Welcome back to the 18 Stripes Big Board for Fighting Irish football, everybody. This update will focus on Irish targets along the defensive front seven — an area that has seen quite a bit of activity over the past few weeks.
Defensive End
Notre Dame currently has one commit at defensive end in Jonathan MacCollister (.846), and they are definitely looking to add at least one more here.
| Score | Name | State | Ht./Wt. | Temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .978 | LaBryan Ray | AL | 6-4/255 | Cold |
| .971 | Jarez Parks | FL | 6-3/250 | Cool |
| .915 | Ryan Johnson | AL | 6-3/255 | Cold |
| .893 | Brad Johnson | SC | 6-3/230 | Cold |
| .874 | Michael Allen | GA | 6-6/240 | Cool |
| .870 | Jalen Harris | AZ | 6-4/210 | Cool |
| .844 | Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa | HI | 6-4/270 | Cool |
New Offers
The most recent offer at rush end went out to current Arizona commit Jalen Harris. At this point, it is not clear if he will end up taking an official visit to Notre Dame, but he is intrigued by the offer. Both of his parents were student athletes at Arizona, so this one would be a tough pull.
The other recent defensive end offer went out to strong-side end Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa. Myron is an uncommitted prospect right now with a pretty solid offer list. The Irish will be fighting the likes of USC, Oregon, Arizona, and others. Again, it’s not clear if Myron will end up taking a visit to Notre Dame once the dead period ends, but he did express some interest after the offer and mentioned Manti Te’o as the reason. Apparently that name still pulls some weight with the Hawaii kids.
Not New Offers, But Maybe New Interest
Some interest piece of news out of this week’s Army All America game is that Top 100 rush end Jarez Parks is considering using his final official visit at Notre Dame. Apparently he got to talking with Irish commits Josh Lugg and Cole Kmet, and the passion that those two displayed for Notre Dame has him intrigued. This is a long shot, but I’d love to see him make it to campus.
Michael Allen has been committed to Wake Forest since early August, but new Notre Dame DC Mike Elko had a big hand in landing the physically imposing rush end. Apparently Elko has had some contact with him since taking the Notre Dame gig. It will be interesting to see if Michael’s former future-coach will be able to convince him to take a late visit to South Bend.
I’m not so sure there is really any new interest here, but Ryan Johnson put Notre Dame in his final 6. As of a week ago, he was planning on visiting either Notre Dame or Oregon sometime next week. I haven’t seen anything on the subject since then, but either way I don’t expect him to end up in this class.
Defensive Tackle
Notre Dame has two defensive tackle commits in Kurt Hinish (.867) and Darnell Ewell (.933). The most recent offer would suggest that the Irish would still like to land one more at the position.
| Score | Name | State | Ht./Wt. | Temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .969 | Jay Tufele | UT | 6-3/300 | Cold |
| .884 | Noah Elliss | CO | 6-4/330 | Cold |
| .882 | Kendrick Green | IL | 6-4/270 | Cool |
| .872 | Dalyn Wade-Perry | NJ | 6-3/340 | Cold |
| .847 | Brandon Pili | OR | 6-4/310 | Cool |
New Offer
Notre Dame sent a new offer out Sunday night to current Illinois commit Kendrick Green. It’s too early for much to have come out on what this offer means for Kendrick, but it seems like ND will have a shot here if they can get him on campus.
Linebacker
Notre Dame has two commits at linebacker so far. David Adams (.936) played in the Under Armour All America game. He showed during that week of practice and the small amount of game time that he got that he’s a solid, although not elite player. Drew White (.845) unofficially visited Notre Dame for the Michigan State game, and he will be back on campus for the weekend of January 20th for his official visit.
| Score | Name | State | Ht./Wt. | Temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .924 | Leonard Warner | GA | 6-4/225 | Cold |
| .892 | Antjuan Simmons | MI | 6-1/215 | Warm |
| .891 | Ellis Brooks | VA | 6-2/230 | Warm |
ND Looking Good For Two More
All signs currently point to Notre Dame for Antjuan Simmons. He’s got his official visit to Notre Dame set up for the weekend of January 20th. Michigan State could make this a competition, but the Irish have the clear edge.
Notre Dame also appears to be in the drivers’ seat for Ellis Brooks. Ellis is a one-time Duke commit who reached out to ND after decommitting. However, at the time, the Irish had a full class of linebackers, and he was told he should look elsewhere. His interest never went away, though. And now that Notre Dame has a spot for him, he’s looking hard at the Irish. He’ll be in South Bend for an official visit for the weekend of January 27th.
Here’s another development from tonight at DT — looks like Brandon Pili will take an official for January 24th
Thanks for the update. Looks like outside a few surprises like we are starting to reach for some lesser prospects.
What do recruits think of the new DC? I guess since he was at Wake it’s not like he has connections with any elite players (even if he is a great DC hire).
Haven’t heard much about what recruits think of Elko, yet. I know some of the current commits are excited though.
I think Elko just got to South Bend a few days ago, which is probably why we’ve had a few more offers sent out over the last few days.
Man. As a lifelong ND fan, but current Illinois student, Kendrick Green would be a bittersweet flip. After Lovie got jobbed by the Bears and Bucs, I’m really hoping he has some success in Champaign. I would hate to see ND undermine that chance in any way other than beating Illinois on the playing field.
