Tag: Ricky Watters

Pro Football Hall of Fame: Watters again a semi-finalist

Is this the year for the Notre Dame great?

One of the best play makers Notre Dame football has ever seen is again one step closer to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Ricky Watters, who starred at Notre Dame from 1988-1990, is again a semi-finalist, joining 24 other former NFL greats.  The list will be cut to 15 finalists early next year as the new class will be announced on Super Bowl weekend.

Watters was an offensive standout for the 49ers, Eagles, and Seahawks after leaving Notre Dame.  He rushed for 10,643 yards in his 10-year NFL career, going over 1,000 rushing yards in seven of his 10 seasons. He hauled in over, 4,200 receiving yards during his career as well, scoring 91 total touchdowns.

Watters was also a member of the San Francisco 49ers when they won Super Bowl 29 over the San Diego Chargers.  Watters scored three touchdowns in that victory.

This is the fourth time Watters has made it to the semi-finalist level.

3 former 49ers among 25 semifinalists for 2024 Hall of Fame class

Three former #49ers landed among the 25 Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalists for the class of 2024.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame moved into the next phase of the selection process for the class of 2024 and named 25 modern-era finalists. Among the 25 semifinalists are three former 49ers.

That trio is made up of linebacker Patrick Willis, wide receiver Anquan Boldin and running back Ricky Watters.

Willis is a semifinalist for the fifth time in five years. He’s reached this stage every year he’s been eligible after spending all eight of his NFL seasons with the 49ers. Willis’ resume speaks for itself with seven Pro Bowl trips, five First-Team All-Pro nods, a Defensive Rookie of the Year award and a placement on the Hall of Fame All-Decade team for the 2010s.

Boldin was with San Francisco for three years from 2013-15. Despite being in his mid-30s he was a very productive receiver for the 49ers with 237 catches, 3,030 yards and 16 touchdowns in 46 games. Boldin finished his 14-year career with 1,076 receptions for 13,779 yards and 82 touchdowns. He was the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2003 and a three-time Pro Bowler. This is his third time making the list of semifinalists in three years.

Watters has been a semifinalist four times now including once in 2020 and then every year from 2022-24. He was with the 49ers for his first four seasons and helped them win a Super Bowl in the 1994 campaign. Watters posted 2,840 rushing yards and 1,450 receiving yards across three years on the field for San Francisco. He also put up 33 total touchdowns while going to the Pro Bowl every year he was in red and gold. He finished his career with five total Pro Bowls, 10,463 rushing yards, 78 rushing touchdowns, 4,248 receiving yards and 13 receiving touchdowns.

The next step in the selection process includes a cutdown to 15 finalists, and then the Hall of Fame class will be announced Feb. 8 during the NFL Honors ceremony.

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Fred Taylor a Hall of Fame semifinalist for 5th straight year

Fred Taylor is one of 25 semifinalists for the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024. Is this the year he gets in?

Former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor is one of 25 semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024.

Taylor, 47, has now been a semifinalist in five consecutive years, but has never made it to the next round of the voting process. In January, the 15 finalists will be announced and the Class of 2024 will be formally introduced days before the Super Bowl in February.

During his 11 seasons with the Jaguars, Taylor accumulated 11,271 rushing yards, 2,361 receiving yards, and 70 total touchdowns. He later finished his career with two seasons as a member of the New England Patriots.

Taylor’s 11,695 career rushing yards are 17th most in NFL history behind 14 Hall of Famers and a pair of likely future inductees in Frank Gore and Adrian Peterson.

Only two players this year, former Chargers tight end Antonio Gates and former Panthers pass rusher Julius Peppers, are semifinalists in their first year of eligibility. Taylor is one of four running backs on the list, along with Tiki Barber, Eddie George, and Ricky Watters.

Also among the semifinalists is Torry Holt, who played 10 seasons with the St. Louis Rams before finishing his career with one year in Jacksonville. Holt has now been a semifinalist in 10 straight years and has been a finalist in each of the last four years.

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17 former Eagles nominated for 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame class

Brian Westbrook, Michael Vick Donovan McNabb, and Eric Allen are among the 17 former Philadelphia Eagles nominated for the 2023 Pro Football Hall of Fame class

The NFL just announced that nine players in their first year of eligibility are among the 173 Modern-Era Nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024.

