As you know, recruiting never stops. As soon as the 2017 cycle ended last week we’re turning our sights on the next class being built by Notre Dame. Things are off to a swell start as of this writing (4th in the Composite) but don’t go puffing out your chest just yet. It’s still very early and the big-hitters like Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, and Florida are not in the Top 10 yet.
Out of Eligibility Following the 2017 Season:
TE Tyler Luatua
TE Durham Smythe
OL Mike McGlinchey
OL Hunter Bivin
DE Andrew Trumbetti
DT Daniel Cage
LB Nyles Morgan
LB Greer Martini
At the very most we’re looking at 6 starters running out of eligibility but at the very least Nyles Morgan and McGlinchey may be the only true starters from this list moving on following 2017.
2018-19 Academic Classes
6 Verbal Commits
21 Sophomores
23 Juniors
21 Seniors
11 Grad Students
82 Scholarships
The Irish are only carrying 3 grad students for the upcoming 2017 season so the year after next could be a far different situation. Being at 82 scholarships is quite high at the moment which is why early forecasts have the 2018 class being on the smaller side. However, just because there are 11 grad student possibilities doesn’t mean all of them will come back. Which brings me to…
List of Eligible 2018 Grad Students
Tier 1
OG Quenton Nelson
C Sam Mustipher
OT Alex Bars
S Drue Tranquill
DE Jonathan Bonner
CB Nick Watkins
P Tyler Newsome
Tier 2
TE Nic Weishar
DE Jay Hayes
Tier 3
DT Pete Mokwuah
OG Jimmy Byrne
I would imagine everyone in the first two tiers will be “invited” back for 2018. I doubt Mokwuah and Byrne will come back so we’re likely down to 9 players of the 5th-year variety. Even though the Irish have a great track record of keeping well-regarded NFL prospect for a grad year it’s likely that Nelson leaves after this fall.
Both Weishar and Hayes could conceivably play a lot or it’s possible either one or both become more 3rd stringers. For the sake of argument let’s say at least one of them transfers elsewhere for 2018. That would leave 7 players on the roster as grad students and 13 available scholarships as things today.
Notre Dame tends to finish up the cycle with somewhere between 5 to 8 extra scholarships from this 11+ month early projection. Based off that there should be somewhere between 19 and 20 scholarships to hand out for 2018.
*****
The Roster
QUARTERBACK
Roster (3): Wimbush r-SO, Book r-FR, Davis FR
Commits (1): Jurkovec
RUNNING BACK
Roster (4): Adams JR, Williams JR, Jones r-FR, Holmes FR
Commits (1): Stepp
WIDE RECEIVER
Roster (9): St. Brown JR, Sanders JR, Boykin r-SO, Stepherson SO, McKinley SO, Claypool SO, McIntosh r-FR, Young FR, Armstrong FR, Finke r-SO
Commits (0)
TIGHT END
Roster (6): Smythe r-SR, Jones r-SO, Weishar r-JR, Luatua SR, Wright FR, Kmet FR
Commits (0)
OFFENSIVE TACKLES
Roster (7): McGlinchey r-SR, Bars JR, Bivin r-SR, Kraemer r-FR, Eichenberg r-FR, Lugg FR, Banks FR
Commits (0)
INTERIOR OFFENSIVE LINEMEN
Roster (8): Nelson r-JR, Mustipher r-JR, Hoge r-SO, Byrne r-JR, Ruhland r-SO, Boudreaux r-FR, Hainsey FR, Gibbons, FR
Commits (0)
STRONG-SIDE DEFENSIVE END
Roster (4): Bonner r-JR, J. Hayes r-JR, Kareem SO, Ogundeji r-FR
Commits (0)
WEAK-SIDE DEFENSIVE END
Roster (5): Trumbetti SR, D. Hayes SO, Okwara SO, MacCollister FR, Wardlow FR
Commits (0)
DEFENSIVE TACKLE
Roster (9): Cage, SR, Tillery JR, Taylor r-SO, Dew-Treadway r-SO, Mokwuah r-JR, Tiassum r-SO, Ewell FR, Tagovailoa-Amosa FR, Hinish FR
Commits (1): Ja. Ademilola
BUCKÂ LINEBACKER
Roster (4): Coney, JR, Martini, SR, Jam. Jones SO, White FR
Commits (1): Oghoufo
MIKE LINEBACKER
Roster (4): Morgan SR, Barajas r-SO, Jon. Jones r-FR, Adams FR
Commits (1): Ju. Ademilola
ROVER
Roster (3): Bilal r-SO, Perry r-FR, Owusu-Koramoah FR
Commits (1): Bauer
CORNERBACK
Roster (7): Watkins r-JR, Coleman JR, Crawford r-SO, White r-SO, Pride SO, Love SO, Vaughn SO
Commits (0)
SAFETY
Roster (7): Tranquill r-JR, Fertitta JR, Studstill SO, Elliott SO, Morgan r-FR, Robertson FR, Genmark Heath FR
Commits (0)
SPECIAL TEAMS
Roster (4): Newsome r-JR, Yoon JR, Shannon r-FR, Doerer FR
Commits (0)
*****
2018 Cycle Roster Needs
With the current commits the Irish should be done at quarterback, running back, and linebacker. It’s a good thing to have Phil Jurkovec on board already in a loaded year for quarterbacks. Jurkovec has a .982 Composite score and there are 4 other quarterbacks still ranked ahead of him right now.
