Yesterday I asked what other coaches would get in on the fun of Mike Elston’s recruiting success. That question was answered quickly by Irish Offensive Line Coach Jeff Quinn as he and the Irish got the news that 4-star Offensive tackle Tosh Baker committed to the Irish last night.
God. Country. Notre Dame.
I’m blessed to say that I’m COMMITTED and will be furthering my academic and athletic career at the University of Notre Dame!!#IrishBouNDXX #GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/ZmP3MBisa3
— Tosh Baker (@tdbakes) May 8, 2019
Baker, from Pinnacle High school in Phoenix, is widely considered one of the top offensive line prospects in the country.
He is a consensus four star recruit, and ranked #51 overall in the Rivals 100 for 2020. If you take one look at him, it’s fairly easy to see why. Standing at 6’8 275 lbs, Baker is an absolute mammoth of a human.
Early analysis of Baker as a player shows that he already has the tools to be an elite pass blocker, but is still so raw compared to what he could be. He’s keeping some weight off currently due to basketball, but his frame suggests that he could still put on a lot of good weight, and become an elite run blocker as well. The Mike McGlinchey comparisons have already started.
This commitment isn’t a huge surprise to many. The Irish were believed to be big front runners for Baker even with Alabama, OSU, Michigan, and USC all doing their best to get involved.
Baker seemed to like what many recruits have been liking about playing for the Blue and Gold. The opportunity for an elite education while being able to play National Championship level football. The success of Irish lineman was also a big selling point.
I can’t imagine it’s hard to sell Offensive Line recruits on Notre Dame being that all you have to do is look at the NFL for an example of what the program can do for the big guys. Either way Jeff Quinn gets most of the credit here.
Quinn did everything right from the start even making sure to offer Baker his scholarship in person. Baker has stated that Quinn made him feel like cares for him both on and off the field.
I’ll be the first to say i wasn’t thrilled with Quinn taking over for Harry Heistand. Mostly because it just seemed like Heistand was producing NFL lineman like an assembly line. I can no longer argue with Quinn’s success as he has maintained the backbone strength of the program – especially on the heels of the 2019 class featuring four 4-star offensive linemen.
Since Jeff Quinn became the #NotreDame OL coach last year…
• The Irish were a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award (best OL) in 2018
• A quartet of four-star OL signed to ND's 2019 recruiting class
• OL Tosh Baker, a consensus Top 55 overall player nationally, commits to ND— Carter Karels (@CarterKarels) May 8, 2019
The Irish staff have had a lot of success selling their 4for40 pitch to recruits, but let’s be honest here. That pitch doesn’t work unless your team is playing in meaningful games late in the year. Notre Dame’s success in 2017 and 2018 have granted them the ability to recruit the kind of talent they need to win.
Northwestern, Duke, Vandebilt, and Purdue are all elite academic schools, but don’t ever play in meaningful games late in the year. Notre Dame’s success on the recruiting trail is due in large part to making their inaugural playoff appearance.
Notre Dame has had another recruiter who’s been very helpful in not only recruiting Baker, but everyone the Irish are targeting. Class of 2020 quarterback Drew Pyne has been extremely active on social media befriending Notre Dame’s top targets. It Appears he’s already on to the next one as well….
Your turn‼️☘️☘️👀👀 https://t.co/JV2b9MxKEH
— Drew Pyne (@dpyne10) May 9, 2019
It would seem he will be getting some help in that department as Baker has commented that he will assist Pyne in securing other prospects especially RB Chris Tyree who I spoke of yesterday.
Every time I begin to speak about the potential of this 2020 class, it gets even better. Just yesterday I talked about this being one of the most exciting recruiting classes Notre Dame has had under Brian Kelly, and then they landed a four star tackle.
#NotreDame has landed its No. 1 QB target, its No. 1 WR target, its top two TE targets …. and now it has landed its No. 1 OL target.
All that is left now is the No. 1 RB target.
— Bryan Driskell (@CoachD178) May 8, 2019
All eyes will now be on the two recruits I talked about yesterday. Chris Tyree and Braiden Mcgregor. If Notre Dame is able to secure both of those then i think you could argue that the Irish will have a top 5 class in 2020. Another running back to keep an eye on is Tirek Murphy who visited a couple months ago and has the Irish high on his list.
Now…. Let’s see if any coaches besides Elston AND QUINN would like to join the fun.
Thank you Duranko , Bob Rodes and Pete Calco on your ND input. The rest of comments are horse shit –to the max !
David is back! He has done it again! His posts have inspired me to change my 2019 prediction from 10-2 to 11-1 or 12-0. Thank you David, just for being the steady unwavering voice of unwarranted criticism that motivates us all.
