Shayne Simon became the 14th Notre Dame commit of the 2018 cycle when he announced for the Irish today. The 6’3″, 215-pound athlete’s star has ascended steadily over the last few months, as he has put in some very impressive camp performances and moved into the top 150 in the 247 Composite. Earlier in his recruitment, many observers had Simon headed to Michigan – the Wolverines badly wanted him, and his mother and aunt are Michigan alumnae. While Irish fans engaged in much hand-wringing over Michigan in this race, UCLA was just as much of a presence in Simon’s recruitment as well. This was truly an impressive recruiting win for Mike Elko and Notre Dame.
Shayne’s visit to Notre Dame for the spring game provided a huge surge for the Irish. The St. Peter’s Prep product was unofficially hosted by St. Peter’s alum and newly-minted QB1 Brandon Wimbush on that visit, and his current and future teammates Jayson and Justin Ademilola made sure that momentum kept rolling forward. Simon’s Irish Invasion visit just about wrapped up his recruitment, save for a final, brief visit to Michigan that did nothing to stem the Irish tide.
The recruiting services listed Simon as a safety at the beginning of this cycle, but as he has grown and shown more versatility most have reclassified him as a linebacker (except ESPN, but who takes them seriously anyway?). That versatility gives a clue as to how the Irish staff views him – he was an absolute top of the board target at the rover position. In fact, he may have been the board at rover. Mike Elko targeted his guy and got him.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247 Composite — 4 star (.9447), #132 overall, #6 OLB, #3 in NJ
247 Sports — 4 star (93 rating), #115 overall, #8 OLB, #3 in NJ
Rivals — 4 star (5.9 rating), #138 overall, #9 OLB, #4 in NJ
Scout — 4 star, #152 overall, #11 OLB, #5 in NJ
ESPN — 4 star (82 rating), #210 overall, #17 S, #5 in NJ
Cohort
In addition to Notre Dame, Michigan, and UCLA, Shayne Simon also holds offers from Duke, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio State, Penn State, Stanford, Tennessee, UCLA, Vanderbilt, and Wisconsin, among others.
Highlights
Simon’s highlight reel feels an awful lot Drue Tranquill’s Blue-Gold Game highlight reel. He’s used all over the field – at the line, in the box, and in coverage – and does very well wherever he is. On the first play, he lines up man-to-man over a wideout and runs right with him to haul in an interception way downfield. On the next play, he walks up to the line and comes flying off the edge for a strip sack. Then he’s a safety in zone coverage near the goal line and drives on the ball for another pick. Then he lines up as an inside linebacker, diagnoses run quickly, and shoots through pulling blockers for a big tackle for loss. You get the idea.
I really can’t find anything negative to say. He could use a little technique work on tackling and pass rushing, but that’s hardly unusual. What’s quite obvious is that he moves very easily in space, he diagnoses quickly, he’s a determined block-shedder, and he closes like he was shot out of a cannon. And he has that versatility – he’s fast enough to legitimately cover downfield, and he’s strong enough to be a real threat in the box. He can do a little bit of everything, and the Rover spot is a perfect way to put that plus athleticism to good use in a lot of different ways.
Impact
At 6’3″ and 215 and gifted with excellent agility and explosiveness, Shayne Simon already has the physical tools he’ll need to play right away at the next level. However, it’s difficult to project how likely an immediate impact is given that we haven’t seen Elko’s defense or personnel usage for ourselves yet, so we don’t know what the learning curve looks like or how free Elko is with playing newbies. Plus, remember that in the 2017 cycle the Irish signed Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, who is tailor-made for the Rover spot, and Jordan Genmark Heath, who is a strong safety now but could grow into a Rover.
My guess is that Simon will be an immediate contributor on special teams and then start to work into the rotation as a sophomore, before challenging for a starting spot as an upperclassman. However it works out, Notre Dame is getting a very talented player with a very bright future.
Welcome to the Irish family, Shayne!
Noice! Plays like someone we know, 2 actually, both recent Heisman candidates
Heh… Might be a tad generous there, but I like the cut of your jib. Those guys were both Composite top 5 overall players (Jaylon was #2, Manti #4); I like Simon a lot as a prospect, but he doesn’t have quite the tools they did.
All the same, Simon definitely looks like an “all over the field” kind of player, and absolutely tailor made for Elko’s defense. Really looking forward to seeing this kid on the field for us.
I was going to throw out Jabrill Peppers as well, but he was a #3 composite recruit his year.
Regarding Jaylon, btw, he has been absolutely balling out and has been getting incredible reviews in camp the last few days. He gets to put pads on and hit somebody for the first time in 18 months today.
This seems good. I’m glad they’re finding guys who project as good fits in the system.
I’m going to go out on a limb and predict St Peters will have a stout defense.
Was that some kind of joke?