Using 20 overall scholarships as our guide here are the following positional needs for 2018:
WR (2)
TE (1)
OL (3)
DE (2)
DT (2)
CB (2)
S (2)
The big thing that jumps out is that tight end isn’t really a major need after the Irish hauled in the nation’s top two players at the position for 2017. However, Smythe and Luatua will be gone and we’ve already discussed Weishar might want to go start elsewhere for his final season. Also, 9 out of the nation’s top 14 tight ends for 2018 are either from the Midwest or Northeast which should make it very easy on Notre Dame to grab someone.
An additional 3 offensive linemen would mean 7 over the last two cycles which is a touch high. However, the roster could be dealing with the loss of 4 players (McGlinchey, Nelson, Bivin, Byrne) and it’s unlikely the staff would replace that with just 2 bodies.
After striking out at corner for 2017 only grabbing 2 for 2018 doesn’t seem smart. Somehow–whether it’s skipping tight end or taking one fewer defensive lineman–you have to think a third corner will be targeted from the very beginning of this class.
OL projection is too low. 🙂
😑
Rush end. Let’s just take 15 rush ends.
YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY RUSH ENDS.
D. Hayes and Okwara were good WDE recruits. I feel better about the talent at WDE than SDE when I look at this list. The lack of sacks is attributable to more than WDE recruiting (I’m not saying you hold a contrary view). I’m more worried about DB’s than anything. We had a good DT class this year and I hope we can sign Mustipher.
McGlinchey should also show as out of eligibility.
It appears he’s not counting the 5th years in the “out of eligibility” grouping; just true seniors.
Forgot to add the grad students. They’re in there now.
I thought Rees had one more year.
He does before Kelly gets fired and they’re both out of a job.
Don’t you even joke…
Is there anyway both Josh Adams and Dexter Williams come back this year? If history has taught us anything, even non-starter running backs with the slightest NFL aspirations leave with eligibility left on the table.
Not terrible odds for both of them returning as they’re true juniors right now. But you never know.
I could see Adams going if he has a huge year. Would be pretty surprising to see Dex jump from RB2 to the draft, especially with as little as he has on film coming into this year. But, like E says, you never know.
I cannot believe that list of players who are out of eligibility after this season. Now I feel pretty old.
Michigan WR Freddy Canteen transferring to Notre Dame.
Graduating in 3 years and will have 2 years left for the Irish. Probably not an impact player.
Seems like a strange move. Finke probably should have gotten that one.
Scholarship, you mean? Oh, I’m sure Finke will still get one. We’re bound to lose a few players over the next 6 months.
I didn’t want to, but I had to thumbs up that one. Unfortunately, this happens every season.
Yeah, scholarship. You’re probably right, but i try not to think about offseason attrition. It seems like that is usually career ending injury related, or bad decision related. However, if i were him i’d feel like i had earned it. Lol, his parents (and their bank account) probably feel like he earned it too.
Agreed that it seems weird. While we are a bit thin at WR, it’s not really a problem with our TE depth. What it seemed we needed with that grad student scholarship was a backup quarterback. If this is who Kelly was referring to on signing day, this is a disappointment.
I don’t think it’s too weird, outside of ESB they don’t have any juniors or above on the WR depth chart, could use a vet there. (Not counting a slot guy in Sanders).
A backup QB was a bigger need, however there’s a reason a grad student QB is transferring out and not coming in- there’s no chance he’s going to play unless injury. The market to bring a guy in probably just wasn’t realistically there given the situation, there’s not a big supply of grad QB’s anyways the good ones are long in the NFL and the ones that are trying for that last gasp (like Zaire) aren’t going to consider a role where they’re nothing more than a backup. In fact, other than Zaire are there even any P5 grad QB’s out there?
It would be disappointing if Canteen is not much of an impact player, but who knows. 4.43 speed and a former 4* player, maybe he can blossom in a change of scenery. If not, oh well. Given the struggles to keep 85 scholarships it shouldn’t really be any sort of negative, with the possibility to be a boost if Canteen can bring something to the table. (Or if, heaven forbid, ESB gets injured, WR depth looks really scary..)
“Probably not an impact player.”
You never know. Canteen may blossom and could even end up carrying the water for the offense.
/shows self out.
Boooooooooooo
The old man joke is strong in this one.
If he is going to make it, he just needs the thirst.
I will thumbs up old man jokes all day long.
On a side note. I appreciate the changes to the site. It’s much more user friendly for my cell phone.