We have this thing called an overall class ranking. This formula takes into account everything we've discussed ad naseum. It takes the entire class into consideration, holistically.
Recruiting good classes isn't just a battle of how many top 100 recruits you secure. Each recruit in the top 100 has its own value and so does every recruit outside the top 100 as well. The entire class -- the rating of each individual recruit matters.
We're taking valid data (overall class ranking) and then getting way into the weeds splitting up the information in a way to fit our narrative. e.g. "but look at the per recruit average" .. "but look at how many top 100 recruits we have" "but look at quantity vs quality" .. etc. etc. The overall class ranking shows us exactly how we stack up with the rest of college football though. We don't need to break up the data -- it already makes adjustments for those factors for us.
The class ranking takes into account class size, per recruit quality -- specifically how each recruit in a class ranks -- and then makes adjustments so that class-
quantity doesn't have an undue advantage over class-
quality.
ND class ranking is 16, 18, 16 the last 2.5 years (and likely to finish worse than that come signing day).
We need to call a spade a spade: Recruiting is in a BAD place right now (has been average to bad over the course of BKs tenure) and only getting worse.
Poor recruiting is the cause of all the problems in the program right now; it's why:
- ND gets ran off the field so often when they face an elite team.
- ND can't consistently win vs ranked teams
- mediocre competition gives ND tight games way too often
- ND is susceptible to games where nothing goes right and they get blown out badly
- ND ranks relatively poorly in advanced ranking systems that adjust for strength of schedule and luck
Also, as you know, all top 100 recruits aren't equal. Weis closed on 5 star talent (top 25 guys), high 4 star talent (top 50ish guys), and so did most coaches over the history of Notre Dame football. BK not only fails to recruit enough top 100 guys, but 5 star -- and high 4 star -- talent seem to be appalled by this program.
We've been having debates about failed recruiting classes going back to 2009. You've ALWAYS given BK the benefit of the doubt or slanted the issue in a way that makes light of the situation despite the results over and over confirming my position on this issue.
Sorry to have an exasperated tone, but this rhetoric/view of "we're there, just need another guy or two" is what is probably going through the heads of the ND administration that is about to extend Kelly and keep him firmly entrenched as the head coach at notre dame.
ND is not "there". I've pointed out, numerous times, that they're 2-3 top 100'ish recruits away from being a consistant top 10 recruiter. The depth of their classes is fine. It's as good as anyone's ranked 5-10 in recruiting in a given year. Again, let me re-illustrate 2020.
Tennessee's 2020 Recruiting Class
Class Ranking: #10
Commits: 23
Average rating: 0.8991
Total recruiting points: 261.40
Notre Dame's 2020 Recruiting Class
Class Ranking: #18
Commits: 17
Average rating: 0.9075
Total recruiting points: 251.38
- The first thing we notice is that Tennessee had more room for signees last year than did Notre Dame. They took 6 additional recruits than ND. Just to illustrate how important that is, I took 5 three star kids that would have crawled across broken glass to go to Notre Dame, but who ND passed on because of space. I plugged them into the class calculator and below you'll see what I got.
1. Deontae Craig (signed with Iowa)
2. Lukas Ungar (signed with Stanford)
3. Reggie Love (signed with Illinois)
4. Greg Hudgins (signed with Purdue)
5. Cullen Coleman (Signed with Northwestern)
All of those kids wanted to go to ND. Some of them actually tried to commit on their respective visits and were told that there was no room for them. However, if you add those 5 players, all of whom are 3 star guys, to ND's class calculator.
Total score: 264.88... 3 points clear of Tennessee and good for the #10 class nationally.
Note: I didn't even use 4 star guys like Peter Skoronski, Kaden Johnson, Zak Zinter, Tirek Murphy, Kevin Pyne, Gus Hartwig, Jadon Thompson, etc...
If you're being intellectually honest with yourself for a minute, you know ND's class could have been ranked much higher if they had room and had they not not taken in 4 transfers in Pryor, Skowroneck, McCloud and Speights. That said, the staff is expecting at least 3 of those guys to be major contributors, if not starters, THIS year, where as none of the 4 star freshman I listed above would have been in an position to do so.
For fun, I added the following names into Notre Dame's 2020 class, taking the same 23 that Tennessee did.
1. Peter Skowronek (Northwestern)
2. Kaden Johnson (Minnesota)
3. Zak Zinter (Michigan)
4. Tyrek Murphy (Purdue)
5. Kevin Pyne (Boston College)
6. Jadon Thompson (Cincinnati)
Total score: 275.66.
Again, if you're being honest with yourself, you know that had ND been in the position to take more guys, or if they had prioritized recruits over their 4 grad transfers, that #18 class could have been WAY higher. The 275.66 score above would have given them the #7 class in the nation, bumping out Auburn.
Perspective.
