Irish Musings
Recruiting results
September 06, 2004
Dear Fighting Irish fans,
The letters of intent are still
not in. Ryan Baker who made a verbal commitment to the Irish is
hedging. The guess is that he is hoping for Purdue to offer him a
scholarship. He is one of the premier tight ends in the country, hails
from Indianapolis. If he is unsure now, what tells us he will know his
heart a year from now. Even if he comes thru, will he be another
Olson?
We have scanned the boards and listened to the rumors and it is
consensus that this is the lowest rated class in the past twenty years----going
back to the Faust years!!!!
As the narrative below goes, it appears that
there is much more to the problem than our five and seven record. In fact,
the seeds for a poor class seem to have been planted PRIOR TO THE PAST
SEASON.
Here is hoping that the overall speed in this class will be
evident on the field and that the character of these guys will shine
through----many if not most seem to be outstanding off the field and an awful
lot of them seem to know why they have chosen the University of Notre
Dame.
Now, can the coaching staff develop them??
The link below
will take you to the Irish Today web page that is copied below.
Charlie
Kenny
http://www.irishtoday.com/irish_today_-_preview.htm
The following article appeared in the 2-5-04 issue of Irish
Today. Articles like this appear in the daily issues of Irish Today.
Recruiting Hits & Misses
by Travis
Donnelly
And just
like that, we're all done. The signatures have been signed, the faxes have come
in and, for some, the celebrating has begun.
It's hard to believe it's
been almost a full year since Rick Schutt and I first started talking to players
like Darius Walker, Dan Connor, Anthony Morelli and Allen Smith. So, this is how
it ends: 17 signees, two big needs filled, one huge need left unimproved and a
new class of Notre Dame football players in the books.
This class, as we
all know, does not by any stretch have the strength of last year's effort (or
even the last several years for that matter). A disappointing season on the
field, some surprise losses and too many doors that just didn't open all
contributed to where this class ended up. Despite what some Irish fans may
think, there are still some big positives coming out of this Signing Day for
Notre Dame.
What did the Irish do right?
TWO-FOR-THREE ON THE
BIG ONES
Irish Today earlier identified three "must get" recruits for
this class. They were running back Darius Walker, cornerback Terrail Lambert and
tackle Allen Smith. Each represented a necessary hole that needed to be filled
and needed to be filled right away. When the dust settled on this recruiting
effort, the Irish went two-for-three on these recruits.
Darius Walker and
Terrail Lambert each filled a need for the Irish at their respective positions.
Walker was the guy that Coach Willingham targeted early as the feature back he
wanted for the offense and he got his man. Same goes for Lambert, who could make
a mark right away in a secondary that needed more talent. Losing Allen Smith,
however, was nothing short of devastating.
ATHLETICISM ON THE
EDGES
Notre Dame made strides in this class as far as upgrading the
speed and athleticism of the team, especially along the edges of the defense and
at wide receiver.
At receiver, the Irish have good numbers, but still
needed a deep threat who could help stretch the field and complement Maurice
Stovall and Rhema McKnight. The Signing Day addition of Chris Vaughn should do
that.
On the defensive side, cornerback, outside linebacker and defensive
end each represented strong additions in this class. At cornerback, in addition
to Lambert, the Irish added Junior Jabbie, Leo Ferrine and Tregg Duerson. Each
adds depth and athleticism to the secondary and, maybe more importantly, each
prospect is coming in more polished as cornerbacks than the Irish have had
recently. I personally think Jabbie could be a standout at Notre Dame.
At
outside linebacker, Maruice Crum is a nice addition and Abdel Banda brings great
speed and monster potential to the outside of the unit. These two have
definitely added speed to the position, something that the Irish will certainly
take. And don't forget about Anthony Vernaglia, one of the top players in the
class, who could end up at either outside linebacker or strong
safety.
The defensive end haul in this class is similar to that of the
outside linebacker position. Ronald Talley is a strong addition with a great
attitude and Justin Brown brings long-term potential. Top to bottom, the edges
of the defense got better with this class.
