The #IRISHRISING22 class is about to finish up as Notre Dame has navigated some of the most unprecedented times in program history in recent days. With the (ahem) smooth transition from Brian Kelly to Marcus Freeman the typical damage done to a class with a sudden coaching change has been limited. So, crisis averted.
This will be a fascinating class to watch develop into the future being the final (mostly) full recruiting cycle of the Brian Kelly era with help from Notre Dame’s now new head coach in support.
Notre Dame’s 2022 Class
Class Size: Large Again
Will we see truly small classes (let’s define that as fewer than 18 players) any time in the near future? We saw only an 18-man class for 2020 but otherwise, Notre Dame continues to push the limit of their class sizes and is routinely well over 20 players. Once again, they are poised to sign another large class.
With the new transfer rules, we may see Notre Dame getting even more aggressive with their recruiting class sizes. That is if the thinking still holds that it’ll remain more difficult for Notre Dame to bring in non-graduate transfers than your average Power 5 school. If that’s the case, the Irish should continue to lose more scholarships going out than they will be bringing in each year, and therefore could make it up with larger recruiting classes.
Flip SZN: Modest Results
It’s been a quiet cycle for flipping recruits. Tight end Holden Staes (love this name, by the way) spent nearly 6 months as a Penn State commit but left the Nittany Lions class in early February. Three months later, he joined the Notre Dame class.
Burnham & Tuihalamaka bringing a whole lot of size to the LB room.
Linebacker Niuafe “Junior” Tuihalamaka spent almost a full year committed to USC but opened up his recruitment in late January. After being linked to Notre Dame for quite a while, Junior gave his verbal to the Irish on June 19th a week after a visit to campus.
Recently on November 21st, punter Bryce McFerson joined Notre Dame’s class after leaving Wake Forest where he’d been committed to for 14 months. The quest for punters can be ruthless.
The Losses: Hold on Now
After Brian Kelly’s departure to LSU, Florida safety prospect Devin Moore (0.907) left Notre Dame’s class. As of this writing, the Irish are trying to bring Moore back into the fold although Florida is especially keen to take him in their class after a visit to Gainesville this past weekend. It’s possible he decides on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, tight end Jack Nickel (0.878) committed very early to Notre Dame in late July 2020 but left the Irish class almost 9 months later. After some visits, he gave a verbal to Michigan State.
Back in April, Notre Dame took a little bit of a surprising commit from defensive end Darren Agu (0.879) only to see him leave the class 3 months later. Only a few days passed and he became a part of Clark Lea’s class at Vanderbilt as currently their 2nd highest rated recruit (prayers for Clark Lea in this endeavor within the SEC).
Freeman Impact: Good Vibes
There’s no doubt that things have been trending upward since Marcus Freeman arrived on campus less than a year ago. When Brian Kelly suddenly left just over 2 weeks before Early Signing Day (which has now become the de facto National Signing Day) things could’ve turned really ugly for recruiting.
But, they haven’t!
Lost the head coach 16 days before Signing Day.
To say Freeman is unique may do him a disservice. To say he’s unique in his role at Notre Dame hints at the ceiling he may be able to push upward at a school that for years has found too much comfort in self-selectors and Right Kinda Guys. Is consistent top 3 recruiting classes too much to ask or expect? Maybe, but the landscape could be changing and it’s refreshing to see Notre Dame speaking so openly about the need to get better at recruiting.
Adding More Talent: Not in the Cards
One of the features of the Early Signing calendar we’ve experienced for several years now is that recruiting is much more wrapped up by the end of the regular season than in the past. Instead of having 6 or 7 more weeks of recruiting for Marcus Freeman to do his thing this is just about all the time we have left for 2022. With the sudden coaching change, this has meant largely keeping the commits together.
The program recently took a big blow losing out on safety Xavier Nwankpa (0.978) who decided to stay home and play for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Not ideal for the blue and gold.
Nwankpa ultimately decided on his hometown Hawkeyes.
As mentioned, they are trying to bring safety Devin Moore back while keeping the wandering eyes of wideouts C.J. Williams and Amorion Walker away from USC and Michigan, respectively.
The Irish did score a big victory recently over Wisconsin with the verbal of blue-chip guard prospect Billy Schrauth as a nice cherry on top of the cycle.
Late last week it was reported that Irish commit Ty Chan may wait until February to sign but he’s apparently on track to officially join this week.
Elsewhere, Notre Dame is attempting a long shot with defensive lineman Anthony Lucas (0.977) out of Arizona who has the Irish in his top 5 and is deciding this Wendesday. Also, a late offer was handed out to Michigan athlete/safety Koen Entringer (0.833) who subsequently released a top 4 without the Irish this past Thursday.
Most Underrated Prospect: DL Aiden Gobaira
When Gobaira committed to Notre Dame in early February he was a decent 3-star prospect with a lot of talk about him being a bit raw but with some big-time potential down the road. He completed his “junior” season this past spring and recently finished up his senior season this fall to much acclaim earning an All-American Bowl invite.
He’s now solidly a 4-star prospect while many feel like he comfortably should be pushing towards a top 150 prospect. I’m not sure he’ll ultimately push towards that high of acclaim but he’ll be someone to watch out for early in his career as a pass-rusher with excellent size and speed.
Class Recap: A Step Forward
Marcus Freeman feels like he has changed the equation in recruiting but now as head coach he’ll have a more difficult task of bringing in complete classes featuring weapons on offense, too. It does feel like the Irish are stuck in this endless cycle of strong recruiting starts that inevitably peter out, or at least doesn’t finish with much of a bang.
For example, a place like A&M (see below) could be adding 2, 3, or 4 players during the January all-star weekend who are all more highly rated than Notre Dame’s top-rated recruit. The bag man certainly can giveth.
Today, Notre Dame’s class is ranked 5th overall nationally and 7th in average player rating.
Strengths: Power
Notre Dame did well at linebacker and offensive line as they typically are strong in these areas. Defensive line and tight end also look quite strong, too.
The ceiling of this class could come down to the impact of the offensive skill players, particularly the tenuous situation at wide receiver which could be a strength or perhaps a weakness if the Irish can’t hold on to Williams and/or Walker.
Weaknesses: Whiffing at Safety
Missing out on Nwankpa stings, there’s no getting past that. If Devin Moore doesn’t come back into the fold it’ll be a massive disappointment at a major position of need made worse by Marcus Freeman’s presence for most of this cycle.
It is a quality class for corner and of course someone could develop into a very good safety down the line, we’ll see. Still going 0 for 2 on Nwankpa and Moore plus not getting any traction late with Entringer is a tough pill to swallow.
# of Early Enrollees: 13
Remember the old days when 2 or 3 players would come early and it felt like a big deal? Nowadays, recruits are more likely than not to be coming to campus in January. Here are all the 2022 freshmen coming to South Bend in a matter of days:
QB Steve Angeli
RB Jadarian Price
WR C.J. Williams
WR Amorion Walker
OL Aamil Wagner
OL Joey Tanona
OL Billy Schrauth
DL Tyson Ford
LB Jaylen Sneed
LB Josh Burnham
LB Junior Tuihalamaka
LB Nolan Ziegler
CB Jaden Mickey
Race for the No. 1 Class: Georgia vs. Alabama vs. Texas A&M
Ohio State (currently 4th) and Texas (7th) are the big schools with the potential to keep moving up the rankings in these closing weeks. However, it’s looking like a battle between the Bulldogs, Crimson Tide, and Aggies with maybe Texas A&M having the upper-hand for the No. 1 class, as you’ll see below.
5-Stars Remaining: 10
This time last year we had 7 players with Composite 5-star status without a verbal to a school. For this 2022 cycle we’re sitting at 9 such blue-chips:
#5 Overall, LB Harold Perkins, Cypress, TX
The second-best player in Texas is down to the Longhorns, A&M, and LSU. Most expect the Aggies to win and he’ll be committing at the Under Armour Game.
#7 Overall, CB Domani Jackson, Santa Ana, CA
He spent most of 2021 committed to USC but backed off his pledge in November. The Trojans are trying to get him back while Alabama feels like they will ultimately win the battle.
#9 Overall, DL Shemar Stewart, Opa Locka, FL
Miami has been trying to lock up this local product for years. Many think he’s leaning heavily towards Texas A&M. He will commit on January 2nd at the Under Armour All-American Game.
#10 Overall, IOL Devon Campbell, Arlington, TX
The nation’s top interior offensive lineman is heavily favored to sign with Texas. He’ll be playing in the Under Armour Game as well but has not announced a signing date.
