Notre Dame And Going Beyond The NFL First-Round Glory
A few years ago, ESPN listed its “Simply Saturday” choices for the top 50 players who excelled in college but “barely made a ripple in pro football.”
Six former Notre Dame players on the list were 1988-91 tight end Derek Brown (46th), 1943 Heisman winner Angelo Bertelli (26th), 1964 Heisman winner John Huarte (24th), 1987-89 quarterback Tony Rice (17th), 1988-90 flanker/tailback/return man Raghib Ismail (13th) and 1953 Heisman winner John Lattner (11th).
An interesting way to look at this is the relationship between high school “five stars” for college and then college “five stars” for the NFL. Players such as Rice or linebacker Michael Stonebreaker (1986-90) were five-star college performers — but the NFL viewed them as two-star prospects for their league. Rice went undrafted because he wasn’t a classic pro-style passer, while the relatively undersized Stonebreaker was taken in the 9th round (but did play three years).
Our Notre Dame top 10 in this category of the best in college who did little in the NFL — with at least one player from each position group — will be based on:
• How brilliant his college career was in comparison to what was achieved in the NFL.
• How high he was taken in the draft.
• How long did he last in the NFL.
We will include only the last 50 years because that’s when making a living in the NFL became more significant rather than holding jobs down elsewhere in the off-season.
1. Ken MacAfee (1974-77)
The three-time All-American tight end won the Walter Camp Award and was third in the Heisman voting during Notre Dame’s 1977 march to the national title. A College Football Hall of Fame inductee, he was the No. 7 overall pick in 1978, by the San Francisco 49ers. The only two tight ends taken higher since then have been Kellen Winslow II in 2004 and Vernon Davis in 2006, both at No. 6
MacAfee played two years and caught 46 passes (five for scores) before head coach Bill Walsh wanted to convert him to guard. Instead, MacAfee opted to attend dental school and is now a renowned oral surgeon, lecturer and philanthropist.
“I really just wanted to get on with my life rather than stay playing football just for a paycheck,” he told us last year. “It didn’t matter when my career ended because I had another profession to go to.”
He is a classic example of making football work for him rather than the other way around in what often is the Not For Long (NFL) league.
2. Walt Patulski (1969-71)
As a senior he won the Lombardi Award winner and became the most recent Notre Dame player taken No. 1 overall. Patulski has dreaded interview requests during draft week about players who didn’t meet lofty expectations, but has been a good sport about it.
He had four okay seasons along the defensive line at Buffalo (1972-75) before getting traded and having injuries end his career. In a 1993 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Patulski admitted he wasn’t mean enough in the NFL and had too many other interests.
"I was always the guy who you would want to go out with your daughter,” Patulski said. “I don't think I had the proper mentality for the game."
3. Jim Seymour (1966-68)
The Irish receiver who passed away in 2011 was a three-time All-American and considered a freak of nature, the Randy Moss of his time, with his rangy 6-4, 205-pound frame, making him the No. 10 pick in the 1969 NFL Draft. A ruptured hamstring in the Hula Bowl that was aggravated in the College All-Star Game severely hindered his pro career, where he caught 21 passes in three years.
“I could still catch the ball, but they wanted speed and it wasn’t there anymore,” Seymour recalled years ago. “When the body tells you it’s time to quit, you have to accept it.”
4. Clarence Ellis (1969-71)
Patulski’s classmate was a two-time All-American corner, one of the best athletes ever to suit up for the Irish and was taken with the 15th pick in 1972. Similar to Seymour, he played only three years (Atlanta Falcons) before a devastating knee injury ended his career. He went on to prominence in sales and education.
5. Steve Niehaus (1972-75)
Maybe the most talented defensive tackle in Notre Dame history, his 290 career stops — despite missing most of his first two seasons with knee injuries — are the second most by a Fighting Irish defensive lineman, behind end Ross Browner’s 340.
Niehaus was the No. 2 pick in the 1976 NFL Draft and was the NFC Defensive Rookie of the Year with the Seattle Seahawks (90 tackles, with 9.5 sacks), but a torn shoulder in year 2 basically reduced him to “trying to play with one arm in the NFL,” leading to only six more career starts in three seasons. His grandson, Matthew Dotson, is a senior tight end and major college prospect at Cincinnati Moeller High, where Niehaus also starred.
6. Vagas Ferguson (1976-79)
He is one of three Notre Dame backs drafted in the first round since 1968. The other two were Greg Bell in 1984 and Jerome Bettis in 1993, with Bell leading the NFL in scoring twice and Bettis entering the Pro Football Hall of Fame last year. Ferguson rushed for 818 yards as a rookie but played sparingly the next three years while totaling 345 yards.
“College wasn't about me going to the next level,” he told Sports Illustrated several years ago while in an administrative capacity in high school. “I got my experience, I enjoyed it, and I was prepared to do something else."
7t Rick Mirer (1989-92) & Brady Quinn (2003-06)
Notre Dame's lone first-round QB picks since 1960 had tough NFL roads after record setting Irish careers. The No. 2 overall pick in 1993, Mirer did suit up eight seasons in the NFL, the first four at Seattle, before spending time with four different teams, finishing his career with 50 touchdowns and 76 interceptions. Today he is a prominent entrepreneur in California involved in winemaking.
Former Irish head coach Charlie Weis predicted that Quinn — who propelled a 19-6 record in 2005-06 and finished in the top 5 Heisman balloting both times — would rank with Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as the top 3 quarterbacks in the NFL. The first-round 2007 selection (No. 22 overall) played in only 24 games, was waived by three different teams one year and has 12 touchdowns and 17 thrown interceptions.
Quinn married USA Olympic gymnast Alicia Sacramone and is using his eloquent skills as a color analyst on FOX Sports. Like Mirer, he still has health, wealth, family and charity while winning in the game of life.
9. Paul Seiler (1964-66)
A starting offensive tackle for the 1966 national champs, he was the third highest drafted offensive lineman from Notre Dame the past 50 years (behind George Kunz’s No. 2 selection in 1969 and Ronnie Stanley’s No. 6 spot last week). The No. 12 pick was chosen even before Irish teammate and nine-time Pro Bowl player Alan Page at No. 15.
A leg injury sidelined him virtually all of his rookie year, and then in 1968 he enlisted in the military. He was released before the 1970 season before playing three years at Oakland and making one start. He died in 2001.
10. Bob Crable (1978-81)
Rounding out our position group is what many consider Notre Dame’s greatest linebacker ever. Crable is the school’s all-time leading tackler (521), a two-time consensus All-America (one of 16 in school history) and still lone Fighting Irish linebacker to be drafted in first round (23rd overall pick).
He did play six years in the NFL, but knee injuries limited him to 43 starts. A ferocious hitter and competitor, it seemed ironic that his life after football has included teaching religion at his beloved Cincinnati Moeller High School.