Our last scholarship update occurred shortly after National Signing Day and while a recent decommit has awoken the Irish from a late spring period of quiet there was a lot of action in February to recap here today. As usual, the numbers are tight but the roster has seen some recent attrition opening up a tiny bit of breathing room for more bodies in the future.
Out of Eligibility Following the 2017 Season:
TE Tyler Luatua
TE Durham Smythe
OL Mike McGlinchey
OL Hunter Bivin
DE Andrew Trumbetti
DT Daniel Cage
LB Nyles Morgan
LB Greer Martini
McGlinchey and Morgan are set in stone as starters while Smythe, Cage, and Martini are either full starters in their own right or co-starters at worst. You could say Trumbetti might be a co-starter but he just spent an odd spring as an under-sized strong-side end and all indications are that new DC Mike Elko prefers Jay Hayes there as the starter.
Bivin and Luatua are unlikely to play at all in 2017, barring garbage minutes late in games.
2018-19 Academic Classes:
11 Verbal Commits
21 Sophomores
22 Juniors
21 Seniors
12 Grad Students
87 Scholarships
Over the last two months we’ve seen the commitment of the following 2018 recruits: corner Kalon Gervin, safety Derrik Allen, offensive tackle Cole Mabry, wide receiver Micah Jones, wide receiver Braden Lenzy, and offensive tackle John Dirksen.
Over the weekend Gervin officially left Notre Dame’s class as the Irish strike out again with a Cass Tech player.
The Irish also lost safety Spencer Perry in early April to transfer but picked up Michigan graduate transfer receiver Freddy Canteen in mid-February. The latter will have 2 years of eligibility remaining, although we’ll continue to refer to him as a grad student in 2017.
List of Eligible 2018 Grad Students:
Tier 1
OG Quenton Nelson
C Sam Mustipher
OG Alex Bars
S Drue Tranquill
DT Jonathan Bonner
CB Nick Watkins
DE Jay Hayes
P Tyler Newsome
Tier 2
TE Nic Weishar
WR Freddy Canteen
Tier 3
DT Pete Mokwuah
OG Jimmy Byrne
The long spring practice weeks didn’t feature much movement with our grad projections for 2018. Tranquill and Watkins went from guys who might be co-starters to very likely playing top minutes at their respective positions. We’ve also moved up Jay Hayes from Tier 2 as he spent the majority of the spring as the starter at strong-side defensive end.
Weishar truly is a borderline player but I’d lean toward a return because Smythe is done after this fall and you never know if Mack will jump early to the NFL. I have no idea what will happen with Canteen. He’s unlikely to even be on the two-deep and it’s not very common for football players to stick around for two years of graduate school. I wouldn’t bet against him moving on from South Bend after 2017.
***
The Roster
QUARTERBACK
Roster (3): Wimbush r-SO, Book r-FR, Davis FR
Commits (1): Jurkovec
RUNNING BACK
Roster (5): Adams JR, Williams JR, Jones r-FR, McIntosh r-FR, Holmes FR
Commits (1): Stepp
WIDE RECEIVER
Roster (10): St. Brown JR, Stepherson, SO, Sanders JR, Boykin r-SO, Finke r-SO, Claypool SO, McKinley SO, Young FR, Armstrong FR, Canteen r-JR
Commits (2): Jones, Lenzy
TIGHT END
Roster (6): Smythe r-SR, Mack r-SO, Weishar r-JR, Luatua SR, Wright FR, Kmet FR
Commits (0)
OFFENSIVE TACKLES
Roster (6): McGlinchey r-SR, Kraemer r-FR, Eichenberg r-FR, Bivin r-SR, Hainsey FR, Lugg FR
Commits (2): Mabry, Dirksen
INTERIOR OFFENSIVE LINEMEN
Roster (9): Nelson r-JR, Mustipher r-JR, Bars, JR, Hoge r-SO, Banks FR, Byrne r-JR, Ruhland r-SO, Boudreaux r-FR, Gibbons, FR
Commits (0)
STRONG-SIDE DEFENSIVE END
Roster (4): J. Hayes r-JR, Trumbetti, SR, Kareem SO, Ogundeji r-FR
Commits (0)
WEAK-SIDE DEFENSIVE END
Roster (4): D. Hayes SO, Okwara SO, MacCollister FR, Wardlow FR
Commits (0)
DEFENSIVE TACKLE
Roster (10): Cage, SR, Tillery JR, Bonner r-JR, Taylor r-SO, Dew-Treadway r-SO, Mokwuah r-JR, Tiassum r-SO, Ewell FR, Tagovailoa-Amosa FR, Hinish FR
Commits (1): Ja. Ademilola
BUCKÂ LINEBACKER
Roster (4): Martini SR, Coney, JR, Barajas r-SO, White FR
Commits (1): Bauer
MIKE LINEBACKER
Roster (4): Morgan SR, Jon. Jones r-FR, Jam. Jones, SO, Adams FR
Commits (1): Ju. Ademilola
ROVER
Roster (3): Tranquill, r-JR, Bilal r-SO, Owusu-Koramoah FR
Commits (1): Oghoufo
CORNERBACK
Roster (6): Watkins r-JR, Love SO, Crawford r-SO, Pride SO, Vaughn SO, White r-SO
Commits (0)
SAFETY
Roster (7): Coleman, JR, Elliott SO, Studstill SO, Robertson FR, Fertitta JR, Morgan r-FR, Genmark Heath FR
Commits (1): Allen
SPECIAL TEAMS
Roster (4): Newsome r-JR, Yoon JR, Shannon r-FR, Doerer FR
Commits (0)
***
2018 Cycle Roster Needs
First, a quick recap of position changes from the spring that may or may not be long-term:
McIntosh (WR to RB): With the injury to freshman C.J. Holmes this could be for all of 2017.
