- published: 16 Jul 2011
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Ronald Lee Powlus (born July 16, 1974) is a former American football quarterback, former quarterbacks coach for the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, and current quarterbacks coach for the University of Kansas.
One of the most heavily-touted prospects in the history of high school football, he was an offensive standout at Berwick High School. Powlus was named Parade Magazine prep player of the year and USA Today offensive prep player of the year in 1992. After Powlus signed his letter of intent with Notre Dame that year, ESPN analyst Beano Cook predicted that Powlus would win the Heisman Trophy twice. This was extremely high praise considering that only one player in the history of college football, Archie Griffin, had won the trophy twice.
He never came close to matching the hype surrounding him in high school, though he had a few solid years for the Fighting Irish. Powlus was a two-time Irish captain who, before the ascent of Brady Quinn in 2005, held 20 school records. He started 42 of 44 regular-season games (Thomas Krug started in place of injurred Ron Powlus during the end of the 1995 season plus the 1996 Orange bowl) in which he played for the Irish (plus two bowl games) and finished with 558 career completions on 969 attempts for 7,602 yards and 52 touchdowns. He set the Irish single-game mark for TD passes in a game with four (three times) and at one point completed 14 straight passes. He set single-season marks in 1997 as a senior with his 182 completions and 298 attempts.