#17 Overall, CB Denver Harris, Houston, TX
Alabama and Texas have been perceived to be the leaders for Harris although Texas A&M is lurking.
#22 Overall, EDGE Marvin Jones, Fort Lauderdale, FL
One of the top pass rushers in the country whose father played at Florida State. The Seminoles are in the mix with Alabama and Georgia.
#23 Overall, OT Josh Conerly Jr., Seattle, WA
The Seattle product had Oregon squarely in the picture recently but the coaching turnover there may open the door more for Washington and Michigan, the 2 other perceived finalists. He’s not expected to announce a decision until February so many things could change.
#28 Overall, S Kamari Wilson, Fort Pierce, FL
The nation’s top safety prospect out of IMG Academy will be deciding on December 15th at 4 PM ET. He is a heavy lean to the Georgia Bulldogs.
#29 Overall, CB Daylen Everette, Bradenton, FL
Everette was a sudden decommit from Clemson’s class this past Friday. He may still decide on Wednesday with Alabama and Georgia eager to win the battle.
with a&m lurking on the schedule in a few years hard not to take notice of what they’re doing. was hoping elko leaving would be a big blow. doesn’t look like it will be. I do have to say i’m somewhat confused by their recruiting success. history wise they’re like the 4th best program in sec west, jumbo has had 1 good season in the last 7, their color scheme is bland, the midnight call and overalls is dumb. I guess I don’t fully get why guys are flicking there. I get ohio state, georgia, bama, but A&m, ehh…..
There’s one very specific reason A&M is doing so well on the recruiting trail:
💰🧍♂️💰🧍♂️💰🧍♂️
It’s a pretty poorly kept secret at this point.
Yep. Eric only listed five stars, but there are more top 100 guys who suddenly started trending to them. My favorite is Enai White, #37 overall (barely outside 5* status), from Philadelphia. They came out of nowhere to go from battling Oregon to get his fifth OV to being the consensus favorite. For a kid from Philly.
They’re likely going to end up with six five-stars and possibly eight top 40 players. They’ve averaged 1.4 five stars over the previous 10 cycles, never landing more than three in one class.
So.
Sucks for Notre Dame to be playing them in 2023 and 2024, just in time for this class to be at their peak.
Our schedules really seem like they’ll be stronger in the future.
I saw some stat somewhere something like Kelly has played a total of 10 top 10 teams in his tenure but we might have that many on the schedule in the next 4 years (again or something like that). So the point was the number of elite teams we may be playing may be going up significantly.
So that Freeman could raise the talent level and we still see the same records. The difference should be though that we should be competing with those elite schools and it be a kind of 50/50 games instead of like 20/80 games (20% chance of winning – that is winning if everything goes perfectly and we get a few breaks, etc.).
This is kind of a tough stat to extrapolate into the future though. Kelly didn’t end up playing very many strong USC teams but 10 years ago that would not have seemed likely.
Over the next 10 years there is no guarantee that the teams that look like they will be “elite” will still be elite. Will Clemson slide back to just really good? Will USC get back to that level? Will TAMU actually turn good recruits into good teams? Who knows?
Looking at schedules into the future just is way too hard to do. Our 2021 schedule probably was viewed 10 years ago as far more challenging than it turned out to be.
Agreed that it is hard to project. But it’ll be something to keep an eye on.
How does that work exactly? Done the right way, it’s all legal with NLI, right?
It can be, but there are plenty of places that still aren’t bothering with the bureaucracy of doing it the right way. Also, keep in mind that while it can be done legally with NIL, the difference between a bag man and NIL is timing. You get the bag man’s money now, while you have to wait to get anything from someone attached to the school – I think until you’re enrolled, but I’m not sure. It’s definitely not immediate.
Bag men are all over the SEC, of course. Definitely happening in some of the Pac 12 and ACC (cough Clemson cough). I’m not sure about the Big 12 but with all the oil money floating around (not just a cliche) I’d be surprised if it doesn’t happen. I don’t think it’s as big a thing in the Big Ten.
rough ROI for those a&m boosters these let 5 years. I personally would want more than 8-4 losing to the mississippi’s, arkansas and LSU. this years schedule was as weak as their schedule will be too
And that kind of thing (bag men) doesn’t happen at ND?
Yea definitely have to wait to be enrolled to get NIL money. Isn’t that why Quinn Ewers reclassified and went to OSU because he had (apparently) a million dollars of NIL money essentially waiting for him?
