Archive for the ‘Notre Dame Recruiting’ Category

The hits keep coming for Notre Dame this week.  Chris Bonds, the highest rated defensive lineman left on the board for Notre Dame commited to Alabama on Sunday after narrowing his choices down to Notre Dame and ‘Bama last week.  He told the State:

“Everything just fell into place,” Bonds said. “With me getting hurt, they kind of stuck it out with me through thick and thin. I’m a big fan of their nose guard and how he anchors the line. Coach Burns talked to me about playing defensive tackle and defensive end.”

The loss of Bonds is significant because the Irish currently have just one defensive lineman in this class - Tyler Stockton - and just one left on the board - Davon Custis.  Custis, meanwhile is reported to be favoring Boston College.   Bonds is also an elite talent when he is healthy and would have been an excellent addition to this class.

Notre Dame’s room for error along the defensive line is lessened even more with Bonds heading to Alabama.  If some on last year’s defensive line recruits don’t pan out, we will find ourselves in a rather precarious situation along the d-line again very soon.

One of the more important recruiting trips of the year for Notre Dame will take play this weekend when Hawaii native and linebacker extraordinaire Manti T’eo, aka Baby Seau, travels to South Bend.  T’eo is one of the best linebackers in the country and would be the biggest recruit at the position for the Irish since the 5-stared Carlos Pierre-Antoine committed to Notre Dame a decade ago.

ESPN recently rated T’eo the second best run stuffing linebacker in the country.

A tackling machine, Te’o is just a supreme blend of size, speed and intensity as a run supporter. He will offer his future defensive coordinator great scheme versatility with his ability to blow up the run between the tackles or slide out and chase down faster skill players in space with excellent burst. He has earned the nick name “Baby Seau” amongst the Scouts Inc. staff, rare to find an LB with both his great physical and mental attributes.

Greg Biggins had an update on Gaffney’s upcoming trip to Notre Dame today.

“I’m going to Notre Dame and I’m pretty hyped up about it,” Gaffney said. “It’s my first time there and I can’t wait to see the program up close and see what the school is all about.

“Obviously, Notre Dame has great tradition and I’ve heard great things about the place. Obviously we have to take care of business first on the field Friday but then I’m excited to get to South Bend and see what the school is all about.”

Gaffney, by the way, has been tearing it up for Cathedral Catholic in San Diego and had another monster game last weekend.

Gaffney ran for 225 yards on 26 carries to lead Cathedral Catholic. The senior said he threw up five times on the sidelines during the game because of the flu.

“He is just not going to slow down,” said Cathedral Catholic coach Sean Doyle. “He is not going to give up. He is good. Very good.”

It’s been a long time since we’ve had some playmaking ability at fullback.  Raeshon Powers-Neal started off the 2005 season in grand fashion, but after being suspended following the Purdue game his season was over and the Irish haven’t had a playmaker at the position since.

Came across this video today courtesy of Jeff of Shaquelle Evans committing to Notre Dame and then talking about why he committed to Notre Dame. Pretty good stuff from one of the biggest recruits in this year’s class.

An ESPN recruiting update listed Notre Dame defensive tackle commit Tyler Stockton as the DT with the most upside in this year’s crop of defensive tackles.  Here’s what their report had to say.

In Stockton’s evaluation, we said he possesses one of the most explosive get-offs in this class, but after watching video of close to 200 defensive tackles thus far, we can say the New Jersey native may be the most explosive. There are some big men who can get moving in this class, but Stockton seems consistently to explode out of his stance. His game has many strong points, but it all starts with his ability to get off the ball. Because he can get moving so quickly, he can beat blockers to the punch and knock them back. He does a good job with his hands and staying low, and he is tough to block because he is so explosive. On film you can actually see him sometimes violently snap his opponents’ heads back because he gets into them with excellent quickness and power. This ability makes him tough against the run and pass. The nation’s No. 2 defensive tackle is a great pickup for Notre Dame, and he should bring some real explosiveness to the interior of the Irish defensive front.

If you watch any video of Stockton, his burst off the line is very noticeable and it is something he is much better at at this point of his career than last year’s haul of DT’s.  Stockton is listed as ESPN’s #2 DT already so to hear that they think he also has the most upside is very encouraging.

In doing a little more research on Cierre Wood’s performance last night I cam across this blurb from the Ventura Coutnry Star.

What hurt the most was Santa Clara lost Wood to an injury less than three minutes into the fourth quarter. He had to be helped off the field.

Hopefully the injury is not serious because Wood’s a very talented running back and like I said in my last post, he’s got the kind of skills which are perfect for this offense and should see the field next year.  I’ll see what else I can find regarding Wood’s injury and post an update when I find one.

Running back commit Cierre Wood was finally held in check Friday night by Jimmy Clausen’s high school alma mater Oaks Christian.

