Going back to our Vox Media days we’ve been handing out grades to each player in the incoming recruiting classes but it wasn’t until 2013 that we unveiled a more codified grading system. You can read our 2020 class overview for more information on said system.

I thought it would be a neat idea to look at my personal grades for players over the last 8 years and see what went right, what went wrong, and everything in between.

One thing to mention as we break down the offense today and the defense at a later date. I am 100% the grumpy grader. Putting this all together it’s pretty clear at times it’s quite excessive at times. For example, there were 38 players over 8 years of recruiting where I was at least 3 points off the average from our team of writers. My grade was lower 34 times!

In my defense, 60% of those lower picks come on the defensive side of the ball. You can usually count on me to hand out one really low grade on defense each cycle.

Anyway, let’s take a look at the offense.

(Writer average in parentheses) 

Quarterback

Phil Jurkovec – 95 (93)
Brandon Wimbush – 94 (94)
Malik Zaire – 88 (90)
Avery Davis – 87 (84)
Ian Book – 86 (86)
DeShone Kizer – 83 (85)
Brendon Clark – 83 (82)
Drew Pyne – 79 (81)

Plus/minus difference of 3 points: Avery Davis (+3)

Overachievers: Ian Book, DeShone Kizer

Underachievers: Brandon Wimbush, Malik Zaire

I had no idea I liked Davis so much more than the rest of our group. The fact that he didn’t even stay at quarterback looks bad now but he did excel for one of the best high schools in the country. Size was always an issue but it’s clear he’s more of an 84-type of player today than 87.

For now, we’ll give Jurkovec a TBD but for someone who was the highest rated quarterback by me (and 2nd highest by the group) it’s trending in the wrong direction. Part of me feels bad to put Wimbush in the underachiever category but he did lose his job and fell off a cliff after a transfer to UCF this season. It feels like Zaire’s career was so much longer and more experienced than it really was…he threw just 154 passes (98 while at Notre Dame) and 6 touchdown passes.

I know what you’re thinking, will incoming 2021 recruit Tyler Buchner receiver the highest grade from this list?? I can’t wait to find out!

Running Back

Chris Tyree – 96 (96)
Greg Bryant – 96 (95)
Dexter Williams 91 (90)
Tarean Folston – 90 (91)
C.J. Holmes – 88 (89)
Kyren Williams – 88 (89)
Tony Jones – 86 (89)
Jafar Armstrong – 86 (87)
Jahmir Smith – 85 (86)
Josh Adams – 84 (86)
C’Bo Flemister – 81 (83)
Deon McIntosh – 78 (81)

Plus/minus difference of 3 points: Tony Jones (-3), Deon McIntosh (-3)

Overachievers: Josh Adams

Underachievers: Greg Bryant (RIP)

I famously slept on Tony Jones during the outrage of him being dropped down to a 3-star by one of the services following a nice showing at The Opening. Although, in retrospect his biggest strength coming out of IMG was supposed to be his hands and he only finished his Notre Dame career with 27 catches.

The short Irish career of McIntosh looked like he was well on his way to proving me wrong. After transferring to Washington State he put up 224 yards on 33 touches from scrimmage this past season which is pretty solid.

C.J. Holmes is now at Penn State and was converted to a safety. Would he have made a difference in the Irish backfield this past season?

In my opinion, Josh Adams remains the best running back of the Kelly era. Enough said.

Obviously, the short life of Greg Bryant remains so tragic. On the field, we waited so long for him to break out and it’s almost shocking to look back and see only 57 carries and 303 yards in his career.

Let’s hope Tyree lives up to the hype.

Tight End

Alize Mack – 96 (96)
Michael Mayer – 96 (96)
Brock Wright – 95 (95)
Cole Kmet – 91 (92)
Nic Weishar – 88 (91)
Mike Heuerman – 88 (88)
Durhan Smythe – 88 (88)
Tyler Luatua – 87 (88)
Kevin Bauman – 87 (86)
Tommy Tremble – 87 (86)
George Takacs – 86 (87)

Plus/minus difference of 3 points: Nic Weishar (-3)

Overachievers: Tommy Tremble

Underachievers: Nic Weishar, Brock Wright, Mike Heuerman

Imagine taking a flier on a raw tight end? Not at Notre Dame, folks. If you are recruited to South Bend at this position you are expected to make an impact.

It may be presumptive to put Tremble in the overachieving category already but if he stays for the next three seasons he’s probably going over 1,000 career receiving yards.

Mike Heuerman–who was profiled in this excellent piece by WNDU about his battles with injuries and addiction–had to medically retire without ever catching a pass for the Irish. Weishar was really well thought of by our writers and while he played a lot he finished with only 18 catches while becoming a blocker for most of his career. The same can be said for Brock Wright who only has 4 catches to date and doesn’t look like he’ll be primed to catch a bunch more throughout the rest of his career.

I hesitated to put Alize Mack as an underachiever although I’m sure many will say he didn’t live up to the hype. Still, he finished with 68 receptions and 716 yards in just 3 years. He didn’t reach the heights of 2019 Cole Kmet but Mack finished his career with 8 more catches.