DEPTH UNDER
CENTER
David Wolke and Darrin Bragg are not Brian Brohm and Anthony
Morelli, but the quarterback position at Notre Dame has essentially been in flux
since the days when Arnaz Battle was at the helm. From Matt LoVecchio's and
Chris Olsen's transfers to Jared Clark's and Carlyle Holiday's position
switches, there hasn't been much stability at the position in quite a while.
With Brady Quinn now entrenched as the starter, Wolke and Bragg should add
quality depth and long-term commitments to the quarterback position. The
recruiting effort also sets up the Irish to target one of those "big name" guys
next season.
While the Irish certainly did accomplish some things with
this recruiting class, there were still some areas that were disappointments.
Where, specifically, did they miss out?
TACKLE TROUBLE
CONTINUES
Four offensive linemen in two seasons. That is the current
tally for Coach Willingham and his staff. Offensive tackle was a huge need area
going in and, with this year's disappointment, will be even more important to
next year's recruiting effort. Allen Smith dealt the Irish a huge blow when he
snubbed them for Stanford last week. The Irish still signed two offensive
linemen to this class in Chauncey Incarnato and John Kadous.
Kadous may
be a better fit as a guard, leaving Incarnato as the only true offensive tackle.
It's not that Incarnato may not be a great right tackle, he very well may be.
The problem becomes that there is absolutely no room for error. One injury or
one player that doesn't develop as expected and Notre Dame will have a gaping
hole on the line. This is certainly the biggest disappointment of the
year.
THIN DOWN THE MIDDLE
While, as I said before, the
Irish made some gains on the edges, the class is terribly thin down the middle
of the defense. Look at defensive tackle, middle linebacker and safety. These
are positions where Darrell Campbell, Cedric Hilliard, Courtney Watson, Glenn
Earl and Garron Bible are all leaving. Notre Dame did little in recruiting to
improve these positions.
Brandon Nicolas is the only defensive tackle
and, frankly, he may ultimately end up on the offensive line. Anthony Vernaglia
could be a strong safety, but if he can gain some weight, the Irish would love
to play him at outside linebacker.
There was also no true middle
linebacker signed to this class.
What that means is that enormous
pressure will be placed on some of the players from last year's recruiting
effort. Trevor Laws at defensive tackle, Nick Borseti and Dwight Stephenson at
middle linebacker and Freddie Parish and Tom Zbikowski at the safety spots all
have to develop quickly. Looking ahead to next year's recruiting, defensive
tackle and middle linebacker will be big need areas.
SLOW
START
The Irish coaching staff was much maligned this year for
getting a supposed "late start" to recruiting. In truth, it wasn't a late start
as much as it was a slow start. Notre Dame was after many high profile blue-chip
prospects early on. But, by the end of summer, a number of the top prospects on
their board had already chosen other schools or eliminated the Irish.
By
the end of last August, top players like linebacker Dan Connor, offensive
linemen Jeremy Ciulla and Brian Abraham, and quarterback Anthony Morelli had
already chosen other schools. Wide receivers Doug Dutch, Dwayne Jarrett and
Calvin Johnson, running back Charlie Jones and linebacker Keith Rivers were all
looking in other directions. By the end of September, Marcus Freeman had
committed to Ohio State and defensive linemen Demario Pressley, Jeff Schweiger,
Thomas Herring and Dwayne Hendricks were all showing little interest.
The
flaw in this year's recruiting effort was not the initial recruiting plan. There
were many standout, top-flight players on the Irish's initial list. The problem
seemed to be the fluidity of the effort, or lack thereof. Essentially, it took
Notre Dame way too long to move to other prospects and the class, as a whole,
suffered because of it. Hopefully, this year's recruiting effort will be chalked
up as a lesson learned for this coaching staff.
Top-to-bottom, this class
is not what Notre Dame had hoped for. Coming off a poor season on the field, the
Irish were hoping for a better showing in recruiting. Nonetheless, certain
areas, like running back and cornerback, were upgraded and improved in this
effort. Where this class may lack in polish, it is long on potential. The long
term success or failure of this group will have far more to do with coaching and
development over the next four years than anything else.
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