The 2012 recruiting year was 9 cycles ago but you’re about to see how in many ways it feels like it was 25 years ago. This was back when National Signing Day still meant something! Now, with the early signing period in December, the February mega day has been relegated to the ugly step child who is largely ignored.

You say you like the lack of drama now, I say I like feeling alive!

2012 was back when Fighting Irish Digital Media (as they were known then) were really starting to find their footing and marketing the football team at a high level. In fact, the 125th anniversary of the program really gave us a golden era of digital media for the school to go along with what ended up being a chase to the National Championship.

So when Signing Day arrived in 2012 it was a confluence of factors that can’t be replicated all that well anymore. One, Twitter was just getting big but not the instant breaking news feed it is today. Two, this was an era of still using fax machines in a world still slowly moving towards scanning letters through smart phones and computers. Three, this was a time when Notre Dame really tried hard to expand their brand online and put together a comprehensive NSD show that lasted for hours.

Additionally, the 2012 cycle for Notre Dame was intensely weird. Really bizarre.

At the spotlight position of quarterback the Irish saw in-state 5-star prospect Gunner Kiel commit to Indiana on July 27th, 2011 giving the Hoosiers their biggest recruit in modern history and perhaps ever. Well, just three months later he left Indiana’s class. On December 27th, Kiel committed to LSU in a tough blow to Notre Dame who were chasing him hard. Then, on January 16th Kiel didn’t show up to LSU’s campus for classes as an EE and by the end of that night he was on his way to campus to enroll at Notre Dame.

Elsewhere, the Irish got a boost from the much-needed corner spot when Tee Shepard enrolled early in a major recruiting win (finally!) from Fresno, California. Even better, Notre Dame had Shepard’s cousin and 5-star receiver Deontay Greenberry in the fold, too.

On March 15th 2012, Shepard abruptly left Notre Dame after roughly 6 weeks of classes.

Davonte Neal was also being chased out of Arizona. He decided not to commit on National Signing Day, instead favoring one of the more bizarre scenarios in recent memory. On February 21st, Neal scheduled his commitment at lunch time in front of 600 students, staff, family, and friends at Kyrene de la Esperanza Elementary School in the suburbs of Phoenix. Fox Sports and several other recruiting media convened on the tiny school as fans of Notre Dame and Arizona logged in holding their breath.

Neal never showed up.

Except, only later at 4:40 PM Neal finally arrived–with only a dozen people now in attendance in a near empty school–to announce he was committing to Notre Dame.

 

We needed more time and perspective to see how this all played out but in January 2012 things seemed to be breaking Notre Dame’s way for the most part. Sure, there was drama but the Irish were winning their fair share of battles.

One they lost was corner Ronald Darby, a 5-star from Maryland who left Notre Dame’s class on January 8, 2012 and ultimately signed with Florida State. But, the addition of Shepard was supposed to soften that blow at corner, plus remember, he was a package deal with Greenberry.

On the morning of National Signing Day, February 1, 2012 the rumblings began. Greenberry was believed to be a soft verbal for quite some time leading up to the end of the cycle. We are dealing with Fresno here, after all. In early January, there was talk of Greenberry taking an official visit to UCLA which ultimately didn’t take place.

Then, in late January news came down that Greenberry was going on an official visit to…Houston!??

Notre Dame fans scoffed and chuckled. Sure, Houston had just won 13 games but their head coach Kevin Sumlin bolted to Texas A&M. Greenberry was close to new Houston receivers coach Jamie Christian and wanted to have some fun on a recruiting trip. No way would the Irish lose this one, especially with Shepard already locked up on campus.

Here’s a selection of message board posts from this time period:

Wow. Some of you people need to calm down. Of all people to not be worried about its DGB.

You really think Deontay would go to Houston? lmao

Absolutely no reason to be worried.

The moment tee early enrolled Tay B became the biggest ND lock in history. There’s no jinxing to be worried about here.

If you guys think Greenberry is going anywhere but ND. you mine as well stop follow recruiting. Once Tee was on campus it was over.

People please stop. This is paranoia beyond reasonableness. Deontay is not ditching Tee. Period. End of Story.

At 4:07 PM on January 31, 2012 the recruiting thread these comments were taken from was locked due to “hysteria” surrounding Greenberry’s apparent wavering.

The morning of February 1st I will never forget. As per tradition, I took the day off work to full immerse in NSD and help run our coverage on the website and elsewhere. I was up at 5:50 AM ready for those faxes to start trickling in and the pre-dawn und.com coverage to begin.

By late morning before lunch everyone in the class had signed, except Greenberry. Well, he’s on the West Coast sometimes it takes them a little longer once their signing period begins for us in the eastern time zone. I wasn’t too worried.

This is my most vivid memory of early Twitter:

I shouldn’t have been surprised. None of us should’ve been surprised. Hope springs eternal in recruiting–but for me on this day–that child-like reverie for having Notre Dame sign teenagers died. It’s served as a good reminder for me that while recruiting is tremendously important it’s foolish to get caught up too much in the details.

That whole time and perspective thing also helps.

Kiel transferred after his freshman season at Notre Dame seemingly aware of the presence of Everett Golson. Unaware that Golson would be suspended for 2013, Kiel transferred to Cincinnati and sat out the season. He did some good things with the Bearcats (6,835 yards and 59 total TD) but lost the job as a 5th-year senior due to injuries and substance-abuse problems.

Shepard’s abrupt exit took him to Holmes Community College in Mississippi where he played for 2 seasons before transferring to Ole Miss. Early in his second season, Shepard gave up football and finished his degree in Oxford.

Despite playing a decent amount as a true freshman, Neal transferred back home to Arizona where he sat out 2013, made little impact in 2014, and finished his career as an average cornerback.

Greenberry largely fulfilled his promise as a receiver, collecting 47 passes as a true freshman then finishing 2013-14 with 154 receptions. He left early for the NFL but was not drafted.