Corwin Brown was a major reason Notre Dame had the #1 recruiting class in the country in 2008, and his success in the Chicago area was a major reason for that. In 2009 the Chicago area didn’t offer a whole lot of top notch talent, but the area is stocked with blue chippers in 2010 and could be the reason for another stellar Irish recruiting class next February.
In ’08, Corwin and Notre Dame cleaned up in the Chicago area by landing Steve Filer, Darius Fleming, and Sean Cywnar. Rivals lists Rob Ianello as the recruiter for Filer, but it was generally considered that Brown was a major reason for Notre Dame’s success recruiting the area in 2008. Notre Dame struggling in recruiting in ’09 compared to ’08 and the Chicago area being short on talent in ’09 are not merely coincidences. When Chicago is loaded in talent, Notre Dame has a chance to clean up in recruiting. This is the case in 2010.
Here’s a look at five Chicago area recruits that would be outstanding additions to Notre Dame’s recruiting class of 2010.
- Chance Carter (DE) – 6’4″, 235 / Loyola Academy – Wilmette, IL
Defensive end is a position of need for Notre Dame in 2010 after striking out at the position in 2009 and Carter fits the bill of a speed rusher. Carter didn’t play organized football until 6th grade so he is a bit behind some other high school players, but he recently gave up basketball in order to focus solely on football. He also is an early enrollment candidate. Notre Dame is a finalist along with Wisconsin and Stanford. Look for Carter to decide early. - Corey Cooper (WR/DB) – 6’2″, 195 / Proviso East – Maywood, IL / Committed to Illinois
Cooper is listed as a defensive back on some websites, but his primary position and the one he wants to play in college is wide receiver. I posted some highlights of Cooper as a WR earlier this month, and its easy to see why he is being recruited as wide receiver by most schools. He committed to Illinois in April of 2008, but he is still talking to a number of schools and Notre Dame is thought to have a very good chance here. He’s from the same high school as current safety Sergio Brown. Get on the horn, Sergio. - C.J. Fiedorowicz (TE) – 6’7″, 240 / Johnsburg – Johnsburg, IL
Considered one of the best tight end prospects in the country, Fiedorowicz is a matchup nightmare for any defense with his height. Notre Dame is pretty deep at tight end after signing two tight ends in 2009 and having three others with three years of eligibility remaining, but the Irish are still heavily pursuing this massive tight end recruit. He is down to Iowa, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue or Illinois and would like to decide in the Spring. - Christian Lombard (OT) – 6’5″, 280 / Fremd HS – Palatine, IL / Commited to Notre Dame
Offensive tackle is the biggest need for Notre Dame in 2010 in my opinion and Lombard was the first commitment in this year’s class for the Irish. He is a five star OT according to Scout and will be one of the top tackle prospects in the country on just about every recruiting service. - Kyle Prater (WR) – 6’4″, 190 / Proviso West – Hillside, IL
Prater could fit the bill of the big, tall wide receiver for this class. He is built very similarly to Maurice Stovall coming out of high school and has a lot of potential. I posted some highlights of Prater earlier this month. On his highlights he is playing at another level than his competition. In January he went down to San Antonio for the Army All American Combine and went home with the MVP award. He’s been getting a lot of attention since then, and will be one of the most sought after wide receivers in the country this year. He hasn’t narrowed down his schools yet, but Prater is another recruit Notre Dame has a pretty good shot at.
Notre Dame needs to come away with at least three of these recruits (including Lombard) in order to have another 2008-esque recruiting class. Right now, Carter looks like the most likely to join Lombard as Chicago area commitments for the class of 2010, but the other three are all also heavily considering Notre Dame at this point as well. How Notre Dame fares in Chicago in 2010 will go a long way in determining what kind of recruiting class the Irish will have for next year.
yes i do care who wins. i love the Dodgers and not too many kids can swing the bat like Manny can. as far as the economy is concerned it isnot Manny who Approved all the bad loans, and it wasnt manny who hid their assets and made bad business decisions thats brought down wall street and the US auto industry. Notre Dame makes millions off of its athletic programs. the only difference between the players of today and the “heroes you grew up with is the amount of media covering them. Your gonna hold a player responsible for accepting a $100 million dollar contract offered to them. A Rod gets 200 mill to take steriods so stop complaining about the good old days because the economy was not created by sports.
Jason,
Do you really care what team wins the World Series when one of their players will make $23.5 million dollars for playing a game that any kid can play. I can tell you watching my kid or some other kid is good enough, when you look at the cost. In this economy when hard working people will lose their jobs by the millions and many, their homes, is one person of poor character really worth all that money? Playing sports is entertaining but does not add value or wealth to the economy. Can Manny help put a plane in the air safely, can he make a car use less fossil fuels, will he find a cure for cancer? Nope, he’ll do something a 10 year can do. And you know what, since he’s already pegged as a malcontent, the 10 year old has my vote as more interesting to watch. Frnakly, I can’t tell you who won the last 5 Super Bowls, World Series, or NBA Championships. I used to know those stats 20 years at a stretch. Just don’t care about those guys anymore. High paid trailor trash or ghetto trash. Show me the ones with character and a system that at least has some of the old time character building value of sports, I’m in man. But $23.5 million, not interested.
WHOOOOOO Dodgers. all the way in 09.
Frankie,
Taking a lunch break and against my better judgement browsed the ESPN site for scores and any Irish info. Saw that the Dodgers signed Manny Ramirez for %45M for 2 years. This is galling during this economic crisis. Chrysler is on the verge of closing down entirely and GM is not far behind. That will cause a domino effect of 2-5 million job losses. While these good people are on the unemployment line, we’re wasting the country’s wealth on sports. I love to play and watch sports, but the level of money spent on sports is destructive, not constructive to our economy. Only manufacturing generates wealth. all other activities merely transfer that wealth. I’d love to see great talent rise to the occasion. But money being spent at the expense of good people being able to afford tickets, and inflated product prices because of high cost of advertising is one of the causes of our economic downfall. I plan on boycotting professional sports entirely. I plan on restricting myself to grade school highschool, D-3, and Notre Dame sports. Notre Dame better consider high prices too. Sports and gambling have become the opium of the US. Trust me I do business in Asia and they may not need us in 10 years. Sports are great fun and good for character building. But paying anyone $45M for playing a game for 2 years is completely out of balance and is not sustainable.
Thanks, that’s a great summary. What do you think the odds are of Corwin being around next year? I feel like he’s bound to get a head coaching gig in the next hiring/firing cycle, right?
Certainly not out of the question. I think we get all five. I’d be really surprised if we didn’t get at least three
The key ones for me are Fiedorowicz and possibly Carter. 2010 is rich with WR talent and both Cooper and Prater grade much lower than McCay, Wood and Davis. Would much rather have one of them.
Good post.
Great summary. Wouldn’t a sweep be nice?