Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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FOOTBALL RECRUITING ficial visit out to Stanford and see how that is before sitting down and making an informed decision." Robertson has listed Stanford as a favorite throughout the recruiting process, but he had yet to gain admis- sion into the school. He took the SAT on Jan. 16 with the hopes of raising his score, but the results from the test won't be posted until Feb. 11. That falls in line with when a decision is expected to be made. Robertson took his official visit to Notre Dame for the Texas game Sept. 5, and the Fighting Irish sent their decorated 18-wheel truck that hauls its equipment to road games to see Robertson the week before Na- tional Signing Day. Per The Atlanta Journal Constitu- tion, the plan was for no visits on the weekend of Feb. 12. That's because Robertson also plays basketball for Savannah Christian, and his team is the No. 1 seed in the region tourna- ment. After taking trips to Notre Dame, Cal and Georgia Tech, Robertson has two official visits left. If he makes the scores, those visits could come from the trio of Stanford, Georgia and Ala- bama. "We want to take our time to make sure we make a good informed deci- sion," Carlos Robertson told The At- lanta Journal Constitution. "… We want to make sure we nail the academic side of things. We only get this one shot. "I want to make sure this is right because I would be serving my brother a great injustice if I made him feel like we had to rush it." NOTRE DAME 'TRUCKING' INTO 21ST CENTURY RECRUITING One year ago at this time, the Notre Dame football office was in a state of disarray. Running backs coach and re- cruiting coordinator Tony Alford de- parted for Ohio State, defensive backs coach Kerry Cooks joined the staff at Oklahoma, quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur left for the NFL and outside linebackers coach Bob Elliott moved into an administrative capacity in the football office. Suddenly, current linebackers coach Mike Elston was thrust into his new recruiting coordinator role, which he had previously handled in a similar capacity for head coach Brian Kelly elsewhere. To say the Irish were be- hind in the 2016 recruiting cycle was vastly understated. "At one point, I didn't know if we'd be in the top 25 with the recruiting class," Elston said on National Sign- ing Day Feb. 3. "But we've been able to build relationships quickly. To be where we are today with where we started with the decimation of the staff. … I'm very proud of the work that we've done." Notre Dame's current rankings range from No. 12 to No. 16 by the various recruiting services, but could move into top-10 territory with the addition of aforementioned five-star Georgia wide receiver Demetris Rob- ertson. Regardless, Notre Dame made several inroads under Elston that are expected to reap even greater benefits moving forward. In word association, Notre Dame is