How are Notre Dame QB transfers elsewhere?

Nothing on a college football roster is more inevitable than transfers, especially at quarterback.

You can play multiple running backs, wide receivers, tight ends and offensive linemen… but most of the time there can only be one leader or one voice in the quarterback.

More than ever, flaggers believe the grass may be greener elsewhere, including the last two Heisman Trophy winners who were also the NFL’s No.1 picks: Oklahoma Kyler murray (Texas A&M) and LSU Joe burrow (State of Ohio).

Just in case you haven’t heard, Boston College’s Phil Jurkovec, via Notre-Dame (2018-2019), aims a similar path.

Over the decades, a popular notion has developed among Fighting Irish loyalists that quarterbacks transferred from Notre Dame “never do much” elsewhere.

If they mean rising to prominence in the NFL, that would generally be correct. Since 1970, only two of Notre Dame’s 26 quarterback transfers, plus five graduate transfers, have been drafted and have been on an NFL roster for several years. Jurkovec, a former top 100 rookie, is in the running to become third.

Most transfers ended up starting elsewhere, and several made for superb university careers. In chronological order, here are some of the most important ones, with the year of their inscription in parentheses:

Suspended before the season in which starter Tom clements had just guided a national title and Joe montana Enrolled as a freshman, Henry transferred to Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) and had 4,656 career yards.

He played one season (1978) in the Canadian Football League.

Wright transferred to Wisconsin after his freshman year and played for the Badgers in 1982 and 1983.

He became the top draft pick – sixth round – among Notre Dame quarterback transfers over the past 50 years. He played five seasons (1984-88) with the Green Bay Packers and started 32 times, including all 16 competitions in 1986.

The Pennsylvania native was tricked into recruiting maven Joe terranova as potentially “the next Joe willie [Namath]. ”

At the end of his second year he started in the place of an injured Blair Kiel against Penn State and Air Force (both losses), and was replaced by walk-on Jim O’Hara.

Karcher was then transferred to Tulane and later became an NFL replacement for John elway in Denver in 1987-88. He had three starts as a replacement in the 1987 players’ strike.

Ranked as the No.1 high school quarterback in many circles, Graham as a rookie has turned with Tony Rice after the starter Terry andrysiak was injured in Game 4 and even started against Boston College. The Irish were trailing 25-12 when Rice entered and rallied Notre Dame to a 32-25 victory.

Graham supported Rice in the 1988 national title race, but he transferred to Ohio State in 1989, where he supported Greg Frey in 1990 and started before Kirk herbstreit in 1991, passing for 1,018 yards.

Along with Wright, Graham was the only other Notre Dame transfer quarterback drafted by the NFL (eighth round in 1992) in the past half century.

In 10 seasons from 1992 to 2001, he played for seven different franchises, starting 38 times and passing for 7,801 career yards with 39 touchdowns and 33 interceptions.

He signed up the same year as the country’s No.1 QB prospect, Rick mirer. From the same high school as the future quarterback starting from Notre-Dame 1994-97 Ron powlusKelchner experienced academic problems and was transferred to West Virginia.

In 1993, he led the country in passing efficiency while guiding the Mountaineers to an 11-0 regular season. Like that of Notre-Dame Kevin mcdougal that same year, however, he was not considered an NFL prospect, but he did play in the Arena League.

Kustok entered his sophomore year in 1998 as the No.3 QB behind Jarious Jackson and Eric Chappell – but left during training camp in the first year Battle of Arnaz jumped on him and dropped him at # 4.

Kustok had a sensational career at Northwestern, passing for almost 6,000 yards and rushing for almost 1,300 while leading the Wildcats to a Big Ten title share in 2000.

In 2014, he obtained his Masters in Business Administration from Notre Dame.

He had the best freshman year by a Notre Dame quarterback, winning his first seven starts, completing 58.4% of his passes, throwing 11 touchdowns on a single interception and rushing for 300 yards.

But when Carlyle Holidays ahead of him in 2001 and first year head coach Tyrone Willingham Leaving the post after the spring of 2002, LoVecchio headed to Indiana, where, as a two-year incumbent for a struggling program, he threw for 3,729 yards.

The first signalman fully recruited and signed in the Charlie weis era, Frazer transferred in late spring 2007 when Demetrius Jones, incoming lead n ° 1 Jimmy clausen and junior Evan sharpley all were listed before him.

He had a three-year career in Connecticut, where he totaled 3,422 passing yards, 17 touchdowns and 21 interceptions, and under 16 rushing yards.

His best moment began with the Huskies ’33-30 double overtime victory at Notre Dame in Weis’ last home game with the Irish. He completed 12 of 25 passes for 141 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

After first enlisting in Indiana, home state, and then at LSU, the five-star prospect and nephew of the 1980-83 fighter Irish quarterback Blair Kiel hors du bleu registered at Notre Dame in the middle of the year in January 2012.

When in second year Everett Golson and backup Tommy rees led Notre Dame to a 12-0 regular season and the BCS national championship game against Alabama (a 42-14 loss), Kiel took on Cincinnati in the spring of 2013.

He thrived with the Bearcats his first two seasons in 2014 and 2015, completing nearly 63% of his passes for 6,031 yards with 50 touchdowns and 24 interceptions, but injuries and other setbacks made him demote to reserve service. during his last season in 2016.

He was not drafted and did not play in the NFL.

Over the past 50 years, from 1970 to 2020, at least 26 Notre Dame quarterback rookies we know have transferred to other schools, just over one every two years.

This does not include transfers of graduates like the five over the past decade – Dayne Crist in Kansas, Andrew Hendrix in Miami (Ohio), Everett Golson to the state of Florida, Malik Zaire in Florida and Brandon wimbush in Central Florida – who completed their undergraduate degrees at Notre Dame and were immediately eligible elsewhere.

Here’s the breakdown, with the parentheses indicating the year he enrolled as a freshman:

Dan Payne (1970) – Utah

Roy Henry (1973) – Louisiane (later southwest Louisiana and now Louisiane-Lafayette)

Jay Palazola (1975) – Boston College

Kevin Muno (1976) – Houston (for baseball), and his father would negotiate Joe montana first contract for the San Francisco 49ers.

Rick Buehner (1977) – Kentucky

Randy Wright (1979) – Wisconsin

Eddie Hornback (1978) – State of Mississippi

Scott Grooms (1980) – Miami, Ohio, but later re-enrolled at Notre Dame.

Ken Karcher (1981) – Tulane

Joe Felitsky (1983) – Pitt

Duke St. Pierre (1984) – Boston College

Kent Graham (1987) – State of Ohio

Jake Kelchner (1989) – West Virginia

BJ Hawkins (1990) – Virginia

Wade Smith (1992) – unknown

Gus Ornstein (1994) – State of Michigan

Eric Chappell (1996) – Alabama A&M

Zak Kustok (1997) – Northwest

Matt LoVecchio (2000) – Indiana

Chris Olsen (2002) – Virginia

David Cloud (2004) – Western Kentucky

Zach Frazer (2006) – Connecticut

Demetrius Jones (2006) – Cincinnati

Nate Montana (2008) – Montana and West Virginia Wesleyan

Gunner Kiel (2012) – Cincinnati

Phil Jurkovec (2018) – Boston College

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