Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 30, 2019 5 FAN FORUM A PERFECT CLASS? I have a recruiting question you may not have fielded before. Has there been a football recruiting class at Notre Dame you can recall that remained intact through four years? Or a high percentage that stayed to- gether at Notre Dame? No injuries/ medical hardships, no transfers, no ex- pulsions, etc. I would limit this to post-World War II for many reasons: changing NCAA landscape, set scholarship limitations, recruiting services archives, etc. I trust your judgment to nail down a specific year when recruiting metrics were best established. While the quality, consistency and stability of classes have increased since Brian Kelly took over, I can't help but wonder which "silent commits" actu- ally sign (Lorenzo Booker, Justin Trat- tou), then which signees actually show up to campus (Eddie Vanderdoes), and then which freshmen will stay/not get injured/get kicked out/transfer (too many to list), let alone which ones will pan out. Obviously it's a numbers game to sign/over-sign players to better the odds, and it's been enlightening to see how we should have been recruiting in the past just to be competitive. The loss of players should be ex- pected, and there is little to avoid it, especially in today's transfer-happy college football. Something tells me one of Lou Holtz's or Bob Davie's classes would be the winner just because transfers were less common and the program was most stable before recruiting tracking originated. Go Irish! Tim Buckley Via the Internet Mr. Buckley, this would take quite a bit of research, which will require time — but it is something we will undertake and have a story on later on this year, or perhaps for the recruiting edition that will be mailed in February. Maybe even prior to then. However, we are confident in stating that the answer is no, there has never been such a class. We do have archives that go back the past 50 years, and the closest we've seen so far is a 1974 recruiting class (led by Joe Montana) that had only one transfer to our knowledge. That's not including others who might have had careers ended by an injury or a disciplinary matter, etc. Also, it is incorrect that transfers were less common in the Holtz era. In fact, there was so much talent accumulated during the late 1980s through 1990 on campus (four straight No. 1-ranked classes from 1987-90) that it was quite prevalent to get a better shot at playing elsewhere. Meanwhile, nearly half of the 1994 group was no longer with the team by their senior year, or earlier, for various reasons. It was the high rate of attrition that made university officials uncomfort- able and what helped lead Holtz eventu- ally to step down in 1996. In his initial meeting with Holtz after the 1995 season, new athletics director Mike Wadsworth emphasized this point. We generally see a minimum of two players depart from each class, but it can extend to a half-dozen or more. However, we don't think graduate transfers such as quarterback Brandon Wimbush (now at Central Florida) should count because they do receive their degrees from Notre Dame. We can probably take it back to at least the start of the Holtz era in 1986 to break down the exact numbers from the past 30-plus years. BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters Blue & Gold Illustrated P. O. Box 1007, Notre Dame, IN 46556 or e-mail to: lsomogyi@blueandgold.com How important is college football dominance in the South, especially the Southeastern Conference? The week of the Notre Dame-Georgia game in Athens, a local grocery shop, Dill's, had the soap Irish Spring removed from their shelves because the Fighting Irish were coming to town. This prompted some humor on our BlueandGold.com message board. Here were a few examples: JamesKroner3: Gotta admit those Southerners take this seriously. Vinnieboombah: That's my brand and it has NOTHING to do with being a fan — simply that chicks dig the scent! LADomer: Oh yeah??!! Well I just went out back and killed my bulldog! Just kidding, just kidding. Don't call PETA, I don't even own a dog. BradenMi: Irish will Spring the upset. Rockne1988: Didn't think they even used soap. Jlemaux: First they were irritated about the Bowl. Now they are removing the Shower. Hate to see what the Sink has in store … Kreinard: Oh, the humanity! DenPetDel: If they stopped selling Jameson's, then you'd have a real story. FROM THE WEBSITE .com Legendary Irish head coach Lou Holtz oversaw a stretch of four straight No. 1-ranked recruiting classes from 1987-90. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS JOIN THE CONVERSATION! GET A 60-DAY FREE TRIAL WITH CODE IRISH60