RB recruiting for 26

[scubastevefl]

Walton and Osborne are committed.

I know at one time Brian Bonner was Crystal balled to ND and coach Seider was trying to flip Messiah Michens from Penn State who he had previously recruited.

Are they done at the position? Seems like they got the guys they wanted most.

 

[Golson5]

Walton and Osborne are committed.

I know at one time Brian Bonner was Crystal balled to ND and coach Seider was trying to flip Messiah Michens from Penn State who he had previously recruited.

Are they done at the position? Seems like they got the guys they wanted most.

Yes they're done

 

[Tru2Irish]

Walton and Osborne are committed.

I know at one time Brian Bonner was Crystal balled to ND and coach Seider was trying to flip Messiah Michens from Penn State who he had previously recruited.

Are they done at the position? Seems like they got the guys they wanted most.

The thing Seider intelligently did was have a plan in place that whichever of 2 out of the 5 rbs he recruited chose ND, HE COULDN'T GO WRONG. Any tandem was going to be good. Mike Brown needs to study Seider Recruiting 101 .

 

[chaseball]

The thing Seider intelligently did was have a plan in place that whichever of 2 out of the 5 rbs he recruited chose ND, HE COULDN'T GO WRONG. Any tandem was going to be good. Mike Brown needs to study Seider Recruiting 101 .

Notre Dame had a nice one two this year with a couple of borderline top 100 guys at RB but all of the top talent organizations got higher rated players at the position.

But nobody cares. NDs RB recruiting gets praised regardless

I would trade both of our borderline top 100 guys for a top 50 guy which also frees up more room on the roster. This roster *desperately* needs high end high upside players who are *significantly* better than the rest of the players on the field

 

[sjb75]

Cue up Golson.

 

[Golson5]

Notre Dame had a nice one two this year with a couple of borderline top 100 guys at RB but all of the top talent organizations got higher rated players at the position.

But nobody cares. NDs RB recruiting gets praised regardless

I would trade one of our borderline top 100 guys for a top 50 guy which also frees up more room on the roster. This roster *desperately* needs high end high upside players who are *significantly* better than the rest of the players on the field

Jer Love 79th overall. 5th rb in his class. You said the same thing about him

You wanted

Cj Baxter
Ruben Owens
Justice Haynes
Richard Young

I'm just glad you're not running the show at ND

We have the best RB room in cfb. And we will continue to be top 5 because of this class

 

[savvyandsassier]

The thing Seider intelligently did was have a plan in place that whichever of 2 out of the 5 rbs he recruited chose ND, HE COULDN'T GO WRONG. Any tandem was going to be good. Mike Brown needs to study Seider Recruiting 101 .

Really, so our new recruiting guru, or 'GM', is already proving himself a strategic genius? Hard to argue I suppose. Sure beats last season's RB haul. Though after watching old boy's senior clips that we stole from BC, he looks pretty damn good. We might have stumbled into a real keeper.

EDIT to add: That's our new RB coach. What's our new GM's name?

 

[sjb75]

Really, so our new recruiting guru, or 'GM', is already proving himself a strategic genius? Hard to argue I suppose. Sure beats last season's RB haul. Though after watching old boy's senior clips that we stole from BC, he looks pretty damn good. We might have stumbled into a real keeper.

Odd.

 

[chaseball]

Jer Love 79th overall. 5th rb in his class. You said the same thing about him

You wanted

Cj Baxter
Ruben Owens
Justice Haynes
Richard Young

I'm just glad you're not running the show at ND

We have the best RB room in cfb. And we will continue to be top 5 because of this class

Expand the data set beyond just JLs class and sample the last 10 years of top 10 running back prospects out of high school and how their careers ultimately panned out (E.G. what round were they drafted in in the NFL?)

