Every college football season is important. Unlike the NFL, which compensates poor performing teams with first dibs on elite talent through the NFL Draft, a string of underwhelming seasons can set a program back for years. After back-to-back middling seasons, many media outlets are projecting Notre Dame to make a serious run this fall, and if the Irish don’t, they will face a very difficult road to becoming a top-tier program on a consistent basis.
Head coach Brian Kelly’s most recent Irish Invasion recruiting event netted Notre Dame some class of 2016 talent, landing three verbal commitments in a span of five days. And Notre Dame most recently landed elite 2017 prospect Brock Wright. Wright, a 4-star prospect from Cypress, Tex., already holds scholarship offers from some of the nation’s most recognizable programs, including Alabama, LSU, and Texas. But to date Kelly has landed only nine verbal commitments this recruiting cycle, which is tied with Clemson for the lowest overall number amongst programs with a top 25 recruiting class (and Notre Dame is rated No. 25). If Notre Dame does not have a strong season in 2015, the difficulty the Irish have had thus far on the recruiting trail will only increase.
The biggest reason for Notre Dame’s slow start to recruiting is the emergence of the Big Ten conference. After more than a decade of dominance by the SEC, the Big Ten has begun to erase the Southern advantage. The hiring of Urban Meyer by Ohio State increased the Big Ten’s profile, but Ohio State’s playoff run put the Big Ten back on the map. The Buckeyes surprised the college football world by not only defeating Alabama but physically grinding them in the process en route to a national championship victory over Oregon, and they did it while starting a third-string quarterback.
Ohio State’s championship forced Michigan into throwing whatever resources were necessary to lure Jim Harbaugh to Ann Arbor. After several disappointing seasons under Brady Hoke’s leadership, the Wolverines faced a pivotal crossroads for their program: either right the ship now or face a decline that could take years to reverse. Though Harbaugh has yet to coach a game for the Wolverines, the expected new hire recruiting spike has catapulted Michigan to the No. 12 recruiting class in the nation. The one-time Michigan starting quarterback has done everything possible to raise the Wolverines’ recruiting profile, including his participation in the controversial satellite camps that has left the SEC seething. The results have spoken for themselves, however, and Michigan has even managed to snag a commitment from blue chip offensive lineman Ben Bredeson, long thought to have narrowed his finalists to Wisconsin and Notre Dame.
Slugging it out with traditional powers Ohio State and Michigan is nothing new for Notre Dame, but the most ominous development for the Irish is the rise of Michigan State into a bona fide power program. Head coach Mark Dantonio has transitioned Michigan State from a flash in the pan to a consistent winner, and the results are beginning to show on the recruiting trail to the determinant of Notre Dame. No longer are the Spartans over-achieving with 3-star developed talent – Michigan State is landing elite prospects, and beating Notre Dame out for their services.
Josh King, a 4-star defensive end from Darien, Ill., is the kind of prospect Notre Dame usually has in its back pocket. The No. 5 defensive end in the nation boasts an elite offer sheet and hails from an area roughly 90 minutes from South Bend. But Notre Dame lost King’s services to Michigan State due to the close relationship the Illinois native built with Spartan defensive line coach, Ron Burton. The loss was significant for Notre Dame, but only the first salvo in a pair of insults.
Two days after King committed to Michigan State, Notre Dame lost another prospect to the Spartans in 4-star defensive end Auston Robertson. Robertson’s loss was even more significant due to his status as being the No. 1 prospect in Indiana, an area not known for churning out elite high school talent. Losing a rare gem such as Robertson to Michigan State should raise an alarm bell for Notre Dame fans – the Big Ten is getting stronger, and Brian Kelly has more than just Ohio State and Michigan to worry about.
Notre Dame’s 12-1 season three years ago put a shine on the program’s brand for recruits. Two seasons and nine losses later, Notre Dame finds itself in must-win-now status as surrounding programs have grown significantly stronger. Only time will tell if the program is up for the task.
Scott Janssen is a blogger for the Huffington Post and has authored several nationally-featured articles, including an appearance on MSNBC as a sports contributor. He talks football 24 hours a day, much to the chagrin of his wife and those around him. Scott can be reached at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.
