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

[BeauBenken]

Seriously though people, you should have been prepared for this a LONG time ago. It's been echoed for quite sometime that Isaiah is a bit of a recruiting headcase.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Oh, and just to follow up. I was never high on IM.

A) I saw his size as a limitation.

B) As fast as he was, I didn't see a Rocket.

C) I never saw the need to offer a kid that was only going to be a returner.

D) As dynamic as his kick and punt returns were, you just don't do that in college.

So to review, we have a smaller slower, not-quite-Rocket, twenty-five plus years later, who will learn in a few months what playing with the big boys means. I am including athletics and academics. Because if you think the football factories are going about business as usual with the rapes, and fraudulent classes, and etc., you are crazy. The marginal ones are going to feel it first.

IM meet brick wall.

Why don't we call it what it is? You want to be honest? Many of these high end kids are getting offered more in money, in some cases drugs, and pussy, than ever. Pussy is the one that turns the kids heads. And it is the hardest to trace. How you going to police that unless Lane Kiffin starts sending hookers into high school stands again?

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Watch out. BGIF is going to come tell you that you meant hypocritical, not ironic.

It is correctly both hypocritical and ironic. In fact the use of irony : "a situation that is strange or funny because things happen in a way that seems to be the opposite of what you expected" : is completely appropriate. And the root of hypocritical, hypocrisy : "the behavior of people who do things that they tell other people not to do : behavior that does not agree with what someone claims to believe or feel" : is also true. Actually, based upon modern understandings of psychological projection, which is embedded in the definition of hypocrisy, portends that almost all human behavior is fraught with irony.

And that is what is important here. to be fraught. Fraughtness. As in the fraughten one.

Colons brought to you by the James Joyce school of punctuation, featuring solutions to the question, "How do you end stream-of-consciousness-passages? Well how do you? !"

 

[Cackalacky]

Texted ISD this morning saying he's still undecided what he'll do this weekend. Might stay home. Getting frustrated with process.

 

[Ndaccountant]

Graduating classes of my high school. Look up '03, '04, '05, '06... hundreds of people who went to Tech, never heard a single one call it their dream school.

Again, this is not to say Tech isn't a very good school and that people don't love it/want to go there. I work with tons of engineers from Tech. My HS lacrosse coach went to Tech. I have the utmost respect for that place. But I've heard classmates of mine call Stanford, USC, Harvard, ND, Michigan, UVA, Chicago, Penn, Yale, etc. dream schools for various reasons. Never, ever heard someone say something like that about Tech.

I can conceive of local athletes or kids from Virginia Beach calling it a dream school. Still cannot picture any regular Joe or kid from well out of state who was... 5? 6? when Vick was playing putting it on a pedestal as THE #1 dream place they want to go if they had unlimited options. I look forward to meeting Kane's people.

I don't think it is all that inconceivable myself. When I first started managing people and had career aspirations meetings with my direct reports, I was shocked to learn what people's "dream" job was. More often than not, their dream was due to factors that I never considered. On top of that, I personally would not approach my career the way they are. But that diversity is what makes life interesting.

I have no idea if IM is genuine in saying VT is his dream school. But based on my prior experiences, I will not question it since there are countless reasons that I never would consider as to why he would feel that way.

 

[ndcoltsfan2010]

Texted ISD this morning saying he's still undecided what he'll do this weekend. Might stay home. Getting frustrated with process.

Honestly at this point, I am ready for NSD and it doesn't appear he wants to really be here. I think we need to focus our last efforts on the few guys left that we have a shot at. IM is a talented kid, but I don't see how his recruitment ends well for us. He needs to stay home if he's truly that frustrated with the process.

 

[IrishLion]

I've got faith in BK and Alford. If a report comes out that they are still putting in effort to get him to visit and commit, then I'm on board.

I want this kid to return punts and kicks dynamically, to make scat-back plays for the offense now that it might actually open up a bit, but mostly I want him to pick ND and prove everyone wrong. He's put the work in to this point, so he's got my respect.

 

[stlnd01]

The best part of this entire crazy thread is the running side debate about whether or not Virginia Tech qualifies as someone's dream school.

RECRUITING!!!

 

[Irish YJ]

Kid is just a kid. Dream school, academics,,,, at the end of the day, he's 17/18 years old that is making a choice. The coaching staff just needs to smile, keep saying what they say, and wait for NSD. If he's Irish, great, if he's VT or FL or ??, wasn't meant to be. I wish all these twitter idiots would go away.

 

[rocket66]

Oh yeah it's going to reach classic level in here. It's now making the turn of "he wasn't that good anyway" and "we didn't really need him". That's when you know it has been a quality thread. Every single emotion has played out.

 

[stlnd01]

Also, what's the IE Recruiting Rule of Thumb? More than 2,000 posts on a kid's thread means he doesn't wind up here? We're well past that now.

 

[anarin]

How do you know IM is a troll? He tweets shit and then checks fan forums. Who does that?

 

[Brooklyn]

I dont know why people bother bashing recruits personality, mindset, etc. What good will it do?

Just like the Neal situation, there is no good it will do to put that information out there. Just let it be. Judge the player on his talent. Leave the other stuff for the staff to deal with.

 

[Ironman8]

Oh yeah it's going to reach classic level in here. It's now making the turn of "he wasn't that good anyway" and "we didn't really need him". That's when you know it has been a quality thread. Every single emotion has played out.

I think he is a very good player. But there comes to a point when you need to decide whether the juice is worth the squeeze. Recent history has suggested in these types of cases, it isn't.

