Meh, most of that seems like a sunshine post to me Elston was really the only guy who could have stepped in and ran the defense. Everyone else is too green in comparison save for Elliott, where health problems come into play And I don't really buy the "the team is behind Kelly and believes he is the right man for the job" stuff. This team looks like they quit on Kelly just about every game
ND landed a 4-star CB out of California this evening. His name is Elijah Hicks and he plays at La Mirada. 6'0, 185. Had offers from UCLA, Michigan, Washington, Cal, Oregon, BYU, etc. Nice prospect to land, and he's having a very strong year too. Seems to be a good fit for ND, at a position of need.
I thought I read on Twitter that Jeter's hand was basically forced to decomitt? He wants to be at ND right?
Jeter is one of those cases where it doesn't matter where he commits to, only when he signs on the dotted line. Dude is all over the place and has been from the start of this recruitment
from Mike Frank Spoiler Some news I know we're all looking for anything interesting at this point. I was saving this stuff for Intel, but thought I'd get this out there now instead. I know everyone wants to know about BK's job future. From every single person I know to ask, the unanimous opinion is there is very little chance of him being let go if ND continues to slide this year. We've heard Jack Swarbrick and Father Jenkins have been very steadfast in their support of BK and the program. A lot of times, when a coach is going to be let go, the AD starts distancing themselves from said coach. That definitely has not been happening in this case. So, I'll be very surprised if a change is made. But, as I've said before, if you asked anyone at this time in Tyrone's last year, the exact same thing would've been said. We have no idea what people will feel like at the end of the USC game, where recruiting will be, etc. But, I wanted to point out, from everything I can gather, it would be a major surprise if a coaching change happened at this point. As we know, Hicks committed. On Amari Carter, I believe ND feels they're in good shape here, but he doesn't say much, so I don't think they have a real strong read on this yet. I do know he loved his visit, and he's very much a "fit" at ND personality-wise. As it gets closer, we should have a better idea of what to expect. On Delpit, I think ND felt this was more of a guy just taking a visit before his visit. Now, I think ND believes they have a legit shot here. However, there hasn't been much communication here between the two prior to this visit, so there is a lot of relationship-building and selling that needs to be done, but ND put their best foot forward. On Foster Sarrell, I think that ND did a fantastic job on trying to sell him. He's very much a ND kid, he really likes the ND players. He really looks up to Zack Martin, and he really likes Hiestand. Will he go that far away from home? Don't know at this point. We feel it's a three-way race between ND, Stanford and Washington. It sounds like he doesn't plan to announce until very late as he'll take his official to Stanford in late January. Out of the 2019 visitors who made it it, keep an eye on WR David Bell. He's a guy ND will actively recruit heavily. ND's staff will be on the road recruiting. Some went out Monday, the rest yesterday. They plan to see almost every 2017 commit and prospect. The plan right now is to take 24. A few more names could surface as time goes on. Mike
Mike Frank is really rough listening to on Power Hour as well. He just spews the same crap over and over and over again. Of the three major podcasts, power hour is the one i least like listening too and i only listen to it for Jamie U's input.
Let's talk about gross negligence Spoiler Rebuilding D-Line Recruiting Author: Jamie Uyeyama October 19, 2016 Kelly had a plan when he first got to ND when it came to bringing in D-linemen Back when Brian Kelly had only been at Notre Dame for a couple of months, he knew what he needed to do get the Irish to where he wanted them to be. Known for his spread offense, there was a philosophy shift that happened for him watching his new team workout that first Winter. He spoke with SI.com’s Stewart Mandel after his first season and had this to say about what needed to be fixed for the Irish to get to a higher level: “When we got a chance to see our team work out that February, it was pretty clear we had to create competition on the defensive side of the ball,” said Kelly. “We weren’t athletic enough and we didn’t have enough depth to create competition, in particular on the defensive line.” They went about trying to fix that immediately with his first full recruiting class. Included in that class were Aaron Lynch, Stephon Tuitt, and Ishaq Williams, three 5 star defensive line prospects. Notre Dame had not had a haul like that on the defensive line in years and, though two of three players didn’t turn out the way fans hoped they would, it showed that Kelly had a vision for what he hoped to build on defense. In his third season, that vision came to fruition. There wasn’t a carry over from the offensive machine he had at Cincinnati, but the defense had been built up to a dominant level. Despite suffering critical injuries and not having great depth in the secondary, the defensive line was outstanding. Kapron Lewis-Moore, Louis Nix, and Stephon Tuitt were as good of a front three as any in the nation, but it was the depth behind them that made the group special. Kona Schwenke and Tony Springmann were not blue chip recruits, but developed into quality backups. A young Sheldon Day was a highly ranked prospect. He brought a high motor and that same quickness we saw from him later in his career. Add in linebackers Prince Shembo and Williams who would come in to rush off the edge and that was an eight deep unit that helped make that defense what it was. That 2012 defensive line should have been the blueprint for future Notre Dame teams. Unfortunately, it was an exception. Another coach known for offense, Washington’s Chris