Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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football recruiting was at in the process, and I told him I needed more time, and that I'd let him know when I was ready to decide," Nelson said. "He went on for 15 minutes or so telling me how much they wanted me and that they'd wait until February for me. "That made me feel really wanted, and after we hung up I called him right back and told him I was ready to commit to Notre Dame. He and the assistant coaches were all ecstatic, and he told me that I made his day." Certainly it must have made Hiestand's day after the position coach worked with a skeleton crew in 2012. Nelson, in the same mold of incoming freshman Hunter Bivin (6-6, 290) in terms of flexibility to play at guard and tackle, helps bolster a group that was thinned out by injuries and a lack of strong recruiting in previous cycles. Kelly called it a "critical" lack of bodies during last season's march to the BCS National Championship Game, which affected their day-to-day preparation. "We probably were in the red line in terms of critical need," he said on National Sighing Day in February. "Nelson immediately had a good rapport with Hiestand," veteran recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said. "He felt really comfortable talking to him. Harry is excited about Notre Dame's future on the offensive line." And Hiestand, who enters his second year in South Bend, is quickly turning out to be one of the most valuable assets on Kelly's staff. His experience at the college level and the professional tier (six years with the Chicago Bears) gives him credibility with prospects hoping to be devel-