Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Irish Net Potential Star In New Jersey Athlete BY WES MORGAN his senior season at Absegami High in Absecon, N.J., once colleges figure out what position best suits the 6-1, 180-pound athlete. That doesn't re- ally matter to Notre Dame, which received Kinlaw's verbal commit- ment on March 26 and knows exactly where to put the versatile playmaker. R ashad Kinlaw's stock will prob- ably rise through the summer and COMMITMENT PROFILE RASHAD KINLAW will help bolster a thin defensive secondary in 2013 as a cornerback. Depending on the recruiting service, Kinlaw is listed as a quarterback, ath- lete, running back and corner. Abse- gami head coach Dennis Scuderi Jr., who spent time as director of recruit- ing operations at Rutgers under for- mer head coach Greg Schiano, knows a thing or two about these kinds of things. He thinks the Irish got it right, even though Kinlaw hasn't spent much time on the defensive side of the ball. "There are enough snaps at cor- nerback for someone to get a look at him," Scuderi explained. "His sopho- more year he played 32 snaps on de- fense and had six interceptions. It's not like he's never played there. The two-year starting quarterback Kinlaw produced more than 1,300 yards of offense and accounted for 14 touchdowns as a quarterback before breaking his right fibula in the fifth game of his junior season, but will play cornerback at Notre Dame. plays with good balance … At quarterback, he plays with great composure and can handle high-pressure situations … His experience at the helm will help his ability to read in pass coverage and his overall field awareness … He's not afraid of a hard collision, so that trait will also translate over to the other side of the ball when he's the one doing the tackling. Strengths Possesses a quick burst, great agility and FILM ANALYSIS concern coming in as a cornerback consider- ing the clips available were him as a signal- caller, but experience would be the first item to address at cornerback … He has the skill set where it should be a seamless transition, but playing in space and locking on to a receiver is a skill that requires experience as well … He missed nearly half of his junior campaign due to injury, but he's a competitor and a great overall talent for the class. www.BLUEANDGOLD.com Areas To Improve It's difficult to critique what areas may cause before settling on the Fighting Irish. "I know I'm going to graduate from there and get a great educa- tion," he said. "The possibility of playing right away persuaded me, too. I don't think I'll have to worry about being redshirted. "It's a family within the football team. They only invited a handful of kids for junior day. At every other ju- nior day I've been to there have been 50 or more of us. "We got to be around the players a lot more. We even ate our dinner with them after practice so we could get to know them more and ask them questions." Rivals.com and Scout.com list Kin- PHOTO COURTESY 247SPORTS his hips, the smoothness in which he changes directions, and obviously when he gets the ball in his hands how electric he is. He's run a legiti- mate 4.41 40 electronic and he's 6-1, so he's got all the tools. "What's the worst-case scenario? If "You can tell by the way he flips he doesn't turn out to be the corner- back you want him to be, then he's a star player on offense. I kind of feel like it's a no-lose situation for Notre Dame." Kinlaw fielded offers from Boston College, Iowa, Massachusetts, North Carolina State, Temple and Rutgers, among others. Temple was eyeing Kinlaw as a quarterback, which ini- tially was quite appealing to the youngster. "I thought about it," said Kinlaw, law as a three-star player and have yet to rate him nationally. National recruiting analyst Tom Lemming be- lieves Notre Dame got a steal. "Rashad is a super talent," Lem- ming said. "He's the best corner in New Jersey. Notre Dame got a good one. He has great size and he's a re- markably gifted athlete with good body control and balance. He has all the tools to be a great corner at the next level. I really think he's a blue-chip guy that would be a five- star if he got to play his whole junior season." who rushed for more than 800 yards and eight touchdowns and threw for more than 500 yards with six scores before breaking his right fibula in the fifth game of his junior season. "I had my mind set on playing as a college quarterback. My coach really made me look at the future and what would be a better position. We both thought that corner would be better for me down the line." Kinlaw, a four-star player and — Jason Sapp the nation's No. 6 athlete and No. 93 overall prospect according to 247Sports, narrowed his choices down to Notre Dame and Penn State fense similar to Notre Dame's, which is quite taxing on the quarterback. Scuderi said Kinlaw voluntarily spent around three to five hours each Sunday studying film with the coaching staff and bringing ideas to the table. Scuderi was fearful of lin- ing Kinlaw up at corner because of how devastating an injury would be to the offense. "He's the best striker we have in Absegami runs a spread-option of- terms of tackling," Scuderi said. "He could play the outside linebacker po- sition for us and probably start. There are six or seven positions he could go in and play for us right away. "Depth wise we lost a lot of kids that have been key contributors here — two in the secondary. We were so paranoid last year of losing him to an injury and what it would do to our offense, and then in week five he breaks his fibula and misses the last five weeks of the season anyway. You can't put the kid in a bubble. We're not going to worry about those things anymore." ✦ MAY 2012 39