Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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22 MARCH 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2017 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE fensive back Paulson Adebo, who signed with Stanford; La Mirada (Calif.) High four-star athlete Elijah Hicks, who signed with Cal; Winter Park (Fla.) High three-star wide re- ceiver Jordan Pouncey, who signed with Texas; Beaver Falls (Pa.) High four-star defensive end Donovan Jeter, who signed with Michigan; In- dianapolis Cathedral four-star line- backer Pete Werner, who signed with Ohio State; and Norcross (Ga.) High four-star defensive end Robert Beal, who signed with Georgia. Those would have been huge ad- ditions to an Irish team that was in need of depth, particularly at defen- sive back and along the defensive line. The late additions to the haul — which also included San Diego Cathedral Catholic three-star safety Jordan Genmark Heath, Shawnee Mission (Kan.) Bishop Miege three- star wide receiver Jafar Armstrong and Charlotte (N.C.) South Meck- lenburg kicker Jonathan Doerer — helped alleviate those misses. Kelly said flipping players from other schools late was a necessity this year. "It was a bit of a change for us," Kelly said. "I'm not saying we're go- ing to wait until the last week and try to cherry pick everybody's com- mits, but it was a bit of a different perspective for us. I don't necessarily want to make a habit of losing our commits. "We went after guys that we felt fit at Notre Dame, and it worked out pretty good for us." With the class of 2017 complete, Notre Dame now looks toward the future. A full calendar year will be invaluable for the team's new assis- tant coaches, and Kelly is eager to see their work. "I'm proud that I get a chance to lead the group that I have," Kelly said of his six new assistants. "They hit the ground running." ✦ All things considered, Mike Elston walked up to the podium at the Guglielmino Ath- letics Complex on National Signing Day Feb. 1 a happy man. The Notre Dame recruiting coordinator oversaw an operation that had to weather six decommitments, a 4-8 finish to the 2016 season and five assistants leaving the staff. Notre Dame, however, rallied down the stretch, finishing the class with six commitments in the last month to end with 21 signees. Rivals ranked the Notre Dame class the 13th-best in the country. It wasn't the ideal situation for the 42-year-old Elston, a longtime assistant under head coach Brian Kelly. After hav- ing no decommitments in his first year as recruiting coordinator, Elston's focus was on salvaging a core group of 15 players in the class. With the vast coaching turnover that Notre Dame experienced in 2016 — losing its top assistants on both offense and de- fense — putting the team's new assistants in touch with the longtime commits was priority No. 1 for Elston and the Irish. "For the most part, we've held onto quite a few guys which is a testament to the work that the recruiting office has done," Elston said. "We did a really nice job with that considering all the things that went into place." Notre Dame's new assistants were of- ficially hired throughout December and January, and the entire staff never got on campus before the dead recruiting period ended in mid-January. Offensive coordinator Chip Long was briefly in South Bend before hitting the road. Wide receivers coach Del- Vaughn Alexander went directly on the road when he was hired. Only new defensive coordinator Mike Elko was in the office with Elston to formulate the initial plan. "There were a lot of challenges," Elston said. "Everything was being done via phone and FaceTime. … That part of it was very challenging." With Notre Dame's new assistants came new offensive and defensive systems. That meant some tweaks to the team's recruiting board in terms of the types of players it was targeting. "I was interviewing with Coach Elko, Coach Long and Coach [Brian] Polian, and talking to them about the personnel that's currently on the roster, watching some video, show- ing them what the strengths and weaknesses were, then saying, 'OK, we need more of this, we need more of that,'" Elston said. "Then we got to work. "That's how we built the list, and once we identified who that was, then the process began of, 'How are we going to target these guys? Who's going to see who? Who's taking the lead on which guy?' It was quite the ordeal, quite the process, and a lot of work." Polian, the new special teams co- ordinator, went to see three-star defensive tackle Myron Tagovailoa- Amosa in Hawai'i. Though Polian's contribution to the class of 21 play- ers was relatively small, he was highly complimentary of the job done by Elston and the Irish. "Having been a recruiting coordi- nator and having just been a head coach, watching the work that Coach Elston did, watching the work that [director of player personnel] Dave Peloquin did, watching how Coach Kelly really grinded it out here over the last month, to come out of the season that we came out of, to come out of the coaching changes that we came out of and to put together this class, it's very, very positive," Polian said. "I have a biased point of view, but I'm also just arriving back. "I can offer a little bit of an outsider's perspective, and wow, you come off the adversity of last year and you put this class together, that's pretty good." — Matt Jones Mike Elston Leads Late Recruiting Charge Elston said the Irish faced many challenges on the recruiting trail this year, but they still managed to finish with 21 signees and the nation's No. 13 class according to Rivals. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND