Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BY ANDREW IVINS F or the past two years, the month of June has been reserved for the Irish Invasion. The invite-only camp, which has drawn elite re- cruits from California all the way to Florida, had become a staple in Notre Dame's annual recruiting efforts. When running backs coach Tony Al- ford left to take a job at Ohio State, however, it was unclear what would happen to the event. Linebackers coach Mike Elston, who took over Alford's duties as the re- cruiting coordinator in late February, had always been a fan of the Irish In- vasion but felt like the coaching staff could do more. That's why this year's version of the camp should be differ- ent, and in a good way. "We're already talking about an event that we're going to have in June," Elston said March 23. "We're talking to the recruits right now about that, so we're the first they're hearing it from. That day isn't going to be tied up by someone else. That's going to be our day." There is a reason why Elston wanted to make it clear that the 2015 version of the Irish Invasion would be differ- ent. He explained that while things worked fine at previous versions of the event, he believed the coaches could do a better job of getting pros- pects to campus if they started extend- ing invites earlier in the process. "One of the biggest changes that we have tried to go through — and I don't mean changes, just improvements and trying to do a better job — is that we have always done a really good with evaluating talent and getting the in- terest, but we have to do a better job of getting them here, earlier," he said. With June 19 set as the date for this year 's Irish Invasion, Notre Dame is expecting to host upwards of 30 re- cruits from around the country for the camp, and there's already a star-stud- ded list of confirmed visitors that were locked in months ago. Fresno (Calif.) West linebacker Caleb Kelly — who is ranked by Rivals.com as a five-star recruit, the No. 1 prospect in California, and the No. 2 outside linebacker and No. 12 overall player nationally — plans to be on campus. He'll be joined by a pair of SEC com- Irish Await Invasion New recruiting tactics should pay off in June