'14 NC RB Elijah Hood (UNC Verbal)

[dwshade]

You do realize that I addressed that in my original post, right? Show me a blue chip guy that BK passed on for a lower ranked recruit because of height. He has had an opportunity to get top players that happen to have the measurables he likes the past two season. But how does that prove that he would pass on an elite LB prospect because of height? It just means that in the last two years he was able to close on the elite LB that also happen to be tall.

They brought Kimbrough in last year at camp and determined he was too small for LB. They don't want short LB's. Period.

 

[woolybug25]

They brought Kimbrough in last year at camp and determined he was too small for LB. They don't want short LB's. Period.

We didn't take any ILB's last year. So who exactly did they choose over him? As LAX pointed out, it's not like BK hasn't offered short LB's before, so how can you say that they don't want short LB's, when they clearly offer them?

 

[koonja]

I think we'd take him at ILB because we NEED ILBs and as some have pointed out, he's an elite athlete.

But given the fact that he is undersized and we only have room for ~20 in 2014, I hope we get a different player for ILB. If he wants to be THE RUNNINGBACK, YALL, then by all means accept his verbal asap.

But I assume and personally hope the staff has other ILBs higher on their list.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

Michigan commit Joe Bolden: 'We're gonna beat the tar out of' Notre Dame, Ohio State | MLive.com

When you tell a 6-foot-3, 230 pound linebacker he is "too small," especially a player with the pedigree of Joe Bolden, don't be surprised if he looks forward to "beating the tar out of you" every year.

"Being told I am too small," Bolden admitted, "when I have never heard that before, it was an eye opener. Notre Dame told me they wanted a 6-foot-4 linebacker and that I am 'not their guy.' I'm not upset if I don't fit your profile, I was just surprised it was about height, because I have always believed that it's not the size of the dog, but it's the dogs bite."

Now Bolden is relishing the opportunity to take a big bite out of Notre Dame (Ohio State too), including getting the better of old teammate and great friend Jarrett Grace, who currently plays for the Irish.

"It will be good to walk over and shake the Notre Dame coaches' hands and say thank you for giving me the drive to be even better," Bolden said.

If Bolden really is 6'3," part of me wonders if there were other things the staff didn't like about him and they just used height as a scapegoat. Even at 6'2" he would've been a good sized ILB for us. As Wooly has pointed out, elite players will get the nod over size prototype. And by in large, their actions support that. Deon Hollins is a recent example.

To put an end to this argument, I think everyone needs to except the fact that the best case scenario for the staff is to find an elite talent who fits their size criteria. If you can't have both, they'll probably take the player with more talent and ability (regardless of size)...that player just won't be at the top of the board at said position.

 

[connect the dots]

They brought Kimbrough in last year at camp and determined he was too small for LB. They don't want short LB's. Period.

Kimbrough is an extraordinary linebacker, and Georgia got a good one. A Warren Central teammate, Sheldon Day, will confirm that opinion. Kimbrough was not vetted out of consideration because of his height. Look at his offer list. It was as long, or longer, that any linebacker in the country.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

We didn't take any ILB's last year. So who exactly did they choose over him? As LAX pointed out, it's not like BK hasn't offered short LB's before, so how can you say that they don't want short LB's, when they clearly offer them?

We also reportedly turned away Joe Bolden due to height (which still haunts me). We obviously can't point to a specific player v. player trade-off wherein BK turned away a small 4 LB for a bigger 3 LB, because we usually don't know much about the staff's recruiting plans. But they've definitely turned away 4 players in the past that didn't fit the physical profile. That's indisputable. And you'd be hard pressed to convince me that the staff planned on taking zero ILBs last year.

That said, Deeb's pretty short (6'2'' is supposedly generous), and Hood is both elite and versatile. I could definitely see the staff giving him a shot at ILB if he grew an inch or so, but it's probably fair to assume at this point that he's much more likely to end up at RB.

 

[Irish Man3]

Who cares? Why argue where the dude plays? Fact is nobody on this board knows where the staff will place him until they say so. Dudes the number one athlete! Sign him and roll from there.

 

[Emcee77]

Michigan commit Joe Bolden: 'We're gonna beat the tar out of' Notre Dame, Ohio State | MLive.com

If Bolden really is 6'3," part of me wonders if there were other things the staff didn't like about him and they just used height as a scapegoat. Even at 6'2" he would've been a good sized ILB for us. As Wooly has pointed out, elite players will get the nod over size prototype. And by in large, their actions support that. Deon Hollins is a recent example.

