Tariq Bracy joined the 2018 Notre Dame bandwagon when he announced for the Irish today. The 6’0″, 170-pound Californian took an official visit for the USC game, and Notre Dame made a huge move for him on that trip. Area recruiter Brian Polian and position coach Todd Lyght were key in landing the raw but talented athlete.
Speaking of which – Bracy needs polish, but has has athleticism to spare. He’s an all-purpose monster for Milpitas High; on the downside, that’s taken some focus away from learning how to be a corner. On the upside… Here are some career numbers:
- Over 3,400 rushing yards at 9.1 yards per carry and 41 touchdowns
- Over 1,600 receiving yards at 20.2 yards per catch and 19 touchdowns
- 15.8 yards per punt return, 22.2 yards per kick return, and 3 special teams touchdowns
- 14 interceptions, 2 fumble recoveries, and 3 defensive touchdowns
The kid just does everything. Once he focuses on defense, he should be able to put that athleticism to good use in the secondary. He’s a quiet kid who didn’t do the camp circuit and didn’t reciprocate any interest beyond a handful of schools, which hurt his recruiting profile. Don’t be fooled though – Tariq Bracy has skills.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247 Composite — 3 star (.8843), #408 overall, #23 ATH, #50 in CA
247 Sports — 4 star (92 rating), #292 overall, #20 ATH, #45 in CA
Rivals — 3 star (5.7 rating), NR overall, #39 ATH, #65 in CA
ESPN — 3 star (78 rating), NR overall, #51 ATH, #59 in CA
Note: You may notice that Bracy’s Scout ranking is conspicuously absent. 247 and Scout merged a few months ago; they kept some things separate for a while, but just in the last couple of weeks they phased out the Scout rankings.
Cohort
In addition to Notre Dame, Bracy holds offers from Boise State, Cal, Fresno State, Utah, and Washington State, and had drawn some interest (but no offer) from USC.
Highlights
Well… There isn’t much film available on Tariq Bracy – this video is his junior year highlight reel – and almost all of what there is shows him on offense. So there’s not a whole lot I can say about Bracy’s defensive ability, but there’s still plenty worth seeing here. Bracy shows plus speed, toughness, and balance and outstanding – not good, outstanding – lateral agility. That helps him make dramatic cuts without losing speed, which bodes well for his ability to flip his hips in coverage when he has to track a receiver. Check the two plays that start at the 5:13 mark; they’re a pretty good summary of the whole reel.
Impact
As we’ve hinted, Bracy will need some time to develop his craft. There’s no guarantee that he’ll be able to, but we can guarantee that it’ll take a while even if it all works out. Bracy and earlier commit Joe Wilkins are excellent upside prospects; they’re probably on the same track, bound for the rotation as juniors. If Bracy can get his technique down, he can be a special player.
Welcome to the Irish family, Tariq!
I was under the impression that things were looking up with some of the higher-ranked prospects – did that turn around?
No we’re still in good shape with Griffith and Gordon as of right now. The goal apparently is 4 CBs, assuming we get the right guys.
Like Tyler said, the target seems to be four cornerbacks. Getting into it a bit more, it looks like they’re targeting two early contributors and two upside guys. Bracy and Joe Wilkins are the upside guys – they’re both excellent athletes with good frames who will need some time to develop. The early contributors are, most likely, two of Houston Griffith, Kyler Gordon, and Noah Boykin.
Griffith could announce any day, and Gordon could announce within the next week or so. We should have plenty of clarity here soon.
Great – thanks both!
This sounds like the profile for Nick Coleman. A good athlete, only highlights were offense, only recruited by a few schools (although I believe Coleman was mostly ND/tOSU), didn’t do camps. His composite ranking is way higher than Coleman, so hopefully we can see a similar path of development.
Funny, I hadn’t though of that, but you’re right. Coleman was indeed ND/OSU – OSU never offered but they were getting more interested, and the ND staff pushed hard to get a commit before they pulled the trigger. I liked Coleman coming out but I think Bracy is a bit faster and more agile. Anyone reading this, if you have a few minutes to spare watch that highlight reel – his cuts are unbelievable. And that’s his *junior* film.
