Signing Day has been more of a time cringe than a time to celebrate for Notre Dame fans over the last few years. Last year the Irish missed on Ben Davis, Caleb Kelly, and (eventually) Demetrius Robertson while only landing one new recruit – Jonathan Jones. This year it looked like it would be more of the same when Russ Yeast stuck with Louisville early this morning. Throughout the day, however, Notre Dame not only avoided any last minute defections, they also bolstered what was looking like a thin defensive class with three talented defensive recruits.
Late last night there was a bit of a buzz that Notre Dame might just pull off flipping Yeast from Louisville. The Indiana native and Under Armour All-American should have been offered by Notre Dame a long, long time ago. Had he been, there would have been no drama. He’d have been one of the first to send in his LOI this morning.
Instead, Notre Dame tried to hold on to commitments from Elijah Hicks and Paulson Adebo even though the Hicks commitment was on thin ice long before he eventually decommitted and when it was known that Adebo coveted a Stanford offer. But I digress, today was a good day so we’ll dive into some of the misses in this class at a later time.
Notre Dame started the day with 18 commitments with four prospects left on the board after Jalen Harris decided to stick with Arizona last night. The Yeast news wasn’t a good way to start the day but things would soon start to change in Notre Dame favor.
Notre Dame Adds Disruptive Force on Interior DL
Around lunch time on the east coast, big defensive tackle Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa was waking up in Hawaii and getting ready to send in his LOI to Notre Dame. Tagovailoa, whom we are nicknaming Lord Myron, gives Notre Dame a fleet footed, big bodied lineman for the interior line with pass rush ability. Tagovailoa is listed as a defensive end on recruiting services but Brian Polian said today they envision him to be a 300-320 DT who is light on his feet.
This left Notre Dame at 19 commitments in this years class.
Excuse Coach Kelly, and I’m gonna let you finish but I’m ready to commit
When Brian Kelly started his annual Signing Day Presser, his class still stood at 19 commitments. Was Kelly telling us all that no one more recruits were coming? Would they offer an addendum afterwards like they did in 2013 with Eddie Vanderdoes? Neither.
About a half hour into Kelly’s remarks, his phone rang. Kelly said he had to take the call and left the room (NCAA rules and all about being in front of the media). The WatchND cameras followed (which as Jack Nolan explained is fully within the rules) as Jeremiah Owusu called Kelly to announce he was part of the class. Kelly came back to the media room smiling announcing the Irish had just added a ROVER linebacker for Mike Elko’s defense.
Ok, now we were cooking. A defensive tackle and a rangy ROVER who new linebackers coach Clark Lea and Elko coveted for the Irish defense were in the fold. Notre Dame was up to 20 prospects, but something was still missing.
Alas, a pass rusher for Notre Dame’s defense
The lone missing component at this point was a pass rusher. Well, that and a corner but given the haul in the secondary last year the lack of a corner isn’t terrible. It’s more annoying since there was an All-American in Notre Dame’s back yard who would have jumped at an early offer. Still, a pass rusher is what Notre Dame needed after being left at the alter last night for Harris’s State U.
A few minutes after the call from Owusu, Kelly was interrupted again to be given confirmation of another LOI. This time it was Washington DC area pass rusher Kofi Wardlow. Interestingly enough, the official press release from Notre Dame listed Wardlow at just 210 lbs. Most recruiting sites had him in the 230-240 range leading some (myself included) to wonder aloud if he would eventually grow into more of a strong-side defensive end.
At 210 lbs, however, Wardlow will need some filling out just to be a weak-side pass rusher. Wardlow is a still raw and has only played football for two years so this will take a team effort from Mike Elston and Mike Elko here to develop the promising but raw prospect.
Notre Dame Hits on 3 of 4
At the end of the day, Notre Dame added three more members to the class of 2017 on Wednesday after adding three other members to the class in the last week – Jordan Genmark Heath, Jafar Armstrong, and Jonathan Doerer – to close this one down at 21 prospects.
Not only did Notre Dame bat .750 today, they also avoided any Signing Day drama and last minute defections. There were no Greg Little or Deontay Greenberry sistuations as all 18 verbally committed prospects signed their LOI’s as expected – most of them before before 10:00 AM ET.
