Watching Notre Dame Saturday was like viewing a fine car on the showroom floor.
You really don`t know how it will perform until you take it on the road and test it in real conditions, but one look tells you it`s loaded.
Barely three months after winning the national championship, the Irish unveiled their 1989 edition during the annual Blue-Gold Game and showed an abundance of talent-even though it was only to themselves and their fans.
Notre Dame loses only six starters from the championship team because of graduation. In addition, Tony Brooks, the Irish`s second-leading rusher last year, withdrew from school because of personal problems and is a question mark; but there was no void in the backfield of either squad on Saturday.
In front of 25,694 fans on a mild spring day, Rodney Culver, who will be a sophomore in the fall, ran for three touchdowns to lead the Blue team to a 21-8 win over the Gold.
Culver, a 6-foot, 219-pounder who can play tailback or fullback, ran for 66 yards on 14 carries. Forty-three of those yards came on six carries during an 80-yard, 16-play drive in the first quarter.
Culver, who received offensive player of the game honors, was among players (most of them running backs) singled out afterwards by coach Lou Holtz.
He called fullback Anthony Johnson, who carried nine times for 47 yards for the Blue team, ”the most underrated player ever;” had encouraging words for Kenny Spears, a sophomore in the fall, who carried 10 times for 58 yards for the Blue; and continued to heap praise on Ricky Watters, who has switched from flanker to tailback this spring.
”Even my wife said to me he runs different than he did last fall,”
Holtz humored reporters. ”It`s no great sign to be able to see the sun or no great feat of hearing to hear the thunder, but when my wife said Ricky Watters improved, that`s pretty noticeable.”
There was an attempt to split the first-string talent between the squads. Quarterback Tony Rice, sure to be a Heisman candidate this year, played for both.
Holtz`s biggest challenge will be motivating the substantial talent he has to reach beyond complacency and try to meet the expectations of a repeat championship season.
”I personally believe you don`t have complacency if you wrap up last year, pass out the scrapbooks, and do it all over again,” he said.
”That`s exactly what we`re trying to do. Our players will get their championship rings today and that`s the end of it. It`s over.”
