Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MARCH 2018 67 FOOTBALL RECRUITING prospect now can take his official vis- its — meaning one that is paid for by the host school — during his junior year of high school in a three-month window from April-June. For head coach Brian Kelly and recruiting coordinator Brian Polian, this creates a bit of a dilemma. On one hand, it allows them to acceler- ate the recruiting process and adds the potential to receive verbal com- mitments earlier. On the other, if a prospect takes an official visit during the spring, then he would have to pay for it on his own dime to attend a game in the fall, when the football atmosphere is at its peak. A prospect is still allowed only five total official visits. Polian is fine with that, but he would like to amend it to where he could take two official visits to the same school. "If somebody says to us from a far distance, 'I want to come make a visit to your place in the spring,' ideally you want them to see a game atmo- sphere here, as well. There's nothing like Notre Dame Stadium and this campus on a game weekend. "Now, we're going to have to get into some strategic decisions about when do we want young men to take visits. Do we want them here in June, or do you want them here in Sep- tember when you've got Michigan under the lights and a national TV audience?" Part of those tactical decisions in- volve on how early to legitimately of- fer someone when the coaching staff might be looking at higher-ranked prospects on their recruiting board. How will the said prospect develop as a senior, if at all? The month of May used to be a time for full spring evaluations by coaching staffs, but now quicker "yea or nay" decisions might need to be made. "When are those visits going to start, when do you end them — that's really what we're trying to figure out at this point relative to tweak- ing and how that's going to work," Kelly said. "The real work [involved in early signing] now begins with the early visits." TODD LYGHT NAMED TOP RECRUITER When Todd Lyght was hired by his alma mater prior to the 2015 sea- son, he brought with him minimal coaching and virtually zero recruit- ing background. In three years, Lyght has emerged as a top position coach, and now Rivals named him one of the nation's top 25 recruiters for the 2018 class. At the start of each season, Notre Dame's football schedule often is labeled among the most difficult in the country. While that might be accurate sometimes, a popular rebuttal is, "How many teams on the schedule annually rank higher than Notre Dame on the recruiting circuit?" The answer usually is one — USC, which this past season lost by a 49-14 count to the Fighting Irish — and sometimes two, a la Florida State in 2018 or Georgia in 2017. Once again, among Notre Dame's 12 regular-season opponents in 2018, the Trojans ranked the highest in the Rivals rankings with a No. 3 finish, whereas the Irish placed No. 11. USC signed only 18 players compared to Notre Dame's 27. The disparity is based on "impact players" — the Trojans signed five five-star athletes com- pared to zero for the Irish. The group is headlined by the pass-catch combination of Mater Dei stalwarts J.T. Daniels at quarterback and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (brother of 2015-17 Notre Dame wideout Equanimeous St. Brown). However, it was relatively small in numbers along both lines. Most surprising was the subpar classes of two other Notre Dame rivals, Michigan (No. 24) and especially Stanford (No. 63). Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh made an initial splash with his unique and quirky ways on the recruiting trail and was projected to be an annual top-five to top-10 finisher there. Yet this year's class ranked only fourth in his own conference and did not include a Rivals top-100 player (defensive back Myles Sims was the highest at No. 103). Stanford has an excellent five-year program that has helped compensate for shortages in a class, and it should remain strong in 2018. However, down the road it might be in for a fall after signing only 14 players this year (with four-star quarterback Tanner McKee first needing to serve a two-year Mor- mon mission) and 14 likewise in 2017. The Cardinal did win the recruiting battle over Notre Dame for four-star defensive tackle Thomas Booker. Here is the Rivals recruiting ratings for each Irish opponent in 2018: USC (3), Florida State (10), Virginia Tech (22), Michigan (24), Pitt (36), Vanderbilt (46), Northwestern (59), Wake Forest (tied for 60), Stanford (63) Syracuse (64), Navy (92) and Ball State (outside the top 100). — Lou Somogyi USC Fares Best Among 2018 Notre Dame Opponents Amon-Ra St. Brown, the brother of 2015-17 Notre Dame wideout Equanimeous St. Brown and the nation's No 1 wide receiver, picked USC over Notre Dame and others. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM