Like a lot of people, my absolute favorite part of Tyrone Willingham’s storied, successful tenure with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish was the defense his team fielded in 2002 — you know, the one that carried the team to an 8-0 start despite very little next-to-no offensive support.
Specifically I, along with everyone else, loved that team’s secondary — a collection of talent and leadership and bad-assery in the defensive backfield that the program hasn’t seen since and hadn’t seen since the early ‘90s.
Shane Walton was the All-American, lock-down corner who came from nowhere as a converted soccer player.