Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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FOOTBALL RECRUITING DAVONTE NEAL ATHLETE, 5-9, 170 PARADISE VALLEY, ARIZ./CHAPARRAL 247Sports Ranking: Four-star recruit, the No. 3 player in Arizona, the coun- try's No. 8 athlete and the No. 84 overall player nationally. The Skinny: Neal's visit to Notre Dame was described as a "business trip." He was able to get all the information he was seeking on the academic side of things and didn't talk football until his one-on-one meeting with Brian Kelly on the last day of his visit. One of the key messages during his trip was the importance of a strong alumni base, and it didn't take the Neal fam- ily long to see how spread out the fan following of the program is. "We were 20 minutes from the Chi- cago Midway airport, and Davonte started tapping me on the shoulder while I was driving," Neal's father, Luke, shared. "I looked out the win- dow and there was a guy out there yelling his name. That was crazy." The younger Neal noted plenty of highlights from his trip (see page 47), and although he was originally discouraged about the rigorous aca- demic schedule, he learned on the visit that the support is available to accomplish his goal of graduating in three and a half years. "I always thought that if I got to Notre Dame there would be no way for me to keep up with grades be- cause you always hear how hard it is," he shared. "But there's a reason why 99 percent of their players graduate. They put you in the position where all you have to do is get your work done and it's hard for you to fail." The Irish weren't on the extended list at the beginning of Neal's recruit- ment, but following a successful trip, the program will be on his short list at the end. RONNIE STANLEY OL, 6-6, 285 · LAS VEGAS/BISHOP GORMAN 247Sports: Four-star prospect, the top player in Nevada, the nation's No. 14 offensive tackle and the No. 121 over- all recruit in the land. The Skinny: Stanley was the prospect in this group that generated the most buzz about potentially leaving cam- pus as Notre Dame's newest verbal commitment. The visit may have been one of his better ones after having www.BLUEANDGOLD.com cides to make his decision, and pos- sibly the favorite. ON THE ROAD AGAIN While it may appear that the last game of the regular season means the Irish coaching staff can head back to campus and rest for a bit, that couldn't be any further from the truth. The date Nov. 28 marked the be- ginning of the contact period, and Notre Dame didn't waste any time blazing the trail while out West for the game against Stanford. During the contact period, the Las Vegas offensive lineman Ronnie Stanley is rated as a four-star prospect, the top player in Nevada and the nation's No. 14 offensive tackle by 247Sports. PHOTO COURTESY 247SPORTS taken official visits to Arkansas, Flor- ida State and Nebraska, but he wasn't prepared to pull the trigger just yet. "It was a really good trip," he said. "Notre Dame looks a lot like my high school. That was pretty comforting and made it seem like I was at home even though I was across the country. They had a nice campus, and even though it was cold I was still able to see how beautiful it was." In addition to the four stops that Stanley has made, Washington is also on his list of finalists. At this point, however, the Irish are still riding on the emotions of the trip. "They definitely moved up my list," the four-star target said. "I don't want to say they're on top, but they are up there." Stanley enjoyed watching the team practice and felt that he'd fit into the fast-paced style. He regrets not be- ing able to take in the game-day at- mosphere, after originally being set for the USC game. He had to cancel due to a schedule conflict, but that shouldn't hurt Notre Dame's chances moving forward. A highlight of the trip was getting an opportunity to talk to the Irish head coach. "He just let me know they really want me to be a part of the class," Stanley noted. "He was also letting me know how important his players are to him and how he is trying to build a program, not just win games." Notre Dame has positioned itself to be a true finalist when Stanley de- coaches are allowed to make off-cam- pus visits to recruits, but are limited to one visit per week to each indi- vidual prospect. Within the Nov. 28- Jan. 29 window, however, there are also quiet and dead periods, which limit the amount of access. The quiet period (Dec. 19 and Jan. 9) means the in-person recruiting activity is limited to contact on campus and can be an official or unofficial visit. The dead period (Dec. 20-Jan. 3 and Jan. 10-13) means that virtually all recruiting, like in-person contacts, official and unofficial visits, and in- person evaluations, is temporarily shut down. The only form of com- munication allowed is one phone call per week with a recruit. Here's a look at some of the stops that Irish head coach Brian Kelly has made through the first few weeks of the contact period: SUNDAY, NOV. 27 Kelly's first stop on the recruiting trail was to see cornerback commit Tee Shepard of Fresno, Calif. The four-star pledge wasn't allowed to play foot- ball his senior season after transfer- ring from Central East to Washington Union, and he began taking other of- ficial visits with a stop at Arizona State with his cousin, and fellow Irish com- mit, wide receiver Deontay Green- berry. The pair considered taking an- other official visit to USC, but canceled the trip, and Kelly was able to solidify that Shepard will enroll early at Notre Dame in January. He doesn't intend on taking any other visits, which in- creased the chances of Greenberry also joining him in South Bend. MONDAY, NOV. 28 Kelly made his next stop on the trail to the nation's top player, Arik Arm- JANUARY 2012 45