Rashan Gary could be the next Alan page, go get the MAN
Steve,
Did you not leave the 80’s behind? I don’t know many logical ND fans that expect a national title again in football let alone every year. What fans would like to see first is the bonehead coach stop losing to pathetic teams like NW, USF and Tulsa. Kelly is an okay coach. The patience bit you ended with is kind of funny. This is year six of this guy and we still don’t know if he’ll ever produce a consistent winner. Would be nice to have a good program like Oregon has. They’re not winning championships but are hella entertaining.
Of course not. Pretty silly question. As long as Kelly and Swarbrick are at ND, 8-4 is the standard. Fans are good with that too. Times have changed folks.
Having talented football players helps a little bit sometime too
A sacred place deserves a devine coach. A coach that can communicate clearly and inspire kids not to betray their team, their school, their legacy by smoking weed or cheating. A coach that can make a player play beyond his abilities or skills with his heart. It’s all about belief. The belief that on any given day you can beat em all.
Lou said it best with the words that communicated belief, success and victory! “Save jimmy Johnson’s ass for me.”
And I thought BJ was a brand new strain of field grass.
Go Irish
Well I AM being positive, as I do not agree that ND is in especially dire straits
Thanks for the pep talk George!
This year is no different than any other. Not much has changed over the past 25 years really. ND is still struggling to beat Navy and Purdue every year, still averaging 8 win seasons, still struggling mightily to land 5-star recruits, ect.
Winning improves recruiting.. You play mediocre football, you get mediocre recruits.. You play for championships and you get top 5 recruiting classes.. Check the last time ND had a top 5 class, s/p 2012 title appearance. This year’s team is loaded everywhere with high major talent and should produce a great season. I expect a good recruiting class before it’s over….. Oh, don’t sleep on last year’s class either. It is loaded and will probably go down as BK’s second best ever behind 2012 class.
Who is bj?
Bj is a riddle, wrapped inside a mystery, inside an enigma.
He is the 8th wonder of the world.
He is the ghost of Holtz, Rockne, and Lombardi, all wrapped up in a man thing.
He is a black hole in, and of himself, who is beyond the reach of the spacetime continuum exhibiting such a strong irrational pull that no particle or electromagnetic radiation can escape from it.
His boundary of the region from which no escape is possible is called the bj event horizon.
It reflects no light and the quantum field theory in curved spacetime predicts that bj event horizons emit Hawking radiation, with the same spectrum as a black body of a temperature inversely proportional to his mass.
This temperature is on the order of billionths of a kelvin for universal black holes of similar stellar mass, making him essentially impossible to observe.
I hope this answers you question.
There is no question this is a key year for BK. While recruiting in the first quarter down an outstanding
year is mandatory. Having said that, I feel this is going to be an excellent year. Will need luck on
injuries and if that happens they should be at least in a New Year Bowl.
I agree with AJ that BK and Swarbick have been working on some fundamental issues ND has had the last 20 years. I hadn’t realized how fundamental the problems had become at ND with 3 mediocre coaches until they started instituting some changes.
The biggest threat to Notre Dame is Notre Dame itself. Academic cheating and drug use, not to mention those athletes that just don’t live up to their billing. There’s nothing wrong with our head coach. But it doesn’t help that everyone DEMANDS a NC EVERY year. There’s a lot of parity in college football, just in case some of you have been freeze dried since the 40’s. But Kelly will have to step outside his comfort zone and let these kids play. We could never have pulled off going to our third string QB like OSU did. BK is doing a great job. Most of you want this to happen right now. He’s done a great job. But if you want to try and lure Urban Meyer from OSU, I doubt you will find success.
Who is BJ? He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Shazamrock tell it, anybody could have worked for BJ. You never knew. That was his power.
Who is BJ?
With all due respect there is no way you understand BJ’s concerns or his anxieties.
