Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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2015 RECRUITING ISSUE As he refines his technique, he has a chance to be a good one for the Irish." BGI: Notre Dame signed four of the top 10 prospects in Indiana for the first time ever in the Rivals era. Kelly said his staff focused on recruiting the state more. Our experts felt that the success was a product of what was available. Lemming: "It's cyclical in Indiana. I have been doing this for 36 years, and this past year just happened to be a really good year. For Notre Dame, I think there always are two to four ball players in state a year that they can normally go after and get. It isn't a great recruiting state, but Notre Dame is really the kingpin in the state over Indiana and Purdue. Normally they battle Michigan and Ohio State for those players, but they got them all this year. You have to give credit to [assistant coach] Mike Elston, who recruits the state and did well, even stealing Josh Barajas from Penn State." Farrell: "It was a good year in state. Three out of four of those guys were four-star prospects, and Tiassum was at a position of need. I don't expect Notre Dame to rely too much on in- state talent, at least not with four out of 24 signees in a class." BGI: The Irish targeted a number of pros- pects in and around the Atlanta metropoli- tan area, but struck out down the stretch. The staff even missed on Woodward Acad- emy four-star safety Arrington Farrar, who was considered a Notre Dame lean and was at a position of need. The panel agreed that it's not time to raise the white flag just yet on one of the nation's most fertile recruiting grounds. Farrell: "I think if they get one a few others will follow. It's a heavily re- cruited area that has become a focus of programs like Auburn, South Carolina, Clemson in addition to Georgia and Georgia Tech. It's not easy, but there are also some high academic schools re- Rivals 1. USC 2. Alabama 3. Florida State 4. Clemson 5. Tennessee 6. Auburn 7. Georgia 8. LSU 9. Ohio State 10. Texas A&M 11. Notre Dame ESPN 1. Alabama 2. Florida State 3. USC 4. Clemson 5. Tennessee 6. Ohio State 7. Auburn 8. Georgia 9. Texas 10. LSU 13. Notre Dame Scout 1. USC 2. Alabama 3. Auburn 4. Tennessee 5. Georgia 6. Notre Dame 7. Texas 8. Ohio State 9. UCLA 10. Texas A&M 247Sports 1. Alabama 2. USC 3. Florida State 4. Tennessee 5. LSU 6. Ohio State 7. UCLA 8. Clemson 9. Auburn 10. Georgia 11. Texas 12. Texas A&M 13. Notre Dame 2015 Team Rankings