Top 10 Notre Dame Football Players of All Time

10) Jerome Bettis

At Notre Dame, he pounded 33 touchdowns, the third-most in modern school history. And if the guy hadn’t turned pro after his junior year, he might be the all-time leader. Bettis’s most-memorable win was helping to lead the Irish to an upset over the Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl. Bettis went on a Hall of Fame career in the NFL, playing for the Rams and Steelers.

Classic Tailback – Jerome Bettis Notre Dame Highlights

9) Joe Theismann

Theismann won 84 per cent of the games his teams played (20-3-2 record) in college. Theismann is also the only Quarterback other than Joe Montana to win an NFL MVP and a Super Bowl for the Irish. Theismann actually changed the way his name was pronounced, so it rhymed perfectly with Heisman.

Theismann, As In Heisman – 125 Years of Notre Dame Football – Moment #095

8) Ross Browner

Browners 340 career tackles are the most for an Irish lineman. He also pulled off the rare trifecta as a Lombardi, Maxwell, and Outland Trophy winner.

Yet his most remarkable feat might have been this: a fifth-place finish in the 1977 Heisman Trophy race, almost unheard of for someone at his side of the ball. Browner went on to have a decade long career with the Cincinnati Bengals helping the Bengals advance to Super Bowl XVI.

Ross Browner 1976 Outland Trophy Winner

7) Tim Brown

He is one of the most explosive players in college football history. He is known as “Touchdown Timmy” and made the endzone seem like his second home. Brown won the Heisman in 1987. Brown was not only one of the greatest relievers in College Football history, but he will also go down as one of the greatest receivers in NFL history, and he has the yellow jacket to prove it.

Sprint Greatest Moments – 1987 Tim Brown vs. Michigan State

6) Alan Page

Page was a huge contributor to the 1966 National Championship team, which allowed only 24 points over its last nine games. You could double- or triple-team Page. It did not matter. He would still make the play. Page will go down in history as one of the greatest defensive linemen of all-time. He had a Hall of Fame career in the NFL, playing for the Bears and Vikings.

Exclusive: Justice Alan Page

5) Johnny Lujack

Lujack won the Heisman Trophy and led the Fighting Irish to three National Championships.

The Adventures of Johnny Lujack | Notre Dame Football

4) Joe Montana

Montana’s stats were not amazing as he threw as many TD passes as interceptions, 25 of each. But he led the Irish to a National Title in 1977, winning the 1979 Cotton Bowl or “the chicken-soup game.” He would go on to lead the 49ers to four Super Bowl victories, and he will go down as a top-five Quarterback of all-time, at the very top of some people’s lists.

The Chicken Soup Game – 125 Years of Notre Dame Football – Moment #114

3) Leon Hart

Why is Hart so high on this list? The 1949 Heisman and Maxwell Trophy winner was the best player in the country with the greatest team in Notre Dame history.

And this: In his four seasons as the BMOC, the Irish compiled a 36-0-2 record and captured three national titles.

#17 USC vs. #1 Notre Dame – 1949

2) George Conner

The first-ever Outland Trophy winner remains the consensus pick as the best lineman in Irish history. He played in 18 games at Notre Dame and never trailed in any of them!

George Conner football interview, 1968

1) Paul Hornung

Hornung was a do-it athlete who was so good he won the Heisman on a below .500 team. Hell,  he was an All-America. Heisman Trophy winner. NFL Most Valuable Player. NFL champion (five times). Halls of Fame (yeah, all three of them — high school included).

The Golden Boy – Paul Hornung Career Highlights