Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE those four assistants had even coached a game for the Irish. "After the decimation of our staff, I'm very proud of where we are today. I'm very proud of the work everybody's done," Notre Dame recruiting coordi- nator/linebackers coach Mike Elston said on National Signing Day. "At one point, I didn't know if we'd be in the top 25 with our recruiting class." In order to protect what eventually became a consensus top-15 class, Kelly made stops in nine different cities — all the way from Naples, Fla., to Port- land, Ore. — traveling more than 10,000 miles the week before National Signing Day to both bolster this class and guard against any last-minute player defec- tions. His dedication throughout the entire process paid off. Not only was Kelly able to keep his class flip-free, but he also was actually able to lure seven of his recruits — linebacker Daelin Hayes (USC), defensive end Khalid Kareem (Alabama), defensive back D.J. Mor- gan (Arizona State), quarterback Ian Book (Washington State), defensive back Tony Pride Jr. (Virginia Tech), defensive end Adtokunbo Ogundeji (Western Michigan) and defensive back Spencer Perry (Florida) — in this cycle away from prior commitments to other schools. Poaching used to be a dirty word when it came to recruiting, but it has become an accepted part of the process now, and Kelly has become as good at it as any coach in the business. Kelly has pulled 37 players total to Notre Dame that had previously pledged to other schools — almost 25 percent of the 150-plus prospects he has brought here in seven recruiting cycles. In a story for the South Bend Tribune, Mike Farrell, longtime national director of recruiting for Rivals, admitted some surprise to Kelly's success when pulling players from other school's recruiting classes. "Especially for a program like Notre Dame," he said, "where kids make decisions more based on aca- demics and the 40-year decision more so than some other programs." For comparison's sake, Kelly has lost 19 committed recruits to other schools while at Notre Dame, most of which jumped ship early in his coaching ca- reer here. The give-and-take ratio has worked overwhelmingly in Kelly's favor the last two recruiting cycles with 13 to- tal flips coming to Notre Dame and only two going, proving again that he has become a master at protecting and poaching in a recruiting landscape that has changed so dramatically since the turn of the century. "Now kids take these visits [even after committing], and coaches are so creative and kids get so confused," explained Farrell, who believes more players flipped commitments in this cycle than in any other he can re- member. "I think anybody who takes a visit is in danger of flipping. And that never used to be the case about 15 years ago." ✦ Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com