Considering 4-8, the coaching turnover, the decommitments, and the fact that this class was just 15 members at the beginning of the day last Wednesday, the last week may well be the most successful for Brian Kelly on the recruiting trail in his time at Notre Dame. Would it have been nice if some of these late additions were 5-star talents? Of course it would. Notre Dame found prospects who fit their system though and were able to salvage a class that was teetering on the edge for weeks.
All things considered, today was one of the best Signing Days for Notre Dame football in a long, long time.
As long as ND types are so willing to use academics as their “football crutch” (….though it doesn’t seem to be hindering Stanford at all !?!….)
This is like pulling out a D in a final after having not attended even half the lectures by guessing a few multiple choices correctly.
Way to go! Med school awaits, Dr. Kelly!
Another below average class for Kelly! He better hope these new coaches can bail him out!!!!!
Here’s my prediction as to what we’ll be saying going into 2018: “With the great 2018 recruits coming in, Wimbush contending for the Heisman and all the returning stars on both sides of the ball, ND will at least make a strong bid for the playoffs.” Hope springs eternal. Maybe–just maybe–so does ignorance? One thing is certain–“ND fans in general, must be the most optimistic people on Earth.
I saw on the Rivals website that there is a weakside DE that is ranked 119th overall but who doesn’t have a scholarship offer to any of his favorite schools. He’s currently a “gray” shirt at Alabama. ND was listed as him having a medium level of interest in them. Is anyone trying to bring this kid to ND? You can never have too many quality linemen.
Jarez Parks is his name.
Shows you how bad kids want to play for Saban that they are willing to sit out a semester to play there and forgo other scholarships.
He is committed to Alabame, search for his video in Paris. He has to wait to sign with next year’s class for a scholarship from what I understand. It was a very weird commitment process.
If you compare Notre Dame’s recruiting class against all the other 4-8 teams recruiting classes then i suppose you could call this haul wildly successful. Otherwise its just a mediocre class and well below what is needed to consistently put up 10/11 win seasons. When ND puts together 3 or 4 consecutive seasons of 10plus wins as well as eliminate the academic and off the field shenanigans the highly rated recruits will be lining up to get to ND. Until then it will continue to be the same old shit.
A few more warm bodies added at the 11th hour to get to over 20.
THIS is the state of ND football, a few short years since appearing in the NC game.
Forgive me if I don’t see changing the bulbs atop Grace Hall as urgent.
Reminder
211 and counting
Once upon a time Notre Dame had 21 recruits in the 2017 recruiting class.
Then they had 15 after 6 of them bailed following the 4-8 season.
Now they have 21 again, but the final 6 recently added are – by definition – not as highly rated as the 6 Notre Dame lost. For this reason alone i would NOT describe this as a “wildly successful” recruiting day. ‘Helluva comeback’ yes, but “wildly successful” – no.
Based on the comments I’m reading, ND, because of their emphasis on scholarship (along with tough admissions criteria), can not and won’t ever win another NC again. If we all agree, then the next best move would be to remove the ‘student-athlete’ from the rigors and unnecessary obligation of going through the motions. I’m in favor then of a ‘farm-system’ like in baseball where pro teams can hire, train and develop talent who would move up to their pro status. Those athletes who want an education would still be available to seek scholarships to play for the college of their choice. The quality of play might suffer but it should be uniform throughout. The emphasis on high priced HC’s who want autonomy will be abandoned. Athlete’s who don’t care about ‘wasting’ 3+ years of their life won’t have to. Scholarship players will stay with the school to earn their degree. Following graduation, some might even earn a chance to play in the farm system of their choice. Colleges throughout will be attempting to get their educational programs up to a level that matches the Duke’s, Stanford’s and ND’s of the country. I argue that there are plenty of student-athletes who will opt to go to college and so it will still be worth our while to maintain our college supporting preferences.
BTW, I’m very serious about this. I think ND will thrive under that system. But the funny thing is, they won’t go for it because it’ll mean less dollars from alumni and boosters. Maybe also fewer fannies in the seats. So ND, like most, will have to show their true colors and oppose so radical an idea.
But what do you all think? Open to reasonable discussion.
I’m not sure that would work for football. The NFL has shown little interest in accommodating CFB, they’re happy with their empire the way it is. And NFL players tend to have a shorter career life then MLB. ALso Baseball players tend to go through the ranks from Single A to AA or AAA then to the big leagues in a much more orderly fashion, whereas in the NFL there really isn’t a comparable minor league system to use a farm system. Players are generally either on the NFL team or the practice squad.
