The first big recruiting weekend of the Brian Kelly has come and gone and the result thus far is three commitments from three relatively new names on the Irish radar – Derek Roback (QB/Athlete), Bruce Heggie (TE/DE), and Luke Massa (QB). It’s still possible, if not likely, that Notre Dame will add more commitments from this weekend’s list of visitors as well.
Massa, a 6-4, 205 lb quarterback, is the most recognizable name among the newest members of the Class of 2010. Massa was recruited by Charlie Weis prior to his dismissal, but the former staff never extended an offer after securing verbal commitments from both Andrew Hendrix and Tommy Rees. Massa meanwhile had previously committed to Cincinnati while Brian Kelly was still coaching the Bearcats. Kelly recently extending an offer to Massa after Massa’s high school coach called the Irish head coach to see if he was still interested.
Now that is Massa on board, Notre Dame now has three natural quarterbacks in this class with Massa joining Rees and Hendrix.
A fourth potential quarterback will join the trio now that Derek Roback has committed to Notre Dame as well. Roback (6-3, 221 lbs) picked up his Notre Dame offer last week and committed on Sunday after previously being a commitment for Toledo. Roback played primarily quarterback in high school, but he will most likely end up on the defensive side of the ball at Notre Dame. Roback has the size and speed to be able to play linebacker should quarterback not work for him.
The third commitment from the weekend came from Bruce Heggie – a lesser known recruit who held no division 1 offers until Notre Dame offered him on Sunday. Heggie(6-6, 240) had received some attention from smaller programs and non division 1 schools, but was offer-less as of last week. Kelly recruited Heggie while at Cincinnati though and was familiar with him enough to invite him to campus for an official visit this weekend. Heggie played tight end and defensive end in high school and could end up along either the offensive or defensive line at Notre Dame.
There is still a very good chance that Notre Dame adds to its haul from this weekend with Matt James (OL), Danny Spond (LB), Jeremy Ioane (S), Kona Schwenke (DE) also visited this weekend and various reports have suggested that all thoroughly enjoyed their visit. James, a four star offensive tackle and high school teammate of Massa’s, is one of the most important recruits left on the board for Notre Dame and will be announcing his decision on National Signing Day.
Along with the four other visitors from this weekend, Notre Dame remains actively involved with Sentrel Henderson, Christian Jones, JR Ferguson, and Dietrich Riley.
How many spots Notre Dame has left is not exactly clear at this point. The Irish now have 20 commitments in this class and could possibly be able to add anywhere between 5 and 7 more recruits. For the 85 scholarship limit to become a real issue for Notre Dame, some of those big names recruits would have to pick Notre Dame and that would be a wonderful predicament to be in.
Now it looks like ND may sign Kona S. That would be GREAT !
BYU pulled out.
I loved luke massa film.
He is listed at 6-4 205 so he is tremendous, and his footwork looked great.
He didn’t have many pass attempt which could be why he is one of the thousand of highschool players not qualifying as a top star player.
the star system is a guide but doesn’t mean everything. james aldrige was suppose to be one a the best running backs to ever play football.
i would still love James, henderson, jones, riley and the rest
Left on the board…Henderson and James OL, LB Jones, S Cooper and Riley, Kona DE….We have 5 scholly’s left..So we gotta close… these last two subpar classes without a botta boom botta bing…We’re lookin at back to back 7-5 seasons.So…Fly your flags.. Wednesday is huge!!
James will come because the Buckeye left tackle position is going to henderson add kona and loane and that is it.
Danny Spond is the same size and speed as Prince Shembo, so I would imagine he will be playing on that side of the ball. We need Matt James for the offensive line, and the two Hawaii guys are on the defensive side. It would be nice to pick up Christian Jones and Ego Ferguson, but I won’t be holding my breath. As long as we don’t have any surprise defections on Wednesday, this group, along the others already there and upper classmen, will be three times the talent level this group of coaches has ever had in the past to work with, so I am looking forward to seeing what they can do. There has been a lack of focus, excitement and concentration of the sidelines in the past that will be a thing of the past.
Well, at this point, I would hope the remaining recruits would be on the defensive side of the ball. This dominate offensive approach is alarming. Another quarterback derby would be a big distraction. Somewhat astonishingly, this appears as a CW renaissance with no real commitment to defense. And so much for Swarbrick’s vaporous and fashionable comments on defense.
Agreed..
The difference is that the quarterbacks that didn’t make the cut at Notre Dame end up transfering to Cinci where Kelly makes them dominant linebackers. He now has 5 recruits that played QB in highschool. But least 2 of them are going to end up at linebacker or DB. He dosen’t recruit dominant offensive players. He recruits multi position athletes.
Tex-ish.
“He recruits multi position athletes” ???
You mean like “Team Players”
What a novel idea for a college football program.
Yep. That too. Pure athletes that can play in a number of positions. And just happen to be willing to play where they best help the team. Unlike some of the 5 stars that want to be catered to and think the world revolves around them. The factories can have them. BK did a lot with less talent at UC. I think I’ll let him do what he does best, and not question his judgement before I even see any of the results.
…right….
because it would have nothing to do with the fact that he just took over, was just trying to hold onto whatever Weis had recruited and add whatever he could grab at the end…no, this is obviously the work of an intentional plan to wilfully ignore defense and stockpile offensive skill position talent. Kelly is secretly planning to field 11 QB’s on the field at once by 2012.
For those of you counting stars, we just picked up Danny Spond. The 4-star from Colorado has good size and speed and will do whatever BK tells him to do. RKG.
GREAT NEWS!! Let’s go ND finish strong!!
just saw that too, nice.
He did not visit Notre Dame…but he did declare for Kansas over Stanford.
Did Brandon Bourbon ever visit ND this weekend? I saw that he was supposed to visit this past weekend. However, I saw he signed with Kansas.
He seemed like a great prospect. Was curious to see if he decided to go to Kansas after his weekend at Notre Dame.
he got snowed in and couldn’t make it.