Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME NO PLACE LIKE NOTRE DAME'S HOME FOR RECRUITING Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly doesn't seem to be to the least bit concerned with the NCAA's recent decision to ban satellite recruit‑ ing camps. Satellite venues began to gain popularity in recent years. Its purpose was to allow the college coaching staff to set up shop at distant locales — preferably SEC territory — for a few days to attract top prospects from the state into camp settings and introduce them to their schools. Kelly argued in early April, just a few days after the Division I Council ruled that the camps needed to halt immediately, that nothing had changed for the Irish when it came to his staff's evaluation process. Notre Dame's process traditionally favors bringing prospective student‑ athletes to South Bend for camps instead of traveling around the country to see them. "High school coaches can still work camps," Kelly said. "You can still have your staff on your campus working … we've had kids from all over the country come to Notre Dame and given them great opportuni‑ ties to be here — from Hawaii to Alaska. We'll continue to do that. "We think it's part of our service here at Notre Dame to offer those camps. We have outstanding high school coaches that work here with my staff, and we'll continue to provide that to the young student‑ athletes that want to be involved in football. I don't see it impact what we've done and it would not change our business plan or how we operate on a day‑to‑day basis." Last summer, Kelly and recruiting coordinator/linebackers coach Mike Elston both stated they had considered holding satellite camps in places like Georgia and California, much like Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh did with his "Swarm Tour," which saw the Wolverines' coaching staff work seven camps in six different states. Both Kelly and Elston said they didn't see the value in leaving campus to recruit, mainly because the campus and university as a whole are prime selling points. "We haven't gotten into the satellites just because we like to bring the kids to our campus," Elston told reporters on April 13 when he was asked about the NCAA's decision. "We're always striving to get more of our prospects here on campus so they know and understand what Notre Dame is about. As long as we can continue to do that, then we never really had a want to or desire to do a satellite camp. "We just try to get guys here on our campus to be coached by us in our camps and also see Notre Dame — because you have to experience Notre Dame to understand it." Eight of Notre Dame's 23 signees in the class of 2016 camped at Notre Dame in the month of June before eventually landing an offer from the Irish. The group was headlined by Canadian wide receiver Chase Claypool, who competed at the Irish Invasion and was awed by the environment on campus. "I was there for two days," Claypool said. "I came at night and I had the whole day. I saw the whole campus. The thing that impressed me the most the first night I came in was that there was a movie play‑ ing on the campus, so that was really cool because it showed you the activities there." Kelly and Elston will argue you can't get that with a satellite camp, which is why there is no place like home to recruit. — Andrew Ivins MIKE ELSTON