high school senior season:
1982 (2) – Running back Hiawatha Francisco and wide receiver Alvin Miller.
Both were beset by injury problems during their careers. Miller also was Parade magazine's Player of the Year.
1983 (4) – Linebackers Frank Stams and Cedric Figaro, defensive end Matt Dingens and defensive back Brandy Wells.
After playing fullback his first three years, Stams became a consensus All-American for the 1988 national champs as a fifth-year senior.
1984 (2) – Linebacker Ned Bolcar and cornerback Mark Green.
They served as two of the three captains for the 1988 national champs, with Green lining up at running back ahead of sophomores Ricky Watters (a flanker that year) and Tony Brooks.
1985 (3) – Linebacker John Foley, offensive lineman Jeff Pearson and punter/defensive lineman John Zaleski.
Foley, the publication’s defensive player of the year, suffered an injury at the end of the 1987 season that ended his football career. He had moved to defensive end. Pearson started in 1987 but transferred to Michigan State. Zaleski also left school.
1986 (1) – Running back Ricky Watters.
He led the 1988 national champs in receptions with 15 and finished with 1,814 career yards rushing before having a superb NFL career.
1987 (2) – Tight end Derek Brown and offensive lineman Gene McGuire.
Both had strong careers at Notre Dame, with Brown ending up as a first-round NFL pick.
1988 (4) – Quarterback Rick Mirer, kicker/punter Craig Hentrich and linemen Stuart Tyner and Chet Lacheta.
Mirer was the No. 2 pick in the 1993 NFL draft, while Hentrich punted 16 years in the league.
1989 (4) – Offensive linemen Aaron Taylor and Mike McGlinn, defensive lineman Brian Hamilton and linebacker Oliver Gibson.
Taylor won the Lombardi Award as a senior. USA Today Defensive Player of the Year Gibson eventually moved to the line. Other luminaries in this bonanza class included first-round selections in Jerome Bettis, Jeff Burris and Tom Carter and Bryant Young. Burris and Young were on USA Today’s second team.
1990 (2) – Receiver Mike Miller and linebacker Huntley Bakich.
Both Texas natives had rough transitions to Notre Dame, with Miller eventually leaving school.
1991 (3) – Offensive lineman Will Lyell, defensive lineman Anthony Jones and defensive back Bobby Taylor.
Jones suffered a broken leg in a summer all-star game and transferred after his freshman year to UCLA. Taylor became a second-round NFL pick as a junior.
1992 (5) – Quarterback Ron Powlus, running back Randy Kinder, offensive tackles Mike Doughty and Chris Kurpeikis, and defensive lineman Melvin Dansby.
This was the first time a college had five players selected on the publication’s first team. None was drafted by the NFL, although Kinder did play at DB for the Philadelphia Eagles. Powlus had a record-setting Irish career, while Dansby was sensational as a senior with 103 stops. Kurpeikis transferred to Michigan, where he did not play.
1993 (0) – A first in Notre Dame history. Defensive back Jarvis Edison did make the second team.
1994 (5) – Offensive linemen Mike Rosenthal and Tim Ridder, defensive linemen Jimmy Friday and Jerry Wisne, and linebacker Kory Minor.
Tied the record haul from 1992. All had solid Irish careers, but none spectacular. Wisne and Rosenthal were fifth-round picks, while Minor, the USA Today Defensive Player of the Year that season, was tabbed in the seventh round.
1995 (2) – Defensive linemen Brad Williams and Jason Ching.
The Hawaiian native Ching’s career never got off the ground because of injury problems.
1996 (2) – Running back Tony Driver and linebacker Grant Irons.
Driver moved to safety and Irons to defensive end. Driver was drafted in the sixth round and Irons landed in the NFL as a free agent.
1997 (2) – Running back Mike McNair and cornerback Clifford Jefferson.
Speed merchant McNair was a backup at fullback throughout his career. Jefferson was an oft-maligned regular.
The third “must have” in this class was USA Today second-team All-America linebacker Carlos Pierre-Antoine.
1998 (4) – Offensive lineman Jeff Faine, defensive lineman Cedric Hilliard, safety Gerome Sapp and punter Nicholas Setta.
All had fine Notre Dame careers, most notably first-round pick Faine at center. Setta made more of a mark at kicker than punter.
1999 (1) – Defensive lineman Greg Pauly.
After wrecking his knee in a practice for a summer all-star game, Pauly had a long rehab process before he began to emerge as a solid contributor in his fourth and fifth seasons.
2000 (1) – Tight end Mark LeVoir.
It didn’t take long for him to move to the offensive line, where he was a starter from 2003-05.
2001 (2) – Wide receiver Maurice Stovall and defensive lineman Derek Landri.
Stovall totaled 61 catches his first three seasons — and then exploded with 69 for 1,149 yards and 11 TDs as a senior under first-year head coach Charlie Weis en route to getting tabbed in the third round. Landri enjoyed a strong fifth year to become a fifth-round pick.
2002 (5) – Defensive linemen Victor Abiamiri and Trevor Laws, offensive lineman Ryan Harris, tight end Greg Olsen and athlete Tom Zbikowski.
Tied the 1992 and 1994 hauls for most USA Today first-team selections. Olsen transferred to Miami by the second week of preseason practice and became a top pick. Harris and Zbikowski were four-year starters, Abiamiri and Laws were second-round picks, with Laws recording an astounding 112 tackles along the line for the 3-9 team in 2007.
2003 & 2004 (0) – The two lowest rated classes in Notre Dame history, which manifested itself with the 3-9 season in 2007 when they were seniors and juniors.
2005 (2) – Tight end Konrad Reuland and offensive tackle Sam Young.
Young started all 50 games in his college career, but Reuland (who passed away earlier this month) left the program in September of his sophomore season.
Offensive linemen Matt Carufel and Chris Stewart, linebacker Toryan Smith and cornerback Darrin Walls made the second team.
2006 (1) – Quarterback Jimmy Clausen.
The USA Today Offensive Player of the Year, heralded as the LeBron James of football, took over as the starter for good in the second half of his freshman campaign and became a second-round NFL pick after his junior year.
2007 (3) – Receiver Michael Floyd, tight end Kyle Rudolph and offensive lineman Trevor Robinson.
Floyd and Rudolph became first- and second-round picks, respectively, and Robinson also started three games already as a freshman before making an NFL roster.
The second team included linebacker Steve Filer and defensive back Dan McCarthy.
2008 (3) — Running back Cierre Wood, offensive guard Chris Watt and linebacker Manti Te’o.
Te’o inking with Notre Dame on Signing Day set off an enormous celebration in the Fighting Irish football office that was captured on tape, and during his senior year while leading a 12-0 regular season became the most decorated defenseman in school history, including runner-up to Johnny Manziel in the Heisman Trophy balloting. Wood and Watt also were major contributors.
2009 (2) — Offensive tackles Christian Lombard and Matt James.
Cincinnati St. Xavier product James tragically died as a high school senior in a spring break accident at Florida in April, 2010.
Also, second-team cornerback Cody Riggs played at Florida (2010-13) before using his fifth year as a graduate transfer at Notre Dame (2014).
2010 (0) — Quite a surprise that five-star defensive linemen Aaron Lynch, Stephon Tuitt and Ishaq Williams were not on the first two teams.
2011 (0) — Quarterback Gunner Kiel made the second team, behind future Heisman winner Jameis Winston. After redshirting as a freshman, he transferred to Cincinnati.
2012 (1) — Linebacker Jaylon Smith.
A projected top 10 pick after his junior year, a severe knee injury in the Fiesta Bowl dropped Smith, the Butkus Award winner, to the second round.
On the second team were running back Greg Bryant, defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes and safety Max Redfield. Bryant transferred in August 2015 after begin declared academically ineligible, and tragically died from a gunshot wound last May. Vanderdoes never enrolled, opting for in-state UCLA. Redfield was dismissed from school last August.
2013 (1) — Linebacker Nyles Morgan.
Offensive linemen Alex Bars and Quenton Nelson were on the second team. All three started every game this season.
2014 (2) — Tight end Alize Jones and offensive lineman Tristen Hoge.
After catching 13 passes for 190 yards as a 2015 freshman, Jones was academically ineligible in 2016 but still practiced with the team.
2015 (1) — Offensive lineman Tommy Kraemer.
Redshirted this past season, Kraemer also was one of the rare players named second-team All-USA Today as a junior in 2014.