You'll quickly find out that the higher the rated the prospect out of high school the higher the player is selected in the draft on aggregate

J-Love was an underrated recruit for sure it looks like he might be a first round pick next year. But when convenient for your argument you forget about outliers and small sample sizes

Also in relation to the post you quoted what I meant to say is I would trade both of our #100 overall prospects at running back for a top 50 guy because the top 50 guy on aggregate has far more upside and Notre Dame's 85-man roster desperately and I mean desperately in the most desperate sense of the word needs star power/upside. Notre Dame needs face of college football type of players and you are far more likely to find that in the bucket of high school prospects in the top 25 and top 50 vs that of the top 100 and even less so when you expand to the top 500

 

[Golson5]

Expand the data set beyond just JLs class and sample the last 10 years of top 10 running back prospects out of high school and how their careers ultimately panned out (E.G. what round were they drafted in in the NFL?)

You'll quickly find out that the higher the rated the prospect out of high school the higher the player is selected in the draft on aggregate

J-Love was an underrated recruit for sure it looks like he might be a first round pick next year. But when convenient for your argument you forget about outliers and small sample sizes

Also in relation to the post you quoted what I meant to say is I would trade both of our #100 overall prospects at running back for a top 50 guy because the top 50 guy on aggregate has far more upside and Notre Dame's 85-man roster desperately and I mean desperately in the most desperate sense of the word needs star power/upside. Notre Dame needs face of college football type of players and you are far more likely to find that in the bucket of high school prospects in the top 25 and top 50 vs that of the top 100 and even less so when you expand to the top 500

I love 5 stars and higher ranked players when I view them as such. That's where we are different. I watch the film. I follow recruiting closer than you. I use the offer lists, I use the sites and I use my own opinion. It was obvious JLove was underrated. He was a freak. That was a bad ranking. That's another difference because of watching the film. You strictly go by the sites. I do not

Also, ND has turned down higher rated players who wanted to commit in the past for lower ranked players by the sites. Because they use their evaluation. So in your view they didn't get the right player. But in their view, they did

 

[Golson5]

In 2021, Audric Estime was ranked 13th in the composite for Rbs. He ended up being a top 5 back in the class.

So they missed another one

 

[Golson5]

In 2019,Kyren Williams was the 24th RB in the composite. He is the best RB from that class.

They really missed bad on that one

 

[chaseball]

Yes isolated examples, you understand this concept. Just because you can pick out a few examples of some guys who bucked the odds doesn't change the odds that you hit more frequently with higher rated prospects. Also, ND has had one of the best offensive lines in the country for the last 5-10 years. Thus, any RB that plays behind that line is going to produce more than what his prospect ranking suggests he should. Moreover, outside of Kyren Williams and Jerimiyah Love the rest of the RBs at ND produced in college but never really were a factor at the next level and have had pretty negligible/forgettable individual careers which suggests their individual playmaking/athleticism was limited as per their prospect rating

Also, as it relates to prospect evaluations: I already told you, I'm relying on the industry's collective opinion of a prospect. They do far more comprehensive evaluations of a prospect than you do and they aren't ND fans. They provide an objective 3rd party resource to compare and contrast prospects. Your 1 man youtube highlight film watching operation w/ a heavy ND slant/bias doesn't compare in terms of accuracy.

And lets not act like JLove was rated some 3-star. He was a composite top 100 prospect and one of the highest rated RB prospects ND has landed at the position in a while. And he's playing like it. Which is why we need more high 4-star and 5-star prospects signed out of HS. And although JL was rated as a high 4-star recruit and is playing like a 5-star player--he wasn't some massive miss by the industry either.

 

[Golson5]

Yes isolated examples, you understand this concept. Just because you can pick out a few examples of some guys who bucked the odds doesn't change the odds that you hit more frequently with higher rated prospects. Also, ND has had one of the best offensive lines in the country for the last 5-10 years. Thus, any RB that plays behind that line is going to look really good. Outside of Kyren Williams and Jerimiyah Love the rest of the RBs at ND produced in college but never really were a factor at the next level and have had pretty negligible/forgettable careers.

Also, as it relates to the prospects, I already told you, I'm relying on the industry's collective opinion of a prospect. They do far more comprehensive evaluations of a prospect than you do and they aren't ND fans. They provide an objective 3rd party resource to compare and contrast prospects. Your 1 man youtube highlight film watching operation w/ a heavy ND slant/bias doesn't compare in terms of accuracy.

