Except in the very rare instances of kids extending their decisions (Demetris Robertson last year, remember?) or others with some academic issues the 2017 recruiting cycle wraps up today. For Notre Dame, who isn’t expecting any of the above issues, it will definitely be a day to finish a cycle full of plenty of peaks and valleys.
The Irish come in to today with 18 commits, 5 of whom have already signed their scholarship papers and are taking classes on campus as early enrollees. As the recruits sign we’ll update this table.
Notre Dame 2017 Commits
| Score | Name | State | Position | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .905 | Avery Davis | TX | QB | Signed |
| .903 | C.J. Holmes | CT | RB | Signed-EE |
| .870 | Michael Young | LA | WR | Signed |
| .870 | Jafar Armstrong | KS | WR | Signed |
| .966 | Brock Wright | TX | TE | Signed-EE |
| .958 | Cole Kmet | IL | TE | Signed |
| .960 | Robert Hainsey | FL | OL | Signed-EE |
| .925 | Aaron Banks | CA | OL | Signed-EE |
| .941 | Josh Lugg | PA | OL | Signed |
| .884 | Dillan Gibbons | FL | OL | Signed |
| .932 | Darnell Ewell | VA | DT | Signed |
| .867 | Kurt Hinish | PA | DT | Signed |
| .845 | Jonathon MacCollister | FL | DE | Signed |
| .908 | David Adams | PA | LB | Signed |
| .845 | Drew White | FL | LB | Signed |
| .899 | Isaiah Robertson | IL | S | Signed-EE |
| .865 | Jordan Genmark Heath | CA | S | Signed |
| .790 | Jonathan Doerer | NC | K | Signed |
Notre Dame is also looking to sign several additional recruits today. If they are currently committed to another school it is listed in their status on the right.
Remaining Targets
| Score | Name | State | Position | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .872 | Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah | VA | ATH | Signed-ND |
| .843 | Kofi Wardlow | DC | DE | Signed-ND |
| .871 | Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa | HI | DE | Signed-ND |
| .893 | Russ Yeast | IN | CB | Signed-L’Ville |
We also have a collection of top recruits who will be making their college choice today, as follows with crystal ball leaders in parentheses and announcement schedule if public:
Top 100 Recruits Yet to Sign
DT Marvin Wilson (LSU) 4:00 PM ET, ESPN2
DT Aubrey Solomon (Michigan) 10:00 AM ET, ESPN
DE LaBryan Ray (Alabama) 12:00 PM ET
WR Joseph Lewis (USC) 4:00 PM ET, ESPN2
OT Austin Jackson (USC)
DE K’Lavon Chaisson (Texas) 12:00 PM ET
WR Jeff Thomas (Miami) 10:00 AM ET, ESPN
DT Jay Tufele (Utah) 1:00 PM ET
WR Devonta Smith (Alabama)
CB Deommodore Lenoir (Oregon)
OG Tedarrell Slaton (Florida)
OLB Willie Gay (LSU)
WR Henry Ruggs (Alabama)
S Todd Harris (LSU) 10:00 AM ET, ESPN
OLB Levi Jones (Florida State) 8:00 AM ET, ESPN
DE Jarez Parks (Alabama)
DT Phidarian Mathis (LSU)
Happy National Signing Day, everyone.
10 years later, the nation’s top football recruits are celebrities, coaches, cops, car salesmen and convicts. https://t.co/ooBMVvl0vL
— Rick Maese (@RickMaese) January 30, 2017
Oof, Demetris Robertson. Having watched a number of Cal games last year, I feel confident in saying that was a big missed opportunity. He’s good. Last year alone, we might have won at least a couple of games more if he had been on the roster (though, to be fair, this applies to a lot of missed opportunities. Looking at you Max Redfield).
DE Jalen Harris stuck with Arizona earlier tonight so we are down to 4 players trying to flip or commit. See you in the morning!
Don’t forget Oliver Martin committed to Michigan and Evan Fields committed to Arizona State.
Don’t believe those two have been mentioned.
II podcast had Harris flipping. Too little, but mainly too late getting in on this kid. Add not identifying players (Yeast too) early enough to the 2016 mistakes list. ND didn’t give themselves enough time to form strong enough relationships with a few of these kids who were RKGs and definitely interested.
