'14 FL WR Isaiah McKenzie ( Georgia ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

gkIrish

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I think he's a fantastic talent but once he started complaining about not starting in the UA game I knew things would probably not end well for us.
 

irish o'phile

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I don't get what ppl are upset about.

He can't qualify so why would he visit ND and not explore other options?
He can't sign so why call himself a commit anymore?

I thought that he did finally qualify, but that there is conjecture that he did not.
 

IrishLax

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Again, I'm pretty sure those schools (Ole Miss, Florida, Oregon) are telling him they'll take him right now.

ND is telling he's not a take, regardless of what McKenzie is saying. If there has been one consistent thing in this whole saga it's that McKenzie is basically full of shit with his public comments. He's been all over the map with the quotes he's given reporters.

Like projected awhile ago, he's going to take the bird in hand and sign with a school that will let him as he will not qualify for ND. The end. I just wish he'd quit with the crap.

Also, I dunno if NDinLA is reading this thread or still around, but everything he said to me a few weeks ago is a million percent correct and what's going on. So come out and take a bow if you want dude lol
 

IrishLax

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Wasn't there a report about a month ago (when things looks really bad for IM to qualify) that there hasn't been much if any contact between IM and the staff? Maybe out staff kind of gave up on him? Can't really blame him for looking around if that was the case.

Yeah, they had more or less broken off contact. Because he's not going to qualify. I'm 99% sure the long convo with Alford last night was talking about that and his status. For all intents and purposes, they had already moved on.

Bad news is that the other prospects they were looking at (Quick, Nelson) are tough to project right now.
 

irish o'phile

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Yeah, they had more or less broken off contact. Because he's not going to qualify. I'm 99% sure the long convo with Alford last night was talking about that and his status. For all intents and purposes, they had already moved on.

Bad news is that the other prospects they were looking at (Quick, Nelson) are tough to project right now.

So, we are going to have 75- 80 players on the roster when all is said and done? We are sanctioned by standards.
 

BestBIrish47

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There has been a long rift between the admin and the coaching staffs at ND. They ran off Leahy for bogus "health" reasons because the Admin felt ND was becoming a football factory.

Kelly proved in 2012 he can win with the current concessions the Admin are willing to give, but it is going to be tougher than other schools.

I don't think the Admin is as passionate about an Elite football program as most of us are.
 

rtrn2glory

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if i didn't have over two decades of loyal fanhood to this football program....there is no way i'd be an ND fan if i started today
 

CHIDomer9

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I think it went down like this:

IM's grades and tests scores were at a 6.
He needed his grades and test scores to be an 8 to get into college.
He still needs his grades and test scores to be a 10 in order to get into ND.

Before he reached an 8, there was no use in anyone talking to him. He couldn't qualify to go to college, let alone ND or a school with above average requirements.

Alford and ND pushed him hard and he responded. But for a kid with a history of struggling in the classroom, this was tough work. It sucked to study this much when all he wanted to do was play football.

IM has a great showing on a national stage last week. He started to show up on more college coaches' radars.

IM's grades come in and suddenly he is at an 8, so other school's coaches make contact. They congratulate him and tell him he could enroll with them right now.

Those coach's recruiting pitches are now: IM, great work getting those grades up. You are a take for us right now. And by the way, you know how much you hated how hard the classroom work was going from a 6 to an 8? Its gonna be even harder for you to go from an 8 to a 10, so why not just coast your last semester and come to Florida or Oregon? And if you think it was hard to go from a 6 to an 8, IM, it is going to be 10x harder when the homework isn't high school math and studying for a standardized test. Its going to be classes at Notre Dame, where the average student is a rich white kid with a 34 ACT. IM, haven't you seen what happened to Golson? It was so hard he resorted to cheating and then they kicked him out for a semester. Hell, they even suspended their #1 WR for the spring semester because of his grades.

Bottom line, the fact that he is looking around should not surprise anyone. Even if he ends up coming to ND, it would be a constant struggle to keep him eligible. Due to his size and position (or lack thereof) as a specialist, he is a luxury. Would it be nice to have him returning punts? Sure, but no team has ever not won a championship and said it was because they fair caught punts too often.
 

wizards8507

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Maybe I'll apply for my MBA and walk-on.

