Visitors for the Banquet
Frank Vitovitch
December 1, 1999

Notre Dame, Ind - With the banquet weekend coming fast (this weekend!) here is a position by position look at who's coming, who may committ, and a brief description of what Notre Dame needs. Note: this list is subject to change, check the message board for updates on this during the week.

Quarterback:
Matt Lovecchio is Notre Dame's lone verbal, but not to worry, Notre Dame only had four at this point last year and the banquet is also a big draw, maybe even more so this year with at least 15 recruits scheduled to make the visit to South Bend. There is no doubt ND needs two QBs in this class, but who will join Lovecchio? Carlyle Holiday is right up there on ND's list. He is mobile and has a great arm. He has listed Notre Dame as one of his favorites for some time now and it will not be surprising if he commits this weekend. Jared Clark has also listed Notre Dame among his favorites for some time. While he does not carry the national attention Holiday has gotten, he is still a great prospect at 6-4, and 220 with a cannon for an arm. Like Holiday, he is also very mobile. The QB which the most attention may be Brandon Summner. I don't know what it is, but from what I have read and heard this is the guy I would like to see be the other QB, but Holiday will be here this weekend and Summner won't. Either way ND lands another top 10 QB prospect.

Carlyle Holiday - 6-3, 190, 4.55: Arizona, Notre Dame, Syracuse.
Jared Clark - 6-4, 220, 4.6: Georgia, Miamia, and Notre Dame
Sean Jones - 6-2, 190, 4.5: Notre Dame, Virginia, Clemson, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida

Running Back:
With Julius Jones at Notre Dame for three more years and Tony Fisher for two along with Terrence Howard who showed a lot of promise towards the end of the season, landing a top notch running back is not a major priority. However, whenever you can land a top quality RB, its always good. Notre Dame has a lot of prime time talent coming this weekend. Derron Parquet, Vontez Duff, Brandon Royster, and Albert Hollis will be in attendance this weekend. Hollis, and Duff are all listed a 4.4 and Royster is listed at 4.45 in the 40 (take it for what its worth) so all of them can fly. Tony Fisher and Terrence Howard are more of the bull dog type runners who can run through tacklers while Jones is more of the speed guy who can make people miss on top of running through people so a speedy back is what Notre Dame needs. Getting a guy like Duff or Joey Harris who will be visiting in January should be the goal here. Of the four coming, none are really on the verge of committing to Notre Dame so if ND gets a commit here it would be a bit of a surprise.

Derron Parquet
Vontez Duff - 5-11, 190, 4.4: Kentucky, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas A&M
Brandon Royster - 5-11, 190, 4.5: Virginia, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Stanford, Maryland, North Carolina, Florida
Albert Hollis - 6-0,195, 4.4: UCLA, Notre DameGeorgia, Texas, Nebraska and Tennessee

Wide Receiver:
This is one position where Notre Dame needs a lot of help. Bobby Brown and Raki Nelson will be sorely missed and Joey Getherall who was developed in the best over the middle target is gone after next season. That leaves David Givens, Javin Hunter, Jamaar Taylor, and possibly Glenn Earl. While that's a very good group a team needs more than five wide receivers and something Notre Dame needs every year is a true deep threat. Javin Hunter has shown signs he can go deep and Jamaar Taylor will get his chance next year, but ND still needs some talent here. Kevin Rogers has said he wants three wide outs from this class. The best bet here is probably Ronnie Rodamer. Rodamer went to high school with Chris Yura who was a freshman this season and is also one of the nation's top wide receivers. Tennessee and Notre Dame are a top his list, but I have a feeling he will be playing for the blue and gold. I have seen some film of him and the catches this kid makes are incredible. Getting him to commit this weekend would be a huge boost. Also visiting is Michael Jenkins. Jenkins is listed at 4.5 so his speed is not his strong point, but when a school like Florida, is pursuing a wide receiver you know he is good.

Ronnie Rodamer - 6-5, 195, 4.4: Notre Dame, Tennessee, Clemson, Michigan, Michigan State, West Virginia, UCLA
Michael Jenkins - 6-4, 200, 4.5: Florida, Florida State, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Tennessee

Offensive Line:
Notre Dame pulled in a great class last year and not many people will be graduating this year but the Irish will still probably sign 2-3 offensive linemen this year which allows them to be a little pickier since they don't need an entire line. The only offensive linemen coming to the banquet is Alex Barron. Barron is one of the nation's better offensive linemen prospects and is considered a blue chipper by many. Alex has said academics are very important to him so Notre Dame has an edge there and there should be no problem with grades. I doubt Alex will commit, in fact it is highly unlikely since he has no listed favorites as of yet.