The list of first-time nominees includes running back Jamaal Charles, wide receiver Brandon Marshall, wide receiver Jordy Nelson, tight end Antonio Gates, defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, and defensive end Julius Peppers.

The list of Modern-Era Nominees will be reduced to 25 Semifinalists in November and, from there, to 15 Finalists whose names will be announced in early January.

Here’s the list of 17 former Eagles among the nominees.

Former Seahawks RB Ricky Watters to raise 12th Man flag

From 1998 until his retirement in 2001, Watters dominated defenses on the ground in Seattle.

One of the great gameday traditions in all of the NFL is the raising of the 12th Man flag before Seattle Seahawks home games. Enshrined in the south end zone of Lumen Field, former Seahawks greats or other Seattle legends are typically given the honor.

On Sunday, the latest in a long line of flag raisers will be given to former Seahawks running back Ricky Watters. From 1998 until his retirement in 2001, Watters dominated defenses on the ground in Seattle.

During Watters’ first three years with the Seahawks, the former Notre Dame star rushed for over a thousand yards and scored at least five touchdowns. Watters was a mainstay for Seattle in the late 90’s, which is only fitting he is the first flag raiser of the year the throwbacks are returning.

The Seahawks kick off at 1:25 against the Los Angeles Rams to start the regular season. Be sure to follow @TheSeahawksWire on Twitter for live updates before, during and after the game.

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Notre Dame Football’s History of August Games

Let’s take a quick look back at five times Notre Dame has played in August, something that dates back to 1989.

Notre Dame helps kick off the college football season this weekend as the Irish will be in Ireland to take on Navy.  It’s rare that Notre Dame has kicked off a football season in Ireland but less that they have in August. The Irish have played a handful of times historically in the year’s eighth month and fared well.

So how well exactly have things gone for Notre Dame in August?  Check out below how the Irish have fared in those five games as we’ll see if they can add another victory to the list in 2023 as they open the season in Saturday against Navy.

 

ChatGPT ranks top 10 running backs in Notre Dame history

How do you feel about this list?

We recently put AI writing tool ChatGPT to the test and had it list what it believed was Notre Dame’s top 10 quarterbacks. The list surely caused some debate for some readers, but guess what? We’re going to cause you to think again by having it generate its list of the top 10 running backs in program history.

Some of you might disagree with what ChatGPT says, and others might even say the list is too short. However, the point of this is to make you think and spark discussion. Also, even though ChatGPT has not been updated since September 2021, it’s a safe assumption that no one on the Irish since then has played well enough to have a place on this list with the possible exception of [autotag]Kyren Williams[/autotag]. Just out of curiosity though, would you include him?

Anyway, without further adieu, here’s the list with ChatGPT’s descriptions of each player. Some entries have been edited for clarity and updates:

You have $15, build the best offensive unit in Eagles’ history

Can you build the greatest Philadelphia offense of all time? With a $15 budget, try to assemble the best QB, WR, RB, TE combination in Eagles history

[mm-video type=video id=01h3zm7nd4dpb3d9m4qt playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01h3zm7nd4dpb3d9m4qt/01h3zm7nd4dpb3d9m4qt-3ccfb89314c0e3a0a610f26d8149e942.jpg]

Philadelphia has had some all-time great offensive players, but what five players at multiple positions could give fans a dynamic unit on offense?

The Bird’s official Twitter account created a frenzy when they asked fans to build the ultimate roster.

The goal is to create the ultimate Eagles offensive unit with a $15 budget. Your team must consist of a quarterback, two wide receivers, a running back, and a tight end or fullback.

Watch: Notre Dame’s 10 Toughest Touchdown Runs Ever

Notre Dame has had plenty of memorable running backs who made plenty of classic runs. Did your personal favorite make this top 10 list?

In its continuing series of top-10 lists, Notre Dame released its “Top 10 Toughest Touchdown Runs” on Monday afternoon. I will not spoil the ending, but I will say it was as memorable as touchdown run as there was during my formative years.

No real knocks on the rankings in this one. My one thought would be a debate between what is “tough” versus “shifty,” but I’m not in the mood to debate that right now.

Here they are – watch them and enjoy!

One and two are both beyond debate for me, so save it in regards to those to especially. What run was too high or too low besides those two, though?

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.