And lets not act like JLove was rated some 3-star. He was a composite top 100 prospect and one of the highest rated RB prospects ND has landed at the position in a while. And he's playing like it. Which is why we need more players in the composite top 100 signed/on the roster. Although he was a high 4-star recruit and is playing like a 5-star player--he wasn't some massive miss by the industry either.

Wrong again. They aren't isolated examples. They happen every year at every position. The rankings are extremely difficult to be accurate with.

Our last 3 lead backs were all underrated by the services. Same with most of our top backup guys. You forgot Estime and Price.

You can rely on industry rankings. That just shows your limited knowledge. You don't use offer lists. You don't listen to others who watch film. You don't watch film for yourself. Your scope is very limited obviously.

Jer Love was rated similar to Osborne who you keep saying you want to trade for a top 50. That's why I brought him up. If you look at the lists it's not very good accuracy by them ranking rbs in the top 50.

He was a miss along with countless other players every year.

 

[chaseball]

Yes isolated examples, you understand this concept. Just because you can pick out a few examples of some guys who bucked the odds doesn't change the odds that you hit more frequently with higher rated prospects. Also, ND has had one of the best offensive lines in the country for the last 5-10 years. Thus, any RB that plays behind that line is going to produce more than what his prospect ranking suggests he should. Moreover, outside of Kyren Williams and Jerimiyah Love the rest of the RBs at ND produced in college but never really were a factor at the next level and have had pretty negligible/forgettable individual careers which suggests their individual playmaking/athleticism was limited as per their prospect rating

Also, as it relates to prospect evaluations: I already told you, I'm relying on the industry's collective opinion of a prospect. They do far more comprehensive evaluations of a prospect than you do and they aren't ND fans. They provide an objective 3rd party resource to compare and contrast prospects. Your 1 man youtube highlight film watching operation w/ a heavy ND slant/bias doesn't compare in terms of accuracy.

And lets not act like JLove was rated some 3-star. He was a composite top 100 prospect and one of the highest rated RB prospects ND has landed at the position in a while. And he's playing like it. Which is why we need more high 4-star and 5-star prospects signed out of HS. And although JL was rated as a high 4-star recruit and is playing like a 5-star player--he wasn't some massive miss by the industry either.

to add to this post:

I'm not saying that this year's RB haul is bad, because it's a definite improvement based on the last 5+ years of recruiting at the position at ND (2026 is a definite upgrade relative to NDs typical RB recruiting/prospects in recent years) but there's still yet ANOTHER LEVEL to get to to negate the talent advantage that the best teams in college football have over ND.

 

[chaseball]

I remember Charlie Weis era ND was recruiting 5-star and high 4-star RBs (top 5 prospects at the position) every year. Why that can't be replicated in 2025 is still a massive mystery to me.

 

[Golson5]

I remember Charlie Weis era ND was recruiting 5-star and high 4-star RBs (top 5 prospects at the position) every year. Why that can't be replicated in 2025 is still a massive mystery to me.

There is not a higher level than Jer Love. Having the number 1 back is as high as you can possibly get to. There is not a better option than number 1.

It's a mystery why you would rather the number recruiting rb instead of the actual number 1 rb on the field

Massive mystery

 

[NIN Irish]

I remember Charlie Weis era ND was recruiting 5-star and high 4-star RBs (top 5 prospects at the position) every year. Why that can't be replicated in 2025 is still a massive mystery to me.

So you wish ND had James Aldridge types at RB...

 

[chaseball]

So you wish ND had James Aldridge types at RB...

No, Aldridge was a bust, but at the time of his recruitment he was a 40+ offer guy who could have went anywhere. But he chose ND over everybody.

The player development under Weis was terrible but the difficulty of securing a composite 5-star RB like Aldridge was still the same. ND beat everybody for that commitment. Why that can no longer happen in 2025 is mind boggling to me.

