Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BY LOU SOMOGYI T en years ago, Notre Dame was in the early stages of its "self- induced probation" era. In 2004, it inked what at the time was tied with the 1984 haul as its smallest recruiting class ever with 17 players. A year later, during the not- so-smooth coaching transition from Tyrone Willingham to Charlie Weis, the Fighting Irish signed their smallest class (15) ever. Not only were those two harvests precariously low on quantity, but also only one player from those two classes (2005 safety David Bruton) would be drafted. By 2007, the 17-man haul from 2004 was down to basically seven available players, and the 15-man group from 2005 had been whittled to 10. That's 17 players total from two classes, thereby the self-induced probation that re- sulted in the 3-9 train wreck in 2007. Notre Dame's current junior class, signed in 2012, has been on the thresh- old of a similar numbers crisis. For- tunately, this group is surrounded by much larger classes and possesses more talent across the board. There were some early red flags, however. First, a couple of verbal pledges, of- fensive tackle Taylor Decker and ath- lete David Perkins, both switched to Ohio State (Perkins is now at Illinois State). Next, prized corner Ronald Darby also changed his verbal commitment from the Irish to sign with Florida State. His dynamic partner at cor- ner, California's Tee Shepard, had to leave Notre Dame two months into his 2012 spring semester. After a year at Holmes Community College in Mis- sissippi, he signed with Ole Miss this February. The attrition carried over into the next spring with the transfers of quar- terback Gunner Kiel (Cincinnati), and wideouts Davonte' Neal (Arizona) and Justin Ferguson (Western Michigan). This summer, slot receiver Will Ma- hone was first put on disciplinary sus- pension and then removed from the football program after an ugly run- in with law enforcement in his home state of Ohio. This current 12-man class does not have a quarterback, running back or tight end on offense, and possesses only two linemen and two wide re- ceivers. Defensively it has three linemen, one linebacker, one corner and two safeties, and is rounded out by a long snapper. 12 FOR '12 A shrinking junior class has undergone many changes