BGC ’77 ’82
The fictional protagonist of idiocy dopey Davey returns. The site was getting stale, boring, yawn material. Time to bring back Davey. I like the looks of Tosh Baker. He will be a anchor on the left side.
You beat me to it GK. I guess bills needed to be paid and this site’s powers that be decided it was time to reintroduce the fictional troll, “David.”
I wonder which administrator plays the role of “David”?!
Hmm. Quinn’s class seems to be falling into place.
Best guess now is that Carmody, Zentner and Atteberry will be added or two of the three.
For next year, the Irish lead for Indiana’s Blake Fisher and Maryland’s Landon Tengwall, both superstuds, and they may land Dellinger, the hotshot from
Clarkston, Michigan, though Harbaugh will put up a fight. IMG’s Crippen, an inside player, already committed for 2021.
Those are some serious tackle candidates in Fisher, Tengwall and Dellinger..
In other news, it seems that David Shaw’s time at Stanford may be turning mildly sour.
There is an emerging giant in the Pac 12 North, Oregon. And finally, with Cristobal, they may be here to stay.
.
Why is it that this website is so late in its reporting? This information is days old and is just now posted on the site as if it were breaking news…why so painfully slow?
Notredame really needs these big time playmakers such as Tyree, AJ Henning etc to be able to hang with Clemson, Alabama,Ohio State,Oklahoma etc. There was an article on one of the other Notredame sites that discussed why Kelly has not been able to get Notredame over the hump and win a national championship.There were 2 main reasons given and I agree with both. One is Kelly has never recruited or developed a true Heisman trophy level quarterback.Can Book get there with hopefully a really good supporting cast? Maybe time will tell.The other reason given is that Brian Kelly has not gone into these big games with great game plans nor has he coached really well in these games.Example great decision making great in game adjustments etc. Would Notredame have beaten Alabama Ohio State or Clemson anyway.Probably not but the games would have much closer and more competitive.Lets hope he has a great game plan for Georgia and coaches really well.
Didn’t you hear? Kelly’s been doing this for 30 years now.
Purdue is not an elite university.
Purdue is a top ten ranked university in engineering every year. Purdue’s engineering student undergraduates are second in “employability” only to Georgia Tech. Seems pretty “elite” to me!
BGC ’77 ’82
I wonder how the crow tastes for the Chicken Littles who whined, and some of them run pay boards, about the
“cronyism” that was “EVIDENT” when Kelly hired Quinn.
Once upon a time in St. Joe County, fans were all in on the irish. Now the self-absorbed are all in on casting aspersons on
Kelly…….
Quinn is certainly different from Heistand. But onesize does not fit all. Eichenberg particularly has flourished under
Quinn. Different styles of management. Different, sometimes, is merely different. Not villainous or treacherous, merely
different.
I think the wide receiver coach can take a bow after landing Austin, Lenzy Keys, Wilkins and Micah Jones in
’18 and starting with Jordan Johnson this year..
cer
Also, when things were most tense, Lyght landed Studstill, Elliott, Pride, Vaughn and Love, with D.J Morgan and Spencer Perry filling out the class.
There is not a recruiting weak link on the staff.
And don’t sleep on the contributions of Bill Rees. “All things are possible when it doesn’t matter who gets credit.”
That should be on a plaque on Bill Rees’ desk.
I remember the “who is this Harry Hiestand guy?” questions when Ed Warinner left for OSU. I think it happens whenever a top coach leaves for another job. But it’s true also that some people are always looking for “evidence” of Kelly’s “incompetence.”
When we had that forgettable season in 2016, my feeling was that Kelly had a year to turn things around. He had done pretty well, but it never seemed like he was firing on all cylinders, and in 2016 the wheels came off. But he picked himself up off of the floor and fixed the problems. He deserves credit for doing that, and I suspect that Jack Swarbrick deserves a lot of credit as well for helping him lay out a direction.
Nevertheless, there will always be the naysayers who will find a way to find fault. Even when we finally do win another national championship. Meanwhile, I, for one, think things are still headed upwards. I have high hopes that we’ll have another good season this fall.
Starting with stomping on Georgia in their house. :)
The taste of crow is something any ND football fan shouldn’t be that unfamiliar with.
YOU dopey davey eat more crow each year, than anyone on the planet!!! Keep up your stupidity moron!!
“Crazy” does your mom not have enough money to have you institutionalized?
Here’s a suggestion….GoFundMe.
now, now dopey davey remember when none of the kids would play with you so your mommy tied a milkbone around your neck so the dog would play with you