To put an end to this argument, I think everyone needs to except the fact that the best case scenario for the staff is to find an elite talent who fits their size criteria. If you can't have both, they'll probably take the player with more talent and ability (regardless of size)...that player just won't be at the top of the board at said position.

I have to agree with you, there had to be more to it than height, or why go after Deon Hollins this year. Maybe we had our eye on somebody else who wasn't as interested in us as we were in him. Or else we thought he just wasn't right for the system in other ways. Or maybe you can explain our pursuit of Hollins in yet another way: the staff learned a valuable lesson between the 2012 cycle and the 2013 cycle ... don't turn away talented players, because you may be left holding the bag on signing day.

 

[koonja]

Who cares? Why argue where the dude plays? Fact is nobody on this board knows where the staff will place him until they say so. Dudes the number one athlete! Sign him and roll from there.

It's the off-season! Lol.

 

[Irish Man3]

It's the off-season! Lol.

Word!

Lets start a "trinity thread."

 

[BleedBlueGold]

I have to agree with you, there had to be more to it than height, or why go after Deon Hollins this year. Maybe we had our eye on somebody else who wasn't as interested in us as we were in him. Or else we thought he just wasn't right for the system in other ways. Or maybe you can explain our pursuit of Hollins in yet another way: the staff learned a valuable lesson between the 2012 cycle and the 2013 cycle ... don't turn away talented players, because you may be left holding the bag on signing day.

IIRC, the staff recruited a lot of linebackers that cycle. Wasn't Ken Ekanem, Brian Nance, etc all in that group? Perhaps Bolden was just behind all of those guys and we whiffed on all of them. I do agree with you that it's possible their strategy has changed a bit. I think they went after some highly touted players and missed on some (turning away others in the process) only to leave themselves short at the end. Then scrambled to fill roster holes. It's hard to say. Like mentioned above, we don't fully know everything the staff is looking for when recruiting. It makes for good off-season discussion though.

 

[rtrn2glory]

man....height for ILB is imo the most overrated at any position defensively. I will never understand the staff's logic for how they recruit guys in the middle.

te'o was the best MLB the school has ever seen and i'd be willing to bet that he will measure in at the combine below 6'2".

just going to have to trust they know what they're doing.

p.s. - bolden is still killing me to this day too whiskey

 

[IrishLion]

Something else was going on with Bolden, no way the staff passes on him simply for height.

 

[rtrn2glory]

i'd love to know what it was.

 

[IrishLax]

He was 6 feet, 209 coming out of HS and is now 6 feet, 225. He's playing OLB in a 4-3 defense. He would not be playing LB at ND had he come here. Look at the size of the LB's we've actually SIGNED since Kelly has been here. You won't find anyone that size at LB.

Huh??? Where else would he be playing? This makes absolutely no sense. Just because he SIGNED with Michigan doesn't make the fact that we recruited him hard (he was one of a VERY small amount of ILBs we offered in that cycle... we were being very picky and the staff still went after him) irrelevant. The staff wanted him to play ILB. Period. This isn't even debatable.

Everyone takes the "you're too short" excuse we gave to Bolden WAY out of context to assume the staff doesn't consider ILB prospects between 6' and 6'2". Paying even slight attention to our roster/offers over the past couple seasons makes it obvious our staff will take the right player for any LB position regardless of height. The whole "ideal frame" thing is more a guideline than anything else.

In fact, all of our starting LBs last year were 6'2" or shorter including both ILBs.
Calabrese = 6'1"
Te'o = 6'1"ish
Shembo = a hair under 6'2"

And the ONLY ILB we've signed in the last two classes, Michael Deeb, is closer to 6'1" than 6'2" by all accounts. "Pay attention to who Kelly has signed"... well, I am and we've only signed two ILBs in his three classes... with half of them being closer to 6' than 6'3".

 

[woolybug25]

Huh??? Where else would he be playing? This makes absolutely no sense. Just because he SIGNED with Michigan doesn't make the fact that we recruited him hard (he was one of a VERY small amount of ILBs we offered in that cycle... we were being very picky and the staff still went after him) irrelevant. The staff wanted him to play ILB. Period. This isn't even debatable.

Everyone takes the "you're too short" excuse we gave to Bolden WAY out of context to assume the staff doesn't consider ILB prospects between 6' and 6'2". Paying even slight attention to our roster/offers over the past couple seasons makes it obvious our staff will take the right player for any LB position regardless of height. The whole "ideal frame" thing is more a guideline than anything else.

