Here are my 10 thoughts from National Signing Day....
1. First, the national news of the day -- the stunner of five-star athlete Travis Hunter flipping his commitment from Florida State to Jackson State. I haven't done all that much research on the topic, but it appears that Hunter will be making in the seven figures by flipping to Deion Sander's program with an NIL deal. Good for the kid for making that kind of cheddar, but goodness gracious do I hate how NIL is being factored into recruiting. Schools are not allowed to facilitate NIL deals, but man does it feel like there's a lot of gray area in that. Hunter's flip to Jackson State may open the floodgates to more crap like this in college football recruiting, and I am not looking forward to it. And what this all means from a Notre Dame perspective, I don't know yet. But this is a program that plays by the rules.
2. Two things can be true: Notre Dame did not close on its final targets today, and it was still a very good class. Schools like Maryland, Kentucky and Tennessee made headlines with splash signings today. You know who has the superior class? Notre Dame. And it's not even close. There's a reason why Notre Dame often has the No. 1 recruiting class out of the gates in a recruiting cycle. It's because of this quote by Lou Holtz:
“Those who know Notre Dame, no explanation’s necessary. Those who don’t, no explanation will suffice.”
Kids who "know" Notre Dame often pick it early in the process. That's why Notre Dame has a high majority of its class wrapped up by the start of the season each cycle. Kids who are more into the last minute drama of National Signing Day don't typically pick Notre Dame. Are there exceptions? Absolutely. But recruiting classes aren't "won or lost" for Notre Dame on signing day. You have to look at the whole class and remember how excited you were when guys like Tobias Merriweather, Tyson Ford, Benjamin Morrison and Jaylen Sneed picked Notre Dame over other programs several months ago.
3. I do understand why some Notre Dame fans have a bad taste in their mouth about this class because of the numbers at wide receiver. If Notre Dame somehow has every single receiver on its roster return for next season, it will only have eight players at the position in addition to Merriweather, who is currently the lone signee of the class. Notre Dame absolutely has to get into the grad transfer market for another wide receiver.
It's really a shame that receiver depth continues to be an issue for the past couple of years. This was a topic the late, great Lou Somogyi talked about often; going into the transfer portal does not reflect well on your current position group, at least for Notre Dame. When he said that, he meant more from a talent perspective. Well, now it's still partially that but even more so because the Fighting Irish have such bad numbers at receiver.
As Marcus Freeman said during his press conference today, Notre Dame will have those discussions as a staff soon, but the Irish could take as many as two portal receivers from what I'm hearing. An additional high school receiver is possible but not super likely right now. We'll see.
The frustration that Notre Dame should've had backup plans at receiver is understandable. I give the benefit of the doubt to the staff because they know a lot more about how to recruit and manage a roster more than everyone on this board combined, but I can't wrap my head around not having a better contingency plan.
4. Is this a national championship caliber class? In my opinion, it's a silly question. Notre Dame's 2022 group is combined by other recruiting classes. How do the pieces mesh together? What is the talent development? And most important, will Notre Dame have a difference-maker at quarterback? Think of recruiting classes like a puzzle. Notre Dame adds some very good pieces to the national championship puzzle with this group. But does it have enough pieces to win it next year or the year after? That's up to opinion.
Don't forget about the 1/3 rule that Somogyi would always discuss. Per Somogyi: "In summary, in the majority of recruiting classes, about one-third of the group will feature multiple-year starters/future NFL players, one-third will be either special teams mainstays, reliable reserves or even start for a year, and one-third unfortunately either will have significant injury setbacks, academic maladies, transfer or just get lost in the shuffle of the numbers game."
Notre Dame would like the multiple-year starters/future NFL players group to increase from a third.
5. I spoke to one source close to the Notre Dame football program today about some of the key, impact players for the class. Most were the obvious names: Jaylen Sneed, Eli Raridon, Aamil Wagner, Ty Chan, Tobias Merriweather, etc. One name that caught my attention? Jayden Bellamy. My sources in South Bend have been raving about this young man for months. His one knock is that he's slender right now, but he can thicken up under strength coach Matt Balis, and this kid has a skill set to play cornerback or field safety that has the staff hired up. Bellamy may be the surprise of the class.
6. What could be next for the Irish in the 2022 class? For a while I've been saying that Notre Dame would look at taking a grad transfer defensive back, but I'm not so sure about that. I'm expecting all of Notre Dame's safeties and cornerbacks to return to next year's team so that's not needed. If the right situation comes about, then sure, Notre Dame will obviously look, but I think they will stick with the guys they have. I already discussed receivers; I believe they will get at least one portal guy there. As far as an additional high school player for the February signing period, that is still very much up in the air. Receiver would be the focus.
