ISD Top 25: Charlie Weis Era 25-21
ISD decided to rank the Top 25 players for the last five Irish head coaches---Brian Kelly, Charlie Weis, Tyrone Willingham, Bob Davie and Lou Holtz. This was quite an undertaking, but we thought we'd have fun as a staff doing it, and we felt our readers would enjoy it as well.
We will start this week with our Top 25 for Charlie Weis, and throughout the spring and summer, we will be releasing the other Top 25 for the other coaches as well.
We know there will be a lot of debate about this moving forward, and that's great because everyone has different opinions.
We also ranked each player by how much impact they had on the teams they played for. It had nothing to do with NFL potential or overall talent...simply the results based on their performance while at Notre Dame.
Understanding that, here are ISD's rankings of the No. 25 through No. 21 players for the Charlie Weis era. We will release the rest as the week goes on finishing with our No. 5 through No. 1 on Friday.
Please feel free to discuss our rankings by posting your comments below. Feel free to discuss how you feel they should be ranked, and ask any questions you may have of our staff or our rankings.
Enjoy!
25. Brandon Hoyte – Linebacker
Never the fastest or most athletic linebacker, Hoyte was a physical rock in the middle of the Irish defense in 2005 when he served as one of two team captains.
He only played for that one year under Weis, but it was an extremely productive one with 92 tackles and 16.5 tackles for loss. Hoyte brought full force as a blitzer and chipped in with 6 sacks and 2 forced fumbles as well.
Two monster games against Michigan (10 solo tackles) and Pitt (4.5 TFLs and three sacks) were the highlights of his career. He should be remembered for those more so than getting beat on a wheel route in the Bush Push game, but unfortunately that is the one clip that is shown the most out of Hoyte’s career.
He followed in the footsteps of former Irish linebackers Anthony Denman and Courtney Watson as stout defenders against the run and led the 2005 in tackles.
Career Stats
287 tackles
35 tackles for loss
12 sacks
6 pass breakups
6 forced fumbles
2 fumble recoveries
24. Mike Anello – Defensive Back
It’s hard to forget Mike Anello because of his heart and effort he played with every time he stepped on the field. While the 5-foot-10, 180-pounder didn’t carve out a role in the defense, Anello found a home being a special teams demon.
Over his career, the Orland Park (Ill.) native totaled 38 tackles and two forced fumbles as he wrecked havoc on opponents return game.
Anello burst on the scene as a junior in 2007 and played in eight games as a gunner on the punt coverage team. As a senior, Anello played in all 12 games, but broke his leg in the season finale against USC. During the season, Notre Dame’s opponents had 72 total returns (Kickoff/Punt) and Anello recorded 23 tackles out of those returns.
In his fifth and final season at Notre Dame, Anello appeared in 12 games and recorded eight tackles.
23. Darrin Walls – Cornerback
There weren’t many blue-chip recruits on defense that Charlie Weis recruited that became impact players. Walls is actually the only defensive player that he recruited that made this list and he arguably had his best season while playing for Brian Kelly in 2010.
He makes it despite missing a season in 2008 when he was not enrolled in school. His play, while he was on campus, was good enough to overcome that.
Easily the best cover corner of the Weis era, he started 21 games from 2006-2009 and broke up 16 passes. As a freshman, he held his own against Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson. That says it all about the kind of talent he possessed and that talent helped him be a bright spot at a position that wasn’t very strong in those years.
Career Stats
104 tackles
5.5 tackles for loss
5 interceptions
20 pass breakups
2 touchdowns (on pick sixes)
22. Sam Young – Offensive Line
The U.S. Army All-American made history as soon as he stepped foot on campus at Notre Dame. The 6-foot-8, 316-pounder was the first true freshman to start the season opener on the offensive line at Notre Dame since freshman became eligible in 1972.
As a freshman, Young was named a First-Team All-American by The Sporting News and Rivals.com. He was part of the offensive line that allowed running back Darius Walker to rush for over 1,000 yards.
In his sophomore season, Young moved from right tackle to left tackle in week three and helped James Aldridge rush for over 100 against Michigan State and Navy. Robert Hughes also rushed for over 100 yards against Duke and Stanford in 2007.
Young upped his start streak to 38 straight games in 2008 as he started all 13 games. At the end of his career, Young had started 50 consecutive games and was on several award lists heading into his senior season, including the Outland Trophy.
The St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.) star arrived in South Bend as the No. 1 offensive lineman in the country, and while he had a solid career, Young never turned into a star. Notre Dame left tackles, Zack Martin, Mike McGlinchey and Ronnie Stanley have set a high bar, and Young didn’t quite reach that threshold during his time at Notre Dame.
21. Kyle Rudolph – Tight End
A five-star recruit coming into Notre Dame, Rudolph was a day one starter as a true freshman and was very productive in his two season playing for Charlie Weis despite missing time due to injury.
While he was on the field, he lived up to the hype as a receiver with awesome ball skills, and he developed into a solid in-line blocker. His best game came against Michigan State in 2008 when he grabbed six catches for 95 yards, but the biggest play of his career came on 4th down with twenty-four seconds remaining against Purdue. Rudolph posted up his defender came through with a touchdown catch from Jimmy Clausen for a huge win on the road.
In 13 games as a true freshman, he put 29 catches and two touchdowns. In only 10 games as a sophomore, he had 33 catches and three touchdowns.
A hamstring injury that ended his season the year after Weis was fired put a damper on his Irish career. He had put up 28 catches in only six games before his season ended. He declared early for the NFL Draft, and it felt like he should have accomplished more in terms of awards and All-America honors. That still doesn’t take away from the player he was, though.
An athletic monster that linebackers struggled to match up with, he was highly productive and likely would have been more so if not for the riches the Irish had at wide receiver while he was on campus.
Career Stats
90 catches
1032 yards
11.5 yards per reception
8 touchdowns
2009 semi-finalist for John Mackey Award (only sophomore to be named).