Is there going to be an update to “2018 Scholarship Availability & Needs” before the season starts?
It can be done! Maybe next week?
Awesome! Thanks!
I was just thinking about that last night, actually. Lots of interesting scenarios for how to close out the class. So yes. 🙂
Woot!
Keep taking them from the skunkbears! I want the 2018 recruiting class to look like this:
Comments like this make me sad that we couldn’t replicate SBN’s “make it green” feature. Because this comment really, really deserves to be green.
Hopefully this kid brings the payne.
I’m so sorry…
So, how loaded is St. Peter’s Prep, exactly? Wow.
So we have Bauer, Oghoufo, and Simon committed. Yet we are still ostensibly recruiting McGrone and Lamb. That would be too many linebackers/rovers.
I’m gonna throw this out there. We should never stop recruiting, or not take the commitment from, any 4 star defensive player.
Lamb is also a bigger, consensus top 150 (top 100 at rivals and scout) LB, who I think is a 100% take even if we get McGrone first. Of course, it is looking like neither Lamb nor McGrone will end up at ND.
In re: McGrone. It is funny that the Indy kid is trending to UM, while the Jersey kid/UM legacy picked ND. Their 247 crystal ball predictions are almost exactly opposites.
Agreed. And this kid looks like he could easily be moved to safety anyway. Get as many of these playmaking athletes as we can and find out what they can do for our team rather than pigeon-holing them
Agreed. They all profile a bit differently.
– Bauer is a Mike all the way, downhill guy with probably average athleticism but plus toughness. Might even become a specialist down the road against power teams.
– Oghoufo is a potential Buck/Rover, but probably more likely a Buck as he grows. Great athleticism and needs some development as far as technique.
– McGrone is a Buck all the way, with plus athleticism.
– Lamb could end up at Mike, Buck, or drop end. He’s already the biggest of the group and is a tremendous athlete.
I’m not writing McGrone or Lamb off yet, btw. Lamb certainly needs to come to terms with the distance to ND, but he really liked what he saw. If he holds off until the season starts and actually takes an official, I think we’ll get him. McGrone is supposed to visit during camp and I think wants to see how we look to start the year; I’m sure Michigan is hammering him with negative recruiting about Kelly’s job security. Much like Lamb, if he holds off until the season I like our chances, and even if he doesn’t we might be able to flip him if we have a big year. It doesn’t help that his teammate Emil Ekiyor is committed to Michigan, but that’s not insurmountable.
Didn’t realize Ekiyor committed to UM. We were after him pretty hard early on weren’t we? Would be a bummer for them to land 2 of the better prospects in IN.
No, we never seriously pursued him and never offered. Harry’s not a fan – I think the consensus is that he’s not athletic enough for Hiestand’s liking.
Sweet. Hope he sucks at UM!
Lamb is making his decision tomorrow. Lot of movement to ND on the 247 CBs. We might be looking pretty good for him.
Brendan playing coy with that insider information he must have had.
Yuuuuuuge
4 star?? Are we sure we’re allowed to sign those? I thought we were banned or something
Has there been any mention here of Tommy Rees’ dad getting hired by ND to work in recruiting? I saw something abut it on TOS and wondered how new of a hire it was.
We haven’t discussed it here yet I don’t think. There’s nothing official yet from the university, maybe we’ll throw something together when they announce it.
It’s a big, big hire. Rees was a very highly respected evaluator in the NFL, and before that he was a coach and recruiting coordinator at UCLA for 15 years. He makes our evaluation process orders of magnitude better, which should pay big dividends in recruiting. And I’m sure it’ll be nice for Tom to have pops floating around.
Hold up, Tommy Rees’ dad was a coach? So, like, Tommy was the son of a coach? Is that why he was such a good game manager?
Too funny.
And a gym rat. And a field general. You know, the whole deal.
I assume his mother is/was a world-class speed walker.
Also, for the record:
1976-76 – Northwestern, GA
1978 – Northwestern, assistant
1979-1994 – UCLA, assistant and recruiting coordinator
1994-1997 – Kansas City, college scout (found Tony Gonzalez)
1997-2001 – Chicago, director of college scouting (found Brian Urlacher)
2001-2003 – San Francisco, director of college scouting
2003-2004 – San Francisco, director of player personnel
2004-2008 – Cleveland, director of college scouting & player personnel
2008-2009 – Kansas City, pro and college scout
2009-2010 – Northwestern, coordinator of player personnel and assistant director of football operations; Tampa Bay, draft consultant
2011-2013 – Tampa Bay, college scout
2014-2016 – Wake Forest, director of player personnel
He knows what he’s doing. He certainly has more pedigree than whoever’s doing evaluations now, which I think is a mix of support staff (who don’t have these chops) and coaches (who don’t really have the time).
How long before a Fr. Rees takes over for Jenkins?