(UHND.com) – Notre Dame’s recruiting efforts this year started off as good, or better, than any year I can remember. By June, Notre Dame had at least three top 100 commitments and the nation’s #1 ranked recruit in Jimmy Clausen, but for what was once a very promising class, this year’s crop of 18 recruits will be remembered just as much for who it missed as who it got.
Don’t get me wrong. I think the 18 high school recruits who signed letters of intent with Notre Dame on Wednesday form a very good class for the Irish. The problem is, back in May this looked like it was going to be an amazing class – the kind of class that a certain coach in the south just hauled in for the reigning national champions.
Notre Dame’s fast start came to an almost scretching hault around September 16 after the Irish were blown out at home by Michigan on a national stage. At the time of the Michigan game, the Irish had already collected 8 verbal commitments (including one from Justin Trattou), but after the loss to the Wolverines, the Notre Dame collected just three more commitments over the next two and a half months (Gary Gray, Greg Little, and Emeka Nwankwo).
In this time, Notre Dame missed out on their top wide receiver, Arrelious Benn, and stated losing ground with some of the top defensive prospects on their board such as Chris Donald, Ben Martin, and Martez Wilson.
Decemeber proved to be much more kind to the Irish with Notre Dame receiving verbal commitments from Armando Allen, Ian Williams, Golden Tate, Taylor Dever, and Harrison Smith all before Christmas. It appeared the Notre Dame momentum was back in full swing with the five December commitments as well as a lot of positive ground made up with some of the elite prospects still left on the board.
Then the unthinkable happened – Notre Dame got blown out for the third time this year and despite a 10-3 record, opposing coaches used the blowouts against Notre Dame relentlessly (as they should have). After the blowout at the hands of LSU any momentum the Irish had gained in December almost completely evaporated.
The fall out from the Sugar Bowl saw Martin and Donald both select Tennessee and Lorenzo Edwards select Florida during the All American Bowl. The lone solace from the All America Bowl was the commitment of Matt Romine, the best offensive lineman in this class for the Irish.
January proved to be another month of disappointment for the Irish. While Notre Dame commitments from Robert Hughes, Brian Smith, and Brandon Walker, Notre Dame lost recruits like Will Blackwell, Jason Peters, and Malcolm Smith. Add into the mix the loss of three previously commitment players over these last two weeks and you can see why Notre Dame fans are feeling just a bit disappointed with the way recruiting played out this year.
Notre Dame still landed a pretty good class and there are some serious play makers on both sides of the ball of 18 recruits who are now officially members of Notre Dame. After last year’s top 5 class, however, Notre Dame fans weren’t expecting a really good class – they were expecting a great class.
This class had the makings of a great class too. This class could have been the one on the cover of ESPN.com right now as the mythical “Recruiting National Champion,” and that is why there is a feeling gloom on most of the Notre Dame message boards this evening.
The good news is that this class is still better most of the recruiting class that Notre Dame has landed over the last several seasons prior to last year’s excellent 28 recruit crop.
Based on the expectations set by the early success of Weis and this staff with this year’s class, however, it’s hard to sell to Notre Dame fans on those are here as opposed to the one’s that could have been here.
Based on everything Weis has said on Wednesday, this should be the last time Notre Dame is left standing at the alter like this on Signing Day. He sounded like he took this personally and I think we will see a lot of changes in the way Notre Dame recruits in 2007 and beyond.
So cheer up. While the Irish may have missed out on a lot of the big name guys they targeted, they still landed a top 10 class which is nothing to sneeze at. Notre Dame also has someone in charge who clearly is not satisfied with the way things unfolded over the final stretch of recruiting and is already in the process of finding a solution to the problem.