It’s almost like Brian VanGorder was terrible at every aspect of being a college DC
They identified Yeast as someone to monitor during his senior year, but backed off because they had Adebo (June), Graham (silent in September), and Hicks (October) in the fold. It’s a fine line to walk – you’re left holding the bag if those guys bail, but you risk alienating one or more of them if you continue to recruit the position. This year we got burned by all three decommitting late in the cycle, and during the dead period on top of it.
On the upside, we have five corners with at least some proven ability and multiple years of eligibility left – Crawford, Watkins, Vaughn, Pride, and Love (Coleman and White will get a look at safety, if you’re curious). As long as we get a few good guys in the 2018 cycle, we should be fine.
Happy NSD! My teachers very inconsiderately gave me a test for today and Thursday.
Here’s to going 4/4 today! Cheers to the most exciting day of winter.
Looks like MTA has his signing day ceremony at 11 am ET
Wardlow and Owusu at 2 pm ET
Not sure about Yeast
Looks like Lugg is the first to send in his LOI
Lugg, Gibbons, MaCollister, and White the first to sign.
Ewell has signed. By God, we signed someone from Hampton Roads!
Let’s make it two today…
Hainsey signed.
Kmet is in, just 6 commits left to sign before 8:30 ET.
Not that they all have to be in before 8:30.
YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT.
Eric, I have no idea what you meant and you are freaking me out… 6:26 a.m. here… too early to start drinking?
We went 4-8, did you stop drinking??
Hey I’m Irish Irish… not a drinking problem but rather a stopping problem. Eric you’re killing me today… first Demetris Robertson, then the 4-8 “bad dream”. If you tell me we aren’t getting Robert Beal I will go off the deep-end! All kidding aside, I’m pretty pleased with this class (all things considered) and particularly grateful to the guys that committed early and came through. Cheers!
Young in the fold.
Jafar has signed.
When should we expect the four “unknown” recruits to decide/select their schools? Are they East Coast, West Coast, Midwest?
See Ty’s comment above 😀
Avery Davis has signed.
Davis is in.
Russ Yeast is going to Louisville. That’s a bite.
That’s a bummer.
Notre Dame: Where Secondary Comes Second
When should we expect the four “unknown” recruits to decide/select their schools? Are they East Coast, West Coast, Midwest?
Sorry, just saw Tyler’s post.
Hinish has signed.
Jon Doerer’s LOI is in.
16 out of 17 by 9 am seems pretty good. C’mon Adams.
16 of 18 actually. Just noticed JGH isn’t on the commit list.
Edit: Added him in
Seems like it’s probably worth a scholarship for a kickoff specialist at this point, no? We never get to 85; might as well get a backup kicker instead of another scholarship walk-on.
Yoon may not be healthy this year, too. Scuttlebutt is he had knee tendinitis last seasonand recently had surgery
Come on, Adams. Get with the program. Literally.
Is it his signing arm that’s injured?
Well Hawaii’s a five hour time difference, so we’ll be waiting a while for Tagovailoa-Amosa
Edit: Now I’m just imagining the ways that Tom Hammond would butcher his last name
Hammond wouldn’t have any problem, considering he’d probably identify Tagovailoa-Amosa as “Joe Schmidt.”
If Hammond is doing it, than that means you have a time machine. He left the booth sometime ago and was replaced by Hicks.
I know (thank the lord), but I still can’t get his horrifyingly giant head out of my mind
Tom Hammond jokes are evergreen.
He still does the rare guest appearance every few years when Hicks has to call international basket weaving in Peru or something.
Levi Jones to USC.
Do most verbals sign this early in the morning? I’ve not traditionally watched signees roll in, more of an update me at the end of the day approach, but [way back when] in high school all the guys signed together (going to different schools) around lunch time — I’m thinking during lunch time so they didn’t miss class.
Last few years yes for everyone east of Texas.
Also helps most aren’t faxing anymore.
Adams is in now, just waiting on JGH out west.
I have to say, I take an unreasonable amount of pleasure in seeing that despite wildly divergent seasons, ND is ranked ahead of Penn State in the rankings.
