Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/462058
2015 RECRUITING ISSUE prospect and No. 31 overall player by Rivals. The Irish did try to sign another offensive line prospect after Tillery's move to defense, and report- edly approached legacy recruit Mirko Jurkovic Jr., but it was too late because he was fully committed to Ohio State. DEFENSIVE LINE SIGNED: Micah Dew-Treadway, Elijah Taylor, Brandon Tiassum, Jerry Tillery and Bo Wallace MEETING NEEDS: After falling short on numbers in both 2012 and 2013 with two signees each year, Notre Dame reeled in six last year to compensate and targeted four this year. The Irish ended up with five when it was re- vealed in January that early enrollee offensive tackle Tillery would begin spring ball as an interior defensive lineman. Due in part to that late addi- tion, Rivals.com rated Notre Dame's defensive tackle haul the fifth best in the country. Wallace was the lone catch on the edge. SUMMARY: Low numbers are no lon- ger an issue because next summer there potentially could be 19 schol- arship defensive linemen on the ros- ter, probably the most at Notre Dame since the early 1970s. What appears to be lacking from the last two classes is a game-changing figure, which pro- vides a logical reason why Tillery was moved to defense. The Irish did pursue top ends such as Keisean Lucier-South (UCLA), Jashon Cornell (Ohio State) and Aus- tin Bryant (Clemson), plus premier interior figures such as Neville Gal- limore (Oklahoma) and Joseph Wicker (Arizona State), but they opted to go elsewhere. ON PAPER GRADE: C This is a unit that won't provide the buzz like the five-star laden Aaron Lynch, Stephon Tuitt and Ishaq Wil- liams group in 2011, and there won't be a need or expectations of them hav- ing to help right away as freshmen. Everyone but Tillery is a three-star, so there is more of a long-term invest- ment here with physical development. If Tillery stays on defense and thrives, this rating should improve. The possi- bility of someone else from this group moving to offensive tackle can't be ruled out either. LINEBACKER SIGNED: Josh Barajas, Asmar Bilal and Te'von Coney MEETING NEEDS: With some of last Micah Dew-Treadway is part of a four-man defen- sive tackle haul that was ranked as the fifth-best in the country by Rivals.com. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM