Welcome back to the 18 Stripes Big Board, everybody. After a brief hiatus, we here at 18 Stripes are returning to form on our recruiting coverage. We’ll get back to bringing you weekly Big Board updates, and we’re starting things up again back at the QB/RB position.
Quarterback
No Big Board necessary here. As you are no doubt aware by now, the staff only targeted three quarterbacks for the 2017 cycle. The first, Indiana’s own Hunter Johnson, originally committed to Tennessee. He has, however, flipped his commitment to Clemson.
After Johnson made his decision, Sanford keyed in on two targets — Avery Davis and Hendon Hooker. It was a perceived race to see who would commit first and lock down their spot in the Notre Dame class. Hooker ended up visiting first, but he did not leave South Bend committed to the Irish. Davis (.909) was in South Bend for the March Junior Day just a few days later, during which he gave his verbal to the Fighting Irish.
Davis and the Cedar Hill (TX) Longhorns have begun their season at 2-1 after opening with a pretty bad opening loss to #1 nationally ranked Bishop Gorman. I was able to watch a bit of that first game, and Davis flashed some potential. It was a bit difficult to tell just how much, however, due to the fact that Cedar Hill was completely dominated up front and Davis faced heavy pressure all night. He did toss this pretty nice TD pass, though.
Here’s the 1-play Cedar Hill scoring drive. QB Avery Davis (Notre Dame commit) with the dynamic pass! #txhsfb pic.twitter.com/eTfPdMCUdL
— LoneStarSportsReport (@LSSReport) August 28, 2016
Running Back
| Score | Name | State | Ht./Wt. | Temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .995 | Cam Akers | MS | 5-11/215 | Cold |
| .969 | Anthony McFarland Jr. | MD | 5-8/200 | Cold |
| .910 | Colin Wilson | FL | 6-1/220 | Mild |
Pretty empty Big Board here, as well. Very few backs with Irish offers remain uncommitted. The Irish have Connecticut athlete CJ Holmes (.896) in the fold, and it looks like that’ll do it for ’17 running backs. But we’ll go over the uncommitted guys anyway.
Cam Akers‘ leader board has changed a few times over the past. At first it looked like Mississippi State led for him, then Ole Miss, and now Ohio State. Florida State may be gaining ground here, however. The Seminoles started off the season strong with a win over Ole Miss. That, plus a fairly recent unofficial to Tallahassee over the summer, may have made an impact on the elite back. We’ll see if Jimbo can persuade Cam to spurn Urban and Tony Alford and stay down south.
Anthony McFarland Jr. is focusing on Maryland, Alabama, and Miami. He was just in Maryland for an unofficial on opening weekend, and Saban will host him near the end of the season for his official visit. No word yet on his Miami official.
Colin Wilson may have been one to end up in this Notre Dame class if the staff hadn’t landed CJ Holmes. Of course, the Irish did land Holmes, and their recruitment of Wilson has slowed. Look for Louisville to land the talented Sunshine State back now.
Committed Elsewhere
JK Dobbins is committed to Ohio State.
Najee Harris is committed to Alabama.
Stephen Carr committed to USC, then decommitted, then recommitted to the Trojans.
Ty Chandler committed to Tennessee.
Toneil Carter committed to Georgia.
Trey Sermon committed to Oklahoma.
Devan Barrett committed to Auburn.
Alaric Williams committed to Auburn.
Robert Burns committed to Miami.
AJ Dillon committed to Michigan. (We lost Tom Gatewood’s grandson to Harbaugh?!? FIRE KELLY!!!)
Toneil? Really? Since “ei” in Japanese is pronounced like the letter A (“ay”), I can’t shake the idea that someone named their kid “toenail.”
Also, too bad we couldn’t get Alaric Williams. I like the idea of a RB named Alaric rampaging through the Trojans like a Visigothic king sacking the Romans. Be better if he was a DE.
I seem to remember Alaric having interest in ND early on, but nothing ever came of it.
Not sure, but I think I read somewhere that he would have had some work to do academically before being able to seriously consider ND.
He did have some very early interest, but I think you’re right, he would’ve been a tough pull out of the South regardless and the added difficulty made it not worthwhile for him.
That said, I agree with KG, Alaric is a pretty cool running back name. Now, if we find a back named Menelaus…
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