There was also an article in the Pittsburgh paper yesterday about how Pitt is signing more Floridians than Western Pennsylvanians, quite unusual given generally how strong the local talent pool is for them most years. PSU isn’t doing too much better, though they did get 2 of the top 3 this year..ND, Michigan and tOSU are pillaging Western PA these days it seems like (Notre Dame taking 3 of the top 7 in Lugg, Hinish and Adams), with Jurkovec in the works too.
Speaking of not staying local, I saw a tweet that Texas is at real risk for the first time ever of not signing any of the top 10 recruits from Texas. Tom Herman’s got quite the uphill battle ahead of himself.
Also, this is going to be hard to top for the most amusing story of the day – http://www.sbnation.com/college-football-recruiting/2017/2/1/14470660/cordarrian-richardson-rb-maryland-commits-outer-space
As an atmospheric scientist, I heartily approve of this video.
I think Jamire Calvin flipping for the second time in less than a week would be pretty amusing. He was originally committed to Oregon State in a super uncomfortable-looking Army Game announcement, then flipped to Nebraska this weekend, and now there’s smoke he may flip to Washington State.
Here’s one for amusing…
How did Colorado not make it a priority to get this guy on their squad?
Also, can we get KG to weigh in on whether this guy can legally call himself “Kobe” if he wasn’t born in Hyōgo Prefecture, even if his Marbling ratio is at a level 6 and above?!? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_beef)
I’m not sure you could get a bison to stay in an enclosed stall for the full Kobe treatment.
(Also, Matsuzaka beef is better)
Unfortunately, I hear that Matsuzaka Beef wasn’t an option for ND this recruiting cycle.
He took two years of Japanese Sign Language in high school instead of the required foreign language credits.
Genmark Heath has signed.
Everyone is on board from the commits.
Todd Harris to LSU as expected.
Willie Gay to…Miss State. 💰?
Are you confusing State with Ole Miss?
Haha, no. I just saw that Gay is from Starkville so his signing makes more sense.
ISD now reporting that MTA is announcing at 12 ET
Jonathon MacCollister’s teammate, WDE, Donovan Winter, is not signing with MSU today. Reports suggest he may have left High School. When contacted, his coach said “it’s a long story” but wouldn’t get into it.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/florida-recruiting/blog/os-donovan-winter-not-signing-with-michigan-state-today-20170201-story.html
Not sure what to make of this?
He was arrested Monday night. Charged with burglary and larceny of a firearm. Still in jail.
So what you are saying is “Not the RKG” and I can put the tinfoil away? Sad that a kid with a future would pi$$ it all way. Cheers Tyler!
He’s being recruited by MSU. I’m sure the moment he’s out of prison, they’ll call him up and renew his scholarship offer for next year’s class.
Maybe in previous regimes, but not Dantonio.
I wonder whatever happened to Jayru Campbell…
Last year this exact same situation happened. Auston Robertson was arrested last January for assaulting a female classmate. MSU still signed him a month or so later, after he plead guilty. So yes, Dantonio.
Campbell was doing okay as an athlete/QB-type player in junior college somewhere not too far outside the midwest, last I checked.
Spoiler alert – https://twitter.com/SLKalani/status/826817982739255297
Maybe nothing, but hopefully a good sign!
Jeff Thomas to Miami. He will be annoying to play against.
Playing against him for ND will likely have to be in a bowl game (or if he takes a Mormon mission and has 2 additional RS years), as I do not show Miami on ND’s schedule until 2024?
Don’t we play them in 2017?
Even if we don’t, we have to play each ACC team at least once every three years.
ND gets a local kid as a preferred walk-on.
Cameron Ekanayake — S/LB — Edwardsburg, MI
I actually know this kid from the one season I coached JV football at Edwardsburg. Great kid. Exactly the kind of person you’d want at ND.
https://twitter.com/EddiesAthletics/status/826818727635197952
Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa commits to ND!
Nice late add-on! Can never have too many d-linemen..
Possible dumb question but am I right to assume the Polian factor was important on this one?
(Also thoughts and prayers for the bloggers learning to spell “Tagovailoa-Amosa” for the next 4-5 years).
I’m about 90% sure that Polian is the only reason we had a shot at landing him. He did an excellent job going back and forth between Indiana and Hawaii and securing an OV.