I still think ND can compete at an elite level, if they have the right coaching. I’d personally be opposed to upending the system as long as coaching continues to be an issue. I don’t have a problem with continued evaluations and adjustments that don’t change the basic character of ND, in fact in anything you should always be doing that. It’s never a good idea to stay static. But I still think improved coaching and conditioning can get the job done. Even in this disaster of a year, ND still hauled in the #11 class in the country (out of how many FBS teams–111 is it?). These are above average players that should be winning more games.
Thanks Damian for your comments. Farm system…it’s an idea that has to be considered and discussed. Schools have for years dumbed down their standards for admission and scholarship. In that regard, we are at a great disadvantage. However, given that, I totally agree that coaching is the most important X-factor in any sport. These kids need coaching throughout their careers.
The thing about ranking incoming classes that is deceiving is, it’s pretty much based on who got the most 5-star players or who got the most top 100 players on some ‘expert’s’ list. I can’t think of another simpler way to rank a class, but I can say that to me the importance s/b based on whether an incoming class will fill the most pressing needs of the team. ND’s failure has been on D. So the question is, did they correct that? I’m hoping.
As far as our coaches, BVG was a failure, not for his ideas but for not adequately teaching them. KKKelly will always be a failure in my mind ever since Alabama. He put us on the grandest stage then made us look like chumps to the entire world for ‘playing not to lose’. We went from the #1 D to a pathetic failure. Even ND fans came out of that thinking, we didn’t belong. But he parlayed that season into an extra 10-year sentence we all have to endure. He hired subordinate position coaches, both offense and defense, we all thought would turn us around. I didn’t notice any improvement in our O or our defensive backfield, did you? One by one they will all exit. Can anyone put that on anybody else other than KKK?
But this year might be different. A new DC, a new OC and a new play-calling team. I’m hoping.
I do have a little bit of optimism with some of the new assistants. Elko and Polian are 2 assistants that should bring improvement right off the bat. I’ve tempered that optimism because of the guy at the top. But whatever my opinion of BK, he’ll be back next year so I have to hope he’ll correct his flaws and we have a successful year. Going outside the ‘BK family’ for assistants is a step in the right direction.
Sort of related to what you mentioned, I was watching the ND basketball game against Virginia (or was it FSU–I can’t remember). But one of the commentators mentioned about how many BB players are one and done and would it be better to change that to some sort of system where they can join the NBA right out of high school (I think he said something about them playing in the D-league for a year instead of CBB). It might level the playing field for BB teams and wouldn’t force kids who had no desire to go to college to skip it (therefore opening up more scholarships to kids who actually want to get a degree–how many scholarships are wasted on BB players who don’t care). I doubt the NCAA and one and done teams like UK would like that because they make money off one and dones, but it was an interesting idea.
CFB would be more difficult though because football requires a completely different skill set then basketball. You could have players come right out of high school and compete in the NBA. It would take a few years of strength and conditioning to prepare for the NFL–I watch NFL and CFB and the level of play is a couple notches higher in the NFL. But if the NFL had a farm system of a sort, they could work on that element there….but the NFL is perfectly happy to use CFB as it’s development league. And the NCAA and conferences are happy to be their patsies in that regard because they are all getting rich too.
I think “Wildly Successful” is overstating it but they did have a good NSD. No defections and brought in 3 decently rated recruits. Now let’s see what BK can do with them.
ND gets back Alize Jones, Nick Watkins, Brandon Wimbush and Shaun Crawford, and keeps Quenton Nelson, Mike McGlinchey and Niles Morgan. I’d take these seven over any seven players Alabama or Ohio St. got his year. Plus I look for a breakout year from at least a couple of the front seven defenders already on campus and some freshmen help. And don’t we all agree, with all of the returning players, that ND’s defensive talent is way better than last year’s? Combine that with what we all anticipate is going to be far better coaching and ND should have a good enough defense, when combined with their awesome offense to make them hard to beat. Clemson won the title with classes rated 10, 8, 18, 14, and 15. ND’s were 12, 15, 11, 3, and 9. Kizer was the 13th QB, Wimbush was the 7th. I think we’ll see why.
