Recently, Notre Dame saw another player who left early selected in the NFL Draft. Although the Irish program is creeping towards 20 players all-time who left early for the Draft they have seen a major uptick in the Brian Kelly era following an extremely long dry spell. Full disclosure, we’re using the traditional and strictest definition of leaving early meaning exiting for the pro ranks after only 3 seasons on campus. So, you won’t see the many dozens of great players who left Notre Dame with a 5th-year still available, like Aaron Banks this past year for example.
Here’s a quick run through all of the 3 & Out Fighting Irish:
#1 WR Rocket Ismail
1991
4th round, 100th overall, Oakland Raiders
Ismail skipped the NFL Combine to run indoor track for the Irish and then hours before the NFL Draft he signed an $18 million deal over 4 years (with incentives pushing the deal up to $26 million) with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts during an era when the best NFL players were making around $1.5 million per season. The New England Patriots held the No. 1 overall pick, were unsuccessful negotiating with Rocket, traded the pick to Dallas who were also unsuccessful and would ultimately select Miami DT Russell Maryland who would help the team to 3 Super Bowls.
It was a fairytale debut season for Ismail in Toronto while totaling 1,300 yards on 60 catches, 271 yards on 36 carries, and 13 total touchdowns while becoming the Grey Cup MVP. But, his production was cut in half in 1992, Toronto wasn’t a very good team during his second year, and Rocket ultimately ended up signing a 2-year deal worth $3 million with the Raiders who still owned his draft rights after relationships soured in Ontario.
Ismail would play 9 seasons in the NFL with solid production (363 receptions, 5,295 yards, 58 carries, 423 yards, 30 total touchdowns) but never became the superstar the world believed he could be as a pro.
#2 RB Jerome Bettis
1993
1st round, 10th overall, Los Angeles Rams
It doesn’t seem possible, but Bettis is 1 of only 2 players to leave after 3 years and get drafted in the 1st round. As we recently covered in our top rankings of all Notre Dame 1st round picks, things went pretty well for The Bus who is in the Hall of Fame.
#3 CB Bobby Taylor
1995
2nd round, 50th overall, Philadelphia Eagles
Taylor was a safety coming out of high school and was moved to corner by Lou Holtz as a sophomore. He was in the first class to receive feedback from the NFL which came back as a 1st round grade. But, Taylor fell in the draft largely due to his tweener status, ultimately being scooped up by Philadelphia who traded up to get him in the middle of the 2nd round.
Taylor would grab a starting role at corner mid-way through his rookie season, ultimately playing 9 of his 10 seasons in the NFL with the Eagles and making the Pro Bowl in 2002.
#4 RB Darius Walker
2007
Undrafted
Walker made the prescient decision to say nope, nope, nope to the 2007 Fighting Irish but was unable to get drafted after a quality career in South Bend. He’d sign with Houston as a free agent, played in a few games as a rookie with 58 carries, then bounced around the league for a couple years without any more games in his career.
#5 WR Golden Tate
2010
2nd round, 60th overall, Seattle Seahawks
Currently a free agent after being cut by the Giants back in March, Tate is winding down an impressive career. Through 11 seasons he’s made 1 Pro Bowl and caught 695 passes for 8,278 yards and 46 touchdowns. He’s been the highlight of this position for Notre Dame since Tim Brown retired.
#6 QB Jimmy Clausen
2010
2nd round, 48th overall, Carolina Panthers
Clausen picked up 10 starts as a rookie and it did not go well, losing 9 games. The Panthers drafted Cam Newton in 2011 and Clausen fell to 3rd string after they also signed Derek Anderson. A couple years later, Clausen was waived by Carolina. He’d bounce around the league for a few more years making 4 more starts while finishing with just 2,520 passing yards, 7 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions in his career.
#7 TE Kyle Rudolph
2011
2nd round, 43rd overall, Minnesota Vikings
It hasn’t quite been a Hall of Fame career for Rudolph but he’s flourished for a long time at the tight end position. After 10 seasons with the Vikings, he’s caught 453 passes for 4,488 yards and 48 touchdowns with a pair of Pro Bowl appearances. He signed a 2-year deal with the Giants this off-season for $12 million.
