This is our first scholarship update since right after National Signing Day and over the past 2+ months the football team has completed spring practice and moves toward the long, dark summer of little news and a lot of off-season workouts. For some strange reason, it feels like there’s been a lot of roster upheaval in the weeks that have passed but that really hasn’t been the case.
These articles are usually looking forward to the coming NSD but the current roster is still over the 85-man limit. In recent weeks, we have seen a trio of possible 5th-year options elect not to return to Notre Dame: offensive lineman Jimmy Byrne, defensive lineman Jay Hayes, and corner Nick Watkins. As of today, this has brought the Fighting Irish down to 87 total scholarships.
Recruiting has awaken from its early spring slumber, though! We did see the Irish lose the commitment of quarterback Cade McNamara in early March while he gave a verbal to Michigan 2 weeks later. Since our last update the program has welcomed verbal commitments from several 2019 recruits, including: S Kyle Hamilton, OT Andrew Kristofic, DE Howard Cross, S Litchfield Ajavon, OT John Olmstead, and DT Hunter Spears.
The Irish also welcomed 2020 QB Drew Pyne recently although we won’t include him in any numbers right now.
Out of Eligibility Following 2018 Season:
WR Freddy Canteen
RB Dexter Williams
TE Nick Weishar
OL Sam Mustipher
OL Alex Bars
DT Jerry Tillery
DT Jonathan Bonner
LB Drue Tranquill
LB Te’von Coney
S Nicco Fertitta
S Nick Coleman
K Justin Yoon
P Tyler Newsome
Removing the 3 grad players who have moved on with their careers shrinks this list by a decent amount. Nic Weishar somewhat quietly wasn’t healthy during spring and he’s going to find it difficult to come back and battle for tight end snaps the way he probably envisioned after 2017.
Freddy Canteen has been constantly injured and was seen during the spring game with a red jersey on his back. How will the Irish get down to 85 scholarships? I think you’ll have to monitor the situations of Weishar/Canteen, or one of David Adams/Drew White who have injury concerns, didn’t figure in the spring game, and looked to be passed up by younger linebackers even as they’re rising redshirt freshmen. Also, an incoming freshman not actually enrolling seems to happen more often than not.
2019-20 Academic Classes:
8 Verbal Commits
27 Sophomores
19 Juniors
20 Seniors
8 Graduates
82 Total Scholarships
As per usual, we’re over 9 months until the next Signing Day, even longer until the 2019 season and the numbers are getting tight!
I’m only like 60% serious when I say that the greatest achievement of the Kelly era is achieving 6 straight recruiting classes of at least 20 recruits apiece. It’s gotten to the point where most folks are taking for granted that the Irish will get to 20+ recruits no matter what which most definitely wasn’t the case throughout the 85-man scholarship era in South Bend.
As such, we can basically predict the staff to be shooting for 90 scholarships at NSD which would mean 8 more recruits for the 2019 at this very moment–with room for 4 to 5 more as we creep into 2019.
List of Eligible 2019 Grad Students
Tier I
TE Alize Mack
OL Trevor Ruhland
WR Miles Boykin
LB Asmar Bilal
WR Chris Finke
Tier II
QB Brandon Wimbush
CB Shaun Crawford
Tier III
DT Micah Dew-Treadway
Following spring football, I’m envisioning not many of these players returning to Notre Dame for 2019. Mack is heavily likely to go to the NFL, while Boykin seems to have elevated his game enough to the point where he would likely leave if only because 5th-year receivers are rare and he might as well give the NFL a shot with a degree in hand.
Ruhland was hurt for a good chunk of spring and didn’t make as big of a name for himself as the coach’s had intimated he would, but he’s still a prime candidate to start at center in 2019. Or, at least come back as a quality 6th or 7th option on the line.
Bilal should be the top linebacker for 2019 so having him come back is really important. I actually moved Finke up to the first tier because he should play enough this fall and seems like someone who would enjoy coming back for a 5th-year even if he’s not a full starter.
I kept Wimbush in Tier 2 based on the track record of 5th-year quarterbacks under Kelly. I’d have no qualms if you want him in the first tier based on his spring, though. I dropped Crawford down since he didn’t appear to have a great spring and could be that quasi-starter who might feel a change for a 5th (and possibly 6th) season is better for his future.
18 STRIPES SCHOLARSHIP CHART CLICK HERE
2019 Recruiting Cycle Needs
High Need
Running Back
The roster is essentially adding 4 “new” faces to running back (Armstrong, Davis, Smith, Flemister) with a grand total of 16 years of eligibility remaining so why such a high need? This position remains a question of quality over quantity. As the recent criticism of position coach Autry Denson attests the Irish haven’t signed a running back better than .907 in the 247 Composite over the last few cycles.
Defensive End
Recent verbal Howard Cross is technically labeled a strong-side end but it is expected he’ll grow into a tackle. The whole scholarship chart at this position is getting very worrisome. It might not be until 2020 when things could come home to roost but in recruiting years that’s just around the corner.