What about all the talent we supposedly had last season? How did that work out?! McGlinchey went from possible first round drat pick to coming back because he stunk it up so much.
So, Mike, if we don’t see why after next season, then what? What will be the feel-good, pie-in-the-sky narrative going into 2018?
I guess there’s always the mantra of the losers: “Wait till next year!”
Are any of out there tired of waiting until next season? We’re going on thirty years of waiting!
Go Irish!
No, I don’t agree that having the same players on next year’s defense will increase the talent on defense.
“Wildly successful”? Ya sure – whatever. (to sound like a kid these days) One of the prior comments remarked about how NotreDame is a perennial “also ran” – good enough to maybe make a New Year’s Bowl, but not really good-enough for the Natty game. (“ND basketball in cleats”) That comment has a lot of validity. The other comments all evaluate talent, too. I think we should all remark on coach-ability. NotreDame’s academic standards prevent us from landing the big fishes. So BK & Co must coach-the-kids-up. It’s that simple. Very, very difficult to achieve; but anecdotally simple. GoIRISH!
Did someone just hack “HURLS'” account on this site?
Did “bj”/”Bruce Johnson” swap bodies with “HURLS” like in one of those bad 80s movies?
@SteelFanRob – are you still angry MY NEPats decleated the Pittsbarf Stealers? S’alright. Many here in NE don’t even like coach Belicheat. S’alright. The telling-factor is the W’s. GoIRISH!
I typically wait to see how the recruits pan out before making any judgments on individuals (though others are certainly free to do so). Over the years I’ve seen too many 5 stars flame out and 2 and 3 stars become impact players. At the end of the day all I care about is wins on the field. Recruiting is a big part of that of course, but so is coaching. So far BK has shown an inability to get production out of his recruits (baffling to me considering he seemed to do ok with that part of the job in the past, but I digress). However there are a number of new assistant coaches out there so maybe they can do something prior assistants could not. I do expect the defense to be better under Elko than under BVG (admittedly not hard to do considering how poor BVG did). The offense is an open question. I still believe Hiestand is a good O-line coach, but there are other variables with new coaches and a basically new QB in the mix.
Personally, I’ll take a wait and see approach. I would have rather seen a new HC this year, but that’s not going to happen. Nothing will change that. All I can do is hope that the new assistants work out, BK does a self-examination of things he needs to change and ND has a successful year (IMHO a NY Day 6 bowl at minimum–I personally feel BK is well beyond any 2nd chances). The alternative would be to hope they lose so we get a new coach–some fans have crossed that line I know, but I can’t. I want ND to win now. I personally would rather not have to fire BK, start from scratch with a new coach and hope in 3 to 4 years that they are the one (but another lackluster year then he’s got to go).
“Fans” that would wish us to lose are not fans. So yes, I agree that ND should win now.
Agreed. Our wildly successful day was picking up mostly 3 star athletes who we were not interested in a month ago. While USC was hauling in 5 start difference makers. BK is settling in as a coach remaking this team into a solid second tier team. Capable of the occasional upset. ND football has become ND basketball in cleats.
“A wildly successful ND signing day”?!
I guess that would be true if ND were Vanderbilt.
Perhaps that’s the new benchmark for ND football. Forget about competing with the likes of rivals like USC or Michigan. In fact, ND fell behind Miami, one of the few teams it beat past season.
This is just blatant cheerleading for a mediocre recruiting class, one that at one time was a consensus top-5 and finished outside the top-15 almost everywhere.
Now we’ll hear from the “recruiting-doesn’t-matter” crowd. Tell that to Bama which just finished with the #1 class by almost all accounts. But I guess they haven’t really done much of late with all those blue-chip, 5-star studs.
We’ll also now hear from the “it’s-not-the-stars-but-how-you-coach-up-the-talent” bunch. I wonder how ell that’s worked out under BK? In fact, what has BK done with some solid recruiting classes? Any NCs or top 5 finishes along the way? I guess Nick Saban doesn’t develop his players either. He just recruits studs and throws them onto the field without any coaching whatsoever.
Don’t make any mistakes, recruiting matters. At one time ND football could hold its own on the recruiting trail and on the field. Now, well, not so much on either end.
Let the insults and petulant tirades sans any facts begin from the “heads-up-their-collective-arses” gang begin!