 

[Irish YJ]

Oh yeah it's going to reach classic level in here. It's now making the turn of "he wasn't that good anyway" and "we didn't really need him". That's when you know it has been a quality thread. Every single emotion has played out.

How about,,, I new 6 months ago that I never wanted him in the first place because he's really small and slow. SMH

Turn, Turn, Turn

 

[ozzman]

Has he booked his press conference for the local elementary school yet?

 

[Irish YJ]

I think he is a very good player. But there comes to a point when you need to decide whether the juice is worth the squeeze. Recent history has suggested in these types of cases, it isn't.

Depends if you're doing this

or this

 

[Irish Man3]

This kid falls into the Luatua category for me. I was excited at the potential of him signing with ND, but after all his drama and bullshit I'm just over it. I don't care. If he comes awesome, if not, whatever.

 

[#1rish]

I swear you could make a daytime opera based on Notre Dame recruiting.




Shit, Notre Dame football in general.

 

[PANDFAN]

incase anyone cares...jc was on the bill king show today...he said he strongly feels ND leads although if he visits VT this weekend it really makes our chances go down(duh)..anyways said that he believes florida and him kind of had a mutual parting and doesn't feel ole miss is a factor...just reporting

 

[Bogtrotter07]

I think he is a very good player. But there comes to a point when you need to decide whether the juice is worth the squeeze. Recent history has suggested in these types of cases, it isn't.

I agree with this. He is a very good player. My earlier post is because earlier people intimated that he was a great player. Maybe one of the greatest players. He had a premium senior season. He can fill a need. But to say he is any better or more together than a Devonte Neal, (Ht:5'10" Wt:175 lbs 40:4.4 secs Shuttle:4.19 Vertical:35 inches GPA:3.2) is silly. Devonte looked pedestrian at ND and did not have the head for it, all stories aside.

On the other hand Torii Hunter Jr., has thrived in his freshman academic year and in rehabbing from his nearly catastrophic injury. And every indication is that he is ready to go. Same with Carslile, who is also faster than IM. He may be in the process of finally making the adjustment.

 

[ab2cmiller]

JC Shurburtt was on Bill Kings show this morning and talked about Isaiah. He believes that we are still the leader. He thinks if he takes a visit to VT that our chances drop significantly. JC believes that Florida is not really in the running and he claims that there was a "mutual" parting between them.

Edit:
PANDFAN beat me to it.

 

[ND NYC]

if he commits elsewhere: he's a slow headcase who woul dhave never made it here

if he commtis to ND: hes the next rocket, who worked his ass off to qualify to get here

ahhh recruiting....where you stand depends on where you sit.

 

[rocket66]

incase anyone cares...jc was on the bill king show today...he said he strongly feels ND leads although if he visits VT this weekend it really makes our chances go down(duh)..anyways said that he believes florida and him kind of had a mutual parting and doesn't feel ole miss is a factor...just reporting

Sweet. I think we really need him now.

 

[Goldedommer44]

I'll be honest every time I see that this threat has updated I get nervous to see what drama there is now.

 

[ulukinatme]

I remember saying (a month ago) that we should forget about McKenzie probably and focus on someone like Nelson instead. Someone said then that we go after McKenzie first, just didn't seem wise to me. Moot I guess, since McKenzie is still out there and Nelson is verbaled elsewhere, but regardless I'm just not liking where this recruitment has gone. Would have rather focused on someone else with less drama and not the possible academic baggage. On the plus side, IM just made a few recruiting posters famous with his Tweet

 

[stlnd01]

I swear you could make a daytime opera based on Notre Dame recruiting.

An opera? Tony Alford singing in Italian would be badass. I'd watch that.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I think he is a very good player. But there comes to a point when you need to decide whether the juice is worth the squeeze. Recent history has suggested in these types of cases, it isn't.

This is where I'm at. His explosiveness would fill a real need on our roster, so no "sour grapes" here. But as LAX mentioned previously, IM seems to have more red flags than any kid we've ever recruited before. Even if he signs, his chances of washing out before making a serious contribution are likely very high. At this point, I'd rather go all-in on Quick and Alexander.

How do you know IM is a troll? He tweets shit and then checks fan forums. Who does that?

Man, I haven't seen a variation of this old chestnut since grade school. "Takes one to know one!!1one"

 

[Irish YJ]

This is where I'm at. His explosiveness would fill a real need on our roster, so no "sour grapes" here. But as LAX mentioned previously, IM seems to have more red flags than any kid we've ever recruited before. Even if he signs, his chances of washing out before making a serious contribution are likely very high. At this point, I'd rather go all-in on Quick and Alexander.

Man, I haven't seen a variation of this old chestnut since grade school. "Takes one to know one!!1one"

Whiskey that's a huge statement. Sure about that? LOL

 

[Emcee77]

This is where I'm at. His explosiveness would fill a real need on our roster, so no "sour grapes" here. But as LAX mentioned previously, IM seems to have more red flags than any kid we've ever recruited before. Even if he signs, his chances of washing out before making a serious contribution are likely very high. At this point, I'd rather go all-in on Quick and Alexander.

The thing is, I think we still are. I think we would take all three before we take both of the DTs (debatable though).

We've got 22 commits and Kelly's been saying for a while that we can take as many as 27. There are 6 guys left on the board and it's highly unlikely that all 6 will want in. So it's not likely that we'll have to turn anyone away. We might as well stay in touch with McKenzie, and if he wants in, great. If he ends up transferring out or not qualifying or whatever, we've really lost nothing, since it's not like we are turning someone else away to give him his spot.