Medium Need
Corner ↑
There could’ve been 10 corners on the roster for 2018 but Watkins just left and the staff moved Houston Griffith to safety. As it stands, 8 corners remaining is still plenty fine except there’s a large gap between the upperclassmen and the incoming freshmen. Current verbal K.J. Wallace has talked about visiting Stanford and Penn State so there’s that. This is a position that can’t be ignored after a strong 2018 haul.
Wide Receiver
The receiver position mirrors corner in terms of numbers and a large freshmen class coming in, as well. Most expect those freshmen to make a big impact over their careers which reduces the need for 2019. At any rate, the Irish always seem to recruit at least one more receiver than is typically needed.
Linebacker
The two best linebackers will be gone after 2018 and someone like Jack Lamb–believed to be a possible impact freshman only to be designated not strong and physical enough during spring–not being ready to jump right changes the recruiting equation a bit.
Quarterback ↑
Notre Dame is in a tricky spot now with McNamara leaving and Pyne committing in the following class. The staff has been scrambling a bit since the opening for 2019 and isn’t in a great position to grab someone with commitments on either side. Quarterback every cycle, right?
Low Need
Defensive Tackle ↓
This position is as healthy as it’s been in years!
Offensive Line ↓
A rare mediocre 2018 is being followed up with the usual strong class. It is expected that top target Quinn Carroll out of Minnesota will be joining the class tomorrow at 11 AM ET.
Tight End
Incoming freshman Tommy Tremble is one of the more underrated players from the 2018 class so I’m excited to see him start working with the team soon. We didn’t get to see George Takacs during the spring due to injury but the rise of Cole Kmet as a likely co-starter puts tight end in a great spot for the next few years.
Safety
If incoming freshman Derrick Allen can meet the hype he’ll join Houston Griffith and Alohi Gilman as young playmakers with a ton of eligibility remaining. The upcoming season will tell us more but dare I say this position is finally in really good shape at the moment.
It’s a bizarre world where DT and S sit at the bottom of Notre Dame’s recruiting priorities.
If only we could shove DE down there.
Chris Finke 8th year!
Finke deserves congratulations on his PhD.
Great write up Eric. I just don’t feel all of the concern about a QB for this class. I would rather take extra RB,s and D-ends than a mediocre QB that will probably not finish his career at ND. Or even worse, tie up a scholarship for 4 years while holding a spot.
Don’t disagree….but we will probably take a QB anyway.
Have we ever had a QB “tie up a scholarship for 4 years?” We are never going to turn away a worthy DE because we have a backup QB on scholarship (who will likely start at least 1 game).
That was my thought too. And wouldn’t in his first and even second year DeShone Kizer been considered a “tie up a scholarship” guy that certainly looked no better than mediocre? Wimbush was more touted and perhaps about to pass him on the depth chart at one point.
Granted some crazy stuff happened with Golson getting das boot and Zaire suffering a big injury early in the season, but it just goes to show crazy stuff can happen when dealing with 18-22 year old young men. I’d rather have that one extra QB than skimp on the position with a minimal amount. It’s not like a 5th team RB or a 4th string DE are going to play important downs anyways, and even in a pinch you can always rotate someone in from a similar position. QB’s are way more important and way less replaceable. Give me one QB every year if possible, please and thank you.
Ian Book was going to be one of those guys too (3 star, never expected to be anything other than a 3rd stringer before Kizer left early), and he played a pretty critical role on last year’s team.
All great points. I just don’t see ND getting a quality guy at the position this year. Most of them are already committed and anyone they get would have studs in front of, and behind them. Like I said, I get the reasoning, I just don’t feel the sense of urgency.
It’s a looooong time till NSD
It’s actually possible to get a quality QB who is already committed elsewhere too. You can’t give up on one cycle because of who you have the following year. Who knows what will happen with someone who is another year away from being on campus.
Wouldn’t the following scenario be at least somewhat plausible for Spring 2020?
—-Wimbush will be out of eligibility after the 2019 season.
—-Book decides to take his 5th year elsewhere.
—-Avery Davis likes playing WR/RB and hasn’t taken a QB snap in years.
—-Pyne decides he won’t enroll early.
This leaves Jurkovec and…walk-ons? If this scenario plays out, the best case is a walk-on at third string backing up Jurkovec and Pyne in the fall. What if Jurkovec gets hurt?
I’m happy to be corrected if I missed something, but I think we need to take a QB.
I’d say it’s very safe to guess the odds of both Book AND Davis on the roster as QBs in 2020 is very, very low. Which is the reason you need to take one now, so there’s an extra body on the roster at that time just in case Jurkovec doesn’t live up to the hype or gets hurt.
I guess people are always worried or have an eye on the numbers total, but it would be pretty easy by that point to just make it clear to Book he should seek his 5th year elsewhere. Heck, at this point is it even clear Wimbush will be on the team in 2019? He might seek a new place too. So via numbers there’s no real crunch to get a QB in the 2019 class with what we’ve seen is pretty fluid position of guys leaving for various reasons where the only thing that would burn a team is not having enough.