Bars (OT to OG): The Irish moved him from the start of spring and there he shall stay.
Banks (OT to OG): Expected by many as an incoming freshman.
Hainsey (OG to OT): Not as expected, he impressed at left tackle this spring.
Trumbetti (WDE to SDE): As mentioned above, a bit of a weird move to say the least.
Bonner (SDE to DT): Always felt like a more comfortable spot for Jonathan.
Jamir Jones (SAM to MIKE): Moves from BVG’s defunct linebacker spot to the middle.
Barajas (MIKE to BUCK): Perhaps not permanent but he was moved for more than half the spring.
Tranquill (S to ROVER): He may play both positions but solidified himself as the #1 Rover in spring.
Coleman (CB to S): Way under-sized as a safety but for spring it worked out quite well.
Now, back to the needs for the 2018 cycle. It feels like a broken record around here because I can’t remember a time when we weren’t stressing the need for corners and weak-side ends. Does anyone really care about the depth and distribution of talent on offense anymore? This late-stage Kelly era has really been all about getting things back on track for recruiting defense and it’s been quite the long wandering in the dark in recent years.
I’m all about roster balance yet looking above there’s absolutely nothing to worry about with the offense. Linebacker looks okay, as well. There are bodies at defensive tackle but a grading of the incoming freshmen could affect what the future at that position looks like and how much talent needs to come in for 2018.
Much help is needed at both defensive end positions and the entire secondary. We’ll probably get a couple more offensive line commits soon (he said sarcastically).
It would seem that Bonner might be Tier 2 also like Weisar.
Could be, maybe based on the health and ability of Cage this year.
These past couple have days have confirmed for me that nothing good comes out of Detroit.
That defensive r-SO group is… not great, Bob. To be fair, most of them haven’t had a chance yet, though. Hopefully some of them step up this year.
Why are we so bad are recruiting DBs, ugh. I get the Cass Tech kid decommitting, cause Cass Tech, but why isn’t there any interest?
That’s a very good question. I’ve gone on record here multiple times with why I think last year’s recruiting situation at CB was understandable – the staff had three commitments in Adebo, who told them repeatedly that he was solid, Hicks, who told them he was solid while quietly planning to enroll early at Cal, and Graham, who was a silent commit and even signed his grand-in-aid paperwork on Kelly’s in-home visit. All those guys decommitted weeks before signing day and during the dead period on top of it. It was literally the worst possible situation.
So, we get it for the 2017 cycle. But why isn’t there more interest in the 2017 cycle? I don’t know. There are some legit prospects interested – four-star Indiana CB DJ Johnson and four-star WA CB Kyler Gordon are probably the warmest right now – but there’s still less buzz than you would think. The staff has been telling guys they’ll have a shot at early playing time but maybe they don’t believe it for some reason. And then, of course, there’s that whole 4-8 thing… I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an uptick in interest from some blue-chip CB prospects with a fast start to the season, but until then, yeah, it’s puzzling.
Scorching hot take…
Lyght doesn’t seem to have much of a personality and looks more like he was pulled out of a math department somewhere instead of a former star college and NFL player.
Not a great combo to be that way and be such a green coach on the field.
I don’t want to hate on Todd but I kinda buy this.
Yeah, wouldn’t totally surprise me, and is starting to look like it might be the case. Even watching the 30 sec clips of Denson on signing videos it is easy to see how he could be a dynamic recruiter. Lyght definitely gives off a more buttoned up professional vibe.
It was easy to think Lyght would be a great coach and recruiting given his player credentials, but how many good to great coaches are there out there who were actually good players? Not many I can think of. Not to say he can’t/won’t be good (or that he definitely isn’t currently).
From what I’ve read, Coach Todd Lyght is very different from Interviewee Todd Lyght. Much more fiery, engaging, etc. Now, that doesn’t mean he gets that across in the living rooms, of course, but… Tom Loy said something the other day about Lyght having a good personality and connecting well with recruits, but needs to better realize the importance of “grinding” on the trail (or something like that) to start really building some momentum.
Wasn’t saying Lyght is lazy, just that he’s still adjusting to what recruiting is and that there’s still the potential for improvement.
Interesting point. That is definitely a risk in hiring an older guy who is a newer coach. The grind on assistants on the trail is pretty insane. I can see an older guy not taking to it as quickly.
I was wondering if he is struggling with the notion that he needs to keep recruiting the young men after they commit. It’d be human nature to back off a bit and focus on the next guy.
DB might be a position where the personalities require showing extra love right up until signing day.
I’m a little surprised you feel Canteen will move on after ’17 — given his current lack of positional development and 2 years of remaining eligibility it would seem to me that both he and the staff would plan on him being in South Bend for ’18.
I don’t think he will per se, just wouldn’t bet against it.
Regarding Luatua, why do we think he won’t really play at all? I understand he’s not a pass-catching TE, but he was used extensively as an H-back in 2 TE sets against LSU and a few other games. With more emphasis on the run and more 2 TE sets, why wouldn’t we put a strong blocking TE on the field? Is it because it would make it too obvious that we’re running since he’s not a receiving option?
Regarding your last question: I don’t think Kelly is afraid of telegraphing the run, i.e. I have vivid memories of watching a motioning Daniel Smith in Notre Dame stadium
If I recall correctly, Luatua played ~100 snaps in 2014 and just under 200 snaps in 2015 before bottoming out to less than 40 this past fall.
If the offense truly utilized an H-back in 2017 he could play 300 snaps or more. I just don’t think he’s valued enough or dynamic enough to garner that many snaps. He’s 4th string at best and that’s not great for a senior.