Two of my first draft of the Top 10 for 2010 are off the board for Notre Dame with early commitments to other schools. Defensive end Reggie Wilson committed to Texas at th end of March and defensive tackle Denzel McCoy committed to Georgia Tech at the end of last week.
Both recruits likely represented the best prospect for Notre Dame at their respective position at the time.
Reggie Wilson committing to Texas was not much of a shock since the Longhorns do a great job of keeping their in-state talent in Austin. Wilson is a Top 100 national recruit and would have given Notre Dame an amazing pair of defensive ends along with Chris Martin.
McCoy commiting to Georgia Tech on the other hand was a bit of a surprise – at least this early. McCoy is one of the elite defensive tackle prospects in the country and had offers from just about every school in the south as well as plenty of other traditional power house programs. Many felt McCoy was Notre Dame’s best chance at an elite defensive tackle in this class so this news is very disappointing.
The only other offer at DT so far this year is to Louis Nix – a soft commitment to Miami. Notre Dame has finally started to build a little bit of depth at defensive tackle with the sophomore class, but can’t afford to slip this year after signing only Tyler Stockton at DT last year. I listed defensive tackle as the 4th biggest need for recruiting in 2010 so hopefully a few new offers are handed out to defensive tackles in the near future.
At defensive end, things look much better at this point. With Chris Martin in the fold, the Irish already have one of the nation’s elite at the position with some very solid prospects like Owamagbe Odighizuwa, Blake Lueders, and and Chance Carter still on the board.
Recruiting is still very much early though and if the Irish are as improved on the field as many feel they will be in 2009, recruiting will take care of itself this year.
Losing McCoy is disappointing. We need some more big bodies on the defensive line. Crossing my fingers for Barr, he looks like a force.
jason, I agree we need a new list. I’ll work on one over the weekend. I think Owamagbe Odighizuwa will easily be in the top 10 now with Wilson off the board. I think Kyle Prater will find his way into the list as well – especially now that Scout has him ranked as the #1 ranked WR.
i say we post a new top 10. since the year has progressed i would tab.
1.Sentreal Henderson
2. Anthony Barr
3. Sean Parker
4. James Hurst (though i see him ending up at Bama)
5. Blake Leuders
6. Nick Montana
7. Khairi Fortt
8. Ego Ferguson
9. Justin McCay
10. CJ Fiedorwicz
McCoy seemed like our best chance for an elite DT though. I can live with the loss of McCoy if we can sign a couple bigger DE’s that can shift inside on passing downs similar to Ethan Johnson.
McCoy hurt a bit but its still early. as long as we get Barr a few more DE’s and O lineman, ill be alright. Oh and montana wouldnt hurt either