Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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28 MAY 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED FOOTBALL RECRUITING BY MIKE SINGER T he COVID-19 pandemic has cre- ated many unprecedented situ- ations, and the world of college football recruiting has not been an exception. Generally speaking, Notre Dame's top targets in the 2021 class fall into one of three camps: 1. Recruits who already have a good idea of where they want to go, so they're going ahead and committing. 2. Recruits who are pushing back their timeline and waiting the coro- navirus out. 3. Recruits who didn't plan to com- mit until December or January any- way, so it's not affecting them all that much. Mansfield (Texas) Legacy's David Abiara would be an example of the first camp. Rivals' No. 21 strongside defensive end nationally planned to see Notre Dame, Alabama, LSU and potentially others during the spring. However, with recruiting visits shut down for the foreseeable future, Abi- ara decided to go ahead and commit to Notre Dame, which was the heavy favorite to land him. An example of camp No. 2 would be Matthews (N.C.) Weddington's Will Shipley, the nation's No. 1 all- purpose back and No. 36 overall re- cruit per Rivals. Shipley was sched- uled to visit Notre Dame for what was expected to be an epic recruit- ing weekend March 20-22, but vis- its were shut down the week prior by the NCAA. Shipley told Blue & Gold Illustrated he plans to visit Notre Dame before making a decision — but will wait only so long. The Irish are battling Clemson, North Carolina and North Carolina State for his talents, but he's been to South Bend only once, while he's seen his other contenders on several occa- sions. His March visit was going to give him more time with the Fighting Irish coaching staff, players and other recruits. He hopes to get to Notre Dame before making a decision, but if he's not able to this summer it seems likely he will commit to Clemson. An example of a recruit in the third camp is Baltimore Mount St. Joseph's Dont'e Thornton Jr., the No. 9 wide receiver and No. 52 overall prospect in the country according to Rivals. His plan all along has been to com- mit this winter at an All-American game. He was going to visit Notre Dame in April, which of course has been canceled, but overall his recruit- ment has largely been unaffected. With a trip to the grocery store and getting takeout the extent of activities to do for the Notre Dame coaching staff as well as recruits, conversations between the two parties have ramped up. Whether it's phone calls, video chats via FaceTime or Zoom, or text messaging, recruits are staying heav- ily in contact with college coaches. For Shipley, who is considered Notre Dame's most important target in the entire class, he communicates with running backs coach Lance Tay- lor on the phone two or three times per week, chats with offensive coor- dinator Tommy Rees once per week and will hear from head coach Brian Kelly on a bi-weekly basis. Kelly has done the rounds on vari- ous radio shows and other video- conferences, and staying busy on the recruiting trail has been a vital piece for him as well in staying active. Notre Dame fired out several new scholarship offers to defensive backs in the 2021 class in March and early April. Among them was Severn (Md.) Archbishop Spalding's Zakee Wheatley, Rivals' No. 11 safety and No. 237 overall recruit in the land. Kelly had a call with Wheatley in early April, as well as Gaithersburg (Md.) Quince Orchard's Ryan Barnes, the No. 54 cornerback in the country per Rivals. Barnes holds 29 scholar- ship offers, and Notre Dame shot to the top of his list after tendering him March 25. NOTRE DAME HOPEFUL FOR JUNE VISITS Moving forward, the Notre Dame staff will continue working the phones and keep its collective fingers crossed that the COVID-19 situation improves across the country enough that June visits are allowed. On April 1, the NCAA extended its recruiting dead period from April 15 to May 31. Since that ruling, Irish coaches have been discussing with recruits a pair of official visits week- ends — June 12-14 and June 19-21. How likely is it that face-to-face re- cruiting will be allowed in June? No one knows as of mid-April. But it is better for Notre Dame to plan as if it is going to happen, rather than have Notre Dame continues to battle Clemson and others for Matthews (N.C.) Weddington 2021 running back Will Shipley, the nation's No. 1 all-purpose back and No. 36 overall player according to Rivals. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM The COVID-19 Pandemic Has Impacted 2021 Efforts, But The Fighting Irish Forge Ahead