5-Star Focus for Notre Dame Football Recruiting

As Notre Dame heads toward National Signing Day 2016, the Irish coaching staff has already done a phenomenal job hitting off of a number of needs in this year’s class.  Sitting at 22 verbal commits with a week and a half remaining until Signing Day, Brian Kelly and his staff have set themselves up to be able to focus on a few select elite talents over the final few days before the books close on the class of 2016.

Just last week Brian Kelly and staff visited Savannah, Georgia to show elite wide receiver Demetris Robertson some 5-star treatment.  Notre Dame has made a late push for Robertson and many believe the Irish are in the driver’s seat for him currently.  Notre Dame already has three wide receivers in this class with Chase Claypool, Kevin Stephenson, and Javon McKinley so they aren’t in dire need of wide receiver help at the moment, but adding a talent like Robertson could off-set the loss of Will Fuller as Robertson projects as the kind of player who could start from day one.

One the defensive side of the ball, Notre Dame has held off Brian Kelly’s in-h0me visits with 5-star linebackers Caleb Kelly and Ben Davis until the very end and the strategy looks like it could pay off as Notre Dame has been trending up for both elite backers over the last few weeks.

Just last week Notre Dame sent Brian VanGorder and Mike Denbrock to California to visit with Caleb Kelly and the visit helped build on the momentum Notre Dame has been riding since Kelly’s visit in December.  Notre Dame’s key competition here, Oklahoma, has already used the in-home visit of head coach Bob Stoops meaning Brian Kelly will be the last head coach to make his in-person pitch.  Combine that with Notre Dame’s momentum and Notre Dame could very well end up pulling off what would have been considered a major upset just a month or so ago.

Notre Dame’s other 5-star linebacker target, Ben Davis, was also considered a long shot for Notre Dame until his visit earlier this month.  Notre Dame is battling Southern powers Alabama (his father’s alma mater), Auburn, Georgia, and LSU for Davis, but Autry Denson has put in an impressive amount of work to have Notre Dame in the conversation heading into Signing Day.  Notre Dame is still considered to be trailing Alabama and Auburn here, but with Brian Kelly’s in-home visit in their pockets, the Irish still have some cards to play here.

All in all, Notre Dame’s staff has done a hell of a job setting up the final week plus until Signing Day this year.  They have most of their needs already covered including an impressive haul in the secondary and remain in the mix for three truly elite prospects – the kind of prospects who can elevate this class from good to great. They have also strategically aligned the in-home visits of Brian Kelly to build on the momentum they’ve been riding on Kelly and Davis while using Brian Kelly’s in-home with Robertson at the height of their momentum with Robertson.

This staff has done all of this all while getting a bit of a late start this year thanks to all of the turnover on the coaching staff with additions Denson, Mike Sanford, Todd Lyght, and Keith Gilmore.  Adding all after Signing Day as they did meant a lot of catch up had to be played last spring.  This staff made up for lost time though and has Notre Dame in a position to potentially close out this class strong.

Oh yeah, and while this staff has been busy closing in on its final targets in 2016, it has already hosted a Junior Day this past weekend with a select group of elite juniors.  At this time last year Todd Lyght had just accepted a job at Vanderbilt,  Mike Sanford was the offensive coordinator at Boise State, Keith Gilmore was the defensive line coach at North Carolina, and Autry Denson was still getting settled in at his new job… at South Florida.

Don’t be surprised if this class has a 5-star focus as Signing Day 2017 draws near as well a year from now.