College Football: Top 10 traditional option quarterbacks of all-time
9. Tony Rice, Notre Dame
Tony Rice was infamous for being a Proposition 48 player that Lou Holtz brought on the Notre Dame campus as he tried to resurrect one of the most storied programs in college football history. The Fighting Irish were on hard times under Gerry Faust and Holtz was brought in to write the ship.
The Irish started running the wishbone offense and triple option under Coach Holtz and by 1987 quarterback Tony Rice. Rice was forced to sit out the 1986 season where the Irish finished 5-6 in Holtz’s first campaign in South Bend. Once Rice was under center the Irish won thirty-two games with only five losses over three seasons including winning the 1988 national championship.
In 1989, Rice’s final season at Notre Dame, he finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting and was an All-American. Rice threw for 3,273 yards and thirteen touchdowns while also throwing twenty-two interceptions. On the ground Rice added 2,049 yards rushing and twenty-three touchdowns on five yards per carry.
The 6-foot-1 Rice spent time in the Canadian Football League and World League before retiring from football. Rice was a large part of the ESPN 30for30 special Catholics vs. Convicts; which covered the Miami versus Notre Dame football game from 1988, the Catholics vs. Convicts t-shirt, and Rice’s Prop. 48 academic issues.