Notre Dame’s continued efforts to close out the Class of 2017 strong just received another nice boost as kicker Jonathan Doerer from Charlotte, North Carolina has announced his commitment to the Fighting Irish.
Jonathan was a surprise visitor this weekend for Notre Dame. Heading into the visit, the 6-3/190 pounder was committed to Maryland. This visit to Notre Dame changed everything, though, and it didn’t take long for Jonathan to flip.
God Country Notre Dame☘️ pic.twitter.com/itDF2nEti1
— Jonathan Doerer (@JDoerer_11) January 30, 2017
Recruiting Service Rankings
247 — 2 star (75 rating), #2880 overall, #14 K, #76 in NC
Rivals — 2 star (5.3 rating)
Scout — 3 star, NR overall, #6 K, #9 in NC
ESPN — 3 star (75 rating) NR overall, #20 K, #29 in NC
247 Composite — 2 star (.7902), #2272 overall, #17 K, #58 in NC
Chris Sailer Kicking — 5 star, #3 K
Cohort
Jonathan chose the Irish over other offers from Maryland and Army.
Highlights
As you can see from his highlights, which consist of touchback after touchback, Jonathan has a rocket for a leg. He received a glowing review from Chris Sailer (which is linked above in the Recruiting Service Rankings section), who says Jonathan has “perhaps the strongest leg in the nation in this class.” He also thinks Jonathan could be a very good punter at the next level with continued hard work.
Sounds like the Irish are getting a good one.
Impact
This pick-up may end up having a bigger immediate impact than most of you are probably assuming. There is some uncertainty surrounding the health of Justin Yoon right now. The rumors are that Yoon was suffering from knee tendinitis for much of this past season and he recently had surgery. This offer makes sense, considering the Irish are no longer sure if Yoon will be ready to go by the start of the season.
Hopefully Yoon will be okay, though. And even if that does turn out to be the case, I’m still totally fine with this offer. First, Notre Dame certainly has the room to give another scholarship to a specialist. And second, both Yoon and Tyler Newsome have two seasons of eligibility remaining. If Doerer isn’t needed for the 2017 season, he can simply redshirt and be ready to go in 2018 as a possible kick-off specialist. Then he can take over the field goal and/or possibly punting duties in 2019 as a redshirt sophomore with three years of eligibility remaining.
In any case, welcome to the Irish family, Jonathan!
#FlipSZN
So as you guys probably know, NSD is this Wednesday and we are likely to be pretty busy this week with all of that going on so I’ll give you a brief rundown of the remaining targets rather than write up a whole new post for it.
So how would you rank those remaining recruits based on skill and position need? Who should we be hoping for a commitment from the most?
Based on position of need and skill (with need taking precedence), I would personally rank them like:
1) Jalen Harris
2) Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa
3a) Russ Yeast
3b) Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah
5a) Kofi Wardlow
5b) Oliver Martin
7) Evan Fields
Would take any of these guys in a heartbeat, though.
Based on need, I’d say Russ is number one. We really need DBs in this class. Numbers aren’t that bad at DE, the need is more immediate contributors, which Harris definitely is not. Tagovailoa-Amosa will probably end up as a 3T, and numbers need isn’t as high there either IMO. He’s a kid that could be a difference maker though, so I would leave him at 2 and swap Russ and Jalen. I’d move Kofi above Owusu for the same reason I would have Harris above Owusu.
1. Yeast,
2. Tagovailoa-Amosa
3. Harris
4. Wardlow
5. Owusu
We’re not getting the other two, so no point in ranking them.
So, would you say that Yeast is RISING up on your list?
@What a surprise.@
Did Yeast even come for a visit?
Did he taste and see the goodness of the University?
He did – took an official the weekend before last, with Genmark Heath, Wardlow, Fields and Norwood. I like the Mass reference, very sharp, but hopefully not fully analogous – since that’s unleavened bread, and we definitely want Yeast.
BOOM.
Hey now, who says we’re talking about the body? Yeast is the most important part of the blood…the essential ingredient I’ll be using the fruits of come Wednesday night after this is all done.
I respect having Yeast at the top, though I think we’d be okay at CB even without him in the class. We’re not bad at numbers or talent there so long as Crawford and Watkins are healthy.
We do have numbers at DE (and DL in general), but the thing is we have no idea how those numbers will actually pan out as football players. It’s a huge unknown, we’ve struggled rushing the passer, and Harris has tremendous upside there.
Our upperclass is pretty thin at CB, and the staff was prepared to take three this year, so zero would feel like a big whiff to me. Harris is definitely talented, but he needs to add like 40-50 lbs, and we have no idea how he’ll look at that weight. He falls in the unknown category for me.
I’m leery of ever taking a straight zero at a position unless there’s some really unusual context, like TE in ND’s 2016 class. So I do share your concern about taking zero corners in this class and I also really hope we pull in Yeast, but think we could get by if we hit corner hard in 2018. Vaughn, Pride, Love, Watkins, and Crawford (and Coleman, but, well…) all have multiple years of eligibility left, so in reality we’re probably looking at 2019 at the earliest for a corner in this class to get a full-time starting role. Hate to take a zero, but it’s survivable one time I think.
On the flipside, we just have such a massive problem recruiting pass rushers that even with the upside uncertainty on Harris I’d put him as the #1 need on the board. I’m OK with stockpiling athletic 210 pounders and see who keeps it when he bulks up. You’ll get Jhonny Williams and Kolin Hill, but from time to time you’ll also get Justin Tuck.
We’re up to 82 scholarships now.
We’ve routinely gone up to 87 or 88 in recent years in the spring so lots of room left.
Matuska not listed on the spring roster.
Down to 81 scholarships. No word on where Matuska is transferring for a grad year (if that’s his route).