 

[Golson5]

No, Aldridge was a bust, but at the time of his recruitment he was a 40+ offer guy who could have went anywhere. But he chose ND over everybody.

The player development under Weis was terrible but the difficulty of securing a composite 5-star RB like Aldridge was still the same. ND beat everybody for that commitment. Why that can no longer happen in 2025 is mind boggling to me.

Like Jer Love and Javian Osborne and Jonaz Walton ?

 

[THUNDERSTRUCK111]

I remember Charlie Weis era ND was recruiting 5-star and high 4-star RBs (top 5 prospects at the position) every year. Why that can't be replicated in 2025 is still a massive mystery to me.

And we still sucked at winning games.

What’s your point !

 

[chaseball]

And we still sucked at winning games.

What’s your point !

My point is that if we could recruit the most in demand highly rated guys back then during a time that was considered very strict academically as well that we should be able to win those types of battles for those top rated guys even today (5 star and high 4 star more consistently)

 

[Golson5]

My point is that if we could recruit the most in demand highly rated guys back then during a time that was considered very strict academically as well that we should be able to win those types of battles for those top rated guys even today (5 star and high 4 star more consistently)

The point is the staff thought Love was the best back in the country. They were right. Your rankings were wrong.

Using RB when trying to make point about talent is a losing battle. ND has the best rb room in the country

 

[chaseball]

The point is the staff thought Love was the best back in the country. They were right. Your rankings were wrong.

Using RB when trying to make point about talent is a losing battle. ND has the best rb room in the country

We have no clue what the staff's big board looked like at RB in JLs class. You are also completely overlooking the role that player development plays in the process.

And in order for us to continue this conversation we also have to agree that there's a difference between a prospect and an established player.

JL was a high four-star prospect but has been developed into a 5 star player. How much of it is actually player development and how much of it is actually just being overlooked a little bit as a prospect/athlete ? who knows but there's a distinction there that we have to acknowledge or else the conversation can't really continue

 

[chaseball]

To add to my last post: James Aldridge was a five-star prospect and even though he ultimately busted he still was a five-star prospect. Which means he was one of the highest-rated athletes in the country at number 27 overall coming out of high school so the staff deserves a ton of credit at the time for securing his commitment. But his lack of player development and injuries derailed his career.

 

[Golson5]

We have no clue what the staff's big board looked like at RB in JLs class. You are also completely overlooking the role that player development plays in the process.

And in order for us to continue this conversation we also have to agree that there's a difference between a prospect and an established player.

JL was a high four-star prospect but has been developed into a 5 star player. How much of it is actually player development and how much of it is actually just being overlooked a little bit as a prospect/athlete ? who knows but there's a distinction there that we have to acknowledge or else the conversation can't really continue

It was talked about throughout his recruitment. They loved him

It's some player development but the other part is he is a freak athlete who obviously puts in the work.

In order for us to continue the conversation you have to stop treating recruiting rankings like they are even close to facts. They are a good starting point and conversation piece but are not the end all be all. Sometimes it is really obvious to see mistakes by the services and you simply cannot acknowledge that.

 

[JimMc]

The notion that Seider, Mickens et al are going to agonize/prioritize recruiting from the 247 or ON3 ranking list kind of amuses me.

Leonard Moore? “Sorry son, you’re only a 3 star, no room for you…”

 

[chaseball]

The notion that Seider, Mickens et al are going to agonize/prioritize recruiting from the 247 or ON3 ranking list kind of amuses me.

Leonard Moore? “Sorry son, you’re only a 3 star, no room for you…”

They'd be silly not to bounce their thoughts off of an industry full of professionals at least

 

[savvyandsassier]

The notion that Seider, Mickens et al are going to agonize/prioritize recruiting from the 247 or ON3 ranking list kind of amuses me.

Leonard Moore? “Sorry son, you’re only a 3 star, no room for you…”

Well I think these guys are both consensus top 250 mid/high four star guys. Really hard to make any case that we're not getting it at done, at least at the RB position for this class. You could always insist that basically every commit has to be a five star guy. Or at least Top 100 on every recruiting service. But that seems like an unreasonably high bar. So we're running out of wiggle room here for legitimate criticism.

