The Final 7

[Ricochet]

Where does ND go for the final 7 spots for this recruiting class?

We know that 2 of those 7 are going to be WR's as they want 4 in the class with the departures they've had.

We also known that a CB is a need in this class.

However after that where do they go with the last 4 spots?

1. CB recruit
2. WR recruit
3. WR recruit
4. ? - a true NG if possible
5. ?
6. ?
7. ?



Another TE isn't a need but Kelly & Co. by there actions have made it clear that if they can get one of the TE's they deem elite that they will take another.

So one of the last for spots very well could be for a TE but not a lock to one just likely.

Because of the OL haul and the limited spots left I've come to the conclusion that I didn't think would be the case a month or two ago but I don't believe that ND would take a Mama or Smith commit at this time and would only do so after this miss out on there elite defensive targets.

At this point the player I believe that they would hold a spot for more than any one else would be Matt Elam as they want a true NG and no one else really fits the bill as guys like Hayes, Holley and Dickerson seem like guys that can help out at NG but they are more like Sheldon Day type that could see PT at 3-4 DE and NG as well as a DT in the 4-3. Whereas Elam is the only Nix true NG type that they have a chance for.

if ND is lucky enough to get Elam and I as well as many of you believe that Luatua is a very strong possibility then there could be only 2 spots left and where does ND go for the final 2 spots.

We know the prospects that ND is after but what position or players should they target for the final 2 spots?

There are some game changers out there that will give ND a look but a probably long shots like .

Let's not forget about JuJu Smith and while I would love him to be one of the two WR recruits that's not going to happen as ND is recruiting him as a S but he's more likely then the other 4 I mentioned hence why I didn't list him in the long shot shot game changer.

Thomas Holley is another who IMO you just don't pass up and is much more likely to commit to ND then the likes Carter, Garrett, Thomas and Jackson

So how do you guys think the final 7 shake out?

 

[pkt77242]

WR
WR
CB
S
DL/LB
DL/LB
ATH -WR/RB/CB/S type.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

1. Solomon Thomas or Thomas Jolley
2. Andrew Williams
3. Watkins
4. Safety
5. Tyler Luatua (TE/LB)
6. Micah Quick
7. Juju Smith

 

[dwshade]

Wish List:

TE- Luatua
WR- Quick
WR- Lazard
DB- Watkins
DB- Smith
DL- Holley
ILB- Morgan/DE- Thomas

 

[TerryTate]

2-3 WR/TE (McKenzie Luatua +1)
1-2 DBs (CB or S)
Best 2 DE/LB
Best OL/DL (Smith/Elam) Available

 

[Kaneyoufeelit]

1. McKenzie
2. Luatua
3. Quick
4. Watkins
5. Holley
6. Thomas
No 7th

 

[notredomer23]

I hope we take 25 at least. Just saying. Guaranteed attrition will happen one way or another.

I'll go with

WR Lazard
WR Quick
TE Luatua
DT/NT Holley
CB Nick Watkins
DE Solomon Thomas

Probably one or two committed elsewhere right now.

 

[anarin]

1. Solomon Thomas or Thomas Jolley
2. Andrew Williams
3. Watkins
4. Safety
5. Tyler Luatua (TE/LB)
6. Micah Quick
7. Juju Smith

Is this your wish list? Because Williams won't be Irish.

 

[STLDomer]

Luatua
Watkins
Quick
Lazard or Todd or McKenzie
Holley or Elam
Tranquil or Johnson
Juju Smith

They'll be pursuing a guy that's committing on NSD like a Carter that could push that to 25 but that doesn't seen likely

 

[GBdomer]

Tyler Luatua
Nick Watkins
Thomas Holley
michiah Quick
Allen Lazard
Joe Mixon
Nyles Morgan
Johnathan Lockett

At least one or two decomitts, it happens every year.

 

[Rack Em]

WR - A. Lazard
WR - M. Quick
TE - T. Luatua
CB - N. Watkins
ILB - J. Johnson
S - P. Hendrix
DT - Holley

I'd love to see JuJu Smith though.

 

[GBdomer]

WR - A. Lazard
WR - M. Quick
TE - T. Luatua
CB - N. Watkins
ILB - J. Johnson
S - P. Hendrix
DT - Holley

I'd love to see JuJu Smith though.

Everything I've read is that JuJu is a silent lock to USC

 

[pkt77242]

Everything I've read is that JuJu is a silent lock to USC

You just broke Sherm's heart.

 

[STLDomer]

No one else thinks Tranquill will flip?

 

[Kaneyoufeelit]

No one else thinks Tranquill will flip?

Haven't decided. I have room on my list if he does but right now I'm 51% that he sticks with Purdue

 

[NDWorld247]

No one else thinks Tranquill will flip?

I think he flips.

 

[Booslum31]

Everything I've read is that JuJu is a silent lock to USC

I think you are right. he can join their list of 7 recruits

 

[NDPhilly]

Tyler Luatua
Nick Watkins
Thomas Holley
michiah Quick
Allen Lazard
Joe Mixon
Nyles Morgan
Johnathan Lockett

At least one or two decomitts, it happens every year.

These 3 are #Reckless. What makes you think we get Mixon? Just cause we get a surprise every year?

As to who decommits, any ideas. I'm kina worried about Nelson with OSU. Yeargin and UF will always worry me. Besides that idk.

 

[IrishLax]

No one else thinks Tranquill will flip?

I think it depends entirely on how hard we are actually pursuing him. If we're in the position of wanting him bad, then I think we get him for sure. If this offer is a contingency plan, than it might be doubtful. Hard to pick a "7" (in large part because decommits are inevitable and so are transfers... so no matter what these guesses will be mostly wrong) but right now I'd guess these guys end up as part of the class:

McKenzie
Quick
Luatua
Tranquil
Watkins

I think you'll see 1 (outside chance of 2) RBs transfer and maybe some DBs too... so depending on timing, I think the number of takes go up above 7 and you might see some new names pop up.

 

[STLDomer]

These 3 are #Reckless. What makes you think we get Mixon? Just cause we get a surprise every year?

As to who decommits, any ideas. I'm kina worried about Nelson with OSU. Yeargin and UF will always worry me. Besides that idk.

I'm not really worried about Nelson anymore. They got Knox recently and from glancing at the 247 Crystal Ball are heavy favorites for one of the top JUCO OL plus already had Trout, Jones & Jones

Lockett isn't actually too reckless, he said right after he committed he'd still OV to ND, same with Erik Brown

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Seeing lots of McKenzie predictions here.

IIRC, TP recently stated that he thinks (1) McKenzie will postpone his imminent scheduled announcement; and (2) he doesn't expect McKenzie to get his academics squared away before NSD.

I hope he's wrong, but I'm not counting on the kid anymore.

 

[Kaneyoufeelit]

Seeing lots of McKenzie predictions here.

IIRC, TP recently stated that he thinks (1) McKenzie will postpone his imminent scheduled announcement; and (2) he doesn't expect McKenzie to get his academics squared away before NSD.

I hope he's wrong, but I'm not counting on the kid anymore.

I'm not doubting you but I don't recall seeing that. At the very least, ISD Intel said they think his academics are "more likely than not" to get squared away. So it seems there is some conflicting info unless what is making TP say that came out since July 19th

 

[IrishLax]

Seeing lots of McKenzie predictions here.

IIRC, TP recently stated that he thinks (1) McKenzie will postpone his imminent scheduled announcement; and (2) he doesn't expect McKenzie to get his academics squared away before NSD.

I hope he's wrong, but I'm not counting on the kid anymore.

He said it here: http://www.irishenvy.com/forums/2014-recruiting-profiles/68938-2014-master-list-19.html#post1078962

I think he's a guy we eventually shake out with... but that's just hunch and TP obviously is going to be the one to have a good grasp of his academic situation. If we got Quick in the fold early, he probably becomes a bit expendable. I'd also predict a flip from one of Lazard, Todd, or Brown if the season goes right... or a WR not currently on the board.

