fortunately you limited it to the last 50 years, instead of 65, or we could have chosen from about half of the CFB Hall of Fame inductees. Someone special to me played on the early to mid-90s teams. Without even asking him, I'd bet he say the Rocket, followed quickly by the Bus, Burris, Carter and Taylor. As I recall, 15-16 members of his class played in the NFL, as did 8 of the ten or so DBs during that time. It was the greatest assembly of talent at ND since 1966 and then the '46-'47 crew, which SI called the greatest collection of CFB talent in history in a 2005 special edition. The '66 team was loaded with NFL talent, especially on defense. My pick from that era would be Jim Lynch. The mid-seventies was yet another gold mine. While Joe deserves big kudos, Clements, Browner and Bradley were from a different planet. I played pickup with Tom C. and he was unbelievably quick and one of the most intense competitors I've seen. There would have been no NCs in '73 and '77 w/o our QBs.
Despite our recent struggles, we are truly blessed to claim such a legacy. And it can repeat.