Alex Barron - 6-6, 290, 5.25: Notre Dame and Florida State, Clemson, South Carolina, and Tennessee

Defensive Line:
Defensive line is another high priority position for the Irish. Notre Dame has failed to produce much a pass rush in recent years. Hopefully Darrell Campbell and Cedric Hillard can change that since both received good reviews from their practice during their freshman seasons. Notre Dame still needs to go out and get some top quality defensive linemen, and not just quality players they need some bonafide blue chippers. I know players like Jason Ching were All Americans in high school, but Notre Dame needs to get the athletic defensive line like a Courtney Brown or a Corey Moore. Both are quick defensive linemen who can dominate and that's what the Irish need. Pauly is on of the nation's best and Notre Dame has been his leader for some time so him committing this weekend would not surprise me. He is listed as a 4.8 in the 40 which is pretty good for a defensive linemen. Bobby Williams may also be coming, but his team is still alive in the playoffs so he may not make it. Bobby is the exact type of recruit Notre Dame has to land. He is not huge at 243 but runs a 4.7 and is raw. He has tons of room to improve since he's only been playing football for a few years. Many times it seems players come to Notre Dame and don't improve much over their four years (Kory Minor is an example - he was a great player, but he didn't get much better after his freshman year). I would love to see Notre Dame land Williams this weekend, but it's not likely it will happen this weekend if at all.

Greg Pauly - 6-5, 275, 4.8: Notre Dame, Michigan
Bobby Williams - 6-6, 243, 4.7: Notre Dame, Miami, Florida, Ohio State

Linebackers:
Notre Dame has Anthony Denman back next year along with Tyreo Harrison, Carlos Pierre-Atoine (who needs to start next season!!!!!), Joe Ferrer (possibly), Ronnie Nicks (possibly), Rocky Boiman (who should move to DL), along with Justin Thomas and maybe Courtney Watson (who can play LB) so they are pretty set at linebacker. Getting an athletic linebacker is still up there though. Denman, Harrison, and Pierre-Atonine could be a great starting group, but ND needs to add some depth and getting a player like Mike Goolsby who is one of the best linebackers in the nation would be huge. Goolsby will be at the banquet and I have a feeling he may commit since ND has been his leader since early in the summer. Getting Goolsby to commit would be a great start for the recruiting campaign. Goolsby is listed a 4.55 which isn't bad, but Notre Dame could sure use some speedy linebackers like the ones at Tennessee. Also joining Goolsby will be Ronbrose Jones and Brandon Holmes.

Mike Goolsby - 6-3, 230, 4.55: : Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State
Ronbrose Jones - 6-3, 230, 4.7: Arkansas, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Texas, and Texas A&M
Brandon Holmes

Defensive Back:
The problems with Notre Dame's secondary the past two seasons are far from a secret. They have been beat over and over again week after week. Notre Dame needs to land a couple of top notch cover guys who have good speed and size. Small defensive backs tend to get picked on a lot so getting someone around 6 foot would be good. Garron Bible is the only defensive back prospect coming this weekend is Garron Bible. Notre Dame leads for Bible and he may commit since Notre Dame is his only official visit so far. He is 5-11 with 4.4 speed so getting him would help, but Notre Dame needs more than one corner back and definitely need to land one of the nation's top prospect. Notre Dame also needs to get a safety or two with A'Jani Sanders and Deke Cooper graduating. No safeties will be visiting this weekend however. The fact that none of the big Texas schools are pursuing Bible is a little discouraging however. Rice and Texas Christian are going after Bible, but the big ones like Texas and Texas A&M aren't.

Garron Bible - 5-11, 190, 4.4: Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, SMU, TCU

Atheletes:
Abram Elam will be at Notre Dame this weekend. He is mainly be considered as a quarterback prospect. He camped with Notre Dame and was offered a scholarship then. Nate Curry is scheduled to come, but his team is playing this weekend too. He is a burner at 4.3 and is mainly considered a running back prospect. He is the type of difference maker Notre Dame needs. He can also play wide receiver and defensive back. With 4.3 speed and 5-11 height he could be a fine defensive back at what ever school he goes to. He is also looking for a good academic school.

Abram Elam - 6-1, 200, 4.6: Notre Dame, Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan State, Florida State, Florida
Nate Curry - 5-11, 175, 4.3: Notre Dame, Florida State, Miami, Boston College, Georgia Tech