Notre Dame football: Top 5 running backs in school history

There is only one running back in Notre Dame football history to win the Heisman Trophy. His name, Johnny Lattner.

Lattner did so in a season where he ran for only 651 yards. In his three playing seasons at Notre Dame Lattner never once broke the 1,000-yard mark. For his entire career, he only ran for 1,726 yards. He also had 20 career touchdowns, and 39 catches out of the backfield.

Clearly, you won’t find Johnny Lattner on any list of Notre Dame rushing record holders. If you take out the Heisman Trophy, it makes you wonder what makes him so special. Sure, he was one of the last greats to play for Frank Leahy, but is that worthy of being the best Notre Dame running back ever?

On the surface level, no. However, that’s why you go beyond the surface level and need to understand how football has changed over time.

Lattner was a one-platoon player. This means he never came off the field; playing offense, defense, and special teams. He was expected to be elite at multiple positions, and he delivered. Not only this, but Lattner was a one-platoon player in the blossoming era of two-platoon football. He was the last elite of his dying breed.

As a defensive back, he had 13 interceptions. Lattner also returned kicks for Leahy’s Notre Dame teams. More than just a running back, Lattner could do anything required of him. For this, he had a highly decorated career.

He was a two time, consensus All-American. He won the Maxwell Award twice, and of course the Heisman Trophy. In 1979, Johnny Lattner was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Lattner should have also won the National Championship in 1953 when Notre Dame finished 9-0-1. Maryland, who went 10-1, won the National Championship. That’s because voting often took place before the bowl games were played, and it was in the Orange Bowl that Maryland lost to Oklahoma.

Notre Dame had beaten Oklahoma, in Norman, to start the 1953 season. It would be 4 1/2 seasons before that Sooners team lost another game, incidentally, that was to Notre Dame in 1957. The Irish’s only tie was to Iowa, who finished the season ranked 9th.

There was never a more accomplished, more humble, or better all-around talent to play running back for Notre Dame football.