Paul Hornung, ND’ original “golden boy”, is the namesake for college football’s newest honor: “most versatile player” (a player that can help their team the most in a large variety of ways).

Hornung is one of college football’s all-time greats (think the original Rocket Ismail, plus he could throw, and play defense), the only player special enough to win the Heisman on a losing team, so his name belongs right up there with the Biletnikoffs and Nagurskis.

However, he might have even more fame for the statement “ND must lower admissions to get the black athlete and win”. Technically, he may be right on lowering admissions, he just made the mistake of using the qualifying term “black”. (That’s what we call racial profiling.)

So, occasionally in his honor, the Blarney will bring you Hornung’s Words of Wisdom, or technically true statements that are worded wrong, or perhaps show some type of prejudice/political incorrectness.

Paul Hornung’s Words of Wisdom For 02-14-12:

“I never really had much use for Valentine’s Day. I didn’t really need a box of chocolates for the women I went after. The broads I liked were a lot like Tommy Rees: Give’em an oportunity, and they were going to give it away as soon as they could.”

Post signing day brings the second edition of the early Top 25 rankings by the big media guys. ESPN’s Mark Schlabach is a good and fair writer, so, if that’s what you’re looking for in a too-early subjective ranking list, check out his.

He’s got the Irish at #24. Simply put, here is the biggest reason why the Irish barely make his list:

Notre Dame coaches and starting quarterbacks have trouble gleaning information from this grade school chart.

So…you probably watched the Super Bowl, huh? I’m not going to get into any deep analysis on the game, there are many other places you can go to get that…just a quick simple observation.

The Giants won because they had more athletes and speed. Simple as that. Both teams have great coaching. Both have great (and I mean great) quarterbacks. Both have a lot of good players. But, when it comes to the big play, the Giants had a decided edge (especially with Gronkowski being there in name only for the Patriots). You see, despite being good, more-than-solid players, Tom Brady is throwing to guys like Welker and Woodhead, who essentially look like they should be in the local rugby club instead. Former 49er great Steve Young even said that “Brady had done more with less than perhaps any player in NFL history”. Brady’s supermodel wife (who knows something about superior genetics), was even caught on camera bemoaning the lack of playmaking by the Patriot receivers. Even great players like Brady need plays to be made for them sometimes, and Welker (all 5′8″ of him that couldn’t get his hands outstretched enough) certainly didn’t help Tom. Conversely, Eli Manning is throwing to a monster like Hakeem Nicks (whose hands alone are bigger than your or me), and speedsters like Victor Cruz and Mario Manningham. As spectacular as Manning’s sideline throw was on the Giants final scoring drive, that play is not made without an amazing catch by Manningham. The Giants’ athletes willed the Super Bowl victory.

If athletes making plays is how to win on the highest level, than it is certainly true on the collegiate level. That’s why the recruiting game must be won. That’s why Notre Dame, while improved, isn’t a serious threat to make noise until they start looking more like USC, Alabama, Oklahoma, etc. as a team (all eleven players on offense or defense, not a select few-ND has some guys that belong). The Irish aren’t winning against elite teams throwing to Robby Toma, or covering in space with Dan Fox. Sorry, that’s just the truth.

Brain Kelly is upgrading the overall athleticism, but it appears the Irish still have a ways to go to get back to the top. They have a chance to prove me wrong with showcase games in ‘12 against USC, Oklahoma, Michigan, and quite a few others.