4 star RB Jonaz Walton
- Thread starter hoopsstar12
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He's really good too. Him and Osborne will be the best tandem anyone signs in the country.
His track speed has been really good this spring too
His track speed has been really good this spring too
Maybe the best 1-2 but i'd trade both of them in for one of the top 75 overall guys at the top of the prospect rankings
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Oregon got the #4 guy, Texas got the #3 guy ... you noticing the teams at the top of the talent rankings are getting the top 75, top 50, top 25 etc guys while ND is still on the outside looking in even when they're signing their best 1-2 tandem at the position in years.
link: https://247sports.com/season/2026-f...ings/?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool&Position=RB
link: https://247sports.com/season/2026-f...ings/?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool&Position=RB
That would be idiotic
So you would trade a guy ranked 90th and 124th for a guy ranked 70th?
🤣🤣 clueless
You still don't get that rankings are subjective and not an exact science and even if it was the difference between the number 7 ranked rb and 10th is nothing
Bad take
Texas didn't get the number 3 guy. He's only projected there.
Oregon got the number 61 guy 4th rb. ND got the number 90 guy 6th rb. Difference is nothing
Just a reference, JerLove was ranked 79th and 5th rb. Would you take the 4 rbs ahead of him now if you could 🤣🤣
Something feels incredibly different about this 2026 class. Almost every single guy in the class is ranked between #100-#200 i haven't seen ND stockpile this many borderline high 4-stars in a long time. If I had to project this 2026 class, my guess it is somewhere in the top 7 (even with the quarter 4 decline in the recruiting cycle that might inevitably occur). This is looking like a class that has the potential to match Kelly's last class that finished #7 back in 2022 if not supersede it. If ND can find a way to secure a 5-star or two down the stretch then this class could really be something special (top 5) and another positive sign in the direction of MFs upward trending program.
Traditionally the HC for the season is given the credit for the recruiting class. BK was head coach for like 90% of the cycle. I will concede the argument that MF was defensive coordinator and many of the best prospects in that class were on defense but BK was head coach for the majority of that class and the best prospects on the roster were defensive prospects even before MF got here due NDs reputation on that side of the ball during the elko and clark lea eras. I guess its a bit of a mixed bag.
.......Future headline.....ND gets verbals from three 5-stars in one day......chaseball reaction....why didn't they commit earlier?.....
I'm just looking at things critically and analytically and asking the right questions and sharing my observations. This is really important stuff.
To add to my last post:
What do you think happens when ND plays in a game vs the teams that have the best prospects across the board. e.g. where ND took the commitment from the #90 overall or the #135 overall guy at the position but say these competitors consistently got the #25 guy or the #55 guy overall at that same position? Not just at RB either, but at all the positions across the board except for maybe 1 or 2? Spoiler alert: they get ran over/completely out classed and everybody can see it coming from a mile away (vegas, the advanced ranking systems, the tv talking heads, etc. ) Nobody gave ND a chance vs OSU and ND ultimately got ran over as expected. Why? Because of the talent disparity between these programs that dated back to the recruiting trail over the course of 4-5 years before the national title game even took place.
What do you think happens when ND plays in a game vs the teams that have the best prospects across the board. e.g. where ND took the commitment from the #90 overall or the #135 overall guy at the position but say these competitors consistently got the #25 guy or the #55 guy overall at that same position? Not just at RB either, but at all the positions across the board except for maybe 1 or 2? Spoiler alert: they get ran over/completely out classed and everybody can see it coming from a mile away (vegas, the advanced ranking systems, the tv talking heads, etc. ) Nobody gave ND a chance vs OSU and ND ultimately got ran over as expected. Why? Because of the talent disparity between these programs that dated back to the recruiting trail over the course of 4-5 years before the national title game even took place.
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The 22 Defensive class (unless sneed really balls out) may be one of the most disappointing one I can remember with so much hype.
To date, Ben Mo, that's it.
The Offensive class has 5 starters currently on the roster and 3 other players that started but transferred for various reasons.
We don't get to the National Championship Game without Burnham, Junior and Hinish. And all 3 along with Sneed will contribute this year as well.
Talent rises to the top. Keep bringing in big talent and let the best man win which is what MFs classes are doing.
The 3 you mention, we got to the championship despite them. Yeah the each had maybe one or two good plays (vs the same Georgia LT) in the playoff, but the 3 of them got dominated more than not, especially in the championship and vs Penn State.
Sometimes you need to pick your head up and see where you are. Currently, we have the #2 ranked class for 2026. That means there is 1 team ahead of us and about 200+ behind us. Given the competitive environment of college football, NIL, thousands of boosters and the academic standards of ND you should be trading in your complaints and lack of gratitude for back flips. There are many high quality coaches and programs who never crack the top 20 in recruiting let alone land in the top 15 consistently year after year. I am sure the coaches try to land the very best at every position. Much easier said than done. Also consider coaches etc left ND and were replaced during the recruiting cycle. There will never be perfection. We have enough to make a run, just have to avoid the injury bug.
Well yes, because we do have to play 11 on the field and we had so many injuries. But they didn't help us win (other than going against the georgia LT), they just weren't bad enough we lost.