Funny thing about Alabama, .. they lost the NC to Clemson, who had the #13 recruiting class in 2014 (2016’s Jrs). You’re overreacting. This wasn’t a great class for ND, but it’s a good one. Ranked #13 by Rivals (#11 at 247). Nobody expected it to be this good a week or so ago. Given the terrible season, the coaching turnover, and the decommits, signing day was wildly successful. The class wasn’t. But the day was.
I do think that overall recruiting is important (my previous comment about individual recruits notwithstanding). I agree with SFR that this recruiting class is not up to ND standards overall.
However, I do agree somewhat with Frank that considering a 4-8 season and BK’s job instability, this class was better than what I expected personally. I thought it would be a disaster. So I guess I fall in the middle. Not where it should be, but not as bad as it could have been.
You bet I’m overreacting after almost thirty years of nothing but almost constant humiliating defeats and no major bowl wins much less national titles.
God forbid I should just accept three decades of mediocrity and not overreact.
Bama has had the best recruiting class according to most sites seven years in a row. But you’re right they have nothing to show for it. My God, they lost the NC game on the last play of the game. I wonder how Bama did the year before? And a few years before that?
No, folks, recruiting has nothing to do with on field success whatsoever.
Why all the hate? I think brian has learned that he has to deligate to his coaches, I believe he’s really streghtened his team though the coaching changes, now they just need to go back to basic’s and tackle and play with emotion. You have to remember that about 75% of these young kids can’t compete in the classroom. It takes a special kid who’s not scared to compete on the field but also in the classroom. Only 1 1/2 percent of the kids go on to play in the NFL,so you better think about a education along the way. Most schools just care about you if you can play, and most of them come out of college with nothing to show for it. if you graduate from ND It really means something. ask Tony Rice, Chris Zorich, Jaylon Smith ect……
Only took him seven years to figure out how to do his job, “john.” Would be nice to get paid millions for a seven-year apprenticeship. Let’s just keep giving BK a free pass and making excuses of him. I hope he’s sharing some of his earnings with all you apologists. It’s the least he could do!
Funny you mention Rice and Zorich. Both were marginal admits if I recall. Did ND sell its soul to the devil by recruiting and admitting Rice, Zorich, Ishmael, etc.? I wonder if there’s any relationship there? When was the last time ND was really great? I wonder how they did recruiting speed and athletes in those days? Did they win anything in the late 80s and stay competitive in the early 90s? Probably just all a figment of my imagination, “john.”
I wonder what the average SAT/ACT score was for the “5 star” recruits at Alabama. I love the the fact that a lot of the recruits that we get at ND mention the fact that they come here to get a world class education. It’s not all about football.
You’re right, Mike, because ND Stadium would sell out and the university get an exclusive NBC TV deal to watch a world-class spelling bee!
If ND football (and the administration) cannot adapt, then, like all other organisms that don’t grow or adapt, it will go the way of the dodo bird.
I think Rice and Bolcar were PROP 48 (or was it PROP 16?) admits…not Zorich.
Bruce G. Curme
La Crosse, Indiana
SteelfanRob,
Until ND decides to make football a priority like Alabama, this is what you will get. You can’t compare ND to Alabama because the administration is more interested in making ND the Harvard of Stanford of the midwest rather than National Championships. Why should the Board of Trustees care as long as the money keeps rolling in. The football culture at ND is dead and it has nothing to do with the coaches or players, it has to do with the administration and the Universities inability to adapt to changing times. Guys like Bruce Johnson that want all of these named coaches, but handcuff them with traditions of payment and other things at ND.
Under Knute Rockne ND was a innovator in college football. Knute threatened to leave if the Stadium wasn’t built. ND now follows trends instead of setting them.
At Alabama football comes before the University, they sold their soul to Saban and it paid off. He has the car, keys and owns the insurance company. Michigan just sold their soul to Harbaugh and OSU sold their soul to Urban Meyer. These are proven coaches that will not accept anything but full control, this will never happen at ND and I’m not sure I want it to. Look at the recent recruit to OSU that got arrested for pot possession and tweeted all of the OSU players smoke weed. Do you really want that at ND, because most 5 star recruits want to play their three years and take the minimal amount of classes and head the NFL. If ND is ready to sell it’s soul for the football program, than lets stop dicking around and do it, if not ND is screwed because the NCAA doesn’t care anymore if someone cheats, Conferences make more money than the NCAA and control them.
