I could never understand how people didn't like Darius Walker, even being glad when he went pro early, suggesting Aldrich and incoming frosh would be better. Shows you what idiots the ND Nation posters are. Walker was a great all around back whom we've sorely missed. Very smart system player who made everyone around him better. No back on current squad is in his league - I'd trade Aldrich, Allen, Hughes and all of them for Walker in a heartbeat.

Going back further, I'd say Stan Smagala, Willie Fry (always overshadowed by R Browner), Terry Eurick, Drew Mahalic.

He had incredible physical ability, but never really played up to it on the field. The Big Four Holtz fullbacks were Johnson, Bettis, Zellars and Edwards.

He was excellent after Bettis left. And who can forget his run against Purdue in 1994?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l93D-MBFALw

There are several different ways to define underappreciated, and I think Hart qualifies. Maybe not in his era. But of all the ND greats, he seems to be one of the least heralded in the modern day. A lot of fans don't know much about Leon, some discount his contributions because he was a glorified lineman, etc.

Glad to see we agree on Dorais.

Second the Lee Becton nod. Could you make the "Lou Holtz fullbacks" it's own under appreciated heading? They played such a vital, unglamorous role in his pre-Blarney Stone offense, especially guys like Ray Zellars and Dean Lytle. Add Anthony Johnson and Marc Edwards and you've got a number of greats. Pretty sure I'm forgetting someone in there. Bettis stands out as the anamoly for the position group.

Another unsung candidate is Bert Berry. Bert was a nice player who finished with solid career numbers (187 tackles and 16.5 sacks), but was never regarded as one of the standout players from those teams. It helps that he's become such a force in the NFL now.

Another d-lineman from the '93 team who gets overshadowed by bigger names on the D is Paul Grasmanis. Outstanding motor who made things happen.

The least appreciated of the Heisman winners, maybe?

I'm seeing my list among the opinions so far.

Dorais was one of my "musts."

Kevin McDougal
Phil Carter
Reggie Brooks
Lake Dawson
Frank Stams
Hunk Anderson
Gus Dorais
Rickety Cricket
Leon Hart

And this is biased strongly towards players in my lifetime.

1) Lee Becton - I absolutely loved his game as a kid. He had basically one jab step move but was just couldn't be tackled. Most ND fans I talk with believe he was just the product of a great OL, but the guy was one of our most talented running backs in the last 50 years.

2) Anthony Denman - Really an argument could be made for every good player under Davie but he really was a fantastic LB. He wasn't a dynamic athlete but was always in the right place to make a play.

3) Kory Minor and Leron Cobbins - Again, they were very good LBs but are almost never discussed amongst ND fans. I think Kory Minor is still one of our all time leaders in sacks. (could be wrong though)

Melvin Dansby
Anthony Johnson
Demetrius Dubose

Wayne Bullock. Gets lost in the shuffle of ND fullbacks, but Bullock was the key to the great running game in '73-'74.

John Krimm. Another player who gets lost in the shuffle of the late 70s early 80s. Krimm was an excellent cornerback who made some big plays during his time.

Greg Collins. Collins really gets forgotten. He gets overshadowed by Olson-Golic-Crable, but I believe he was a better linebacker than Bob Olson.

Cliff Brown (more for social reasons I guess)
Ralph Gugliemli (underappreciated more than unsung)
Ryan Harris
Tony Hunter
Mark Green

This old BGS post has a list of names that might lead to more inspiration. I plan on opening the voting booth and adding the all-Charlie Weis team to this list sometime this summer.

http://bluegraysky.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_archive.html#112138756484819086

one of your subcategories: Under-appreciated by ND fans.

But that would then include the idea that history has forgotten how important/valuable they really were.

And there's a couple of layers to this I could see. Are we talking players underappreciated by the public at large? Underappreciated by Notre Dame fans? The media? Appreciated in their time but since buried under the sands of time?

That being said, here are a couple of names off the top of my head, who fall in varying degrees into the aforementioned categories:

- Marc Edwards
- Jabari Holloway
- Joey Hildbold

With great enthusiasm, I have been charged with creating an article for "Here Come the Irish 2009" on the top 10 unsung/under-appreciated Fighting Irish football players of all-time.

I have a draft litany of players.

But, in an effort to make this article as unsubjective as possible, would all y'all please come up with some players that deserve, in your opinion, to be featured in such an article?

I'll refrain from sharing my draft list in an effort to make this as organic a process as possible.

When all is said and done, I may trash my list, tweek it, or completely ignore all of you and keep it the same.

For definition purposes:

"Unsung" = not honored or praised [in song]
"Underappreciated" = the quality, significance, and magnitude are not regarded at a level matching the value

Thanks.