5-Star Focus for Notre Dame Football Recruiting

Caleb Kelly - Notre Dame LB Target
Photo: US Army All-American Bowl

As Notre Dame heads toward National Signing Day 2016, the Irish coaching staff has already done a phenomenal job hitting off of a number of needs in this year’s class.  Sitting at 22 verbal commits with a week and a half remaining until Signing Day, Brian Kelly and his staff have set themselves up to be able to focus on a few select elite talents over the final few days before the books close on the class of 2016.

Just last week Brian Kelly and staff visited Savannah, Georgia to show elite wide receiver Demetris Robertson some 5-star treatment.  Notre Dame has made a late push for Robertson and many believe the Irish are in the driver’s seat for him currently.  Notre Dame already has three wide receivers in this class with Chase Claypool, Kevin Stephenson, and Javon McKinley so they aren’t in dire need of wide receiver help at the moment, but adding a talent like Robertson could off-set the loss of Will Fuller as Robertson projects as the kind of player who could start from day one.

One the defensive side of the ball, Notre Dame has held off Brian Kelly’s in-h0me visits with 5-star linebackers Caleb Kelly and Ben Davis until the very end and the strategy looks like it could pay off as Notre Dame has been trending up for both elite backers over the last few weeks.

Just last week Notre Dame sent Brian VanGorder and Mike Denbrock to California to visit with Caleb Kelly and the visit helped build on the momentum Notre Dame has been riding since Kelly’s visit in December.  Notre Dame’s key competition here, Oklahoma, has already used the in-home visit of head coach Bob Stoops meaning Brian Kelly will be the last head coach to make his in-person pitch.  Combine that with Notre Dame’s momentum and Notre Dame could very well end up pulling off what would have been considered a major upset just a month or so ago.

Notre Dame’s other 5-star linebacker target, Ben Davis, was also considered a long shot for Notre Dame until his visit earlier this month.  Notre Dame is battling Southern powers Alabama (his father’s alma mater), Auburn, Georgia, and LSU for Davis, but Autry Denson has put in an impressive amount of work to have Notre Dame in the conversation heading into Signing Day.  Notre Dame is still considered to be trailing Alabama and Auburn here, but with Brian Kelly’s in-home visit in their pockets, the Irish still have some cards to play here.

All in all, Notre Dame’s staff has done a hell of a job setting up the final week plus until Signing Day this year.  They have most of their needs already covered including an impressive haul in the secondary and remain in the mix for three truly elite prospects – the kind of prospects who can elevate this class from good to great. They have also strategically aligned the in-home visits of Brian Kelly to build on the momentum they’ve been riding on Kelly and Davis while using Brian Kelly’s in-home with Robertson at the height of their momentum with Robertson.

This staff has done all of this all while getting a bit of a late start this year thanks to all of the turnover on the coaching staff with additions Denson, Mike Sanford, Todd Lyght, and Keith Gilmore.  Adding all after Signing Day as they did meant a lot of catch up had to be played last spring.  This staff made up for lost time though and has Notre Dame in a position to potentially close out this class strong.

Oh yeah, and while this staff has been busy closing in on its final targets in 2016, it has already hosted a Junior Day this past weekend with a select group of elite juniors.  At this time last year Todd Lyght had just accepted a job at Vanderbilt,  Mike Sanford was the offensive coordinator at Boise State, Keith Gilmore was the defensive line coach at North Carolina, and Autry Denson was still getting settled in at his new job… at South Florida.

Don’t be surprised if this class has a 5-star focus as Signing Day 2017 draws near as well a year from now.

 

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8 Comments

  1. In BKs defense, most of these 5 stars wait till the end of the recruiting process to make a decision. He had no shot of locking these guys earlier anyway but he went into Ohio and got the 2 best offensive linemen in that state over Meyer early on. Recruiting looks very good if they lock up even 1-2 of these 3.

  2. This is a bit tangential. But I see a trend in BK’s / ND’s recruiting. We’re not landing top-recruits until late in the process – if then. Do we think BK knows what he’s doing by waiting so long? With all the coaching-additions/defections mentioned at the end of the article, there is definitely hope for late acquisitions. But to rely on these late-changes is dicey. But then again, to quote BK himself, “I’ve been at this for over 20-years. I know what I’m doing.”

    Let’s all hope so!

  3. LB is no doubt our biggest need with just under 2 weeks until NSD. If Kelly some how land both Robertson and Kelly that would be huge for the program.

    Robertson is the must get but Stanford is going to be tough to fight off for his signature. I wanted McCulloch but Kelly is just as good if not better.

  4. Thanks for the update, Frank.

    I’ll take any of the those two LBs w/ Robertson as well.

    Getting all three isn’t likely; it’s hard to compete with a perennial national champion like Alabama, especially w/ Davis’s family ties to the Crimson Tide.

  5. My opinion is the IRISH need elite secondary help but the best 4 and 5 star secondary players don’t seem to find their way to South Bend….last one was Redfield?

  6. We (ND) need significant upgrades in talent AND numbers on defense. Vital too then, is development of current d members. The 2 defenders-plus Robinson- above would be truly SIGNIFICANT upgrades indeed!!! Good luck to BK and his staff in their pursuit of these 3 to finish the recruiting haul in this class…..Go ND!!!

  7. Hopefully, Notre Dame can land these last few 5 star recruits. Who knows what these kids are going to do. More important is filling needs and developing and utilizing players the right way to maximize their talents. I really don’t think Notre Dame is that far away from being a real national championship contender but they have to be a lot better on defense.

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