Also helps that USC didn’t have room for him.
“Ugh, I guess I’ll spend most of my January in Hawaii instead of Indiana.”
Thanks, Coach Polian. You’re a real trooper.
I know we talk every year of not having much space for next year’s class, but one thing I’ve realized is that this really depends on the 5th year players. That unless you have a historically small class as seniors (like 2012 class ended up being 12 players when they were seniors) that a lot of 5th year seniors would be the kind of thing that would entail a small freshmen class. We’ve had 3 the last 2 years and 7 the year before (with the historically small 2012 senior class), but with 11 potential 5th year guys we may have a slightly smaller class if we fill up this years class (or fill up as much as we can with 2 potential guys left I believe).
It does tend to work out as players decide to leave (e.g. McGovern leaving is a bit surprising considering he started a number of games) so contributors don’t always stick around and sometimes non-contributors leave.
What is the average 5th year players on Alabama/OSU/Clemson, etc? I know they have a ton of talent and so guys play early and leave early but I thought I read an article a few years ago analyzing the lineman with these teams and that often lineman were overwhelmingly older on these better teams – including a lot of seniors/5th year players.
I wonder if we have less 5th year players – not only due to do “needing” to play, even if they aren’t ready as freshmen – because our guys graduate and have the option to go elsewhere so we lose contributors and non-contributors? Or perhaps it is normal for a team to only have a few 5th year players and not all contributors?
Top 100 DE Jarez Parks was all set to commit to Bama this morning. That is, until Saban pulled his offer. Kid hasn’t made a decision yet. Said he was too emotional, doesn’t know where he will end up.
I know a school that needs help at DE.
Rumor now is that he might decide to greyshirt at Alabama. I don’t even know what to say about that, although most of what I would probably say couldn’t be repeated in polite company.
Being reported that he has accepted the greyshirt and will enroll next January. Good Lord, talk about turning the other cheek.
wow kids want to play that bad for Saban? He could probably go just about anywhere as a top 100 DE and play pretty quickly.
We would kill for that kind of guy every couple of years. And Saban gets to greyshirt him which means he doesn’t need/want him this year (too much talent).
Seriously what chance do we have?
Well we’re sitting above Clemson right now, so for what that’s worth (and I realize this is a tenuous non-argument I’m making) we have a chance.
That’s just based on the size of their class though. Out of 14 kids, they have 2 5 star, 9 4 star.
What is the logic behind pulling his offer? They only have 26 commits so far. With EEs they can easily fit a bunch more.
Top 100 players are uncouth. Bama wants Top 50 only.
Other fun fact, Bama would have a top 5 class with just their EE’s only.
You have a sick definition of “fun.”
Two late commits. 3/4 on the day. Likely to salvage a ~15ish class. Not too bad.
We are 10 right now in the composite. Kind of surprising as Rivals has us at 15, Scout at 13, 247 non-composite at 13, and ESPN usually hates our recruits but I refuse to go to their site.
Anyway. We are just ahead of aTm, da U, Stanford, UF, PSU, Clemson.
aTm and Stanford are further west, could see them getting a few more commits and jumping us. UF may be in on some Cali or Texas kids and they have one of the listed above who I am not sure has committed. da U is probably done. My buddy says Clemson is done, intentionally taking a small class. And I really doubt PSU is going to land anyone significant from the west coast. No more of the top players are leading for these guys (although they could land some) so they probably aren’t waiting to announce, as all schools are over on the east coast.
The teams below us on Rivals close enough in points to jump us are Maryland, USeC and Stanford. Maryland and USeC have 30 and 25 commits respectively, so are probably done. Stanford again could land someone, but in looking at their targets on 247, they only have 1 uncommited player above Cool, and he is a 2 star, so doubt that would move the needle. Same actually goes for aTm and interest for anyone ranked.
My guess is we end up at 11 in the composite and 15 on Rivals.
Stanford has 3 five stars. Barf.
Yeah, we’re currently sitting at 11th in the composite, with around the same overall score for this class as last year (which finished 15th with two more ‘croots). While this class can’t be described as great, it also cannot be described as a disaster. I wonder what next year’s class will be like – I bet kids will be in wait-and-see mode given that Kelly is probably on the hottest seat in the country.