Shea Patterson just committed to Michigan. Unclear if he’s going to be eligible to play next season or not, if I’m reading the internet correctly.
Why did we re-start that series again?
Two things:
– He hasn’t been cleared yet. The NCAA allowed all Ole Miss seniors-to-be to transfer without having to sit out, but he’s a junior-to-be. Very dicey whether they’ll allow him to be eligible immediately, since then it would basically be open season on Ole Miss’s roster. But it’s the NCAA, so you never know.
– I’ll be interested to see if he actually helps them. Crazy, I know, but consider: As a true freshman he completed 54.5% for 6.7 per attempt with 6 TDs and 3 INTs in starting Ole Miss’s last three games. As a sophomore his numbers got much better, BUT if you take out their first two games against South Alabama and Tennessee-Martin, he completed 58.2% for 7.4 per attempt with 8 TDs and 8 INTs in five games. That just about mirrors Wilton Speight’s production last year – 54.3%, 7.2 YPA, 3 TDs, 2 INTs in 4 games – and is a little behind Brandon Peters’s – 57.8%, 7.6 ypa, 4 TDs, 0 INTs in 5 games. Jimbo’s history of developing QBs at Michigan has actually been pretty negative, so I wouldn’t assume he’s going to take a step up either.
OK, one more thing… What impact will this have on Michigan beyond next season? Patterson is going to play one year before he jumps, whether it’s 2018 or 2019. Does Brandon Peters transfer out if Patterson is cleared? He’s gotta be upset – he played well enough to make Wilton Speight take a grad transfer out, and Harbaugh essentially recruited over him. What if Patterson isn’t cleared and Peters plays well? Massive QB controversy for 2019. And what does Dylan McCaffrey do? If Patterson is cleared and wins the job, Peters is the likely starter for 2019 and 2020. Does McCaffrey want to wait that long?
Alright, one more one more thing. As a recruit, Patterson went to whoever would give his brother the highest-paying BS job. Ole Miss paid more than LSU did, so that’s where he went. The same dynamic was reportedly in play for his transfer, and Michigan won that derby. I’ll let that stand by itself.
Sure, but if you do the “take away South Alabama and UT Martin” thing, the remaining slate he played against was Cal, Alabama (S&P+ #3 defense), Auburn (S&P+ #5 defense), Vanderbilt (#16 S&P+ passing defense, though #68 overall), and LSU (S&P+ #17 defense). Those stats are pretty ok against that slate. I watched Patterson last year in 3 or 4 games, and I think he’s pretty good. Maybe not a 5-star 100% sure thing, but I think if he magically dropped onto our roster, he’d be the day 1 starter next year.
But, interesting points re: the Michigan QB depth chart. I think from what I saw Patterson is clearly better than Peters, but even if he’s eligible to play that probably would mean that McCaffrey is 3 years away. If that’s the case, it’d require patience that most don’t show.
I don’t think Patterson is bad by any means, I’m just saying I don’t think Michigan’s going to have the second coming of Joe Montana in Game 1. Which is what many ND fans (not you) seem to fear.
Also, going back to the QB roster situation… Just an unbelievable amount of churn in Harbaugh’s QB room.
– Year 1: Grad transfers Jake Rudock in, standard transfer John O’Korn in, incumbent Shane Morris benched, low four-star Alex Malzone signed.
– Year 2: High four-star Brandon Peters signed.
– Year 3: Grad transfer Shane Morris out, four-star Dylan McCaffrey signed.
– Year 4: Grad transfer Wilton Speight out, grad transfer Alex Malzone out, hardship transfer Shea Patterson in, four-star Joe Milton committed.
With, as noted, an uncertain future now for Peters and McCaffrey. Patterson is probably better than Peters, but is it worth continuing the chaos in the QB room for another couple of years? Maybe. Maybe not.
My suspicion is that they got favorable signals regarding immediate eligibility and are willing to bail on Peters if it meant two years of Patterson (Patterson is too small to be a risk to go pro after 1 year, IMO). Plus that leads to a progression of two years of Patterson followed by two years of McCaffrey, which isn’t so bad.