They were almost the reason we lost to PSU as Junior, Burnham, Cross (due to injury), Hinish were getting obliterated off the ball.
We don't go to the NC game without them. If they were so bad as you say plus the way you speak about Bowen and Gray it would be impossible. Plus you said how bad Oben was. So that's 7 guys and none of them are any good on a top 3 defense
It's crazy how we had a top 3 defense in the country playing all these guys who didn't help us or weren't any good.
Pretty amazing.
Also pretty amazing all 4 of those players get obliterated, Bowen, Gray and Oben aren't very good according to you and still PSU had only 339 yards of total offense and had to punt 5x and threw a pick.
Crazy how we played 3 top 10 teams in a row with 7 not very good players on defense and held them to an average of 17ppg. Amazing
We sure as heck weren't a top 3 D once Mills went down and Cross re injured himself.
Bowen is ok, but struggles with fits still (see long run he gave up to start 2nd half vs OSU). Yes, gray struggles big time vs good WRs, and oben was bad all year but one play.
Thank god for Clark, Moore, Watts, Shuler in the secondary masking our issues up front to end the season. All of them and Gray were on islands, and Gray got exposed.
How good our D in 2025 will be falls on these things
1. Gray - Does he improve or is there someone that takes his spot (hobbs or Cree)
2. Can Rubio, Onye, Dawson, Hinish only be a minor drop from Mills/Cross (the 4 of them did not look good in the spring game)
3. Is one or both of Botelho/Traore back to 100% and a difference maker. If not our pass rush will be crap from the vyper spot
4. Out of Talich/Stroman/Johnson - Does one of them really step up and become a good safety
I expect LB play to be slightly improved over last year with more experience
Young should start at SDE and be a force
Moore, Shuler, and Smith should be dynamic in the secondary.
1. Gray - Does he improve or is there someone that takes his spot (hobbs or Cree)
2. Can Rubio, Onye, Dawson, Hinish only be a minor drop from Mills/Cross (the 4 of them did not look good in the spring game)
3. Is one or both of Botelho/Traore back to 100% and a difference maker. If not our pass rush will be crap from the vyper spot
4. Out of Talich/Stroman/Johnson - Does one of them really step up and become a good safety
I expect LB play to be slightly improved over last year with more experience
Young should start at SDE and be a force
Moore, Shuler, and Smith should be dynamic in the secondary.
Well sure we were. We played Indiana Georgia and PSU and gave up 17ppg. How many teams in the country are doing that?
So again you are saying we played with 7 guys who were okay and not very good and still ended up with a top 3 defense. Damn that is amazing
1. No one is taking Grays spot. Too good. Too much experience.
2. Dawson was awesome in the spring gm. And all 4 have played solid to well against high p4 teams. All a year older. Not worried plus there is more depth behind
3. If both are even solid we'll be fine. We have 3rd down pass rushers to play there if they aren't healthy but they should be. KVA, Sneed, Loghan Thomas can all rush the passer across from Bryce Young on the other side. One way or the other we'll get to the QB
4. Add in Jadon Blair to those and you have 4 options. Need 2 to be good to have a really good 3 man safety rotation
Bowen is a stud and only going to get better with experience.
Mills and Cross (pretty healthy) were big vs indiana against their run.
Georgia lost their starting QB game before. We sold out against the run and luckily Georgia's oline wasn't good.
PSU we got absolutely ran all over, ohio state the same. With those guys playing big roles up front.
1. Said no one ever...... too good? Insanity
2. Dawson was the only one that played solid, the rest were big dissapointments
3. I'm not worried about pass rush in 3rd and long, i'm worried about it on first or second down when we have to defend the run too
4. Like blair a lot, but doubt he makes it in 2 deep this year unless stroman doesn't recover.
Mills went out early 3rd quarter against Indiana. Cross wasn't healthy. Indiana averaged 43ppg coming into that game. We held them to 17
Geprgia. We lost 4 DL and our best corner. KVA barely played that game. Cross got injured again. Georgia had all 3 interior DL get drafted this year. We held them to 10 points. They came into the game averaging 33ppg
Ped state. Came into the game averaging 34ppg. We held them to 24. They "ran all over" us yet only had 339 yards, 5 punts and a pick. Don't forget the quick turnaround and travel situation we dealt with
Amazing how a defense with 7 players who were okay to bad could do that to 3 straight top 10 teams
1. Yeah he's really good. Was all year
2. Dawson was better than solid. Watch again. Or you can watch real games where all 4 have been solid to good against top p4 competition
3. Pass rush will be really good to elite based on health
4. 4 safeties for 2 spots opposite Shuler
we have more than 7 players that were more okay to bad, but we only had to start 2-3 of them
Gray was the worst rated starter (not including junior or hinish) by PFF on ND's D last year
Pff is a really good data site but horrible at rating players. They rate every player in every game for every team and the ratings come out the day after a game for every team. No chance they can do that accurately
It's not very good
NDs defense was top 3 last year
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If Gray was our worst starter, then we had a top notch Defense last year. No ifs, ands or buts about it. He only really had one bad game(USC) and he completely redeemed himself at the end of that game. I won’t count the OSU game, because I don’t think putting him man to man with no safety help is fair to him against arguably the best WR in College Football