Think they have a spot for a slow fat guy with no discernable upper body strength? I'd probably start at Mike linebacker.
 

woolybug25

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Wow <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ND&src=hash">#ND</a> stuck by <a href="https://twitter.com/JoyStick_izzy">@JoyStick_izzy</a> & now that his hard work pays off & can qualify for <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ND&src=hash">#ND</a> he wants to look around @ other schools <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23unfortunate&src=hash">#unfortunate</a></p>— CR33 (@Craigr_33) <a href="https://twitter.com/Craigr_33/statuses/421735948460621826">January 10, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I find it strange that some of us are calling this "sticking it to ND". This kid doesn't owe ND dick.

Sure, the staff told him what he needed to do to qualify here. But then refused his commitment and immediately started recruiting Nelson. It seems as if we didn't even hold his spot nor did our commits accept him into their circle. That's why he was never in any of the pics at the UA game. They were commits and he was not. Despite his efforts.

I hate to think this, but now that we are looking at having 75-80 kids on our roster, they should have accepted his commitment on the same terms of him having to qualify. Letting him know that his LOI couldn't be sent in until he did. Instead, it seems that they gave him the cold shoulder.

I don't blame him. The staff didn't give him any guarantees about having a spot if he qualified, why should he not check his options? We were in a perfect position to build trust with this kid when no one knew who he was. But instead, we treated him like a second class citizen. So now that he is the prom queen… we're going to have to grovel like everybody else.
 

STLDomer

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He was all ND until the last 16 or so hours. Not sure what's going on, but he has never even mentioned that another school was in the mix. Now he's tough to get on the phone, being distant and just not being himself. In the end, just hope this doesn't affect his academics. He's worked too hard to be like this. He's a great kid but he just seems to be making some interesting decisions right now

Lol I think Loy's taking McKenzie's recruitment a little to personally. Just posted this
 

Irish#1

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"...it's not you, it's me"

You're using the "...it's not you, it's me" routine? I invented the "...it's not you, it's me" routine!

GH is correct. IM doesn't owe ND anything and ND doesn't owe IM anything. However, I can see why a lot of IE members are upset. It seems to me he's always been a long shot, but we got to emotionally involved because this kid is a difference maker, wanted to be Irish and was willing to put in the work to be Irish. Would everyone feel the same way if he was a three star?
 

SoJerseyIrish

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I going with LAX's version, Alford probably told him it wasn't going to happen and that for him to save face he can go with the whole I am decommitting from ND.....blah blah.....

ND will take the high road and let the kid look like he made the decision but I have to believe ND basically told him to move on.
 

WakeUpEchoes

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On my phone so don't know if link is working. Someone maybe embed.

Isaiah v. Nigel Bethel going on right now. Isaiah had to catch 6/10 balls on Nigel. All the south Florida ballers are there. Winner gets $200.

This kid is nasty. I don't care how many stars he has.
 

IrishLax

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I going with LAX's version, Alford probably told him it wasn't going to happen and that for him to save face he can go with the whole I am decommitting from ND.....blah blah.....

ND will take the high road and let the kid look like he made the decision but I have to believe ND basically told him to move on.

Yeah, I dunno that was just my intuition. Loy is very adamant that he is a take, out of the blue flopped to not being interested in ND, and was basically playing the coaches or otherwise misleading them through this whole process. So who knows. Maybe he's right, or maybe the answer lies somewhere in between. Either way very little to no chance that he is coming here so it's all kind of moot.

Happy 2014 everybody!
 

IrishSpartan

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On my phone so don't know if link is working. Someone maybe embed.

Isaiah v. Nigel Bethel going on right now. Isaiah had to catch 6/10 balls on Nigel. All the south Florida ballers are there. Winner gets $200.

This kid is nasty. I don't care how many stars he has.

Isaiah smoked him in every vid
 
P

Pachuco

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Yeah, I dunno that was just my intuition. Loy is very adamant that he is a take, out of the blue flopped to not being interested in ND, and was basically playing the coaches or otherwise misleading them through this whole process. So who knows. Maybe he's right, or maybe the answer lies somewhere in between. Either way very little to no chance that he is coming here so it's all kind of moot.

Happy 2014 everybody!

It will get better. And in many ways, it's still very good.

Stressing over people who don't love Notre Dame is like taking trash talk to heart.

You just keep doing you, and let the others do what they do, and see who wins in the end.
 

IrishLax

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It will get better. And in many ways, it's still very good.

Stressing over people who don't love Notre Dame is like taking trash talk to heart.

You just keep doing you, and let the others do what they do, and see who wins in the end.

Yeah, I'm losing no sleep here as I never expected him to be part of the class.
 
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