Wide Receiver

Jordan Johnson – 97 (96)
Kevin Austin – 96 (95)
Justin Brent – 93 (93)
Braden Lenzy – 92 (93)
Javon McKinley – 92 (92)
C.J. Sanders – 92 (91)
Xavier Watts – 90 (91)
Equanimeous St. Brown – 89 (91)
Chase Claypool – 89 (90)
Jalen Guyton – 88 (89)
James Onwualu – 87 (88)
Michael Young – 87 (86)
Tariq Bracy – 87 (85)
Lawrence Keys – 87 (84)
Kendall Abdur-Rahman – 86 (86)
Torii Hunter – 86 (86)
Miles Boykin – 85 (89)
Corey Holmes – 85 (88)
Jay Brunelle – 85 (85)
Cam Hart – 82 (82)
Kevin Stepherson – 81 (84)
Will Fuller – 80 (85)
Corey Robinson – 80 (82)
Micah Jones – 79 (81)

Plus/minus difference of 3 points: Lawrence Keys (+3), Miles Boykin (-4), Corey Holmes (-3), Kevin Stepherson (-3), Will Fuller (-5!!)

Overachievers: Corey Robinson, Will Fuller, Kevin Stepherson, Miles Boykin, James Onwualu

Underachievers: Justin Brent, Javon McKinley, C.J. Sanders, Jalen Guyton

Okay, I’m just going to say that in my defense I remember there being precious little film available on Will Fuller and we didn’t know all that much about him when he signed. Either way, he is by far the biggest recruiting miss for me and for many others, as well. Of course, Stepherson was Fuller 2.0 in many ways so that’s another miss.

For some reason, I liked Keys a lot more than the group. I can’t really put my finger on why that was even a few years later. Normally, we tend to shy away from the really small receivers (see Stepherson, Kevin and Fuller, Will).

This is a really nice group of overachievers, all of these players put together at least one really high level season, including Onwualu who came in as a receiver but finished with 145 tackles at linebacker.

Brent flip-flopped between receiver and running back while garnering 0 touches from scrimmage at Notre Dame before making 27 tackles as a safety at Nevada. McKinley totaled 268 yards and 4 scores this year for his first career numbers but a lot of that was garbage time production and we’re not sure he’s coming back for a fifth year.

I may be rough on Sanders who had 2,019 kick return yards and 323 punt return yards at Notre Dame but he only finished with 315 yards from scrimmage before transferring to SMU. Guyton was gone in a blink of an eye at Notre Dame without registering any stats for the Irish. To be fair, he lit it up in two years at North Texas with 1,580 receiving yards.

Offensive Line

Tommy Kraemer – 96 (96)
Zeke Correll – 95 (95)
Quenton Nelson – 94 (94)
Tosh Baker – 93 (95)
Parker Boudreaux – 92 (91)
Hunter Bivin – 92 (91)
John Montelus – 91 (92)
Josh Lugg – 90 (94)
Liam Eichenberg – 90 (93)
Steve Elmer – 90 (92)
Tristen Hoge – 90 (91)
Michael Carmody – 88 (87)
Andrew Kristofic – 87 (89)
Aaron Banks – 87 (88)
Alex Bars – 86 (91)
Robert Hainsey – 86 (89)
Jarrett Patterson – 86 (86)
Quinn Carroll – 85 (87)
Jimmy Byrne – 85 (85)
Trevor Ruhland – 83 (84)
Mike McGlinchey – 83 (83)
John Olmstead – 83 (83)
John Dirksen – 82 (83)
Sam Mustipher – 81 (87)
Luke Jones – 81 (82)
Colin McGovern – 80 (83)
Cole Mabry – 78 (83)
Dillon Gibbons – 78 (80)

Plus/minus difference of 3 points: Josh Lugg (-4), Liam Eichenberg (-3), Alex Bars (-5), Robert Hainsey (-3), Sam Mustipher (-6), Cole Mabry (-5)

Overachievers: Sam Mustipher, Mike McGlinchey

Underachievers: Parker Boudreaux, Hunter Bivin, John Montelus, Tristen Hoge

Judging by our numbers, it’s usually pretty easy to figure out which offensive linemen won’t make an impact. From the bottom ten listed above you have a pair of multi-year starters and one journeyman (Ruhland) who started a few games this past year due to injuries.

Hunter Bivin always seemed on the cusp of making an impact across his 5 years but only made 1 start which is unbelievable. He’s now the Director of Player Development for the Irish which is pretty cool. Things didn’t work out for Boudreaux but he’s a starter at UCF now. Montelus wasn’t much of a factor at Notre Dame then made 10 starts his final year at Virginia, while Hoge left Notre Dame and just finished up his career at BYU with a handful of career starts.

The McGlinchey grade looks silly in retrospect but some will remember how incredibly raw and undeveloped he was prior to coming to South Bend. That he made 39 starts and became a 1st round pick for the 49ers is a really cool story compared to a lot of the other big time Notre Dame prospects.