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Notre Dame Football All-Decade Team: Athlete

By Nathan Erbach

NASHVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 30: C.J. Prosise #20 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish runs with the ball against the LSU Tigers during the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl at LP Field on December 30, 2014 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 30: C.J. Prosise #20 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish runs with the ball against the LSU Tigers during the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl at LP Field on December 30, 2014 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 24: Theo Riddick #6 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish rushes past Dion Bailey #18 of the USC Trojans during a 22-13 win at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on November 24, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

Theo Riddick (2009-2012)

Riddick started 26 career games at Notre Dame — 17 at WR and 9 at RB — so the athlete tag is perfect for him. While most people remember him as the starting running back alongside Cierre Wood during the 2012 season, Riddick would actually finish his career with more receiving yards than rushing yards. Like Carlisle and Atkinson before him on this list, he was also used as a return man on kickoffs, but most notably during his freshman campaign.

His freshman year he was primarily a special teams guy, but he also started one game at running back in the season finale against Stanford. The next two years, he switched positions to wide receiver and started the majority of the games he appeared in totaling 6 touchdowns and nearly 900 receiving yards combined. He would also provide an additional 92 yards on the ground during those two seasons.

As mentioned, he made the switch back to running back for his senior year, and that ultimately proved to be a great move by the staff as Riddick ran for just over 900 yards and scored 7 total touchdowns. He also showed off his receiving skills out of the backfield with 36 catches and 370 receiving yards making him one of the best offensive threats on the National Championship runner-up squad.

Riddick has also made the most of his time in the NFL out of anyone on this list after his 6th round selection by the Detroit Lions in 2013. In 6 NFL seasons, Riddick has become one of the better pass catching running backs in the league. Unfortunately, he has missed all of this season with a foot injury after a pre-season trade to the Denver Broncos.

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