#42
This was one of the most challenging numbers because there are four players from four different positions who you could make a case for to be on the first team. Plus, four others who wore included an All-American, two team captains and a running back with a fabulous senior year.
First Team: Michael Stonebreaker (1986, 1988, 1990)
The two-time consensus All-America linebacker played only in the even-numbered years because he was ineligible in 1987 (academics) and 1989 (violating rules).
We gave Stonebreaker the slight nod because 1) he played a vital role on the most recent Irish team to capture a national title and 2) because he was so marketable with the perfect name for a linebacker (plus, the female sector of the market swooned at his matinee-idol good looks).
What was amazing was Ned Bolcar made second-team All-America in 1987, yet Stonebreaker started ahead of him during the national title campaign. One of the “Three Amigos” — along with fellow first-team All-American Frank Stams (see No. 30) and the vastly underrated Wes Pritchett (see No. 34) — Stonebreaker had neither imposing stature nor superior speed (he was only a ninth-round pick), but his instincts and proclivity to make and finish plays helped set him apart.
Stonebreaker was a two-time consensus All-American at Notre Dame.
Second Team: Bob Dove (1940-42)
Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000, the honor was a long time coming for one of only 16 two-time consensus All-Americans in Notre Dame’s football annals. He was college football’s “Lonesome Dove” because until 2000, he was the lone two-time consensus All-America out of 48 fin America rom the 1920s through the 1960s who was not yet in the Hall.
An end who was known as a superior blocker and vicious tackler, Dove’s name often was unnoticed because he wasn’t on one of Frank Leahy’s four national championship teams in the 1940s. However, former Dove teammate Bob McBride, who coached under Leahy during those golden years, referred to him as “the ultimate all-outer. He’s as deserving of All-America honors as anybody I’ve ever known.”
He may well have been the best ever to wear 42 at Notre Dame, but he doesn’t quite have the name recognition of Stonebreaker.
Third Team: Joe Heap (1952-54) & Shane Walton (1999-2002)
There are two players in Notre Dame history who rushed form more than 1,000 yards and caught passes for more than 1,000 yards. One is Rocket Ismail (1988-90), and the other is Heap (1,457 rushing, 1,137 receiving), a Louisiana native who was Notre Dame’s Rocket in the 1950s. Not only was he a three-time Academic All-American — the only one in school history — but he was also the No. 8 pick in the 1955 NFL Draft. He played for perhaps the greatest Notre Dame backfield ever in 1953, as all four members (Heap, Johnny Lattner, Ralph Guglielmi and Neil Worden) were top 10 picks in the NFL Draft.
Walton earned consensus All-America notice at cornerback in 2002 and is the best cover corner and playmaker Notre Dame has had in the defensive backfield the past 15 years (or since Bobby Taylor’s early departure to the NFL in 1994). He was the prime figure and leader, by words and action, during Notre Dame’s 8-0 start in 2002.
Honorable Mention & Notes:Bud Kerr (1937-39) was an All-America end who preceded Dove.
Linebacker Tim Kelly (1968-70) already had 151 career tackles when he was selected to captain (along with Larry DiNardo) the 1970 team that finished No. 2 in the country. Another captain who played linebacker and wore the number was Mike Larkin (1981-85), whose brother, Barry, was an All-Star shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds.
Running back Jim Stone (1977-80) played behind Vagas Ferguson for three seasons and then was beaten out by sophomore Phil Carter for the starting role when he was a senior. But after Carter was injured in the third game, Stone responded with a team-high 908 yards rushing (including two 200-plus games) for a team that was 9-0-1 and ranked No. 2 in the country before losing at USC and to No. 1 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
#43
First Team: Bob Crable (1978-81)
Probably the best classic linebacker ever to suit up for Notre Dame. Believe it or not, he is the lone linebacker in school history selected in the first round of the NFL Draft (23rd pick overall, New York Jets).
Like Stonebreaker and Dove, he was a two-time consensus All-American. His 521 career tackles at Notre Dame falls into the “unbreakable” category. Crable has three of the four highest single-season tackle totals at Notre Dame: 187 (1979), 167 (1981) and 154 (1980).
To break his career standard, someone such as Manti Te’o would have to average 131 tackles during a four-year career. Here’s why it’s impossible to envision that occurring: 1) Since 1986, Lou Holtz’s first season, the most tackles made by any Irish player in a season was 127 by Demetrius DuBose in 1991. In this era of specialists and spread offenses, it’s become more difficult for a linebacker to rack up such totals. 2) If by some miracle you do average 130 tackles your first three years, chances are you will be turning pro before your senior campaign.
During the 1980 season, Crable was the ringleader of a defense that set a Notre Dame record for most consecutive quarters without permitting a touchdown (23). His most famous play, though, came as a sophomore, when he used snapper Mike Trgovac’s back as a springboard to leap about 10 feet and block Michigan’s game-winning field-goal attempt in the closing seconds and preserve Notre Dame’s 12-10 opening-game victory. (Go to “Under The Dome” on the Message Boards to view our 44th most timeless play in Notre Dame history.)
Second Team: John “Clipper” Smith (1925-27)
Here’s one John Smith who was able to stand out from the crowd. The 1927 consensus All-America guard for Knute Rockne also saw action in the backfield and at center.
Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1975, he was one of dozens of Rockne disciples who went on to become a collegiate head coach (N.C. State, Duquesne and Villanoa).
Third Team: Doug Becker (1974-77)
With Becker and Crable, No. 43 was donned by two of the toughest, most intense linebackers ever at Notre Dame for eight consecutive years.
A light heavyweight champion in Notre Dame’s Bengal Bouts (he defeated strong safety Jim Browner for the title), the three-year starter was overshadowed on the 1977 national title team by fellow linebackers Bob Golic and Steve Heimkreiter, who rank behind Crable as the second- and third-leading tacklers in school history.
Becker was quite productive himself with 254 stops. No linebacker trio in Notre Dame history ever recorded as many stops as the Golic-Heimkreiter-Becker triumvirate (1,131 total stops).
In his final Notre Dame game, Becker also recorded an interception that set up an Irish touchdown in the 38-10 romp over No. 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
Honorable mention:Rod West (1986-89), who has become a prominent officer for the University, became an effective blocker in double tight-end alignments after beginning his career at outside linebacker.
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