I think it will depend on the season, mostly because kids will want to see if BK is going to be around on NSD 2018, but this staff has serious recruiting potential.
Just due to the BK uncertainty looming large until at least October, I feel like 7th-8th is about our ceiling, even with a 10 win season.
That said, Polian is an absolute stud, and is the kind of guy who can get you the 5 stars needed to finish top 5. Having a DC who cares about recruiting should be a pretty big difference as well. I assume a coordinator has like a 1.5 factor in recruiting. We will probably lose something from Sanford and Denbrock, but the gains from BVG -> Elko should make up for that.
If this staff stays together, I predict #4 2019 class. You heard it here first. And first is more important that right.
Which just makes a fast start to the season even more important. If we jumped out to a 5-1 start before the bye week that would go a long way to making recruits feel more comfortable that Kelly is staying (even if we probably have to start 6-0 to have a good chance to finish with 10 wins).
I’m excited about the recruiting ability of the staff and with Elko I’m hoping the D might – for once – play a little above its ability instead of always below it. Could turn into some really good things.
Koramoa and Wardlow commit to ND
Recap of the PWO’s?
Every once in awhile you get a Schmidt (the good Schmidt pre-injury) or a Finke!
The ones that I know of right now:
John Mahoney — S — 6’0″/200 pounds –Des Moines, IA
Colin Grunhard — OC/OG — 6’1″/275 pounds — Mission, KS
Cameron Ekanayake — S/LB — 6’2″/200 pounds — Edwardsburg, MI
Probably a couple more out there, though
Is it possible for ND to get the guy Bama screwed over and rejected by oversigning? I think he is a DE.
No. Saban “let him” sign on as a greyshirt
There is a bit more to that player’s story than what was widely reported.
And the SEC has put the brakes on over signing.
So what’s the rest of the story?
Rather than report third-hand what has been stated better by those who are closer to the situation, it would be better for anyone who is interested to search it out…I doubt it would be hard to find since that situation has been a great ‘talking point’ amongst those who follow Bama recruiting. In the end, if that player is willing to sacrifice a year just so he can play for Alabama, then I’m on his side and I hope that Bama lives up to his expectations. I’ve never rooted for any player to be a superstar as much as I am rooting for him.
I think much of the gripe is that he didn’t really know he was going to sacrifice a year until he was left with no option but to do so. Maybe hes just 100% Bama…or he had no other real choice by this point.
I did not seek out the outside information, so maybe he screwed the pooch and had to wait. But, on its face, the story did not really look like that.
Hmm, so you post a cryptic sentence claiming there is more to the story. Then, when asked to clarify, you post an even more cryptic paragraph and claim others can explain it better than you. Normally, when I take the time and effort to post something, I attempt to back it with my reasoning behind the statement. You didn’t even paste an article header we could look up.
rbn, respectfully, can you provide a link(s)? I did search and all I was able to find on ‘Bama sites was that (a) he should have made a hard commitment in December or (b), the position was over-loaded with talent and they could afford the hit of pulling his offer to wait out other prospects.
Regardless, he seems to want to play for the Tide and while disappointed, is willing to wait for an opportunity.
Pretty good finish to this class. Considering we were 4-8 and the majority of our coaching staff was replaced on the fly. Not to bad Brian Kelly.
All of this buzz about Maryland and Colorado from the NSD shows on ESPN. How about a little love for Notre Dame. I have not been this excited about the future of this program in a very long time. We FINALLY have multiple coaches who actually enjoy recruiting and have a passion for it. That hasn’t been the case of late. I can’t wait to see what this staff can do moving forward on the recruiting trail.
#tictoc. Proud of the Irish!
Anyone else think of this as Christmas morning? You take your brand new scooter out in the yard and you promptly see the spoiled kid next door with his new motorcycle. Come on! I was a good kid this year!
Even worse if you live next door to neighborhood bully Alabama (or OSU or Michigan or USC – but dang you live in a bad neighborhood) and those guys each got an entire fleet of new motorcycles when you got a scooter and an Irishopoly game.
I’m not knocking the young men who chose ND this cycle, some may turn out to be very good players. But the embarrassment of riches when Alabama has five 5* players and eighteen 4* players, and when OSU has six 5* players among a class of 18 and an average player rating of 95+. I mean, come on.
