It’s almost November already and the Irish are ready for another Top 15 showdown at Notre Dame Stadium tomorrow afternoon. Before we enjoy the festivities of gameday, let’s take a quick look at the 2018 Offensive Big Board and catch up on some recruiting.
| 247C | Pos | Name | Temp |
| .9952 | OG | Jamaree Salyer | Cold |
| .9114 | OG | Sam Taimani | Mild |
| .8884 | OG | Chris Murray | Cool |
| .9947 | OT | Jackson Carman | Cold |
| .9761 | OT | Nick Petit-Frere | Mild |
| .9725 | OT | Penei Sewell | Cold |
| .9505 | OT | Rasheed Walker | Cold |
| .8992 | TE | Leonard Taylor | Cold |
| .8630 | TE | Tommy Tremble | Mild+ |
| .9940 | WR | Amon-Ra St. Brown | Mild |
| .9878 | WR | Devon Williams | Cold |
| .9852 | WR | Jalen Hall | Cold |
| .9749 | WR | Justyn Ross | Cold |
| .9685 | WR | Kamryn Babb | Cool |
| .9634 | WR | Jaylen Waddle | Cold |
| .9619 | WR | Justin Watkins | Cold |
| .9523 | WR | Chase Cota | Mild |
| .9294 | WR | Isaah Crocker | Cold |
| .9280 | WR | Anthony Schwartz | Cold |
| .9268 | WR | Tommy Bush | Cold |
| .9139 | WR | Lawrence Keys | Mild |
| .8807 | WR | Kobe Smith | Cool |
| .8690 | WR | Geordon Porter | Mild+ |
| .8646 | WR | Jermaine Eskridge | Cold |
Notes
With Phil Jurkovec, Markese Stepp, and Jahmir Smith all committed, the Irish are shut down at QB and RB and have been for a while.
Jamaree Salyer has eliminated Notre Dame since our last Big Board update and should end up at either Georgia or Clemson.
Nicholas Petit-Frere visited for the USC game on October 21st. Although he keeps his recruitment tight to the vest, Notre Dame is securely in his top three right now. Florida will be a major player down the stretch, and likely the biggest drawback of Notre Dame is the distance from home. Petit-Frere does not seem to be nearing a decision, but the ND staff feels cautiously optimistic about landing the freakishly athletic lineman closer to Signing Day.
Cade Mays is a new, big-time name to add to the watch list. The 5-start OL has been committed to Tennessee for over two years, but he is rumored to be looking around and potentially setting up visits to others schools, including Notre Dame. The ND staff is working hard to get him on campus, specifically for a late game or the December banquet.
Chris Murray was another visitor for the USC game and left the visit with lots of great things to say about the Irish. However, just a couple days later he quickly trended back to Stanford and it appears he will be staying on the West Coast.
Tommy Tremble is still a Notre Dame lean after a highly successful official visit for the USC game. UCLA and Georgia remain in the picture, but as of now it’d be a surprise to see him somewhere other than Notre Dame.
Amon-Ra St. Brown visited for the USC game and had a terrific time. He stayed with his older brother, saw a blowout against USC, and had the chance to sit down with academic advisor Adam Sargent. By all accounts, Notre Dame has pulled even with USC at the very least. St. Brown still expects to announce at the Army All-American game on Saturday, January 6th.
Lawrence Keys is another name that is heating up at the wide receiver position. He recently announced that he will be taking his official visit on November 18th for the Navy game, and has also stated that Notre Dame is his top school. After St. Brown, Keys may be the staff’s top WR target left on the board.
Geordon Porter is announcing his decision in just a few short days on November 1st, and he will likely either land at Notre Dame or Arizona State. Utah rounds out his top three.
“Cade Mays is a new, big-time name to add to the watch list.”
Is not on the watch list.
Doesn’t have an official offer yet. He will certainly get one if he finds his way to South Bend for a visit, but our Big Board list only shows guys with official offers. Regardless, though, he’s a name to know going forward and could just as well be included in the table.
So, recruiting-wise, we should just cheer for a continued Tennessee implosion, basically?
A Tennessee implosion is fun on many levels. We’re also hoping to flip Alontae Taylor, a Tennessee commit who would play CB at Notre Dame. 4-star kid who is taking an official this weekend. Keep Butch Jones around as long as possible!
Penei Sewell…
Why does that name sound dirty?
Because you can get that for only 150 baht in Thailand?
Great update, Jaden. I hope this isn’t a total hijack of your post, but question for you and/or Brendan or anyone else who might know…
I haven’t heard much about the new early sign period, but I came across this article yesterday in the Pittsburgh paper. Below are Narduzzi’s comments about verbal commits…While sounding harsh, is this going to be the standard across the scope of most/all teams? Do we know anything about ND’s expectation or demand that any and all verbals use the early sign period…”or else”?
http://triblive.com/sports/college/pitt/12880261-74/pitt-football-notebook-pat-narduzzi-not-happy-with-leadership-on-team
“They know when they’re signing,” he said. “The expectations are (they will sign in December).