The really unpredictable ones are in the front 7 on defense.

 

[NDPhilly]

I'll try:

Tyler Luatua
Nick Watkins
Allen Lazard
Michiah Quick
Juju Smith
Thomas Holley/Matt Elam/Soloman Thomas
Drue Tranquill

I think we will get one of Holley, Elam, and Thomas. I think Tranquill takes Jaylon Johnson's spot at LB. I think we will be in it until the end with Nyles Morgan too.

 

[NDWorld247]

How confident are you guys we take four WRs? With the McKenzie news, there's not a WR on our board I feel better than 50% with. Most of our WR targets are real long shots right now and the one guy everyone seems confident in (Quick) is going to be A LOT harder to pull than I think people realize.

I wouldn't be upset if the staff only took three WRs and used the scholarship somewhere else.

Edit: And STL, what happened to the Master List???

 

[NDPhilly]

I don't think Mckenzie qualifies. And if we get Quick, which we look good for right now, we are gonna want to finish with a big outside WR.

 

[STLDomer]

How confident are you guys we take four WRs? With the McKenzie news, there's not a WR on our board I feel better than 50% with. Most of our WR targets are real long shots right now and the one guy everyone seems confident in (Quick) is going to be A LOT harder to pull than I think people realize.

I wouldn't be upset if the staff only took three WRs and used the scholarship somewhere else.

Edit: And STL, what happened to the Master List???

Long story for the Master List. I'll redo it when OV season starts.

ISD is pretty damn confident we get Quick.

If we get Quick this fall (unlikely) I very much can see us take 3. But more likely we get 3 WRs and Quick is #4 in the winter.

No prediction from u NDWorld?

 

[NDWorld247]

I tried to predict the last seven and found it very difficult to get inside the staff's head and pinpoint which positions they were targeting. I think there are a lot of position combinations they go with and come January, there are some guys they will take regardless of numbers at each position.

So, I decided to rank the remaining targets in terms of my confidence they will commit to ND. Before I do that, a few comments:

1. I disagree with the OP in that Smith and Mama are non-takes on the OL. I think they are definitely takes.

2. I agree with Lax in that we will have some transfers in time to increase the flexibility in #'s for this class. I say flexibility because I don't think the staff takes just anyone because a spot is open. I think they would rather fill a spot with a 5Y in order to open up more scholarships in the 2015 class which is projected to be VERY small compared to the past two years. But the transfer(s) will allow us the flexibility to continue pursuing (and accepting) high 4/5-star talent up until NSD.

3. I think the staff has been burned one too many times on unexpected attrition and finally accounts for it accordingly.

My confidence picks:

Greater than 55%: Isaiah McKenzie (assuming academics shake out), Drue Tranquill (assuming he is a take), Jaylen Johnson, Tyler Luatua, Nick Watkins and Thomas Holley.

45% to 55%: Michiah Quick, Solomon Thomas, JuJu Smith, Braden Smith, Andrew Williams and Nyles Morgan.

Less than 45%: Allen Lazard, Malachi Dupre, Matt Elam, Lorenzo Carter, Damien Mama, Johnathan Lockett, Dalton Shultz, Payton Hendrix, Kenny Young, Quincy Wilson, Josh Malone, Nathan Starks, Cameron Sims...EVERYONE ELSE THAT ISN'T LISTED ABOVE.

 

[NDWorld247]

ISD is pretty damn confident we get Quick.

That's great to hear. My fear with Quick is the pull of his former teammates at Oklahoma AND that we have been burned quite a bit with guys from the Fresno area. I certainly hope we get him, it just seems a lot of people, me included, have, in a way, already counted him as part of the class when in reality there's still A LOT to overcome in his recruitment.

But, thanks for your comments on the 3 or 4 WR question. That makes sense.

No prediction from u NDWorld?

Ask and you shall receive.

 

[GBdomer]

Oklahoma is confident in Quick as well. Lots of connections there.