domerfor life said:
This all makes my head spin. When's the last time we've been in the running for this many top recruits this late in the game? I've only recently started keeping up with this stuff.
Actually it used to be S.O.P. About 10 years ago, Jevon Kearse was turned down by ND when Joe Moore told Lou Holtz he had a preference for an OL and there was no room left with the faxes came in on Signing Day. Kearse went to UF and became an AA, All-Pro. The OL ended up a part time player. In the Vinny Cerrato (full time recruiting coordinator) days under Holtz and during Faust's reign ND seemed to have a Top 5 Class annually. They didn't get everyone they wanted but they usually had to turn some top rated prospects away.
After Cerrato's departure, the quality and quantity started to decline. After Holtz's departure it declined further to the point where ND had to scurry to get enough bodies in some years. Wies has turned back the clock on ND recruiting in less than a year.
Recruiting has also changed in the past decade. It's a year round endeavor with lots of early signings. ND used to get only a handful of recruits to commit before the Banquet and more than half the class used to commit in January or right up to Signing Day. While that had been normal practice, ND's admission policies frequently required the first semester of senior year grades before a scholarship could be offered preventing many early commitments.
ND's athletic personnel now work closely with Admission personnel expedite the Admissions screening process. That doesn't mean unqualifed student athletes get a pass it means the yea or nay comes down sooner on a more timely basis. Toward that end, ND now contacts underclassmen not only as talented athletes but to steer high school sophomores and juniors that have an interest in ND to take the necessary high school courses to meet ND's 16 core course requirement and get those with academic deficiencies motivated to get their GPA's up before they're seniors when it's usually too late. Prospects are also encouraged to take SAT/ACT as juniors to facilitate Admissions evaluation.
Jiggs mentioned the late loss of Leak, Bush, et al. ND's always lost some prospects. One of the most famous was a top rated kicker, Scott Bentley who verballed to ND than reneged and signed with FSU. Holtz exploded and told him he was making, "a 40 year mistake". Meanwhile Holtz was left with no new kicker and the team struggled with kicking. Bentley went to FSU and had a great life. He got suspended for recording a sexual encounter with a coed and became famous (infamous depending on your perspective) as Mr. "Wide Right!" for game losing field goal attempts.
It was one of the few times, perhaps only time, that Holtz was caught without another prospect in the hopper. Under Davie and Willingham when the #1 target chose elsewhere late in the game it became typical that there was nobody else to go to.
I used to do the recruiting on the old IRJ, the Irish Recruiting Journal, which was the granddaddy of ND recruiting/fan internet sites. I had a burger and a bunch of beers with Mike Frank at the Linebacker the night before the '97 Blue and Gold Game. Mike had recently started his recruiting service running it from Nebraska where he lived at the time. He told me confidentially, back then, how screwed up ND recruiting had become. The most poignant item was him getting a call from ND's recruiting coordinator two days before Signing Day asking for help. ND's #1 target at a position, I believe kicker, had chosen elsewhere and ND was left with nobody else. Unlike today when Mike keeps tabs on thousands of prospects back then he was just starting in business and the ND RC asks him in a panic, "Do you know anyone we can call?"
That won't happen under Weis. Davie expanded football camps as a recruiting tool. I believe Willingham gets the nod for Junior Days. But CW has embraced all aspects of recruiting with zeal, as has his entire staff which is a sharp distinction from previous staffs.
