With one freshman quarterback already enrolled at Notre Dame (Tommy Rees), another recently stating he plans to sign next Wednesday (Andrew Hendrix), and three others scheduled to visit this weekend (Danny Spond, Luke Massa and Derek Roback), the question is inevitable: Why is Brian Kelly recruiting so many quarterbacks in one class?
The answer is two-fold. One, the current Irish roster has only one quarterback (2010 junior-to-be Dayne Crist) on scholarship. Two, Kelly is confident about developing quarterbacks into contributors at other positions. At Cincinnati, for example, former Irish quarterback Demetrius Jones (2006-07) made 36 tackles (five for loss) at linebacker this past season — and Jones didn’t even take a snap for Kelly in 2008 when the Bearcats used five different quarterbacks (although only three started).
“My model I’ve used at all the other schools is, ‘Maybe they don’t all end up at quarterback. Maybe they can play another position,’ ” Kelly said.
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Burgmeier moved to split end prior to his sophomore season before settling in at cornerback to round out his collegiate career.
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The last time the Irish signed more than three quarterback prospects in one class was 2000 with Matt LoVecchio, Carlyle Holiday, Jared Clark and Abram Elam. As expected, Elam quickly shifted to safety, where he excelled before getting expelled and later thriving in the NFL. Holiday became a wide receiver/return man by his senior year (playing later in the NFL), and Clark shifted to tight end a year earlier. LoVecchio starred as a freshman in 2000 before losing his job to Holiday in 2001 and eventually transferring to Indiana University.
Among this year’s aforementioned quartet, the 6-3, 232-pound Spond would easily be the most likely candidate to move to another position, with scouts already projecting him as a linebacker. At 6-5, 205, Massa also might have the frame to grow into a different position, as would the 6-3, 221-pound Roback.
Since 1964, the year Ara Parseghian arrived and football players no longer had to play both offense and defense, there has been a pretty productive history of Notre Dame quarterback recruits blossoming at other positions. Here’s a top 10:
10 Brian Doherty (1971-73)
A quarterback recruit in 1970, he instead competed with classmate Dave Casper for the punting role on the junior varsity, and he averaged only 29.6 yards on 14 attempts.
But Doherty became the starting punter and holder for kicker Bob Thomas his final three seasons, averaging 42.7 yards per punt for the 1973 national champs.
9 Steve Belles (1985-89)
He holds the unique distinction of quarterbacking the winning side three straight years in the Blue-Gold Game (1986-88) against future NFL quarterbacks Steve Beuerlein and Kent Graham plus national title winner Tony Rice.
In 1988 he became a special teams stalwart for the national champs, highlighted by setting up Notre Dame’s go-ahead touchdown in the 31-30 victory against No. 1 Miami with a stop on a fake punt attempt.
As a fifth-year senior in 1989, Belles was a reserve flanker who played in every game and started two, while still making 72 special teams appearances.
8 Adrian Jarrell (1989-93)
When he signed in 1989, Jarrell was an insurance policy at quarterback because the Irish inked All-Americans Rick Mirer and Jake Kelchner the same year.
Jarrell caught 21 career passes and carried the ball only three times as a flanker, but in the first two games of 1990 he became a premier figure after 1) catching the game-winning TD from Mirer with 1:40 left in a 28-24 victory versus Michigan and 2) snaring the “Immaculate Deflection” a week later, an 18-yard reception that bounced off a Michigan State player’s chest and set up the game-winning score with 32 seconds left in a 20-19 win.
In the 31-24 victory over No. 1 Florida State in 1993, Jarrell scored Notre Dame’s first TD on a 32-yard reverse and punted seven times, with a long of 58 yards.
7 Arnaz Battle (1998-2002)
After three seasons at quarterback, including starting the first two games in 2000 before breaking his wrist, Battle struggled with the switch to flanker in 2001 and caught only five passes.
As a fifth-year senior in 2002, though, Battle’s 58 catches were the third most ever in a season at Notre Dame, highlighted by the game-winning 60-yard score with 1:15 left at Michigan State in 2002. He parlayed that success into an NFL career that just completed its seventh year.
6 Ted Burgmeier (1974-77)
The southpaw enrolled the same year as two more heralded signalcallers: Joe Montana and Gary Forystek. By his sophomore year in 1975, Burgmeier lined up at split end and caught the game-winning 80-yard touchdown from Montana with 1:03 left in a 21-14 win at North Carolina.
He then shifted to defense and started at cornerback in 1976-77. He starred in the 49-19 whipping of USC in “The Green Jersey Game” by intercepting a pass, completing a two-point pass after a bad snap on an extra-point attempt and setting up a TD with a 21-yard scamper on a fake field goal attempt.
5 Pete Holohan (1977-80)
One of five quarterback recruits in 1977, Holohan became a three-year starter at flanker, where he finished with 63 receptions for 983 yards (15.6 yards per catch), not including the game-winning two-point pass with 42 seconds left in an 18-17 victory versus South Carolina in 1979. On flanker passes, he completed 2-of-4 for 81 yards.
During a 12-year NFL career, Holohan ranked among the league’s most productive tight ends from 1988-90.
4 Joe Restic (1975-78)
As a freshman, Restic completed his lone pass attempt for a 10-yard touchdown to Ken MacAfee in the season finale at Miami. It made him the first Irish rookie to complete a TD pass since Hall-of-Famer Ralph Guglielmi in 1951.
But the Academic All-American’s athletic fame came as a four-year starter at punter and three-year starter at free safety. His 13 career interceptions tie him for third most on the Irish career chart. He joined Burgmeier and converted fullback Jim Browner as starters in the defensive backfield for the 1977 national champs.
3 John Pergine (1965-67)
The 6-foot, 190-pound quarterback prospect in 1964 became one of dozens of position switches under Ara Parseghian that yielded bountiful results.
Bulking up to linebacker size, Pergine led the 1966 national champs in minutes played (262) and earned second-team All-America notice as a senior in 1967. In addition to recording 203 career tackles, his nine career interceptions are still the most by an Irish linebacker. Pergine played seven seasons in the NFL.
2 Drew Mahalic (1972-74)
The 1971 quarterback recruit attempted three passes with the junior varsity — but he was not going to beat out classmate Tom Clements for the starting role in 1972 when they were sophomores.
Instead, Mahalic became a three-year starter at linebacker and a third-round NFL pick. Besides making the cover of Sports Illustrated while tackling USC’s Anthony Davis, Mahalic’s career included 253 tackles, four interceptions (one returned for a TD) and stellar play for the 1973 national champs.
1 Tom Schoen (1965-67)
A two-time All-American, including consensus first team as a senior in 1967. Schoen started at quarterback against Army in 1965, but when sophomores Terry Hanratty and Coley O’Brien were elevated to the varsity in 1966 (freshmen were not eligible back then), Schoen’s position switch to safety was met with vociferous protest from his father.
The change proved to be a stroke of genius. Schoen intercepted seven passes for the 1966 national champs — two against Michigan State in the classic 10-10 tie — and returned two for scores. The next season he picked off four more passes (scoring on one) and broke up 11. During those two seasons, Schoen averaged 10 yards on his 71 punt returns, highlighted by two TD.
Tomorrow: Multiple quarterback recruits in one class lead to two inevitable results: position changes or transfers.
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