This recruiting cycle will be absolutely pivotal to Elko's plans of building a stellar defense at ND. That said, it's the perfect year for ND to land a defensive class much better than the average group the Irish bring in on defense. Here is why.
1. ND can be extremely picky and spend all its time honing in on the roughly 10 defensive players it will take in this cycle. With 4 quality, 4 stars already in fold, LB Bo Bauer, Rover Oghoufo, WDE Justin Ademilola and DT Jayson Ademilola, ND will take only roughly 6 additional defensive prospects. 1 DT, 1 DE, 1 LB, 2 CB and 1 S. That number could jump based on program defections, but as it stands right now, ND's new defensive staff needs to be choosy and go all in on some difference makers, while cultivating a board of 2nd tier options, just in case.
2. ND has some really solid connections, personally and regionally, with some top kids. A guy like Houston Griffith is a stud corner playing down at IMG, but he grew up an ND fan in Chicago. He ought to be right up at the top of ND's board. Defensive end Devin O'Rourke is an Irish Catholic kids from Illinois as well. He'd be an excellent second DE in the 2018 class, along with Ademilola. Dallas Gant is a high acamedic, stud linebacker at a great Catholic school in Ohio. That's an Ohio State vs Notre Dame battle until the end. If they can't get Gant, Cameron Mcgrone is another really quality 4 star LB down in Indy and he's chomping at the bit for an ND offer, as is 4 star Jack Sanborn in Illinois, who would likely have ND n his top 2 if they offered. Shayne Simon is a really quality SS prospect that plays with the Ademilolas in New Jersey. He also thinks very highly of Notre Dame. And finally, maybe the biggest fish of them all in this cycle for ND is NG PJ Mustipher, youngerror brother of ND center Sam Mustipher. We all know how much ND struggles to land elite DL. Bringing PJ to South Bend like ND did his brother, would give ND an damn good DT / NG haul along with Ademilola, a year after landing NG Ewell and DT Tagavaiola-Amosa. I can't remember the last time ND landed two straight classes of studs like that on the interior DL.
3. Elko and Lyght should be able to snag a top corner because ND took ZERO in 2017. Whether it's Derrik Allen, Houston Griffith, Braden Lenzy, Bookie Radley-Hiles, Kalen Gerwin, etc, etc, I don't care, ND just needs an elite corner in this cycle and there is no reason they shouldn't get one given their depth chart at the position and a new DC who emphasizes secondary play. I have a feeling ND lands 1 if not 2 top 150, maybe even top 100 CB's in this cycle.
I'm going to watch ND's offers in 2018 closely. ND will likely be in the neighbourhood of 10 commits bp by the end of Irish Invasion, which will be half of the class complete I do expect ND to wait a while, however, and really push for officials from top guys in season, before filling their limited spots with solid, but lesser players. I think Elko will want to show the new defense off in person to recruits, as will Long on offense... I expect ND to be battling for some studs heading towards signing day next Februrary.
1. ND can be extremely picky and spend all its time honing in on the roughly 10 defensive players it will take in this cycle. With 4 quality, 4 stars already in fold, LB Bo Bauer, Rover Oghoufo, WDE Justin Ademilola and DT Jayson Ademilola, ND will take only roughly 6 additional defensive prospects. 1 DT, 1 DE, 1 LB, 2 CB and 1 S. That number could jump based on program defections, but as it stands right now, ND's new defensive staff needs to be choosy and go all in on some difference makers, while cultivating a board of 2nd tier options, just in case.
2. ND has some really solid connections, personally and regionally, with some top kids. A guy like Houston Griffith is a stud corner playing down at IMG, but he grew up an ND fan in Chicago. He ought to be right up at the top of ND's board. Defensive end Devin O'Rourke is an Irish Catholic kids from Illinois as well. He'd be an excellent second DE in the 2018 class, along with Ademilola. Dallas Gant is a high acamedic, stud linebacker at a great Catholic school in Ohio. That's an Ohio State vs Notre Dame battle until the end. If they can't get Gant, Cameron Mcgrone is another really quality 4 star LB down in Indy and he's chomping at the bit for an ND offer, as is 4 star Jack Sanborn in Illinois, who would likely have ND n his top 2 if they offered. Shayne Simon is a really quality SS prospect that plays with the Ademilolas in New Jersey. He also thinks very highly of Notre Dame. And finally, maybe the biggest fish of them all in this cycle for ND is NG PJ Mustipher, youngerror brother of ND center Sam Mustipher. We all know how much ND struggles to land elite DL. Bringing PJ to South Bend like ND did his brother, would give ND an damn good DT / NG haul along with Ademilola, a year after landing NG Ewell and DT Tagavaiola-Amosa. I can't remember the last time ND landed two straight classes of studs like that on the interior DL.
3. Elko and Lyght should be able to snag a top corner because ND took ZERO in 2017. Whether it's Derrik Allen, Houston Griffith, Braden Lenzy, Bookie Radley-Hiles, Kalen Gerwin, etc, etc, I don't care, ND just needs an elite corner in this cycle and there is no reason they shouldn't get one given their depth chart at the position and a new DC who emphasizes secondary play. I have a feeling ND lands 1 if not 2 top 150, maybe even top 100 CB's in this cycle.
I'm going to watch ND's offers in 2018 closely. ND will likely be in the neighbourhood of 10 commits bp by the end of Irish Invasion, which will be half of the class complete I do expect ND to wait a while, however, and really push for officials from top guys in season, before filling their limited spots with solid, but lesser players. I think Elko will want to show the new defense off in person to recruits, as will Long on offense... I expect ND to be battling for some studs heading towards signing day next Februrary.
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