While I understand everyone’s concern and anxiety that ND will ever matter again in college football, just take a deep breath and look hard at ND football for the past 15-20 years. We have STUNK!!! We have been bad all around and believe me when I say their is light at the end of the tunnel. BK and Swarbrick have slowly been turning this around and this year we will see that. Last year had it’s issues, but we beat Michigan 37-0! If you watched that game at all we could have easily put up 50+. Now we got destroyed by USC, but we did something I have not seen in a while….we regrouped and put on a great bowl performance. now everyone is saying it is a do or die year, but look at the recruiting numbers. We are going to have 10+ wins for years to come with the talent and depth we have. this year’s class is off to a slow start, but winning in the fall will change that. it would not surprise me if a Sparty commit flipped before NSD. Remember, these 18-19 year old kids. If they actually understood how important their education was, they would all go to ND or a similar university, which btw, I think education is being preached more to kids so that helps ND. Of course I have to mention the assists BK has gotten. Two former successful ND players, an couple familiar faces and a great up and comer. I completely sympathize with most of your comments, but sit back and watch. It is going to be great saying you are an ND fan again! Go Irish!
These are just some of the reasons I really believe we as ND fans need BK to succeed now. ND is certainly in the mix right now, but it’s going to get more difficult, not less, to secure good talent. If BK can show ND is a consistent winners, we’ll be competing and winning over some of those top recruits.
But I have real concerns if BK fails at ND. I really believe this is our last chance. If BK fails and we have another mediocre season, I’m not sure where ND goes from there. ND had 3 mediocre to bad coaches before BK. This time it has to work. I was disappointed with ND’s showing most of last year, save for the bowl game. The bowl game really saved the season, I believe, because ND beat an SEC team with a pretty good defense. That was a meaningful win.
But they need to build on that. For this year to be a success, I think they need, at minimum, a NY Day 6 bowl. That would show ND is trending up. They have a lot of good talent on both sides of the ball, and an almost all-star cast of coaches. This is the time to put those results on the field.
A very timely and prescient article. Winning consistently in the past would have made this article irrelevant, but we have not done so. And our recruiting seems to be going toward depth rather than elite talent. The Invasion snagged a bunch of three star commitments, whilst other, similar weekends at other elite schools are routinely bagging 4 and a few 5 stars. We need to break the cycle soon, or settle in to being what Michigan State was for years; a school good enough to attract 3 stars and compete for top 25 status, but not much more.
I do feel that Notre Dame is in need of a very strong season. However, I like their recruiting so far. Agree that the D-Line should be a priority.
GO IRISH!
Unfortunately, Notre Dame has been teasing us for many years in regards to competition. BK has finally stabilize the roster, but lately and in recent years it seems that we are discussion the “ones that got away” more than the RKG’s that BK is bringing in. Forgive me, but I can’t stop my mind from wondering to this specific point…the RKG’s are not championship caliber guys. The RKG’s have to be able to handle academic rigors, and balance sport and study life. they can’t get a BS in Frisbee.
I’m just being objective…the Irish may never compete again consistently on the elite level if the landscape of college football continues to move towards stipens, paying students, and allowing these kids to take courses as a joke rather than as an education. Notre Dame will never compromise their academics, which they shouldn’t, so we need to adjust our expectations as fans and as die-hard supporters of the Golden Dome.
Mid-teens rankings and a few high profile upsets may be the new reality. And if you think about it…there are 100 other programs that would love to have that kind of stability and base.
ND needs to go 10-2 or better this year to stay competitive in recruiting. Another 8-5 year, and Kelly’s
days are numbered.
It remains to be seen what the ND administration would do to bring in a top notch Harbaugh, Meyer,
Coach if and when that happens.
“After more than a decade of dominance by the SEC, the Big Ten has begun to erase the Southern advantage.”
It is akin/like the oceans everything comes in waves. Now it is a time for the mid western powers: Notre Dame, Ohio State, Nebraska,
The Irish MUST start bringing in better talent especially on the defensive line. Losing both King and Robertson really hurts. With a class that’s going to only be 18-19 deep Notre Dame needs to start getting picky with who they bring in from now until signing day.
I agree that failure in 2015 will make it all but impossible to lure top talent to ND in the future. I disagree that the result will be that ND will never again be a top tier program.
Instead, 2015 failure translates to the demise of Kelly as HC and the beginning of the end of his tenure.
It remains to be seen what ND would do to bring a Harbaugh caliber coach in if indeed the wheels come off for ND this year and 2016.