#8 TE Troy Niklas
2014
2nd round, 52nd overall, Arizona Cardinals
This decision to leave early was controversial at the time and Niklas could never stay healthy enough to carve out a quality NFL career. In 4 seasons with Arizona, he played in just 41 games with 19 receptions before signing and being cut by the Patriots (2018) and Buccaneers (2019). He’s now retired.
#9 DE Stephon Tuitt
2014
2nd round, 46th overall, Pittsburgh Steelers
Tuitt is one of the better players in the league who has yet to make a Pro Bowl. He’s developed into a very good starter with Pittsburgh and is coming off a career-high 11 sacks in 2020. Through 7 seasons, he’s totaled 246 tackles and 34.5 sacks. Tuitt has 2 years remaining on a 5-year $60 million extension signed back in 2017 and should get one more big pay day.
#10 RB George Atkinson III
2014
Undrafted
GA3 left South Bend without ever grabbing the starting running back job but believed his mixture of size and speed would benefit him well in the NFL. He bounced around the league for 5 seasons, mostly as a backup kick returner. He’d tragically pass away at just 27 years old on December 2, 2019. For his pro career, Atkinson rushed for 34 yards and totaled 271 kick return yards.
#11 WR Will Fuller
2016
1st round, 21st overall, Houston Texans
Fuller joins Bettis as the only players to leave early after just 3 years on campus and be selected in the 1st round. It’s been a decision that has paid off for him. Although, he’s had a lot of trouble staying healthy as we mentioned in our ranking of the best 1st round picks in Notre Dame history. With 5 to 6 more seasons, Fuller could rival Golden Tate for the best Irish wideout in the NFL this century.
#12 LB Jaylon Smith
2016
2nd round, 34th overall, Dallas Cowboys
Of course, Smith was likely a 1st round pick prior to his nasty leg injury in the Fiesta Bowl. He did not play in 2016 and since has worked his way back to becoming a decent but inconsistent linebacker for the Cowboys. Through 4 years on the field he’s totaled 498 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, and 9 sacks. He signed a 6-year $68.4 million extension 2 summers ago (with 1 year left on his rookie deal, plus a RFA tag to use in 2020!) that runs through the 2025 season, although many expect Dallas to get out of the contract by 2023.
#13 QB DeShone Kizer
2017
2nd round, 50th overall, Cleveland Browns
It seems crazy to think about now, but for a while Kizer was in the discussion to be the top pick over the likes of Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes while the Notre Dame product was ultimately the 4th quarterback off the board in 2017. He’d be thrown to the wolves as a rookie, going 0-15 in starts while throwing a league-high 22 interceptions. Kizer was traded to Green Bay in 2018 where he played in parts of 3 games, but was cut ahead of the 2019 season. He has not played over the last 2 years and signed a futures contract with Tennessee for 2021.
#14 WR Equanimeous St. Brown
2018
6th round, 207th overall, Green Bay Packers
Some expected ESB to go a little higher than this in the NFL Draft. He played a decent amount as a rookie but an ankle injury kept him out all of 2019 and he missed a large portion of the beginning of 2020 with an injury, as well. In 24 career games, ESB has caught 28 passes for 445 yards and 1 touchdown. He’ll be entering the final year of his rookie deal in 2021 and if he doesn’t re-sign with the Packers is set to become an unrestricted free agent.
#15 CB Julian Love
2019
4th round, 108th overall, New York Giants
Love has bounced between safety and corner with the Giants among a very deep and talented secondary in New York. Through 2 seasons, he’s made 11 starts with 101 tackles, 6 TFL, and 2 INT. He still has 2 more years remaining on his rookie deal and looks on pace to sign a decent extension with the Giants at some point in the future.
#16 TE Cole Kmet
2020
2nd round, 43rd overall, Chicago Bears
Kmet’s rookie year was solid finishing tied for 31st among all tight ends in receptions with 28 while adding 243 yards and 2 touchdowns. His future seems quite bright, especially now that he gets to play with Justin Fields at quarterback. Kmet’s rookie deal will be up after the 2023 season.
#17 TE Tommy Tremble
2021
3rd round, 83rd overall, Carolina Panthers
Tremble is the latest player to leave early and his draft position ended up being quite good relative to his statistical impact at Notre Dame. All signs point to him having a nice career in the NFL. Tremble was the 4th tight end taken in the recent 2021 Draft out of 12 selected overall at his position.
Very interesting article, I didn’t realize since 2014ish that there has really been about one every year leaving early.
