Irish Make Initial Cut for Jelani Jenkins
Linebacker recruit Jelani Jenkins narrowed his list of schools down earlier this week and the good news is the Irish were among those to make the cut. The bad news is that Jenkins also has 14 other schools on his list at this point so things are a long way from being over with him.
“In no order, my final 15 schools are as follows…Southern Cal, Illinois, Michigan, Virginia Tech, Oregon, Miami, LSU, Maryland, Notre Dame, Penn State, Stanford, Boston College, Florida, Clemson and Tennessee,” said the 6-foot-1, 212-pounder. “It was very hard to get it down this far from more than 40 schools, but my family and I sat down and we looked at a few different categories to get it narrowed down.”
One of the categories that Jenkins and his father used to trim the list was depth charts. The report mentions that depth charts will be an important part of the equation for him because he wants to play early. Well, Notre Dame will be graduating Maurice Crum this year and right now, the only linebacker who has been close to impressive among the Irish linebackers this year has been Brian Smith. Both Jenkins and fellow LB recruit Manti Te’o have the ability to crack the two deep next year and potentially the starting lineup.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
Way too much publicity for any of these highschool kids. They’ve done nothing significant. I’d hate for my 15 minutes of fame to be one of these presee conferences or statements. The kids should be learning their Calculus, Organic chemistry, or Civics, not engaging with the press. Oh, well, once the great depression hits, no one will have money for all these sports writers running around chasing highschool nobody’s. ESPN might even have to cut staff.
Hey I hope we get the kid but who the hell publicly narrow’s their list done to 15? Call me when we’re in his top 3.