Notre Dame’s Top Classes: No. 9
The class ratings were based on 1) impact on the program through production, championship contention and talent level of other classes around them, 2) balance at the various positions and 3) overall depth in number of major producers.
THE 1974 RECRUITING CLASS
Players Originally Signed: 31
Record From 1974-77: 38-9 (.809), including 3-0 in bowl games.
Associated Press Final Rankings: No. 6 (1974), No. 12 (1976) and No. 1 (1977).
LEADERS IN THE LINEUP
Quarterback: Joe Montana
Running Backs: Terry Eurick, Steve Orsini (fullback)
Tight End: Ken MacAfee
Offensive Line: Ernie Hughes (guard), Steve McDaniels (tackle), Dave Vinson (guard)
Defensive Line: Jeff Weston, Ken Dike
Linebacker: Doug Becker
Defensive Backs: Ted Burgmeier (cornerback), Randy Harrison (safety)
Special Teams: Dave Reeve (kicker)
IMPACT
They enrolled the year after Notre Dame won a national title (1973), and they were senior leaders when the Irish won another national championship (1977).
The last class to sign with Ara Parseghian as the head coach, this group made the not-so-smooth transition to Dan Devine as sophomores. Eventually, it had a significant effect on the national title run with 13 major contributors on virtually every area except wide receiver. Yet the Irish had an elite pass catcher in tight end MacAfee, the Walter Camp Award winner in 1977 and a three-time All-American.
Nothing dresses up a recruiting class like an impact quarterback, and without Montana, there would have been no national title.
BALANCE
This class made our top 10 mainly because of its balance, led by the passing combination of Montana to MacAfee.
A part-time starter as a sophomore in 1975, Montana missed the 1976 season because of a separated shoulder and began 1977 on the third team. He rallied the struggling 1-1 Irish from a 24-14 fourth-quarter deficit at Purdue to a 31-24 triumph to begin the national title march. MacAfee snared 128 career passes, with 54 for 797 yards and six scores as a senior. MacAfee placed third in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
On the right side of the line with MacAfee were second-team All-American guard and three-year starter Hughes and 6-6, 276-pound tackle McDaniels, a behemoth by the standards of those days. Hughes shone against Texas Outland Trophy winner Brad Shearer in the 1978 Cotton Bowl. Contributing several starts in ’77 was guard Vinson, an Academic All-American.
Rounding out the offense were reserve running backs Eurick and Orsini, who served as the offense and special teams captains, respectively, in ’77. Eurick tallied a team-high seven touchdowns during the regular season and two more (six- and 10-yard jaunts) in the 38-10 Cotton Bowl victory against No. 1 Texas to make the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Defensively, Weston amassed 267 career tackles, third on the all-time Irish list for linemen, behind Ross Browner (340) and Steve Niehaus (290). Dike stepped in for an injured Weston in 1976 and totaled 99 tackles — and then added 91 in 1977.
The fiery Becker was a three-year starter at linebacker and a light heavyweight Bengals Bout champ. He made 170 stops his last two seasons.
Burgmeier started at split end as a sophomore in 1975 and caught the game-winning 80-yard pass from Montana in the 21-14 victory over North Carolina. He then shifted to defense, where he started two seasons at corner, and also was a punt returner and holder on kicks. In the ’77 Green Jersey Game versus USC, he tossed a two-point conversion off a bad snap, set up another TD with a 21-yard run off a fake field goal and added an interception.
Harrison started as a freshman safety for Parseghian in 1974, returning two interceptions for scores, and he is on our All-Time Notre Dame Freshman Team.
On special teams, Reeve was the first Notre Dame player to receive a scholarship exclusively as a kicker. The four-year starter converted 39 career field goals, tying him with Craig Hentrich for fourth place in the Irish record books.
DEPTH
In this same class, former Parade All-American Gary Forystek actually was ahead of fellow quarterback Montana until getting injured in the 1977 Purdue game. Pete Johnson became a solid backup linebacker and special teams player with Orsini, and wideout Steve Schmitz also was active in the return game.
Two junior starters on the 1976 offensive line, left guard Mike Carney and left tackle Harry Woebkenberg, did not finish their careers at Notre Dame. If they had, this class would have been ranked higher.
SUMMARY
From an NFL perspective, it was not a superb class, other than the Hall of Fame achievements of Montana. MacAfee, who is in the College Hall of Fame, was a first-round pick whose pro career was brief. But at Notre Dame, this group helped spearhead a national title, provided quantity and quality, and was well balanced.
Two reasons it wasn’t ranked higher are 1) the program already was top-five caliber when it arrived, so it’s not like it had to turn around fortunes and 2) it received a lot of help from the 1975 haul (which is right on the cusp of top 10) and three fifth-year seniors from 1973 — Browner, Luther Bradley and Willie Fry — so it’s not like it had to carry the load. Still, it comprised the bulk of starters or co-starters en route to a national title.
This also was Notre Dame’s last all-white haul to graduate. Among the 31 who signed in ’74, only one (Anthony Harden) was black, and he transferred early in his career.
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