Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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three guys inside — McGovern, Montelus and Bivin," Kelly said of where he envisions the five freshmen align- ing. "Hunter could play outside as well. He's got great flexibility in terms of being able to do both." In years to come, Notre Dame aims to do more flexing of its new muscle along the offensive front. ✦ Best O-Line Hauls The Last 50 Years Which Notre Dame recruiting classes along the offensive line are the standard the past 50 years? Can this year's five-man group some day crack this top five? 1. 1963: Paul Seiler, Tom Regner, George Goeddeke and Dick Swatland — Interim coach Hugh Devore recruited them, and Ara Parseghian and Co., developed them into national champs as 1966 seniors. Seiler was the 12th pick of the 1967 NFL Draft and Regner — who started on defense as a sophomore in 1964-65 and played both ways in 1965 — was the 23rd. Tackle Seiler and guard Regner formed the most powerful left side at Notre Dame the past 50 years. Center Goeddeke was a second-team UPI and third-team Associated Press All-American who played six years in the NFL. Swatland was a twoyear starting guard who also played in the NFL. 2. 1971: Gerry DiNardo, Steve Sylvester, Steve Neece, Steve Quehl and Ed Bauer — DiNardo was a three-year starter and consensus All-American right guard, while right tackle Steve Sylvester won three Super Bowl rings plus a 1973 national title ring. Left tackle Neece also started every game in 1973-74 when Notre Dame was 21-2. Quehl began his career at tight end, played tackle and started at center for Dan Devine's 1975 team — a unit that left tackle Bauer cocaptained. 3. 1988: Mirko Jurkovic, Justin Hall, Gene McGuire and Lindsay Knapp — Four offensive linemen were recruited in 1988, and each became two-year starters for a top-10 program. The late Jurkovic, an All-American right guard as a senior, played on defense for the 1988 national champs, and Hall was on the verge of starting that season at right tackle before getting injured. McGuire played guard, center and tackle during his career, and Knapp was a two-year starter at left tackle. 4. 1974: Ernie Hughes, Steve McDaniels, Dave Vinson, Harry Woebkenberg and Mike Carney — A three-year starter at right guard, Hughes was a second-team AP and UPI AllAmerican for the 1977 national champs, while 6-7, 276-pound Steve McDaniels — a Goliath in his time — joined him on the right side. Vinson earned Academic All-American notice as a part-time starter at left guard. Tackle Woebkenberg and guard Carney started on the left side as juniors in 1976 before departing from Notre Dame prior to their senior years. 5. 1965: Bob Kuechenberg, George Kunz, Tim Monty, Tom McKinley and Ed Tuck — Future NFL All-Pros and Hall of Fame candidates Kuechenberg and Kunz headlined this quintet. Kunz, the No. 2 overall pick in the 1969 NFL Draft, started as a sophomore for the 1966 national champs before he was injured in the second game and replaced by Kuechenberg, who moved to defense in 1967. McKinley was a two-year starter at guard, while Monty started at center as a senior and finished out the 1966 national title run as a 198-pound snapper against Michigan State and USC in place of the injured Goeddeke. Tuck was a sixth-round NFL pick at guard despite not starting for the Irish. — Lou Somogyi