“Bettis is 1 of only 2 players to leave after 3 years and get drafted in the 1st round.”
Cool stat. Could it double in the next two years? Hopefully so!
You want Hamilton and Mayer to stall out in their development? One player per year leaves early ND these days, as evidenced in the lovely article above. It’s going to happen if you have really good players. Why wouldn’t you want Notre Dame to not have really good players? I hope soon multiple players leave early on a regular basis, would be a sign the program is improving it’s talent level and making strides to better compete for a championship. This team needs about 3-4 more Hamilton’s and Mayer’s around, even if it’s only for three seasons.
Then also come back and finish up their degrees. (This message brought to you by Notre Dame football. Notre Dame: graduating champions).
When ND’s pond is stocked that well, then I’ll be happy to have them leave early. Until then, keep getting those credits, graduate a champion and then go get some $$$. (Better yet, pay the players)
The credits and degree isn’t going anywhere, but a knee might. After Jaylon’s situation I don’t blame anyone from not getting to the money as soon as possible. And it’s a good sign for the impressionable prospects to see Notre Dame putting 1st round talent in the NFL as quickly as possible to further the cause of getting more elite talent in the door.
Make Feeling Sad That Players Leave Early & Weaken Your Favorite Team Normal Again.
They are already paid. Free tuition, books, medical, free training for a possible football career, and are fed free, eating better than 99% of people on the planet.
NIL would put Bama even further ahead of the curve.
If they are already paid, you’re against them getting paid more?
Indeed. Who do you think would benefit more, ND, or Bama, Clemson, OSU.
The players would benefit more.
So let’s look at some data.
ND tuition, books, room and board total about $76,000 annually. Free medical care the athletes get would be worth another $3-5,000. Call it 4,000. So the players are “paid” at least $80K/year. I could make an argument that they are fed more and better than the rest of the students, so that number is an understatement. They also get essentially personal trainers (strength and conditioning), tutoring, nutritionists, all free. Throw in elite level coaching and training for what many hope to be their profession. I think $100K would be a conservative estimate of what they are receiving for volunteering to play football at ND.
Per the BLS, the median wage for workers in the US in 2020 was $52,168.
So I don’t think these guys are getting shortchanged by any means. If they don’t like that deal, nobody is forcing them to play.
Re who will benefit the most, I’d say it’s the recruiting by the true elites, because their players will make more by going to Bama, Clemson, OSU. ND will fall further behind, along with everybody else.
This doesn’t seem logically consistent.
You’re okay with players being paid via scholarships because it’s “more than enough” and they aren’t being short-changed.
But when more money is discussed it’s about which programs will benefit most? Does it matter which programs would benefit the most?
You just cited data from ND that packaged together benefits ND players more than just about every player in the country. The price of academics + football is tough to beat.
If we used your logic for being anti-NIL then ND players shouldn’t be given scholarships either. After all, ND players “make more money” because school is so expensive and they are given more than your average FBS player at another school.
The question is, should Ian Book have been able to make $17,000/year from NIL as quarterback at Notre Dame?
You can’t police fairness with scholarship money and program structural benefits any more than you could do the same with NIL because other teams would fall behind.
Everyone believes a scholarship has value. However, focusing solely on tuition ignores a simple reality: money is pouring into the sport and an increasingly small percentage goes to the athletes who actually play it.
Here are some other data:
1996 (adjusted for inflation)
-Highest paid coach is Spurrier at $1 million ($1.7 million)
-CBS pays SEC $17 million per year ($28 million)
-ND tuition is $18,000 ($30,600)
2020:
-Saban is paid $7.5 million (4x increase)
-CBS pays SEC $780 million (28x increase)
-ND tuition is $76,000 (2.4x increase)
Of course athletes can choose not to play. However, their shot at an NFL career (and therefore $) without CFB is close to 0. They are instead essentially required to play for 3 years within a system that prevents them from touching most of the funds they generate, and it gets worse every year.
I have no objection to people making money. I object to a system that denies it to the people that put in the work.
I don’t think that’s a fair argument, as they wouldn’t need the “free” medical care, personal trainers, nutritionists & coaching if they weren’t engaging in an activity bringing in tens of millions of dollars for the university.
Additionally, Alabama, Clemson & OSU are already leaps and bounds above everyone else, why is that a valid reason not to more fairly compensate a backup QB at Akron?
Heh, exactly.