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Newsstand: Interesting data on Notre Dame’s '4-for-40' phrase

Singer headshotby: Mike Singer08/01/23MikeTSinger
Notre Dame Football
Notre Dame football. (Icon Sportswire / Contributo)

Jack Sacco, a Notre Dame graduate who is an author and public speaker, tweeted out data that compares what NFL-drafted football players from Notre Dame earn versus non-Irish NFL players from a few different colleges, as well as non-NFL players from both camps.

The full data can be seen in Sacco’s tweets below. Sacco adds that the data is “compiled from multiple sources, including US News and World report, the Associated Press, the NCAA and the US Department of Education and individual websites.”

Sacco’s report says that NFL-drafted players from Alabama only make 54.2 percent of what NFL-drafted players from Notre Dame make in their average yearly salary. Georgia’s number is 55.7 percent and Ohio State’s is 59.8 percent. USC and Michigan have better numbers at 82.5 percent and 80.5 percent, respectively.

And in looking at non-NFL players from Notre Dame and the other schools, the gap gets significantly bigger according to Sacco’s research. USC has the best percentage with former Trojan players (again, who don’t make it to the NFL) making 66.4 percent of what non-NFL Notre Dame players make. Alabama’s is much lower at 23.7 percent.

The last note in Sacco report reads the following: “A college football player, whether drafted into the NFL or not, will average up to 284 percent more yearly income as a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.”

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Quote of the day

“He was just letting us know all the things that Notre Dame has to offer. Four for 40 is what they say — four years will set you up for the rest of your life. Then just how prestigious the football program is, but also, the academics.”

— 2025 four-star EDGE Gabe Kaminski on his conversation with Irish head coach Marcus Freeman

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