Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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28 MARCH 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2019 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE BY DAVID MCKINNEY AND COREY BODDEN N otre Dame landed a total of 22 signees in the class of 2019, with 10 prospects enrolling in January. To get a feel for the national thoughts on the Irish signing class, Blue & Gold Illustrated spoke with Ri- vals' director of recruiting Mike Far- rell and CBS Sports' Tom Lemming, host of the Lemming report on CBS Sports Network. Here is a rundown of what they had to say on Notre Dame's 22-man haul, including thoughts on the stron- gest and weakest position groups, highly touted safety Kyle Hamilton, which prospects could play early as freshmen on both sides of the ball, who could outplay their rankings and the four class of 2020 prospects that have already given their verbal commitments to the Irish. BGI: What are your overall thoughts on Notre Dame's class of 2019? Lemming: "I have them 13th in the country. It's a solid class like last year's. They got good classes in back- to-back years now, which bodes well. The one thing they don't really do is land five-star players, which they should be able to do. "They continue to recruit at a high level where they would be a top-10 but not a top-five team in recruit- ing. They still have that one last step to take, but it's still an outstanding class. "They helped themselves once again along the defensive and offen- sive lines. The weak spots to me are running back and wide receiver." Farrell: "It's a solid class. Obvi- ously, they have to deal with recruit- ing restrictions that other people don't with academics. They're not going to compete for the top class in the country every year, and that's what Notre Dame fans seem to want. "When you talk about a class that's finishing with a 3.55 average star ranking, is No. 14 in the country and hit a lot of needs, I think you have to look at it as a very successful class with 22 kids in it." BGI: Which offensive player do you think could play early? Lemming: "Kyren Williams can. I was really impressed with him. I've seen him for a couple of years, but RECRUITING ROUNDTABLE National experts offer their thoughts on Notre Dame's 2019 signing class Atlanta Marist safety Kyle Hamilton is widely considered one of the top players in Notre Dame's class. PHOTO BY COREY BODDEN