Tim Peeler: How Notre Dame QBs Joe Montana, Joe Theismann almost played for NC State

Had things gone a little differently, NC State might have had two more names on its list of NFL quarterbacks.

And Notre Dame could have had two fewer.

The two schools, who meet on Saturday in South Bend, Indiana, both have a history of sending quarterbacks to the NFL, many of whom have played in Pro Bowls and Super Bowls.

Both are always looking for talent at the position and any look in depth reveals some of the biggest names in the game like Roman Gabriel, Philip Rivers and Russell Wilson from the NC State side.

In fact, two above-average Joes, Theismann and Montana, nearly suited up for the Wolfpack instead of the Irish. 

Theismann even signed an Atlantic Coast Conference letter-of-intent to play for coach Earle Edwards’ Pack in the spring of 1967, back when student-athletes signed commitments with conferences instead of national letters-of-intent.

He broke that commitment when Notre Dame came calling and was not required to lose a year of eligibility, which was an agreement among leagues at the time, because Notre Dame, as it is now, was an independent with no conference affiliation.

Why would a New Jersey native like Theismann want to come south to Raleigh? In fact, the three-sport superstar from South River High School was interested in three ACC schools — NC State, Wake Forest and North Carolina — as well as Penn State and Notre Dame.

At the time, veteran coach Edwards, a Penn State graduate and native of Pennsylvania, often went to the Garden State for talent.  

Theismann, who led South River to its first New Jersey high school championship in an undefeated 9-0 season, was being pushed hard towards the Wolfpack by his high school coach Ron Wojcicki, a first-year coach who had played quarterback at NC State for Edwards during an inconvenient time for getting on the field — he was Gabriel’s backup for two seasons.

Wojcicki knew he had someone special in Theismann.

“If I stay in coaching the rest of my life, I may never see another like him,” he said when Theismann signed with his alma mater.

And he never did.

Theismann recently talked about his recruiting and ultimate decision to attend Notre Dame, where he was one of 13 quarterbacks on the roster, on the “Go Long” podcast. He has admitted that he was young and impressionable when he signed the grant to attend NC State, but knew he found a home the first time he went to South Bend.

“I signed with North Carolina State originally, but there was also interest in Wake Forest, the University of North Carolina, Penn State and Notre Dame. Those were the five schools,” Theismann said. “My high school coach backed up Roman Gabriel at North Carolina State, and I thought, ‘That’s a great reason to go to that college.’

“Who knows why you make those decisions?”

Joe Yonto, an assistant to Fighting Irish head coach Ara Parseghian, wouldn’t take no for an answer. He insisted that Theismann come visit South Bend.

“I flew out to Notre Dame and a guy by the name of Rocky Bleier was my host. I went around campus, played some basketball, met with the coaches, flew back home. My Dad says, ‘What do you think?’ I said ‘I have to go to Notre Dame.’

“He says, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘Dad, it just feels right.’ And I contend this. If we made decisions based upon our gut, we’d probably be right a higher percentage than if we just take time to analyze it, and try and talk ourselves into it,or try and talk ourselves out of it. I trusted my gut, and it turned out pretty darn well.”

Theismann was great at Notre Dame, taking over for Terry Hanratty as a sophomore and leading the Fighting Irish to consecutive Top 10 rankings as a junior and senior. He finished second in the voting for the Heisman in 1970, thanks in part to the Notre Dame publicity campaign that changed the pronunciation of his last name from “THEES-man” to “THIGHS-man.” He went on to become a star, first in the Canadian Football League and then in the NFL, where he led the Washington Redskins to a win in the 1983 Super Bowl.

Things turned out OK for NC State too, at least for a while. It won the 1968 ACC championship with lefthanded quarterback Jack Klebe under center, the fifth and last of Edwards’ tenure. The next two seasons, however, when Theismann could have taken over, were pretty dismal. The Pack went 3-6-1 and 3-7-1. Edwards opted to retire right before the beginning of the 1971 season.

Montana, a three-sport star at Ringgold High School in Western Pennsylvania, was more interested in playing basketball for the Wolfpack than football. During his senior year of 1973-74, State head coach Norm Sloan’s basketball squad won the ACC and the NCAA championships with superstars David Thompson, Tom Burleson, Monte Towe, Mo Rivers, Phil Spence and, importantly, two-sport standout Tim Stoddard.

Montana wanted to play both football and basketball in college, so Sloan assistant Eddie Biedenbach, a Pittsburgh native, high-tailed it to Montana’s home in Monongahela, Pa., to see if he might be interested in joining forward Kenny Carr as part of State’s 1974-75 recruiting class. Technically, Biedenbach and Sloan were more interested in recruiting Montana’s teammate Ulice Payne Jr. to play basketball for the Wolfpack from an area that had already produced baseball stars Stan Musial and Ken Griffey Sr. They thought Montana would be a nice bonus for both the basketball squad and for football coach Lou Holtz.

“I think I did a good job of selling him on NC State,” Biedenbach said earlier this week. “I told him and his dad, David Thompson is a great player, and we have this guy named Tom Burleson.

“We really have it rolling.”

It didn’t hurt that State football was playing Joe Paterno’s football squad during that time, losing narrowly in 1971, ’72 and ’73 and beating the Nittany Lions in 1974. The Wolfpack had Montana’s attention.

But, as Biedenbach recalls, Montana’s dad had different thoughts.

“He slammed his hand down on the table and said ‘Nope, he’s going to Notre Dame,’” Biedenbach recalled.

Montana joined the Fightin’ Irish to play football and Payne spent one year playing basketball at Ohio and three years at Marquette.

While he ultimately turned down the Wolfpack, Montana did do something special in the Old North State 50 years ago this week: He came off the bench to beat North Carolina in Chapel Hill in his varsity football debut.

Montana entered the game in the fourth quarter with six minutes remaining and the Fighting Irish trailing 14-6 at Kenan Stadium.

He led his team on a quick touchdown drive and two-point conversion to tie the game and then threw an 80-yard game-winning pass to Ted Burgmeier with 1:03 remaining for a 21-14 victory, the first leg in a legacy as one of football’s greatest comeback quarterbacks.

Of course, had Montana come to NC State, there might have been a trickle-down recruiting effect on Holtz’s program.

Maybe future Wolfpack quarterback Johnny Evans wouldn’t have signed out of High Point Andrews High School. And maybe Ted Brown, from the same school, would have followed Evans somewhere else and not become the ACC’s all-time rushing leader.

That’s two players — Evans as a punter with the Cleveland Browns, Brown as a hard-running, undersized fullback with the Minnesota Vikings — who might not have reached the NFL had Montana made a different decision.

“It’s pretty amazing when you look backwards at recruiting and how things turn out that they are all kind of connected,” Biedenbach said.

Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at [email protected].