The seeds of Notre Dame becoming “Tight End University” were planted by Leon Hart in 1946 and then watered and tended by Hart culminating when he reaped the crop and won the Heisman Trophy in 1949. No other tight end has ever won the Heisman. Ever.
Following Mutscheller, Stickles, Gmitter, Poskon, Creaney and Casper, and preceding Bavaro, Smith, McBride, Brown, Fasano, Carlson, Rudolph, Eifert, Niklas and, yes, Alize Jones, Ken MacAfee shifted the paradigm and broke records for tight end receiving.
MacAfee was big enough when he came from a state championship in Brockton, MA, the home of Rocky Marciano.