Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Who's Joining The Irish Next Season? With one scholarship available to use for the 2015-16 roster, Notre Dame will search far and wide this spring to find a possible graduate transfer or perhaps a high school senior whose stock has risen since November's early signing period. Last offseason, the Irish pursued a number of graduate transfers, but fell short on each occasion. Brey and his assistant coaches have a valuable show of success this time around: a 32-6 season and ACC championship. Last year, Notre Dame endured a miserable 15-17 inaugural campaign in the ACC, which made it dif- ficult to convince transfers to join a program that is traditionally light on sending its members to the NBA. Whether the Irish add another player to complement Auguste and Colson in the post won't be deter- mined for weeks or even months, but here are the three prospects that will enroll at Notre Dame in June: Elijah Burns Hometown: Blairstown, N.J. Size: 6-8, 220 pounds Rating: Three-star prospect according to Rivals.com Accomplishments: Averaged 13 points and seven rebounds a game as a senior … Awarded New Jersey all-Prep A first-team honors by NJ.com … Selected for the Jordan Brand Classic Regional Game, but did not play in contest because of an injury … Scored a team-high 19 points in the Prep A state title game, a 72-52 loss by Blair Academy to St. Benedict's on Feb. 21. The Skinny: Burns is a solid stretch forward that will compete for time immediately, even on a roster with a good amount of returning talent. There are similarities in his game to former Irish forward Ty Nash, who was a critical component of the 27-7 group that earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tourna- ment in 2011. Brey's Take: "He's a feel-for-the-game, frontline guy. You love the fact that he's got the body ready to play as a freshman. He's 6-7, maybe almost 6-8 now, and he's about 225-230 pounds. He's physically put together. "The thing that really impressed me last summer was how good of a passer he is. He can really see the floor past the ball. When those three [commits] were here for their visits, Connaughton kept praising Burns from the two pickup games they played." Rex Pflueger Hometown: Santa Ana, Calif. Size: 6-4, 175 pounds Rating: Four-star prospect and No. 99 overall player nationally according to Rivals.com Accomplishments: Averaged 16.9 points, 3.4 assists and 3.0 steals a game for 29-5 Mater Dei, all team- highs, and was second on the team in rebounding with 6.2 per game … Led his team with 19 points in a 65-64 overtime loss to Bishop O'Dowd in California's Open Division state championship game on March 28 … Awarded second-team All-California honors by USA Today, and was named Orange County Player of the Year by the Orange County Register … Selected to play in the Ball Is Life All-American Game, May 2, at Long Beach (Calif.) City College. The Skinny: The easy money is on Pflueger developing into a fan favorite from the start. He defends and can shoot well, but his ability to penetrate on a defense will be welcome for a program that did a lot