Actually that may be a state by state thing though. I think I remember reading that they were upset because it had to do with Texas laws (or some high school athletic association laws) that Quinn couldn’t take NIL money. But maybe that’s universal for high school and not just Texas.
People who are actual alumni and/or are well-connected (I am neither) can answer better than I can about whether there are ND bagmen, but everything we know about the school suggests that if there are such actors, they are doing it very much without knowledge of, and against the wishes of, the school. I think it’s generally assumed (and not just in ND circles) that SEC bagmen, even if they’re not acting with the school’s knowledge, are certainly not doing anything the school is too eager to stop.
No, it doesn’t happen at ND. I’ve heard highly credible info on recruits ND has lost in the past, or hasn’t even gotten in on in some cases, because they’re not willing to get involved in that. ND, Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, Vandy, most of the Big Ten try to do it the right way (pretty sure Ohio State has dropped the occasional Mickey D’s bag – they’ve had a few elite players from far-flung areas that committed to them and shut things down without even visiting).
Also, unless he’s an idiot, none of the coaches are ever directly involved in paying anybody. A list of desired guys may accidentally find its way into the right set of hands, and it all takes care of itself from there. Plausible deniability.
This is a good read on it:
https://www.bannersociety.com/2014/4/10/20703758/bag-man-paying-college-football-players
Maybe this is what Kelly meant when he said we shop down a different aisle?
One thing to watch re: the safety position: Stanford just lost one of their top 2022 recruits, Kamari Ramsey (#165 overall). He’s an LA-area kid and there’s a strong feeling that UCLA will land him, but he has a Notre Dame offer and I’d be shocked if the staff didn’t at least reach out to him. Probably a long shot but the immediate goal would be to get him not to sign in the early signing period.
Also, more of a global comment here, the early signing period could be going away:
https://www.si.com/college/2021/12/08/bob-bowlsby-ncaa-considers-removing-early-signing-period-recruiting
There’s no question that one of the unintended consequences has been to speed up the timetable on head coach firings, which this season has created an enormous amount of turmoil not just for staff but for the kids. It’ll be interesting to track that.
As someone who has been staunchly anti-early signing day this is good news!
also early signing day just kind of sucks and takes a ton of the fun out of recruiting. those February signing days used to be wild
Look at all the early enrollees now. Basically it’s already that pretty much all of the kids that feasibly are allowed to go the EE route already do.
I get what you’re saying because it was fun to have a day in the middle of the off-season where it was football and surprises and fun, but like the fax machine, those days are gone and not coming back.
Yeah, there is that factor to consider. So many EE’s nowadays.
I think I would be in favor of a ‘sign anytime’ rule that basically puts the school on the hook to make all offers ‘commitable’. That would be the player-friendly direction, although admittedly it could have its own unintended consequences.
Absent that, dumping ESD is fine with me. Or moving it all the way up to the summer. That also seems unlikely, though.
Or maybe a combination of those two: allow them to sign anytime beginning like Aug. 1 (some date before the season starts) in the summer before their senior year.
Seems to me the more obvious effect of this is to make recruiting pitches more high pressure on the kids to get their name on the contract that day, used car sale style. Not being able to sign any offer until the process has progressed has benefits for the kids too.
Calling my shot: I predict Bo Nix to LSU.
Is LSU that bad-off at QB that Nix will be an upgrade?
BK gonna BK.
nah i’m pretty sure he has his qb now…
kidding just can’t believe we didn’t see the bk calling baton rouge disaster referenced on here. so cringeworthy
CJ Williams gone (seems to USC).
Unless there is some surprise recruit we seem likely to finish #7 in team rankings. Losing Williams takes a bit of the wind out of the sails since it was such a position of need.
We have to expand the board at WR or look for a grad transfer IMO. I just can’t see how we are going to be able to go forward with so few underclassmen at WR. We have 5 underclassmen next year at the position. We have to hope that Austin, Lenzy, and one of Wilkins/Davis come back and are fully healthy.
Agreed that a grad transfer is likely. Hopefully there is someone that could be a legit contributor.
Taj Harris from Syracuse seems to be a grad transfer – perhaps the highest graded grad transfer by 247 with 2 years of eligibility (I presume that’s because of covid).
