Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Mortar Between The Bricks Junior class is a complement to more star-studded hauls I Outside linebacker Prince Shembo and his classmates will get an opportunity this season to prove they are a better group of talent than most believe them to be. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA BY LOU SOMOGYI Certain phrases, or euphemisms, such as solid, complementary or hard-working and blue-collar usually are translated into mean- ing "we didn't quite match the star power of a lot of other top schools." Less than two months into his Notre It's similar in college football recruiting. n the world of dating, the "he/she has a nice personality" compliment is often a red flag toward matchmaking endeav- ors. Dame job, head coach Brian Kelly acknowl- edged that the 23-man class that signed in February 2010 — this year's juniors — was not necessarily the type to build a champi- onship around. At best, it would be a com- plement to forthcoming groups. "You need time to recruit," said Kelly, who came in late during the process. "You need success [on the field] if you want to be able to continue to recruit the very best. Clearly, we did not have either one on our side this time. We will." Collectively, the current junior class ranked approximately 18th among myriad recruiting services, as high as 14th by Rivals AUGUST 2012 32