In fact, all of our starting LBs last year were 6'2" or shorter including both ILBs.
Calabrese = 6'1"
Te'o = 6'1"ish
Shembo = a hair under 6'2"

And the ONLY ILB we've signed in the last two classes, Michael Deeb, is closer to 6'1" than 6'2" by all accounts. "Pay attention to who Kelly has signed"... well, I am and we've only signed two ILBs in his three classes... with half of them being closer to 6' than 6'3".

BOOM


reps

 

[dwshade]

Huh??? Where else would he be playing? This makes absolutely no sense. Just because he SIGNED with Michigan doesn't make the fact that we recruited him hard (he was one of a VERY small amount of ILBs we offered in that cycle... we were being very picky and the staff still went after him) irrelevant. The staff wanted him to play ILB. Period. This isn't even debatable.

Everyone takes the "you're too short" excuse we gave to Bolden WAY out of context to assume the staff doesn't consider ILB prospects between 6' and 6'2". Paying even slight attention to our roster/offers over the past couple seasons makes it obvious our staff will take the right player for any LB position regardless of height. The whole "ideal frame" thing is more a guideline than anything else.

In fact, all of our starting LBs last year were 6'2" or shorter including both ILBs.
Calabrese = 6'1"
Te'o = 6'1"ish
Shembo = a hair under 6'2"

And the ONLY ILB we've signed in the last two classes, Michael Deeb, is closer to 6'1" than 6'2" by all accounts. "Pay attention to who Kelly has signed"... well, I am and we've only signed two ILBs in his three classes... with half of them being closer to 6' than 6'3".

None of those three were recruited by Kelly. Funny how you keep shrinking guys while claiming Hood is going to grow. LOL. BTW Hood is definitely being recruited as a RB by ND. Confirmed to me by someone who would know.

 

[Irish Man3]

None of those three were recruited by Kelly. Funny how you keep shrinking guys while claiming Hood is going to grow. LOL. BTW Hood is definitely being recruited as a RB by ND. Confirmed to me by someone who would know.

Lax my man, if that last sentence isn't just cause enough for you to drop your argument, I don't know what is...............

 

[Ironman8]

None of those three were recruited by Kelly. Funny how you keep shrinking guys while claiming Hood is going to grow. LOL. BTW Hood is definitely being recruited as a RB by ND. Confirmed to me by someone who would know.

He addresses that specifically in his last sentence, and his argument is not that he is being recruited at RB, but rather that he would be unable to play LB at ND, or more specifically, that the staff would pass on as a player if he wanted to play ND because of a lack of height.

 

[dwshade]

Lax my man, if that last sentence isn't just cause enough for you to drop your argument, I don't know what is...............

In fact when I mentioned Hood possibly playing LB this person laughed and said "not here he won't".

 

[Irish_irish]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>5 star @<a href="https://twitter.com/ehood34">ehood34</a> has top list, in order: <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23ND">#ND</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23UNC">#UNC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Clemson">#Clemson</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23OhioSt">#OhioSt</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Michigan">#Michigan</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23GaTech">#GaTech</a> tied for fifth. Full story coming @<a href="https://twitter.com/rivals">rivals</a> @<a href="https://twitter.com/rivalsmike">rivalsmike</a></p>— Jason Stamm (@JasonStammSaid) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonStammSaid/status/301473609615040517">February 12, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Wonder if there's much of a chance he'll commit when he visits?

 

[IrishSpartan]

just said were on top and looks like he and nd are a perfect fit

 

[zbikowski88]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>RB Elijah Hood just called <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23NotreDame">#NotreDame</a> his leader and says it "looks like the school I want to go to."</p>— Irish Sports Daily (@ISDUpdate) <a href="https://twitter.com/ISDUpdate/status/301475006607667201">February 12, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[EuropeanDomer]

Great News

@ISDUpdate
RB Elijah Hood just called #NotreDame his leader and says it "looks like the school I want to go to."

@JasonStammSaid
5 star @ehood34 has top list, in order: #ND #UNC #Clemson #OhioSt & #Michigan #GaTech tied for fifth. Full story coming @Rivals @rivalsmike

 

[rikkitikki08]

Boom!!! These coaches can recruit their asses off

 

[clashmore_mike]

Pull the trigger

 

[Domina Nostra]

He is the kid I want most at this point, this would be great.

 

[yankeeND]

Oh man, please please please!!!

 

[Grahambo]

 

[GoIrish399]

Elijah Hood Jr Year highlight - YouTube

Junior highlights. Talk about breaking tackles... yes please.