Yeah it is like Christmas morning. I agree with you. I actually agree with a lot of what you posted.
A little disappointing when you see your rival (U$C) and others bring in so much talent. The “you have to coach them up crowd” need to sit down and shut up. You want to play with the big boys, you need talent….Elite talent.
Some think we will never be able to recruit like Bama and OSU. I disagree. I think that’s a cop out. If Notre Dame can put premium product on the field. They can recruit with anybody and I mean anybody. You can’t have a 10+ win year every 4 or 5 seasons. You have to give these elite kids a reason to come to South Bend. The elite are not coming here to go 8-4.
I love this staff. Kelly brought in good recruiters which is great. He needs to have a bigger role in recruiting moving forward. He can’t sit back and be a CEO type head coach when it comes to recruiting. He has done that from day 1 and it’s led to marginal success compared to other blue bloods. I really hope he changes that. I think he can be a great recruiter.
On the other hand, that’s true of every school in the country. If Maryland started going 10+ wins they could get the elite players to come. The fact is it simply isn’t a level playing field. USC has things going for it that South Bend never will for example (USC practically rolls out of bed with a few 5* every year – why is that? – They actually haven’t been that great in the last 5-6 years — 2011 was the last year they had 10 wins in the regular season). Academics is a huge part of it too. Most of the elite kids want to go somewhere to focus on football and get to the league – it may not be the smartest move for all of them – but it is what it is – and ND is not that.
Can we compete with those schools? Certainly, but it’ll never quite be an even playing field and we have to do things a little bit better all around to keep up with them.
While that point is true overall, note that Stanford had the 4th highest average recruit ranking (which of course was helped by their taking a small class and, thus, being allowed to be selective. But, still, it’s Stanford). ND has had the #1 class within the last 10 years – http://247sports.com/Season/2008-Football/CompositeTeamRankings. The 2017 class was average-ish by ND standards (but above average given the circumstances, I grant), but ND can do better than this, and probably needs to if they want the program to be consistently one of the 10-15 best programs.
Hopefully ND is in baby steps mode. Put the right staff together, develop players and a scheme, put a great season together, and recruit a top five class for next year. I know that would just devestate the BK haters, but I would probably enjoy all of the crying and wailing too.
The key to all of this is Elko. If he can get the defense playing above its talent level like at Wake and be a top 30 type of defense (he was top 40 with the talent at wake right?) then we could be really good the next few years.
The other thing that worries me is the 2016 and this years class are both in the 40% range of 4 stars (2016 = 42% and 2017 = 48%) – well below the 60% threshold (not to mention the not enough of those are elite). It helps if we hit/develop a higher number of those players but then we would need to kill 2018, 2019, to make up for having lesser talent as juniors and seniors.
Gotta admit, I was really sad to miss the opportunity for this headline:
Yeast Infected with the Spirit of Notre Dame
well done
Any idea on who the grad transfer theyre recruiting is?
Kelly said its not an OL/DL/TE or LB. That leaves CB, Safety, WR, RB, QB.
Almost certainly not RB/QB, because we’re kind of set there. So really just WR or secondary…
I think a QB would be pretty welcome. He’d be a backup, but from our end it would be perfect. 1 year, so doesn’t totally turn off the young guys, but we wouldn’t be 1 snap away from Book in his second year.
@OH MY GOSH, THAT’S MALIK ZAIRE’S MUSIC!@
(Probably not)
But I wonder if it could be a QB, I don’t know who is out there but I can’t imagine there’s anyone decent looking for a grad transfer that would come in as a clear-cut backup in their last year of eligibility. There’s certainly no one good enough to even engage in an open competition with Wimbush, short of Zaire but he’s understandably moving.
I don’t disagree that adding a vet with experience to be a backup QB would be pretty ideal, just don’t see it actually happening.
I’m thinking it’ll be another secondary player, and probably move “Avery Sebastien blah” than “Cody Riggs contributor”, but willing to be happily surprised.
I heard the QB is already on campus actually. Rumors are floating around that his name is Tom, but I haven’t caught his last name.
Formerly known as Rommy Tees