Notre Dame’s class of 2019 has reportedly sprung its first leak. Four star quarterback Cade McNamara has reportedly decommitted from Notre Dame according to 247Sports. McNamara originally committed to Notre Dame last July and was the first commitment for the class of 2019.
McNamara had recently started to pile up offers from the nation’s elite programs. Alabama, USC, Michigan, and Georgia had all recently offered the California native. As those offers started coming in, you could feel a bit of a sense of unease among Notre Dame fans, but there were no indications that the offers were going to result in a decommitment at this time.
Despite the offers, McNamara had reaffirmed his commitment earlier this week in an interview with NBC affiliate KRNV. “It’s still very solid,” McNamara said of his commitment to Notre Dame. “I still listen to the other colleges coming in, but right now, Notre Dame is the place for me.”
If 247Sports’ report is accurate, apparently that is no longer the case. At the time of this posting, the following tweet is still pinned at the top of McNamara’s Twitter profile.
https://twitter.com/Cademac12_QB/status/887045725766295552
It is also unclear at this time if Notre Dame is out of the mix all together or if the influx of offers has just compelled McNamara to reopen his recruiting and rather than say he is “committed” but still looking at other schools like some recruits do, he is opening it back up.
In terms of how this impacts the class of 2019, it shouldn’t be a monumental loss even though McNamara’s offer list has become quite impressive. After landing All-American Phil Jurkovec in the last recruiting cycle and having Ian Book (three years left) and Avery Davis (4 years left) already on campus in addition to Brandon Wimbush (2 years of eligibility), Notre Dame has plenty of depth and talent at the position.
What makes this decommitment pretty interesting, however, is that 1) McNamara knew all of this when he committed so the depth in front of him likely wasn’t a factor and 2) this is now the second year in a row in which Notre Dame’s first commitment of the year has decommited. Markese Stepp holds that distinction from the class of 2018. It wouldn’t be surprising at all, if McNamara ends up joining Stepp at USC considering he also told KRNV that he grew up rooting for USC.
Notre Dame’s class of 2019 is still off to a very strong start – especially along the defensive line – but this is obviously not the best news to hear at the start of a crucial junior day this weekend.
Good quarterbacks, runners and receivers can only star behind stellar offensive lines. Unique to football is that the most unmentioned players, the down blockers, are most crucial to success. Putting the players’ names on their jerseys is a step in player recognition and 18 year-olds are vividly aware of such. Let the NY Yankees, Bosox, Southern Cal gridders and IU Hurryin Hoosiers cling to antiquated obscuring athletes. Lou Holtz has been gone 22 years so please put the Fighting Irish names back on ND jerseys. If ND wants to go retro execute quick kicks on 3rd down, hyper quick kicks on 2nd and ultra quick kicks on first down to fatigue the opponents’ offenses. ND names looked great in Orlando FL on New Years Day. Let’s hope for a 13-0 ND season the 123 days from September First to January First which includes two visits to football-rich southern California including Navy at San Diego’s Quallcom Stadium abandoned by the NFL Chargers to go be a stepchild team in LA, amidst the Rams, Trojans and Bruins, when the Bolts could be more successful and easier to visit in Saint Louis MO’s Edward Jones Dome from Michiana.
He’s a real good kid that wasn’t going to play. He made a smart decision, but sounded a little whiney in that interview.
This isn’t really that big a loss. He’s a talented kid and I wish him the best; but ND doesn’t have much trouble bringing in 4-star QBs. Avery Davis was rated higher as a recruit (and he might be the most overlooked player on the roster). The bigger issue is the development once they get here.
We’ll have three 4-star QBs on the roster this fall (along with a 3-star). That’s a lot of talent. It’s also a lot of uncertainty and potential disappointment. We’ve had no shortage of highly touted QB recruits under Kelly: Hendrix, Golson, Zaire, Kizer, Wimbush were all 4-stars (plus the inherited 5-star; and a 5-star who transferred).
The problem is that few of these QBs reached their potential. The most successful QB under Kelly has been Kizer (Rees also did well, but nobody was ever taking him in the 2nd round). Some of the rest showed flashes, but ultimately fizzled out.
So I’m not concerned about losing a top 300 QB recruit. Those aren’t rare at ND. I’m concerned that we aren’t making the most out the QBs we currently have on the roster. Why don’t they seem to get better as the season moves along? Why can’t any of them lock down the starting position for a couple of seasons?
I don’t know the answer. But I do know that the problem at QB for ND is NOT in recruiting. So I’m not really concerned about how we recruit the position in 2019. Maybe we get another guy, maybe we strike out, maybe we go after a graduate transfer. None of that matters if we can’t turn “talent” into “production” at the QB position.
This kid wasn’t any better than what we’ve brought in recently.
Keith you are exactly right on everything you said!! MCNAMARA is no big loss!! I’m sure BIG PHIL scared him off!! Kelly HAS done a very poor job developing the QBS!! Yes WE WILL get another 4 or who knows 5 star QB on board, heres hoping CHIP LONG can develop these kids and live up to their potential!!!
Great laughs available here so far.
Women scorned can’t hold a candle to you hypocrites.
BTW….if you’re going to pull 180s that hard, you might want to get a neck brace.
“McNamara had recently started to pile up offers from the nation’s elite programs”.
Et voila…a classic example of the early ND “placeholder” commitment, to a tee.
Bidnez is bidnez.
“….this is now the second year in a row in which Notre Dame’s first commitment of the year has decommitted…”
Ding ding ding.
Placeholder commitment….to a national, very notable brand….which encourages today’s real football programs to start sniffing.
Smart kids are capitalizing on the ND brand just like ND itself is.
And Kelly cashes his checks.
At first glance thought he was junior all-American. Needs a deflated pee wee ball, would have carried a clip board at ND. No loss.
Phony…Obviously He didn’t want sit for years behind Phil J.