1. First, the national news of the day -- the stunner of five-star athlete Travis Hunter flipping his commitment from Florida State to Jackson State. I haven't done all that much research on the topic, but it appears that Hunter will be making in the seven figures by flipping to Deion Sander's program with an NIL deal. Good for the kid for making that kind of cheddar, but goodness gracious do I hate how NIL is being factored into recruiting. Schools are not allowed to facilitate NIL deals, but man does it feel like there's a lot of gray area in that. Hunter's flip to Jackson State may open the floodgates to more crap like this in college football recruiting, and I am not looking forward to it. And what this all means from a Notre Dame perspective, I don't know yet. But this is a program that plays by the rules.
2. Two things can be true: Notre Dame did not close on its final targets today, and it was still a very good class. Schools like Maryland, Kentucky and Tennessee made headlines with splash signings today. You know who has the superior class? Notre Dame. And it's not even close. There's a reason why Notre Dame often has the No. 1 recruiting class out of the gates in a recruiting cycle. It's because of this quote by Lou Holtz:
“Those who know Notre Dame, no explanation’s necessary. Those who don’t, no explanation will suffice.”
Kids who "know" Notre Dame often pick it early in the process. That's why Notre Dame has a high majority of its class wrapped up by the start of the season each cycle. Kids who are more into the last minute drama of National Signing Day don't typically pick Notre Dame. Are there exceptions? Absolutely. But recruiting classes aren't "won or lost" for Notre Dame on signing day. You have to look at the whole class and remember how excited you were when guys like Tobias Merriweather, Tyson Ford, Benjamin Morrison and Jaylen Sneed picked Notre Dame over other programs several months ago.
3. I do understand why some Notre Dame fans have a bad taste in their mouth about this class because of the numbers at wide receiver. If Notre Dame somehow has every single receiver on its roster return for next season, it will only have eight players at the position in addition to Merriweather, who is currently the lone signee of the class. Notre Dame absolutely has to get into the grad transfer market for another wide receiver.
It's really a shame that receiver depth continues to be an issue for the past couple of years. This was a topic the late, great Lou Somogyi talked about often; going into the transfer portal does not reflect well on your current position group, at least for Notre Dame. When he said that, he meant more from a talent perspective. Well, now it's still partially that but even more so because the Fighting Irish have such bad numbers at receiver.
As Marcus Freeman said during his press conference today, Notre Dame will have those discussions as a staff soon, but the Irish could take as many as two portal receivers from what I'm hearing. An additional high school receiver is possible but not super likely right now. We'll see.
The frustration that Notre Dame should've had backup plans at receiver is understandable. I give the benefit of the doubt to the staff because they know a lot more about how to recruit and manage a roster more than everyone on this board combined, but I can't wrap my head around not having a better contingency plan.
4. Is this a national championship caliber class? In my opinion, it's a silly question. Notre Dame's 2022 group is combined by other recruiting classes. How do the pieces mesh together? What is the talent development? And most important, will Notre Dame have a difference-maker at quarterback? Think of recruiting classes like a puzzle. Notre Dame adds some very good pieces to the national championship puzzle with this group. But does it have enough pieces to win it next year or the year after? That's up to opinion.
Don't forget about the 1/3 rule that Somogyi would always discuss. Per Somogyi: "In summary, in the majority of recruiting classes, about one-third of the group will feature multiple-year starters/future NFL players, one-third will be either special teams mainstays, reliable reserves or even start for a year, and one-third unfortunately either will have significant injury setbacks, academic maladies, transfer or just get lost in the shuffle of the numbers game."
Notre Dame would like the multiple-year starters/future NFL players group to increase from a third.
5. I spoke to one source close to the Notre Dame football program today about some of the key, impact players for the class. Most were the obvious names: Jaylen Sneed, Eli Raridon, Aamil Wagner, Ty Chan, Tobias Merriweather, etc. One name that caught my attention? Jayden Bellamy. My sources in South Bend have been raving about this young man for months. His one knock is that he's slender right now, but he can thicken up under strength coach Matt Balis, and this kid has a skill set to play cornerback or field safety that has the staff hired up. Bellamy may be the surprise of the class.
6. What could be next for the Irish in the 2022 class? For a while I've been saying that Notre Dame would look at taking a grad transfer defensive back, but I'm not so sure about that. I'm expecting all of Notre Dame's safeties and cornerbacks to return to next year's team so that's not needed. If the right situation comes about, then sure, Notre Dame will obviously look, but I think they will stick with the guys they have. I already discussed receivers; I believe they will get at least one portal guy there. As far as an additional high school player for the February signing period, that is still very much up in the air. Receiver would be the focus.