As far as ND’s class, it seems pretty obvious that the players follow the results. The best class in the Kelly era was signed right after the 2012 season, and it’s been downhill ever since. Remember when Elston took over the recruiting coordinator duties and it appeared as if 2017 was lined up to be a huge success? Ouch, my balls.
Ya, then the 2016 season happened. Maybe we should be a little thankful that the class has stayed together as well as it has.
More Noise asked a good question in a previous thread. Coming into last season, how fragile was this team’s psychy after the 30 sec. defensive meltdown vs. Stanford and I’ll add, then getting pushed around by tOSU ? Perhaps most of these staff changes should have been made last off season? Maybe that’s obvious now and certainly most may have been hoping for BVG to go last year. I don’t think anyone thought not making changes would lead to the disaster we witnessed. Perhaps this team was just ready to collapse as soon as some adversity struck?
PERHAPS?!?!
“Perhaps” that sentence stopped you from reading further???
No, it didn’t stop me from reading further.
As someone who was screaming at the top of his lungs for BVG to be fired in December 2015 (more like September 2015), it was obvious THEN. I kept raising my hand and asking why people projected our defense to get better after losing Jaylon, Day, KVR, and even much-maligned Joe Schmidt (the only person to ever understand BVG’s defense, apparently). I kept getting told “oh, well, uh, they’ll understand it more, and uh, Niles Morgan, and, uh…quick let’s talk about the QB race…”
I didn’t quite expect a 4-8 disaster, but there’s no way you can tell me the defense being a disaster was only obvious in hindsight. And many of our offensive problems (notably playcalling and choices not to run) are not new either. I predicted 7-5 or 8-4–records most people here said WOULD be a disaster–and was still way off. There’s no “perhaps”–evidence shows that changes should have been made off-season. The only question is will the desperate changes made too late save Kelly next season. I think we’ve taken the right step on defense. The jury will be out on offense.
I try to avoid posting on blogs – even ones as great as 18S – so I wasn’t publicly vocal about it. But yeah, I definitely questioned why everyone projected the 2016 team to be a playoff contender. I knew the defense would be not great, but even I wasn’t prepared for how abhorrent it was to watch.
Kelly needs a REALLY good year this year and the recruiting class to match it.
“certainly most may have been hoping for BVG to go last year.”
First off, my point wasn’t about the changes. It was about the psychy of the players going into the season.
Secondly, I specifically wrote that many wanted BVG gone. I certainly wanted a change. I did not infer the defense was bad only in hindsight. That said, after a 10-2 season, few if any were calling for additional coaching changes. (maybe Booker) Certainly not on offense, after a record breaking season. Especially with the QB returning behind “the best ” line in the nation. I don’t recall a cry for other changes. It’s still debatable that Denbrock and Gilmore aren’t leaving due to job performance but because of other changes (play calling duties and the new DC).
I wrote, “I don’t think anyone thought not making changes would lead to the disaster we witnessed.” Your prediction of 7-5 or 8-4 would seem back that up. Which leads back to my point about the teams mental state and if it contributed to the disaster?
I think one reason people were optimistic, and I admit to falling into this trap, was health. 2015 was a disaster on the injury front, especially in the back 4. Turns out it happened again in 2016 with the added issue with suspensions, expulsions, etc. and it was doomed once again.
But even so, 2014-2015 were enough to know BVG should have never seen the ND sideline in 2016. I was optimistic that health and depth (before they blew up) would at least make them presentable and that the offense would be powerful enough to offset them.
Neither happened.
Is Daniel Cage’s brother a no for sure?
It’s looking like he will stick with OSU
Adebo decommitted. Bah.
It’s quite possible this class will end up at the what-it-would-have-been-with-a-coaching-change level. Or lower. (Though I recognize that’s impossible to prove or disprove as a historical counterfactual.)
Yeah that one stings. Really surprising, considering both his words and actions in recent weeks. Really thought he would stay in this class.
I don’t know which was more surprising, losing Adebo or Brian Kelly letting Chip call plays in 2017? Both came as a shock to me today.
was there a formal report that Chip is calling the plays now?
Long hasn’t even been formally announced yet, has he?
So, I guess he was unveiled today, and it was announced per Keith Arnold that Long is going to call plays. So…we’ll see.
The recruiting classes of last year and this year might be enough to sink Kelly anyway (i.e. even if he has a good season this year) — in the other years he did well:
The seniors this year with the current guys left have 71%(!) 4 stars (total of 17 players). (not including 5th years)
The juniors have 67%(1) 4 stars (total of 21 players).
Sophs = 43% (23 (!) players)
Frosh = currently 56% (@ 16 players) but likely to drop as we are unlikely to add 2 4 stars to every 1 3 star as we close (more like the opposite). E.g. 1 more 4 star and 3 more 3 stars would make it a 50% class.
If 60% is the key mark (and even this might not be enough if you don’t get quite the 1 or 2 truly elite players every year that we seem to miss out on), then we are quickly dropping off.
Perhaps with a more experienced team (Junior and Senior classes are DEEP and talented) and better coaching and a 11-1+ type year, he could kick recruiting back off with 2018 already having some studs. But it’s going to have to be in the high 60’s/70’s with a few truly elite players to make up for the 2 potentially weak classes in a row. Right now that would mean keep the pace we have 4 4 stars and 2 3 stars all the way through recruiting.