Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE I f there is any truth to the adage that "silence is golden," Brian Kelly cer- tainly became a believer on National Signing Day Feb. 3 when the recruiting class he assembled at Notre Dame fell into place with- out a sound or a single surprise. For the first time in his seven recruiting runs as the Irish head c o a c h , K e l l y moved through the entire con- struction pro- c e s s w i t h o u t having a single player renege on a verbal commit- ment and "flip" allegiance to an- other school — not an easy maintenance project in this strange recruiting game of whimsical teens and musical chairs. "It's awesome," Kelly said of a drama-free National Signing Day. "Ev- erybody should try it once in their ca- reers." A flip-free recruiting cycle speaks to the quality of Kelly's football program and its processes on a variety of levels, most notably, staff sincerity, the power of persuasion and the mission of the university. "There's no drama because I think we did a great job of really getting to know the guys who we were signing," Kelly said. "Knowing why they were coming to Notre Dame and asking the ques- tions: 'Is this the right place for you? We don't want you to commit unless you're to- tally invested.'" A year ago, N o t r e D a m e introduced its 2 0 1 5 re c r u i t - ing class amidst t h e t u r m o i l o f n u m e r o u s coaching staff changes. Head- lined by the de- parture to Ohio State of running b a c k s c o a c h Tony Alford — Notre Dame's best recruiter — four Irish coaches left their posts after last season. But through the coaching turnover and turbulence, Notre Dame remark- ably lost only two verbally committed recruits from last year's class and now none this year, thanks in no small part to Kelly's offseason personnel deci- sions. The comfort and credibility of the new coaching staff allowed Notre Dame to secure commitments from 15 members of its 23-man class before Brian Kelly Becoming The 'Flip' Master During the 2016 recruiting cycle, Kelly (left) and his staff flipped seven prospects that originally committed elsewhere while not losing a single player that pledged to them. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND