2003 1st Team 2nd Team Reserves Willingham
Recruits
Seniors - 2 LeVoir-Jr Ryan-Soph Santucci-Soph Ryan Harris
Juniors - 4 Stevenson-Jr Mitchell-Jr Mattes-Soph John Sullivan
Sophs - 6 Giles-Jr Morton-Soph
Fresh – 2 Milligan-Sr(5th) Rairdon-Soph
Molinaro-Sr Bonelli-Soph
Total - 14
1 returning starter. 2 departures in 2004. 2 incoming freshmen in 2004
The Offensive Line is not only younger in 2003 but has less experience. The pending departures of two seniors are replaced by only two recruits. Willingham banked two quality OL recruits, both from Notre Dame strongholds. Harris and Sullivan have both moved on to the NFL. This OL recruiting class lacked depth, though, and could have been much better. Joe Thomas waited until almost Signing Day to choose Wisconsin. Mike Jones chose Iowa late. Willingham had no backup plans. Willingham’s habit was not to give out his first offers until the summer, way behind the recruiting curve. He and his staff from Stanford were getting used to the Midwest. “Could have been” may be the epitaph on Willingham’s offensive line recruiting at Notre Dame.





Sign up now to receive our Notre Dame Football newsletter. All the best articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web delivered to your inbox twice a week.











34 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete