Apologies as we’ve been slacking with the recruiting updates lately. Today, we’ll catch everyone up on the recent commits in an extra special 3-for-1 recruiting article. Following a quiet late winter and early spring as the COVID-19 outbreak challenged programs all across the country we have seen an uptick in movement out of South Bend once again.
Let’s recap the most recent 3 commits for Notre Dame.
OL Pat Coogan
Hometown: Chicago, IL
School: Marist
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 290
Coogan hails from Marist High School in the Oak Lawn neighborhood of Chicago, the same school that brought Notre Dame 2018 graduate tight end Nic Weishar. He was officially offered on March 26th and by all accounts it was only a matter of time before he pulled the trigger for the good guys.
Less than a month later on April 15th, Coogan made it official and joined Notre Dame’s 2021 class.
Recruiting Service Rankings
Rivals — 3 star (5.7 rating), NR overall, #34 OT, #6 in IL
ESPN — 3 star (76 rating), NR overall, #60 OT, #18 in IL
247Sports — 3 star (87 rating), 588 overall, #26 OG, #14 in IL
247Sports Composite — 3 star (.8701), #524 overall, #22 OG, #16 in IL
Irish Sports Daily — 3 star (89 rating)
Cohort
Coogan has a nice offer list, especially relative to his meager rankings. In addition to Notre Dame he picked up offers from the likes of LSU, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and several more.
Highlights
Any time a highlight film begins with punt coverage from a lineman I am intrigued. Of course, Coogan is not a tackle prospect and plays exclusively left guard in high school. That some of the services still have him as a tackle isn’t helping his rankings. At Notre Dame, he’ll be an interior prospect and possibly a center.
Coogan displays really nice power and overwhelms his competition at the point of attack. His footwork is really good, too. I usually say this, but he doesn’t look anywhere near his listed size but there will be plenty of room for growth in college.
Impact
There aren’t many interior linemen on the roster right now that look like absolute no-brainer starters. In that vein, picking up someone who you know is going to be a guard/center from day one is a good idea. Coogan is quite low rated for an offensive lineman at Notre Dame but most expect his grade to rise through his senior season once he’s no longer scouted as a tackle.
CB Philip Riley
Hometown: Valrico, FL
School: Bloomingdale
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 190
Notre Dame’s latest corner prospect grew up in the state of Washington and currently resides in the eastern Tampa suburb of Valrico from Bloomingdale High School. Riley wasn’t offered that long ago on March 25th and seemed to be leaning heavily towards Virginia Tech in recent weeks.
However, on May 5th he pulled the trigger on Notre Dame without a visit to campus.
Riley Recruiting Service Rankings
Rivals — 4 star (5.8 rating), NR overall, #20 CB, NR in FL
ESPN — 4 star (80 rating), NR overall, #20 CB, #59 in FL
247Sports — 4 star (90 rating), 310 overall, #20 CB, #40 in FL
247Sports Composite — 4 star (.8958), #313 overall, #23 CB, #49 in FL
Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (91 rating)
Cohort
Riley had a bunch of offers including Clemson, Florida State, Iowa, Miami, Minnesota, Oregon, Penn State, Texas, USC, UCF, and many more.
Highlights
There’s a whole lot to like from Riley. He looks awfully developed for a corner and isn’t someone who is playing quarterback that we’re hoping to move to corner. When he arrives on campus, he should be ready to go.
I really like his feet, he’s able to jam easily at the line and show some physicality too. I know they are highlights but he’s draped all over receivers and doesn’t seem too bothered by turning his head and breaking up passes.
Impact
Notre Dame’s depth chart never seems too full at corner so Riley should be in the mix early in his career. He’s playing against pretty stiff competition in Florida and I’d expect he’ll be one of the defenders in this class who might play more than 4 games in 2021.
DE Jason Onye
Hometown: Warwick, RI
School: Bishop Hendricken
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 245
The top player in Rhode Island! Don’t sleep on some of these New England schools playing decent competition. Onye’s school is not one of those, though. He has been impressive enough to garner an offer from Notre Dame back on December 18, 2019 and committed to the Irish on May 7th last week.
Recruiting Service Rankings
Rivals — 3 star (5.6 rating), NR overall, #44 SDE, NR in RI
ESPN — 3 star (79 rating), NR overall, #52 DE, #1 in RI
247Sports — 3 star (89 rating), 367 overall, #24 WDE, #1 in RI
247Sports Composite — 3 star (.8756), #446 overall, #29 WDE, #1 in RI
Irish Sports Daily — 3 star (87 rating)
Cohort
Onye’s collection of offers was pretty eclectic, including: Arizona, Boston College, Michigan, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Penn State, Pitt, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia.
Highlights
Onye has some quick feet and can open up some speed when chasing down the ball carrier. His burst seems okay for someone projected to grow quite a bit in college. He does play quite a bit high and I get the sense there will be struggles early in his career when he’s matched up with far more physical and stronger linemen.
Impact
247 has Onye listed as a weak-side defensive end but he looks absolutely strong-side all the way. Some think he could even grow into an interior defender but for me that remains to be seen. Onye has the length you want on the edge and could develop into a quality jumbo-sized player there after a couple years in the Irish program.
Eric no need for apologies for being tardy with the recruiting update. @With all that’s going on in the sporting world, it must be hard to keep up. I see your even behind in your music articles, as you’re doing articles about bands from the 60’s@
Anyways….
Watching the Coogan’s film, I can’t help but notice his propensity to flatten his opponent and then lay on top of him, instead of moving on to another player to block. Is it his coaching? Seems rather pointless and non-productive. It really stuck out to me on play after play. Not really important, just an observation.
Ha, loved the music comment. Your tongue was so far into your cheek, I’m surprised you got it out.
But to seriously answer your question about Coogan’s blocking, I’m sure it’s coaching. Either that or it’s because he’s from the same high school as Justin Brent.
I apologize, I need live sports.
I read OL Pat Coogan as Ol’ Pat Coogan, as in Ol’ Pat Coogan from down yonder…. Anyway I put more trust in an offer list than the recruiting rankings.
I really like Riley’s tape. Seems to break on the ball really well. He is aggressive in tackling and even blocking on punt returns. He also turns his head to look for the ball, unlike certain ND players of yore, who will remain unnamed.
Don’t worry, the ND staff will coach him up to stop turning his head for the ball, haha
I’ve seen the following player comparisons for a couple of our recent commits:
Coogan – like Ruhland with a higher ceiling
Onye – like Ade Ogundeji, but a little better than Ade was at this stage
I think both of these comparisons came from Jamie at ISD if I’m remembering right
Very appealing. I’d say the recent track record on project DL’s is certainly strong enough to be trusted and this kid obviously has the length and size, so it’ll be interesting to see what he can develop into.
Is Elston the only coach that has been with BK the whole time? Is he even the DL coach at this point?