Tag: Ray Zellars

Happy Birthday Ray Zellars!

Happy birthday Ray!

Birthday wishes go out to former Notre Dame running back Ray Zellars today.

Zellars spent from 1991-1994 in Notre Dame’s backfield, getting the vast majority of his playing time as a junior and senior.  He totaled 1,135 career rush yards and nine touchdowns at Notre Dame.

The most memorable of those nine scores came in his senior year against Purdue as his run is still talked about in certain circles.

Heck, one of our staffers here at Fighting Irish Wire called it his favorite Notre Dame play of all-time.  If you haven’t seen it before or would just like to watch it again (who wouldn’t?) then check out below.

The Pittsburgh product would go on to spend four years in the NFL, rushing for 11 career touchdowns between stops in New Orleans and Cincinnati.

Happy birthday Ray!

Notre Dame’s top-rated running back recruits since 2000

What would happen if Notre Dame’s recruiting of the running back position could meet what it does on the offensive line?

Notre Dame has long been known for fielding a solid running game on an annual basis. [autotag]Jerome Bettis[/autotag], [autotag]Ricky Watters[/autotag], [autotag]Reggie Brooks[/autotag], [autotag]Ray Zellars[/autotag], [autotag]Autry Denson[/autotag] and [autotag]Allen Pinkett[/autotag] come to mind from yesteryear. Stars [autotag]Kyren Williams[/autotag], [autotag]Josh Adams[/autotag] and [autotag]Theo Riddick[/autotag] wowed crowds over the last decade.

It’s been a long time however since Notre Dame has brought in what would be considered top-tier talent at the position with regularity. Sure, Adams, [autotag]Tony Jones, Jr[/autotag] and some others have earned NFL paychecks over the last decade, it’s been a long while since Notre Dame produced Julius Jones, the last Irish running back to be more than simply a role-playing back in the NFL. Perhaps Williams will change that with the Rams, but time will only tell.

So what has Notre Dame’s recruiting at running back looked like the last two-plus decades?

Here are the top 30 Notre Dame running back recruits since 2000 according to 247Sports. It is worth noting some of these players wound up changing positions once getting to South Bend.