Our last scholarship update occurred shortly after National Signing Day and while a recent decommit has awoken the Irish from a late spring period of quiet there was a lot of action in February to recap here today. As usual, the numbers are tight but the roster has seen some recent attrition opening up a tiny bit of breathing room for more bodies in the future.

Out of Eligibility Following the 2017 Season:

TE Tyler Luatua

TE Durham Smythe

OL Mike McGlinchey

OL Hunter Bivin

DE Andrew Trumbetti

DT Daniel Cage

LB Nyles Morgan

LB Greer Martini

McGlinchey and Morgan are set in stone as starters while Smythe, Cage, and Martini are either full starters in their own right or co-starters at worst. You could say Trumbetti might be a co-starter but he just spent an odd spring as an under-sized strong-side end and all indications are that new DC Mike Elko prefers Jay Hayes there as the starter.

Bivin and Luatua are unlikely to play at all in 2017, barring garbage minutes late in games.

2018-19 Academic Classes:

11 Verbal Commits
21 Sophomores
22 Juniors
21 Seniors
12 Grad Students
87 Scholarships

Over the last two months we’ve seen the commitment of the following 2018 recruits: corner Kalon Gervin, safety Derrik Allen, offensive tackle Cole Mabry, wide receiver Micah Jones, wide receiver Braden Lenzy, and offensive tackle John Dirksen.

Over the weekend Gervin officially left Notre Dame’s class as the Irish strike out again with a Cass Tech player.

The Irish also lost safety Spencer Perry in early April to transfer but picked up Michigan graduate transfer receiver Freddy Canteen in mid-February. The latter will have 2 years of eligibility remaining, although we’ll continue to refer to him as a grad student in 2017.

List of Eligible 2018 Grad Students:

Tier 1
OG Quenton Nelson
C Sam Mustipher
OG Alex Bars
S Drue Tranquill
DT Jonathan Bonner
CB Nick Watkins
DE Jay Hayes
P Tyler Newsome

Tier 2
TE Nic Weishar
WR Freddy Canteen

Tier 3
DT Pete Mokwuah
OG Jimmy Byrne

The long spring practice weeks didn’t feature much movement with our grad projections for 2018. Tranquill and Watkins went from guys who might be co-starters to very likely playing top minutes at their respective positions. We’ve also moved up Jay Hayes from Tier 2 as he spent the majority of the spring as the starter at strong-side defensive end.

Weishar truly is a borderline player but I’d lean toward a return because Smythe is done after this fall and you never know if Mack will jump early to the NFL. I have no idea what will happen with Canteen. He’s unlikely to even be on the two-deep and it’s not very common for football players to stick around for two years of graduate school. I wouldn’t bet against him moving on from South Bend after 2017.

***

The Roster

QUARTERBACK
Roster (3): Wimbush r-SO, Book r-FR, Davis FR
Commits (1): Jurkovec

RUNNING BACK
Roster (5): Adams JR, Williams JR, Jones r-FR, McIntosh r-FR, Holmes FR
Commits (1): Stepp

WIDE RECEIVER
Roster (10): St. Brown JR, Stepherson, SO, Sanders JR, Boykin r-SO, Finke r-SO, Claypool SO, McKinley SO, Young FR, Armstrong FR, Canteen r-JR
Commits (2): Jones, Lenzy

TIGHT END
Roster (6): Smythe r-SR, Mack r-SO, Weishar r-JR, Luatua SR, Wright FR, Kmet FR
Commits (0)

OFFENSIVE TACKLES
Roster (6): McGlinchey r-SR, Kraemer r-FR, Eichenberg r-FR, Bivin r-SR, Hainsey FR, Lugg FR
Commits (2): Mabry, Dirksen

INTERIOR OFFENSIVE LINEMEN
Roster (9): Nelson r-JR, Mustipher r-JR, Bars, JR, Hoge r-SO, Banks FR, Byrne r-JR, Ruhland r-SO, Boudreaux r-FR, Gibbons, FR
Commits (0)

STRONG-SIDE DEFENSIVE END
Roster (4): J. Hayes r-JR, Trumbetti, SR, Kareem SO, Ogundeji r-FR
Commits (0)

WEAK-SIDE DEFENSIVE END
Roster (4): D. Hayes SO, Okwara SO, MacCollister FR, Wardlow FR
Commits (0)

DEFENSIVE TACKLE
Roster (10): Cage, SR, Tillery JR, Bonner r-JR, Taylor r-SO, Dew-Treadway r-SO, Mokwuah r-JR, Tiassum r-SO, Ewell FR, Tagovailoa-Amosa FR, Hinish FR
Commits (1): Ja. Ademilola

BUCK LINEBACKER
Roster (4): Martini SR, Coney, JR, Barajas r-SO, White FR
Commits (1): Bauer

MIKE LINEBACKER
Roster (4): Morgan SR, Jon. Jones r-FR, Jam. Jones, SO, Adams FR
Commits (1): Ju. Ademilola

ROVER
Roster (3): Tranquill, r-JR, Bilal r-SO, Owusu-Koramoah FR
Commits (1): Oghoufo

CORNERBACK
Roster (6): Watkins r-JR, Love SO, Crawford r-SO, Pride SO, Vaughn SO, White r-SO
Commits (0)

SAFETY
Roster (7): Coleman, JR, Elliott SO, Studstill SO, Robertson FR, Fertitta JR, Morgan r-FR, Genmark Heath FR
Commits (1): Allen

SPECIAL TEAMS
Roster (4): Newsome r-JR, Yoon JR, Shannon r-FR, Doerer FR
Commits (0)

***

2018 Cycle Roster Needs

First, a quick recap of position changes from the spring that may or may not be long-term:

McIntosh (WR to RB): With the injury to freshman C.J. Holmes this could be for all of 2017.

Bars (OT to OG): The Irish moved him from the start of spring and there he shall stay.

Banks (OT to OG): Expected by many as an incoming freshman.

Hainsey (OG to OT): Not as expected, he impressed at left tackle this spring.

Trumbetti (WDE to SDE): As mentioned above, a bit of a weird move to say the least.

Bonner (SDE to DT): Always felt like a more comfortable spot for Jonathan.

Jamir Jones (SAM to MIKE): Moves from BVG’s defunct linebacker spot to the middle.

Barajas (MIKE to BUCK): Perhaps not permanent but he was moved for more than half the spring.

Tranquill (S to ROVER): He may play both positions but solidified himself as the #1 Rover in spring.

Coleman (CB to S): Way under-sized as a safety but for spring it worked out quite well.

Now, back to the needs for the 2018 cycle. It feels like a broken record around here because I can’t remember a time when we weren’t stressing the need for corners and weak-side ends. Does anyone really care about the depth and distribution of talent on offense anymore? This late-stage Kelly era has really been all about getting things back on track for recruiting defense and it’s been quite the long wandering in the dark in recent years.

I’m all about roster balance yet looking above there’s absolutely nothing to worry about with the offense. Linebacker looks okay, as well. There are bodies at defensive tackle but a grading of the incoming freshmen could affect what the future at that position looks like and how much talent needs to come in for 2018.

Much help is needed at both defensive end positions and the entire secondary. We’ll probably get a couple more offensive line commits soon (he said sarcastically).