Petersen, told ESPN at Pac-12 Media Days before his first season at UW something similar to what Kelly said to Mandel: “Bringing it back to a championship level (at Washington) will be dictated by our ability to recruit and to develop defensive linemen.” Boy, was he ever spot on with that. They didn’t just ignore other areas of the program, but they are undefeated and ranked in the top 5 primarily because they are dominant on the defensive line. They rarely bring more than 4 pass rushers and have accumulated 24 sacks (tied for 5th in the nation). The rushing defense is equally impressive only allowing 3.45 yards per carry (tied for 23rd). Petersen knew what Kelly knew back in 2010. This game is a lot easier when you have a bunch of big dogs up front that can control the game. Notre Dame had that in 2012 and they haven’t had that since. That defensive line class in 2011 was not foreshadowing for what was to come. It was a blip on the recruiting radar. A goal to shoot for that they haven’t come close to reaching. Since then a combination of mediocre recruiting and less than ideal development on the defensive line has led to what the defense is now. After the 2012 and 2013 seasons, Notre Dame had lost Lewis-Moore, Tuitt, Nix, Schwenke, Shembo, and Springmann (injury). The only two players left from that defensive line were Day and Williams. After Williams was suspended for an academic issue prior to the 2014 season, it left only Day from that 2012 rotation. Signing only six defensive linemen total in the 2012 and 2013 classes came back to haunt the Irish. Day along with Jones and Romeo Okwara all eventually developed into quality players for the Irish, but the trio of Isaac Rochell, Jacob Matuska, and Eddie Vanderdoes didn’t exactly hit home. Rochell became a good player and a captain, but we all know Vanderdoes never showed up to campus and Matuska was a project that never developed. They tried a course correction in 2014 by over-signing on the line, but failed to land the big time players they wanted. They ended up having to settle for four recruits who were not highly ranked late in that cycle. Out of the four, only Daniel Cage has shown that he is a solid contributor. Two others, Jhonny Williams and Kolin Hill, transferred already to other schools and Pete Mokwuah is on pace to end his career never having played a significant snap for the Irish. The four others they signed have not lived up to expectations. Andrew Trumbetti has not developed on the field or physically like many hoped he would. Grant Blankenship showed little on the field in games or in practice and he has now transferred. Jonathan Bonner is a backup that has played a decent amount of snaps, but has not shown any flashes of being more than an average player. Jay Hayes may be the only one, aside from Cage, with the potential to be a high-level player for the Irish and he is just now finally starting to see the field. When it looks like you may have gone 2 for 8 at defensive line in one class, that’s how you end up with the line as it currently is. The defense has had six sacks on the season and only one has come from a defensive lineman. The 2015 defensive line class was comprised of three defensive tackles that were all in need of time to contribute so it’s no shock that none of them are in the mix currently, although Micah Dew-Treadway could find his way into some playing time once he gets is fully healed up from a foot injury. They did sign one edge rusher as well. Bo Wallace didn’t end up making it to Notre Dame and eventually enrolled at Arizona State. No one should be too upset about missing out on him, though, as his Twitter profile suggests he no longer plays football and is trying to become a model. It says everything that a talented, yet inconsistent, former offensive line recruit is now the starting 3 technique for this defense. Jerry Tillery would likely have never been moved to defense if they were bringing in players like Stephon Tuitt on an annual basis. The 2016 class could potentially end up as a great one with Daelin Hayes, Julian Okwara, and Khalid Kareem becoming a formidable group at defensive end. Ade Ogundeji has the kind of intriguing physical tools that could see him one day as a great player too. But failing to (or electing not to) sign a defensive tackle in that class already looks like a mistake. The Irish don’t look like they will be deep enough at that position in 2017 because of it. Right now the goal for Notre Dame is to get back on the winning track against Miami. The problems they have are far bigger than just the defensive line. But no one who is involved with the program wants to fix problems to get back on track to be bowl eligible. The goal at Notre Dame is always to win championships. The Irish are nowhere close to competing for a championship based on what we’ve seen from them this season and the composition of next season’s defensive line doesn’t look like a championship level unit either. They’ll have to rely on a lot of guys who don’t look like impact players to develop or else this season’s defensive line play could be more of the norm. Kelly needs to re-emphasize defensive line recruiting like he did when he first got to Notre Dame. He also needs defensive line coach Keith Gilmore to get more than is expected out of some current players as well. If that happens, then the program can at least get back on track everyone wants to be. If that doesn’t happen, then playing again at a championship level will be a pipe dream.
Fantastic article on Harrison Smith - might be the best safety in all of football right now it's crazy to think that without BK, Harrison might have been a lost cause http://www.si.com/nfl/2016/10/19/harrison-smith-minnesota-vikings-career?xid=socialflow_twitter_si
Surely you aren't talking about the The Dean of Ohio State Football recruiting? His info is invaluable. There is always a fifty fifty chance whatever he says is true. Bank it.
At least they got away from interviewing recruits. That was terrible. I greatly appreciate that they no longer do that.