'08 OH S Dan McCarthy (Signed LOI to ND)

[Irishknight1023]

We are very deep at saftey

[marv81s]

as of right now, we have 16 DBs on the roster, 6 of which are seniors, 4 juniors, 5 sophomores and 1 freshman, if I counted correctly. McNeil may be gone for one of his years because he will be in Rome.

I'm not gonna get in a pissing match about our depth chart, but if we get McCarthy, its a great get, whether its for S or CB, we will be taking 1 safety in this class and maybe 2 CBs, in my opinion. If Florida, osu and lsu are chasing this guy as a safety, that tells me the kid can ball, and is probably a better athlete than his brother who is currently on our roster.

We may be halfass deep, but we are lacking in talent and playmakers and if we get a pretty deep class this recruiting year, say 22 or 23, at the rate we are going we may do it. Don't look for all that many 5th years to be granted next year, or maybe even the year after that.

[RichardRiot]

Agree with Marv about the depth issue. Believe that after this season there are 10 scholarship guys on the roster or with signed LOI. That isn't deep enough for 4 spots.

That being said, recruits need to be somewhat realistic about 'early PT' at top-25 schools. If you are a very elite prospect you have a fair shot of starting as a frosh, or a much better chance as a soph. But how many guys are at that level, and even when they are, how often can they get significant time their 1st 2 seasons?

TE with the Irish is a good example. Reuland was very highly rated in 2006 (#1 TE until he started leaning to ND). Ragone was an early #1 TE for the latest class until he lost his season due to injury (then was dropped a few notches; funny how that doesn't seem to have affected guys like Shoemate and Tyler - oops straying off topic). Both these guys are behind Carlson for 2007, and while 'Connie' may see some PT this season as a soph, barring injury it won't be significant; 'Rags' likely won't even step on the field until his soph season, at which time there will be Reuland/Yeatman/Ragone/Rudolph/and likely Fauria in the mix. Same issue for QB/RB with the Irish. USC is there in about 4-5 spots now.

If someone is really focussed on early PT, then they should realistically be looking at lower-tier schools. Nothing wrong with a recruit expecting a FAIR SHOT at a 1 or 2 deep, but to actually expect to see the field is in most cases unrealistic.

[johnnd05]

Damn. I saw this headline and thought we'd pick up another one while I was sleeping:

McCarthy looking to start for Notre Dame

Oh, well. I suppose he'll be on board soon. Nice piece about his brother, though.

[johnnd05]

Just looked at that article again -- man, if you're going to make spelling and grammatical errors, try not to have them come in your opening sentence:

For many local high school football standouts, the ultimate objective is to sport the scarlet and gray of The Ohio State University or, the maze and blue the University of Michigan.

Uhh, Jamie? It's 'maize' (you know, the COLOR), not 'maze'. And that second comma is entirely unnecessary.

Okay, I'm done. Sorry about that, folks. But with Tommy around so rarely, somebody else has to be the grammar nazi.

[johnnd05]

Originally Posted by GoshenGipper

There are recent quotes from Dayne Crist since his verbal to ND that would indicate that Dan is very close to committing to ND and it might even happen as soon as this weekend.

So what's the deal here? I thought McCarthy was ours as soon as the offer came in -- any news?

[knute]

Originally Posted by johnnd05

So what's the deal here? I thought McCarthy was ours as soon as the offer came in -- any news?

If there's one thing that we learned last year, don't count on recruiting service gossip. McCarthy may very well end up Irish, there's no telling when or how he'll make his decision.

He's got alot of good offers, I'm guessing that he doesn't want to rush his decision. Good luck to him.