There was a thought Oaks Christian High might finally be challenged Friday against Santa Clara of Oxnard, which came in riding a 18-game winning streak and featuring Notre Dame-bound running back Cierre Wood.

Didn’t happen.

Oaks Christian defeated the visiting Saints 49-6 before a standing-room only crowd and a Fox Sports Net television audience.

Wood broke off a couple of nice runs on the first series but was held in check, finishing with 119 yards in 23 carries, including just 45 yards over his final 16 carries, and he did not score a touchdown.

It’s always nice to see that a 119 yard, 23 carry performance is labeled a disappointment.   Right now I’d kill for a Notre Dame running back to have a stat line like that.  Oaks Christian is one of the better teams in California and remains undefeated on the season so it shouln’t be seen as any indication that Wood isn’t as good as many think.  Wood remains one of the best high school running backs in the country and if the Irish stick with a spread style offense like we’ve seen at times this year he will very likely see the field for the Irish next year.

Here’s some mid-season highlights from Notre Dame’s latest verbal commitment including a brief interview on ESPN where he shares the screen with fellow Notre Dame verbal Cierre Wood.

When asked to describe his play Evans said, “I’m fast.  I’m explosive.  I can stretch the field.  I’m a player maker, I can change the game.”

Yeah, sign me up for a wide receiver like that.

Notre Dame picked up a huge verbal commitment on Friday when five star wide receiver Shaquelle Evans committed to the Irish giving Notre Dame 17 verbal commitments on the year.  Evans is the second wide receiver in this class along with Nyshier Oliver and is yet another Brian Polian recruit.

According to Irish Eyes, the fans were one thing that really separated Notre Dame from the pack.

“What made Notre Dame special to me was the fans. The fans were passionate and the students are supportive, they stand up the whole game carrying their team. Everybody was into the game. It was crazy to see that. A great college town. That helps out a lot when you have fans like that behind you.”

This is a great pickup for this class and just another outstanding job by Brian Polian who has turned himself into one of the premier recruiters in the entire country.  Evans grew up in USC’s backyard and at one time he was considered a silent verbal to USC.  His trip to Notre Dame, however changed that and today the Irish welcome him to this class with open arms.

Evans has the potential to be an instant impact player on the field for the Irish next year and is a perfect fit for this offense.  With Evans now on board, the only offensive recruit left for the Irish this year is fullback Tyler Gaffney.  There are still plenty of defensive recruits left though so these last couple months of recruiting should be pretty exciting.

One of the biggest names to keep an eye on for next season on the recruiting trail for Notre Dame is offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson.  Henderson is almost a sure bet to be a 5 star prospect next year and hails from Cretin-Derhman HS in Minneapolis - the same high school which sent Ryan Harris, Trevor Laws, Michael Floyd, and Matt Carufel to Notre Dame. This weekend he’ll trip unofficially to upstart Minnesota as they host Michigan according to ESPN.

The state of Minnesota’s top junior, offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson (Minneapolis/Cretin-Derham), will make an unofficial visit to Minnesota this weekend. The 6-foot-8, 310-pound Henderson reports scholarship offers from: Minnesota, Florida, Ohio State, LSU, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Georgia, Michigan, Iowa, UCLA, Oklahoma, North Carolina and others.

“Minnesota has a nice coaching staff,” Henderson said. “They have a pretty good team. And I know some of the players there.”

Minnesota could really offer a lot of competition here - much more so than they did for Michael Floyd since Brewster has the Golden Golphers on the upswing.  Henderson very well could be the #1 recruit on our recruiting board next year because we didn’t do as well at offensive tackle as we needed to this year barring some sort of drastic change over the final three months of recruiting.

Let’s hope Seantrel is closer with Michael Floyd than Matt Carufel who left Notre Dame rather uncherimoniously and hasn’t had much nice to say about his time in South Bend.

One of the biggest recruits left on the board for Notre Dame this year is 5 star WR Shaquelle Evans and the Inglewood, California native will be announcing his decision tomorrow according to Greg Biggins.

Evans coach, Khalid Ali, said the wideout will announce his college decision next Friday (Nov. 7) during a press event for the U.S. Army All-American game.

Ali said the four schools in the running are USC, Notre Dame, Michigan and Colorado. Evans has yet to visit Michigan or Colorado so it’s tough to see him selecting either school. This looks like another classic Trojan-Irish battle and assuming nothing has changed in the last month, look for Evans to be headed to South Bend next year.

Evans is a potential instant impact type wide receiver and would add to an already ridiculous haul of wide receivers the past two years joining freshman phenom Michael Floyd, Deion Walker, John Goodman, and current Irish verbal Nyshier Oliver.

Notre Dame has to be considered the favorite hear after Evans announced the Irish led for his services last month.  Hopefully tomorrow is the start of a great weekend for the Irish.  Make sure to check in tomorrow and see if the Irish are in store for a Shaq Attack (sorry, couldn’t resist).