Jack,
I understand where you’re coming from, but I’m not sure ND has to sell sacrifice itself to the same altar Alabama, OSU and Michigan have. You’re right, that under the current CFB landscape ND is not going to land the slew of 5 star recruits Alabama does. You’re right that those players are just using CFB as practice for the NFL and just want to skate through college and party. And no, I don’t want ND to go down that road. ND is a special place because they actually expect their student athletes to go to class and learn something (I know, revolutionary).
SFR has mentioned in the past that there are things they can do without selling their souls and I agree. We lost too many players for academic reasons and ND should look at that. Is there extra help they could provide to make sure they can get through their classes without cheating. That’s just one example. Others have pointed out things done during the Holtz years along those lines, and no one would ever argue ND put athletics ahead of academics.
The problem I see is still down to coaching. I was on the BK bandwagon until last season. The Duke game opened my eyes. I see things differently now. 2 seasons ago they were one defensive stop or one score away from an undefeated regular season. There are bad calls, bad coaching and bad conditioning that I would blame first before blaming ND’s priorities.
This year it appears they are trying to change some of that with a new conditioning program and new assistants. We’ll have to wait to see how play calling turns out. Personally I feel it’s too little too late, but that’s sort of irrelevant since BK is coming back. But I argue ND has the players to succeed, they just need better coaching.
Jack,
Let’s see:
Did ND sell out when it changed its academic schedule to allow its football team to play in bowl games?
Did ND sell out then it allowed early enrollment for football players?
Did ND sell out when it allowed a 5th year for football players, effectively a “red shirt” season?
Did ND sell out when it brought in a training table for the jocks, but especially the football team?
Did ND sell out signing a TV deal with NBC for the sake of mammon?
Did ND sell out allowing Lou Holtz to recruit some questionable student-athletes? Or are you going to tell me “Rocket” Ishmael was a rocket scientist? How about Ricky Watters or Jerome Bettis? Both Rhodes Scholars I’m sure!
In formal logic, Jack, there’s the so-called “Fallacy of the Excluded Middle.” Look it up and then we’ll talk.
If the NCAA landscape has changed that much in the last twenty odd years that ND can no longer really compete without selling out, then it must defect and start its own governing body. Or it could join the Ivy League. Or it could do what the University of Chicago did back in the day and drop football altogether. The constant mediocrity, blow out losses to top teams, that is unacceptable to any true son of ND, or at least it should be.
GO IRISH!
Sorry, Jack, just re-read your post more carefully. Pardons.
Yes, totally agree with you. Well-said by you.
My points, however, still hold for the hollier-than-thou crowd who insist ND should follow its traditions to right into irrelevance.
@Steel Fan…I believe you to be a true fan of ND football. You should know there are those of us who are hurting as much as you. But I see some light at the end of the tunnel. What was it all last year that we did not have? A pass rush. QB’s had all the time in the world to pick apart a mediocre backfield. What BVG did not bring with him was the promise to correct that flaw. It still existed throughout 2016. I’m hopeful, that a new DC with an emphasis on a ‘hurry’ defense can reverse the outcome of tight losses we suffered. I like the kid from Hawaii (DL), I like the rush end they just picked up. They both showed a relentlessness in getting into the backfield. We need one more element to make us a great defensive threat, that is to put someone with a great FB sense in the most vital component of the D that was lacking since Manti left, a true MLB. I’m very tough on Myles but only because, outside of his brute strength, he does not possess that level of FB sense.
So it’s early February, we haven’t observed where, how or when KKKelly will play these kids but I’m encouraged that he went after them. He might have slipped in not offering a scholarship to the best rush end out there (circumstances), but guys, at least he’s thinking this is what we needed.
So Steel Fan, keep the faith…at least until we see the product KKK puts out there.
Reasonable comments welcome.
Thanks, “Sub”,
Hopefully, you’re right.
I also like the big kid from Hawaii. I think he might be the gem of this class.
All true loyal sons of ND need to keep the faith. But faith isn’t the same as blind faith!
Got to give credit where credit is due. Coming off 4-8 and putting together a recruiting class like this is very impressive.