There’s Jake Bobo from Duke. Played at Duke for 4 years so he is certainly going to be a grad transfer and from Duke I would assume academics wouldn’t be an issue. Really had a solid year as well.
74 catches, 794 yards, but only 1 TD.
Yea I was just messing around looking at this. (I had never seen it before): https://247sports.com/Season/2022-Football/TransferPortalTop/?positiongroupkey=3
I don’t really know how good these guys are or the kind of skills they have, etc.
How can ND pass on Messiah Swinson ?
Jafar Armstrong is back in the portal!
Also Cam Johnson from Vanderbilt. Also a grad transfer. Not as great of stats but a decent last 2 years for a pretty bad team.
2020: 56 catches for 545 yards and 3 TD
2021: 34 catches for 327 yards and 4 TD
Good calls. Def have to assume they will be shopping for a WR like Bobo or Johnson that can come in and give them some snaps.
Apparently signed with Kentucky
Yuuup.
https://twitter.com/CJWilliams_03/status/1470562815236710406?s=20
Is that a kind of standard decommitment? That seems particularly thoughtful/classy to me but I don’t follow that kind of thing closely at all.
He said some nice things, but it would have been nicer to have done it much earlier so that ND could have pivoted and had a better chance with someone else
ND has known for a long time the lure of staying at home has been on Williams’ mind and he could slip away. They were trying to get Nicholas Anderson after the drama at OU went down, so it’s not like they weren’t on the path to get more. Decommiting in Sept or Oct or last week wouldn’t really make too much of a difference.
I don’t think there was just much else to do in this scenario. It was probably a better idea to sink the time and effort in trying to keep a player as good as Williams (including a call last night with Rees/Freeman) then invest it in a lesser player anyways. Better to hunt big game and miss than plug holes with lower end talent.
Del Alexander is extremely fired
I certainly get why USC but still kind of crazy that right now they have all of 4 commits in this class and one of those is a punter! Williams would make it 5. Riley will have USC humming in a couple of years I’m sure but just seems like of all the years to lose a guy to USC this would be the year we could win one of these battles for a talented skill guy.
Yea though obviously he’s excited at a chance to play for Riley and for an offense that will highlight the WRs.
It is totally crazy that they have so few commits right now. They may sign like 7 or 8 at most it would seem on Wednesday. They probably need to scrape together to double the class by Feb.
Lots of QBs in the transfer portal. I wonder if Slovis is a grad transfer. He was at USC for 3 years so I guess it’s possible that he graduates but probably unlikely. Seems we would at least kick the tires on that possibility.
I’m very positive on Buchner but a bit nervous that he just won’t be quite ready next year.
Unless his commitment comes with an absolute promise to start, ND should absolutely make a run at Slovis. Lest we forget, he can do this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFMXn9sI73k
Completely agree. I just know that getting underclassmen transfers is tough, so that is why I was wondering if he was a grad transfer.
Yup but like Goldendomer’s thinking – he seems to not be a grad transfer so we are not really in the running for him.
I’ve harped on this before but I think this (not taking undergrad transfers) is seriously the most underrated aspect on how much we will be behind the other top schools when they can just plug and play a guy (think of Bama – of all schools – getting a 1st round pick transfer WR) whenever they have holes and we are going to be left just developing the guys we have. And when we have a hole, we’re just going to have to suffer for it. It’s like being an NFL team that can only draft but can’t sign free agents from other teams.
If ND won’t take undergrad transfers from schools as good as USC, then, to paraphrase the words of Brian Orakpo, what are we even doin out here
Because ND GSR 91, USC GSR 81
But we should be gladly accepting Stanford, UM, NW, Baylor, Florida (!), Duke, Vandy, Pitt, BC transfers.
No excuses now!
We have before. Amir Carlisle comes to mind. I’m sure it would have to be a certain kind of kid, though. No idea if Slovis is such a kid.
Devin Moore signs with Florida.
🙁
bummer. From hearing some guys talk he was a real gem in the class (at of course again at a position of need).
I would have had him graded as a top 5 player in the class. Big loss.
Ouch. 2 big losses (Moore and Williams) in probably the two biggest areas of need.
And a drop from #5 to #7. It’s always a couple of players every class where we could go from closing the gap to just holding ground. And it seems we’ve gone more to holding ground rather than closing the gap now with losing those two players.
It closes the gap just a bit since #7 is still probably the best class we’ve had in a few years. But #7 is more about sticking in that 2nd tier of teams than closing the gap on the tier 1 teams.