 

[NDinNJ]

Cue up Golson.

Golson right on cue! 😂

 

[chaseball]

Golson right on cue! 😂

oh nooooose what are we ever going to do two passionate notre dame fans debating a notre dame football related topic on the notre dame football message boards and providing high quality content for all to enjoy free of charge !?! ruuuun!!!!

 

[NDinNJ]

ChaseHasNoBalls is not a passionate ND fan. He's a TROLL. In fact he admitted in another post that his ancestors were USC fans who jumped on the ND bandwagon during the Holtz era.

Instead of incessantly trolling and disparaging Notre Dame, he should switch his allegiance back to that shit show that is USC. Who knows maybe he was a USC fan during the Carrol era, and has now switched back to ND. Seems like ChaseHasNoBalls truly has no balls.

 

[tbonesays]

And we still sucked at winning games.

What’s your point !

The same one he makes multiple times a day for years.

 

[Golson5]

They'd be silly not to bounce their thoughts off of an industry full of professionals at least

Full of professionals? If these guys were even close to as good as coaches or analysts they'd be with college teams getting real money.

Some are good. Some are bad. But to act like they can identify talent like a Mike Mickens or Jajuan Seider...... you're out of your mind

 

[NDinNJ]

The notion that Seider, Mickens et al are going to agonize/prioritize recruiting from the 247 or ON3 ranking list kind of amuses me.

Leonard Moore? “Sorry son, you’re only a 3 star, no room for you…”

What ChaseHasNoBalls doesn't understand is, a 3 star HS recruit could end up being a 5 star elite college athlete, just as an elite 5 star recruit coming out of HS could end up as a bust or a not living up to being elite.

He doesn't realize development is more important than how many stars some service gives them

Also competition in HS varies greatly. A kid playing in a smaller or less competitive district could dominate could be rated a 5 star whereas a kid in a highly competitive district could be rated a low 4-star.

 

[hvillebill]

What ChaseHasNoBalls doesn't understand is, a 3 star HS recruit could end up being a 5 star elite college athlete, just as an elite 5 star recruit coming out of HS could end up as a bust or a not living up to being elite.

He doesn't realize development is more important than how many stars some service gives them

Also competition in HS varies greatly. A kid playing in a smaller or less competitive district could dominate could be rated a 5 star whereas a kid in a highly competitive district could be rated a low 4-star.

According to that idiot, games are won or lost on paper.

Chase never played football. He was most likely on the Debate Team and never even made varsity.

 

[IrishMike409]

I remember Charlie Weis era ND was recruiting 5-star and high 4-star RBs (top 5 prospects at the position) every year. Why that can't be replicated in 2025 is still a massive mystery to me.

Are you crazy? The Weis years were brutal. You can keep the Weis years and that staffs evals.

Why even bring that up?

 

[savvyandsassier]

Are you crazy? The Weis years were brutal. You can keep the Weis years and that staffs evals.

Why even bring that up?

Wasn't there that one #1 rated class, his first full class? I guess I could check. And he did get Clausen. The Lebron James of CFB.

Okay, I checked, it was his 3rd class, not his 1st. And it was 2nd not 1st overall.

 

[iLOVEtohurdle41]

I remember Charlie Weis era ND was recruiting 5-star and high 4-star RBs (top 5 prospects at the position) every year. Why that can't be replicated in 2025 is still a massive mystery to me.

Charlie also got the #1 QB and #1, overall revruit in the nation in Jimmy and several 5 star receivers and TE i believe.

Might have something to do with he was the new England Patriots OC who coached Tom Brady.

And look where that got us...

Balance is important

 

[NDinNJ]

Charlie also got the #1 QB and #1, overall revruit in the nation in Jimmy and several 5 star receivers and TE i believe.

Might have something to do with he was the new England Patriots OC who coached Tom Brady.

And look where that got us...

Balance is important

ChaseHasNoBalls debating himself. 😂