Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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FOOTBALL RECRUITING plication is filled out timely and your test scores are sent in and you've got all of the academic stuff … "We do a really good job there, but we can't take anything for granted in that end of things, as well. So we'll stay vigilant on the academic pro- files." TAKING THE FIFTH Accepting a junior college transfer to help fill out a roster is generally not an option at Notre Dame. To compensate, a stopgap measure has been employed in recent years — searching for a potential fifth-year player who has graduated but still has one season of eligibility and enrolls as a graduate student at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have supplied other schools such players over the past decade, including quarterback Dayne Crist to Kansas and quarter- back Andrew Hendrix to Miami (Ohio), with tight end Alex Welch and cornerback Lo Wood also joining Hen- drix with the RedHawks in 2014. For the third year in a row the Irish will be seeking their own fifth-year player, or players, from elsewhere. Two years ago, it was Wake Forest punter Alex Wulfeck. Last year, it was Florida veteran defensive back Cody Riggs, who became a 13-game starter in place of the academically suspended KeiVarae Russell. Head coach Brian Kelly confirmed on National Signing Day that Notre Dame was looking into fifth-year op- tions but was unable to comment on who. Scout.com indicated that the Irish staff reached out to Cal safety Avery Sebastian, who in December an- nounced he would enroll at graduate school elsewhere to use his fifth season of eligibility. This is a specific need area for the Irish, who missed on three safety can- didates on the final week of recruiting — Arrington Farrar (Wisconsin), Justin Reid (Stanford) and Nathan Meadors (UCLA) — to compensate for the loss of original verbal commit Prentice McKinney (Oklahoma). Sebastian was Rivals' No. 8-ranked safety coming out of high school in 2011, and back then his name was Av- ery Walls. Plus, he is from the same Georgia high school as current Irish defensive lineman Isaac Rochell. Se- bastian's Cal career was besieged with Determined to add a transfer safety to a position lacking depth, Notre Dame has turned its attention to Avery Sebastian, who was Rivals.com's No. 8 safety coming out of high school. PHOTO COURTESY CAL