We may even be losing ground, other than Merriweather. Our top rated guys are line and line backers. If our strength gets stronger, but our weakness doesn’t, is it regression? A&M landing all those players is crazy.
I just looked at it and uhh they look like they are going to get 4 of the top 10 players and 7 of the top 20 and maybe even 10 of the top 50. That’s some insane recruiting.
Though the 7 5 stars they seem to be getting was done just last year by BOTH OSU and Bama.
All 13 East Coast recruits have been signed already this morning:
DE Aiden Gobaira
QB Steve Angeli
LB Nolan Ziegler
LB Jaylen Sneed
P Bryce McFerson
LB Joshua Burnham
DT Donovan Hinish
OL Aamil Wagner
OL Joey Tanona
OL Ashton Craig
OL Ty Chan
CB Jayden Bellamy
TE Holden Staes
Official website with updates on signees:
https://und.com/signingday/
Waiting on the following:
Central Time Zone (signing beginning at 8 AM ET)
Ford
Schrauth
Raridon
Price
Walker
Pacific Time Zone (signing beginning at 10 AM ET)
Merriweather
Tuihalamaka
Mickey
Morrison
Walker not announcing until 10 AM ET.
Walker flips to Michigan.
Welp.
ND recruiting class falling apart at the last minute? Man, we have the best traditions.
Loy said he would be pretty surprised if he flipped. Apparently he’s been telling both staffs all the right things though.
We might need a whole post on the status of the WR position (who is eligible to come back and who might come back – and what’ll we do this year and maybe next year with fixing the holes here, etc.)
Everyone is eligible to come back, so that bit is pretty easy. Internal recruiting is hopefully already ongoing.
Kermit has some thoughts on recruiting WRs.
haha nice!
Feels like a shot to the ribs. WR down the drain again.
But, idk, kinda felt like Walker would have been in the portal in t-12 months anyways even if he came to ND. So it goes.
Hopefully bring back Austin + get a grad transfer, pair with Styles, Colzie, get Merriweather up to speed and then build for the future behind those three.
The trick is finding a transfer who’s better than Davis or Lenzy. I don’t foresee finding a lot of Devonte Smiths looking for a grad year at ND.
Like domer said above, just grab a player on the level of Jake Bobo from Duke and hope he’s more Ben Skoworenk than Freddie Canteen and we’re good to go. Not going to be explosive or game changer, but good enough to keep it movin.
I find it hard to believe there’s no turnover from the senior WR’s already, hopefully they can convince Austin to come back. If not, they are in big time trouble to not have a difference maker WR1 type. But that would still be true for 2022 even if ND signed Williams and Walker today.
Next year we will again need more WRs from the portal, so getting a guy who could stay 2 years would be great.
Our current WRs by class:
2018: Austin, Lenzy, Wilkins
2019: …Cam Hart
2020: …Xavier Watts
2021: Colzie, Styles, Thomas
2022: Merriweather
We really need guys to return (especially Austin). We really need at least depth pieces in the portal. And we really need 2023 to be a big and talented class.
Very bleak to put it like that. The kinda sad part is that it was so close to trending in the right way to bracket a bunch of good players in 2021+22, until it broke apart for good today. Oh well. Surely a new WR coach now to try and do better.
Del Alexander is *extremely* fired
Yeah. I think there’s a reason we haven’t heard any reports of him being retained, or any reports of BK trying to bring him to LSU. Once the bowl game is in the books, you’d have to imagine we will replace him.
I want better than Jake Bobo. Jaden Blue from Temple is a grad transfer. He has put up a 95 catch 1,000 yard season. Maybe Theo Wease from Oklahoma, that could be our typical undergrad transfer problem, or he could be heading to USC.
I guess I should have phrased it as I would be hoping for the best grad transfer possible. Ppl downplay Skowronek, but he also made an NFL roster, he’s a pretty darn good add as a polished product.
Luckily they will have all the space, and probably even more if a guy like Austin or Lenzy departs.
So, do you suppose a kid in Walker’s situation is just embarrassed to let coaches he’s built a relationship with know that he’s going to another school? You’re probably correct Hooks, a quick trip to the portal would have been likely. Wasn’t it Weis that said, “if you’re looking, we’re looking” ? Even Freeman, lost all three shaky commits in the last couple weeks. Perhaps, without voicing it, following Weis’ thinking in this case, is best.