“If a guy’s starting to go, ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ guess what? I’m shopping for a new player.
“Our guys are going to sign on the 20th. If they don’t sign on the 20th, then I’m assuming they’re not signing with us until the next one (in February). But we’re going to be looking for new players, too.
“I don’t understand why we’re going to sign a kid (a few) days before Christmas. It just makes no sense.”
I don’t know if there has been much talk about the early signing period lately regarding Notre Dame, and I haven’t personally seen Brian Kelly be asked about it at all within the last couple months. If I had to guess, I would imagine Brian Kelly would try to spin it as a positive rather than come off so harsh/defensive like Narduzzi.
Overall I don’t think it will be a bad thing for a school like Notre Dame. This year, for example, I think it’ll give Notre Dame the chance to secure their current class early and then fish for a few more blue-chippers to round out the class.
For a team that’s struggling like Pitt, there is probably a larger concern that their top commits will jump ship if they don’t commit to signing early, and Narduzzi is trying to draw the line in the sand. It would’ve been really interesting to see how ND’s class last year would’ve shaken out if there was an early signing period in place. Maybe Paulson Adebo and Elijah Hicks would be around. But we also maybe wouldn’t have had the chance to flip Wardlow or Genmark Heath.
It seems like overall it might be worse for the bigger programs, particularly those with less scruples that are happy to drop kids if something better comes along (note: I don’t judge. I’d be fine with ND moving a bit more in that direction.).
By way of example, and assuming the recruiting rankings are the same as the ND coaches’ preference – which of course may not be true – let’s, totally hypothetically, say a mid-3-star receiver commits at the beginning of November. We’d then have 3 WR commits, at which point there would be two WRs still on our board, both of whom the coaches prefer more than two of the current commits. We don’t have a ton of room in the class, and in an ideally balanced class would only sign 3 WRs. What do you do in December, assuming the other, preferred WRs are waiting until the second signing day? Tell the two WR commits to wait until February to sign (at which point you lose their trust to some degree, because your offer was, in actuality, contingent)? Or sign the commits and drop your preferred targets, even if one is a top-10 recruit?
Point being: the tip top schools could have it both ways with only one signing day, and now they’ll be forced into some awkward situations. I think this is one reason why Saban does not like the early signing period.
I’m sure he won’t like it, but who the h*ck knows what kind of sorcery he’ll have going on. Being as he got a 5* to walk on last year, I’m pretty sure Saban’s just playing on a different plane than the rest of the NCAA.
It would be interesting for some of the situations like you say, if you’re ND would you tell a S or WR “ehh, sign with us in Feb”? That might raise warning flags but I would think that at some level both player and teams understand that both sides are dancing the dance as a nature of big-time recruitment. This is just a new type of dance and some wrinkles that no one has done before with the new early signing period.
And, at least it’s new to everyone, so all the coaches and programs will be learning how to adjust as they go.
I don’t understand why the early signing period is Dec 20th. Isn’t like half the time between then and signing day a dead period anyway?
I think they should have one in mid August.
I’m guessing it’s either a trial run, or the earliest they feel they can push it without kids being locked in before coaching changes start. I’d be OK with moving it to August if the kids get to back out if the coach leaves the school, but then that creates a whole host of logisitical challenges. So it might end up staying there.
I believe the dead period is the last week of December and the first week of January, and then there are 3-4 weeks until everything goes dead again for signing day.
I think Narduzzi is an idiot if he actually follows through on the threat. It’s probably just grandstanding – if not he’s shooting himself in the foot with a bazooka. Cover your bases if a guy doesn’t sign on Dec. 20th? Sure, that’s reasonable. Dump him if he doesn’t sign then? That’s suicidal, especially at second-tier program that’s going to have trouble getting decent prospects to pay attention late in the cycle.
ND would like kids to sign early, of course, but they don’t expect everyone to do so. I know Austin is signing early, pretty sure Jurkovec, Stepp, and Jones are too. I’m not sure how many others. A few guys will be early-entry too; Jack Lamb definitely, and I want to say Mabry, maybe? I’m pretty sure I’ve read comments from Kelly about the early signing day that have generally been positive – let the kids put the stress of it behind them, etc. Which seems a pretty reasonable stance to take, but then we have less of a risk of guys getting poached than Pitt does.
It seems to me like we get poached every year. Yes we poach others in turn, but I can think of several names that changed later in the year. I used to get upset about it, but I now realize that every kid picks their school based on their individual reasons and circumstances. I thought the point about coaches leaving and kids getting stuck was relevant.
” Although he keeps his recruitment tight to the vest, Notre Dame is securely in his top three right now. Florida will be a major player down the stretch,”
That place is toxic right now, and I’m not sure McElwain lasts the week.
Right you are.