Seattle Seahawks S and former Notre Dame Golden Domer Julian Love appeared as a guest Wednesday on NFL Network’s GMFB and ranked his top five Notre Dame football players of all-time. After listing LB Manti Te’o at #5, he named a Pittsburgh Steelers great at #4: Hall of Fame RB Jerome Bettis.
“How can you not mention him in this?” Love said on GMFB. “Top five on my list of top five nicknames in football history as well. Pride of Detroit, Michigan. He averaged 5.7 yards per carry during his ND career. He left early for the NFL and was drafted 10th in 1993.”
Jerome “The Bus” Bettis is an icon in the city of Pittsburgh, having played ten seasons in the Black and Gold after getting traded by the St. Louis Rams prior to the 1995 season. Bettis went on to be named a six-time Pro Bowler, two-time first-team All-Pro, and finished his lustrous NFL career with 13,662 rushing yards, 91 TDs while throwing in another 200 receptions for 1,449 receiving yards and three scores. He finished his playing career on top of the mountain, famously winning Super Bowl XL in his hometown of Detroit where he would retire after being named a Super Bowl champion.
Bettis was also quite the runner in college as Love mentioned, carrying the ball 337 times for 1,912 yards (5.7 YPC) and 27 TDs in three seasons. He never topped 1,000 rushing yards in any one season, but Bettis was still a dominant runner for the Fighting Irish, working in a tandem backfield as the hammer of the Notre Dame offense, bludgeoning opposing defenses with his physical running style.
Bettis was listed behind WR/KR Raghib “Rocket Ismail at #3, QB Joe Montana at #2, and WR Tim Brown, who claimed the top spot as the 1987 Heisman Trophy Winner.
