Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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54 AUGUST 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." — Ben Franklin B en Franklin never had to deal with college football recruiting, but his theory applies now more than ever to coaches who once viewed re- cruiting as a winter sport. Within the last decade, the "early bird" coaches in recruiting have been actively scouring the nation in an at- tempt to get a jump on their competitors for premier student-athletes. Just a couple years ago, Bob Davie could not have fathomed Notre Dame taking 10 verbal commitments by Aug. 21 — with the possibility of having a dozen, if not more, by the Sept. 8 opener at Nebraska. Yet as Blue & Gold Illustrated went to press Aug. 21, Notre Dame had secured five more commitments from the end of July through the third week of August, thus expanding its total to 10. It wasn't necessarily done by design. Rather, the times now dictate a "recruiting rush hour" during the summer months. Summer camps at schools, as well as pro-style combines sponsored by shoe companies such as Nike and Reebok, have provided college coaches the visual access and data heretofore unseen. Furthermore, unofficial visits (those not paid for by the school), to campuses during the summer months have be- come virtually a mandatory itinerary for many premier prep prospects who would rather not deal with the recruiting has- sles that occur during their senior year, including a deluge of phone calls from internet sources seeking the latest scoop. To keep up with the Joneses of the col- lege recruiting world, Notre Dame has al- tered its previous policy of patience when it came to accepting early verbal commit- ments. In the last five seasons, Notre Dame generally has had three to five pledges prior to the start of the regular-season cam- paign, and those numbers usually would remain steadfast through November. Now, it's changed. Ohio State had 15 commitments by Aug. 21. Schools such as Texas, UCLA, LSU and Michigan were nearing or in double figures. "The landscape of recruiting has changed," Davie noted. "You've been forced to get out there. If I said we just did that on our own, that wouldn't be totally accurate. It's very competitive. What we tried to do was be competitive as well by offering early those players who had the academics." Four items stand out regarding the first 10 verbals: 1) After not signing anybody from Pennsylvania the past two seasons nor anyone from California for three con- secutive years, Notre Dame already has received two verbal commitments from Pennsylvania (receiver Josh Hannum and lineman Jamie Ryan) and three more from California (linemen James Bonelli, Chris Frome and Derek Landri). Several other prospects from those former Irish hotbeds could be secured later in the campaign. 2) Although Texas and Florida always will be vital geographic areas for premier talent, the Irish have been placing a greater premium on athletes from the "core re- gions" in the Midwest and Northeast. At Notre Dame, a "core region" also is defined as any Catholic high school in the country. Five of the verbals hail from Cath- olic schools, two of them in California. 3) The academic standing of the play- ers is excellent and beyond, highlighted by Lexington, Ky., cornerback Jake Car- ney's 1,380 SAT score and Texas center Bob Morton's decision to choose Notre Dame over Texas A&M because its aca- demic program has the flexibility to let him major in electrical engineering as an undergraduate and still receive a mas- ter's degree in business administration. Since last December, Davie has not been reticent about volunteering the in- formation that over the last two semesters the Notre Dame players posted the high- est cumulative GPA at the school since such records began being kept in 1992. One of the mandates the Notre Dame administration issued to Davie upon his hiring in November 1996 was recruiting kids who were far more likely to stay the duration of their four and five years at Notre Dame and excel in the classroom. 4) Notre Dame's coaches have seen all the prospects in person or in workouts at their camps, and they've been inter- viewed by the staff as well as the people in academia. They consider that evalua- tion far more pertinent than any rankings by recruiting services — not that most of them aren't considered among the na- tion's finest at their positions anyway. "On those players who had the aca- demics, we felt we had to get out there with everybody else and offer them or else we weren't going to get them — par- ticularly in this part of the country," Da- vie said. "Now, we've had commits com- mit from other parts of the country, but you started with the idea that in this core area — because of the Penn States and the Michigans and Ohio States, where these summer camps are so prevalent — we had to get ahead of the pack a little bit. "I'm really pleased where we are be- cause the premium is still on academ- ics and kids who we think are good fits here. Obviously, the summer camp has played a huge role with these early com- mitments because I would really have a hard time pulling the string on players we had not seen in summer camp. "Every one of these players had to have been here for a personal interview and gone through the whole process. So I feel as comfortable as you can feel about it even though it is awfully early to be doing it." ✦ BEST OF THE FIFTH QUARTER ✦ LOU SOMOGYI ✦ PRESEASON 2001 Waking With The Early Birds EDITOR'S NOTE: The late, great Lou Somogyi possessed an unmatched knowledge of Notre Dame football, and it was his mission in life to share it with others. Those of us at Blue & Gold Illustrated would like to continue to provide his wis- dom and unique perspective from his more than 37 years covering the Fighting Irish for this publication. In advance of the 2001 season, Notre Dame head coach Bob Davie was faced with adapting to the changing landscape of college football recruiting. FILE PHOTO