Where the Rest Landed

Here’s a quick recap of where the recruits that Notre Dame missed out on on Signing Day ended up.

• Christian Jones (OLB) – Florida State – It looked like Notre Dame had a legit chance here, but Jones ended up going to his father’s alma mater.  Jones was taking extra classes to qualify for Notre Dame, but unfortunately, he didn’t sign with the Irish in the end.  Notre Dame could have really used Jones’s play making ability at the outside linebacker position.
• JR (Ego) Ferguson (DL) – LSU – Again, it looked like Notre Dame had a legit chance, but Ferguson surprised a lot of people when he picked LSU.   While Notre Dame landed two potential defensive ends in Kona Schwenke and Justin Utupo, Ferguson is much closer to being ready for playing time and would have been one of the best recruits in this class had Notre Dame landed him.
• Seantrel Henderson (OT) – USC??? – Henderson announced for USC, but didn’t fax in his LOI yet and reports are that he won’t send it in until USC is in front of the NCAA Infraction Committee.
• Jeremy Ioane (S) – Boise State – Most felt that Ioane would end up at Washington if he didn’t pick Notre Dame, but instead he ended up at Boise.  Notre Dame could have really used another safety in this class and Ioane is the type of hard hitting safety the Irish defense has lacked.
• Dietrich Riley (S) – UCLA – Riley was considered a long shot for Notre Dame heading into Signing Day, but at least he ended up at UCLA and not USC where Notre Dame would have to face him for the next four years.
• Corey Cooper (S/WR) – Nebraksa – There wasn’t a whole lot of info linking Cooper to Notre Dame for weeks now, but he still had Notre Dame listed as one of his finalists.

I had been holding out some that Notre Dame land one of either Jones or Ferguson, but unfortunatley they could not.  Losing Ioane to Boise State was surprising as well since it appeared to be a Notre Dame-Washington battle and Boise just lost their defensive coordinator today.

Missing out on the defensive recruits will shape next year’s priorities.  I’ll have more on that later in the week as we look ahead to next year’s recruiting.