If these kids aren’t sold after months of recruiting by ND, especially the ones backing off a pledge, they’re probably going elsewhere. Or so it seems.
Right, I can’t imagine ND was shocked in either case that they didn’t sign. Disappointed, surely, but it’s not like this was out of the blue. Freeman just got the HC job like 14 days ago, there’s really not too much he could do about it for this cycle now, the recruiting winds and momentum has been taking Williams towards staying home for months, and Walker was a somewhat surprising commit that was taking visits to other places. Neither were really that “committed” to ND, despite their pledges.
Certainly though this program needs a hard look at what’s gone wrong the last 5ish years and chart a course for the future that is better. No doubt about it. I’m sure that means a new WR coach and probably more Freeman effort for 2023 on showing improvement, has to happen, and to an extent I’m hopeful with a new staff that it will.
I didn’t mean it to sound like I was blaming Freeman. More like I was hoping he could pull a rabbit out of the hat. Certainly ND needs something to change with WR recruiting.
Ah, gotcha. I mean the effort was there and he tried, which doesn’t really make it feel a lot better. Freeman can’t combat distance or the recent history of the ND offense to suddenly make it a destination for elite WR. He’s good but that’s just too much to ask with all the factors in play.
There was so much smoke around Walker. He even commented that the comments made about him on NDNation (low ranked recruit, best Kelly can do, etc.) bothered him.
There was talk of Walker being shaky months ago. Crystal Ball(TM) predictions for Michigan too
Schrauth, Raridon, and Price have now signed.
Ford, too.
Morrison is actually Mountain time, my bad.
Morrison has signed.
Tuihalamaka has signed.
Mickey has signed.
Merriweather has signed.
All verbals have now signed.
Tell me if you’ve heard this one before, ND is signing a great class and looks to continue to be dominant in years to come at OL, TE, RB, DL, and LB.
I’m actually optimistic about the QBs too, but we’ll see. QB development is voodoo to me.
“Next year the recruiting class is going to be special” is something that has been said on signing day from 2013-2021.
Probably worth tempering what “special” is, but this was still a very good class for Notre Dame overall. And there’s at least reason for optimism now with a new HC who will emphasize recruiting, so at least it’s not just the exact same situation. I wouldn’t predict they will be top-3 or maybe even top-5 next year, but they shouldn’t be too far off from there.
I would describe this class as “improved” but not special. Notwithstanding the Lucy-with-football point I just made, I too believe it might actually be special next year!
Not signing a top 5 class next year with the way it’s started out and the links to other top recruits will definitely feel like a big disappointment to me. I didn’t actually expect Kelly classes to be top 5, Freeman I’m afraid I’m holding to a higher standard.
I understand that, probably in the same boat. But just looking logically: Alabama, Georgia are going to be in the top-3 by the end, we just know it. A&M is handin’ out the bag lately and that’s not going to change. USC will be rocketing up, Riley already has two 5 stars following him from OU in 2023. Ohio State still exists. Clemson only took 12 this year, not really sure what is going on there but Dabo has room for a huge class next year if he can do it. UF has a good recruiter now.
There’s a lot of competition to be top-5. Not sayin’ it’s impossible, and Freeman is off to a wonderful start, but just scanning the country, I’m a little iffy on where they end up. And to me, I want to see a very elite QB and 3 good-to-great WR’s. Get that and it doesn’t matter to me if the class is 4th or 7th in the rankings on signing day.
I hear ya, but that’s never going to change and we’ll always be Kelly-ish in the rankings if we want to start listing teams like that, at which point I’d ask what’s the point of hiring a supposedly ace recruiter/closer if it really is only moving the needle slightly? Not that I’m down on Freeman and his ability to be a difference maker, I think he can and hopefully will be, but if next year we’re sitting at #9 and we miss out on a couple big recruits who opt for USC and Ohio State or wherever on ESD, then that seems like a pretty clear disappointment.
Maybe Ziegler can play WR. He looks pretty good on his highlight tape.
You know what, it’s possible.
interesting. We did have a WR go play LB, why not the other way around?
Don’t look now but Bama is close to our 2023 average now with their full 2022 class (or full as of 2:32PM). Which apparently is basically what they had last year – just short of .95 average. They seem likely to get three more commits that would raise this average for this year too.