The Future of ND Football

Meyer wasn't available when Kelly was hired. He was playing his "I'm retired, no I'm taking a few months off, no I'm coming back..." deal.

 

And LSU. And USC. And Michigan. And Stanford. And everyone else.

This meme is tired. There are multiple recruiting sites now ranking players. Their credibility is their lifeblood. It is not 1984 anymore, with a 25-year-old Tom Lemming pumping out mimeographed newsletters from his basement.

Why don't Notre Dame's recruits live up to their hype? One reason is that a lot of recruits don't live up to their hype, no matter the school. Just the nature of the game. Same way with high draft picks in the pros. But I can tell you for sure that recruits don't get a boost in the recruiting rankings after they commit to Notre Dame. Some of them drop.

 

These days? I would agree with that. I think there was a period, probably when Davie was there, when there were some players whose stock went up when it was reported that Notre Dame was interested.

 

Dick, for someone who isn't a fanboi, you sure take Notre Dame criticism personally.

 

I'm talking now, with recruiting covered the way it is.

Thing about when Davie was there is that the players usually did live up to the hype. But not until they were out of Notre Dame and in the NFL.

 

I couldn't care less if you criticize Notre Dame. But I do care when it's a tired, inaccurate assertion. Get your facts right. Same with the person who advanced the, "Notre Dame players don't get arrested, but Ohio State players do" garbage above.

 

This would be more in the range of opinions than facts. In my opinion, players -- such as Dayne Crist and any of the slow stiffs out there on defense -- get a rankings boost because Notre Dame is interested in them. Your opinion is that something magical happens where they lose all their size and speed once the plane enters Indiana airspace.

Based on the annual rankings that come out every year and the evidence presented every Saturday, I'm leaning toward my opinion being right.

 

Something magical = Poor coaching.

Also, I think the team recruiting rankings are somewhat flawed. They don't account, for example, for balance on offense and defense, or needs. Look at Notre Dame's team right now. The two best players - Michael Floyd and Manti T'eo - were both heavily recruited, five-star kids. Both have lived up to it. The tight end from last year, Kyle Rudolph, was the top tight end in the country coming out of high school. He lived up to it. No one could have lived up to Clausen's billing, but if he hadn't been a raging a-hole, he'd have been a first-round pick.

Notre Dame's skill kids the last few years have largely lived up to their recruiting laurels. The problem, again, is the way the team rankings are done. In all honestly, Notre Dame hasn't landed many of the top 10-20 prospects in the country, the game-changing playmakers. They feast on the guys in the bottom half of the Top 100. What you are seeing is what happens.

 

Irish Sports Report, August 24, 2011:

http://www.irishsportsreport.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110824/FOOTBALL/110829986

Four recruiting cycles ago, CBS Sports Network recruiting analyst Tom Lemming rated Crist as the nation's eighth-best college-bound football player regardless of position. The only quarterback higher on the list was the nation's No. 1 overall prospect, Ohio State recruit Terrelle Pryor.

Stanford's Andrew Luck, projected to be the NFL's top draft pick next April, was 20 spots below Crist. Crist, incidentally, was ND's highest-rated player in a bumper recruiting crop that included wide receiver Michael Floyd (13), tight end Kyle Rudolph (19) and outside linebacker Darius Fleming (31).

Two other QBs in that class earned five-star ratings from Lemming — E.J. Manuel of Florida State and Blaine Gabbert, formerly of Missouri and now with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“Coming out of high school, Dayne Crist was considered the equal to Andrew Luck,” Lemming said. “In fact, early in the recruiting process, (former ND coach) Charlie Weis identified Crist as the guy he wanted over Luck and others — not that Luck necessarily would have come to Notre Dame."



This is exactly what I'm saying. At least in Tom Lemming's world, Charlie Weis identified Dayne Crist as the best quarterback out there. That led Lemming to rank Crist 20 spots ahead of luck and also ahead of another guy who, three years later, was a first-round NFL draft pick.

 

In 2006, Rivals.com ranked Mitch Mustain as the No. 10 prospect in the country overall. It ranked Jake Locker 68th, 58 spots behind. Mitch Mustain was 58 spots ahead of a future first-round pick.

Oh, wait. Mustain must have benefited from the well-known Arkansas bump.

 

In past few years team speed-- specially on D has been ND's downfall. They seem to get the plodders of the top tier recruits.

 

I think that defensive recruiting as a whole has been their downfall, from the front four to the secondary and everywhere in between.