Favorites Emerging For Floyd?
by JOHN HAYNSWORTH
Notre Dame got off to a hot start for the 2008 recruiting campaign, receiving verbal commitments from 19 of the country’s best prospects, which has earned the Irish the early No. 1 spot according to most publications’ team rankings.
But there is still a lot of work left for the Notre Dame coaches leading up to signing day. Perhaps the uncommitted prospect at the very top of the recruiting board is 6-foot-4, 206-pound Cretin-Derham Hall wide receiver Michael Floyd, who has been blowing up the competition according to a recent conversation with Raiders’ assistant coach Andy Bischoff – a confidant of sorts for Floyd as he attempts to sort through the recruiting process.
Through seven games this season, Floyd has grabbed 30 receptions for 620 yards (20.7 yards per catch) and 10 touchdowns as a receiver, has 19 carries for 203 yards (10.7 yards per attempt) and another touchdown, and he has even completed a pass for a 24-yard score.
“We do some different things with him,” Bischoff told BlueandGold.com. “We’ve gotten him in the backfield a little bit through motion, getting him the ball on short motion sweeps. We haven’t lined him up as an I-back or anything like that. We just want to get him touches.
“He just does it all. He caught a five-yard hitch and turned it into a 53-yard score. He caught a 45-yard pass and turned it into a 50-yard score.
“He can run by you, he can run over you, he can catch it and sneak around you, and he runs so violently that some guys have no interest in tackling him.”
Floyd is putting up his numbers mostly in the first halves of game. The starters average roughly 37 snaps per game, as the Raiders have been putting up more than 47 points per game while limiting opponents to fewer than 10 points.
“His numbers really aren’t what they could be if he were playing a 60-snap game,” Bischoff continued. “Three or four of the games we’ve shut them down at half because we’ve been up 45-0 or something like that.”
And with Floyd’s impressive athleticism and physicality, his coaches have even experimented with him as a defender in hopes that he can have a similar impact in dominating that side of the line of scrimmage.
“We’re starting to use him a little bit on defense, kind of gearing up for the playoffs,” said Bischoff. “He’ll play corner, and really we’re just going to place him on their best guy, and that’ll be the end of that. He’s just so physical that he can basically play you man-to-man and get right in your face and shut you down.”
Speaking of shutting down, Floyd has done precisely that with his contact with the media when it comes to talking about his recruitment.
He still keeps in contact with the coaches from the five schools that he’s considering – Notre Dame, Ohio State, Minnesota, Florida and Michigan. But aside from those conversations, his coach said that he has done well to keep a low profile with having to address all the questions about where he’s headed.
“I think Notre Dame and Ohio State are probably out front,” Bischoff pointed out. “Minnesota is probably in there with those guys. Michigan and Florida are probably coming up fourth and fifth at this point, Florida just because of the distance from home.
“I think his feeling is that he maybe has an opportunity at Ohio State and Notre Dame to have more of an immediate impact. And certainly at Minnesota that would be the case. He would have an impact right away here.”
Notre Dame fans who closely indulge in recruiting were recently sent into a nervous frenzy when Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press stated in an October 9th column that, “It still appears the state's top high school football recruit, Cretin-Derham Hall wide receiver Michael Floyd, is headed to Ohio State.”
However Coach Bischoff doesn’t see a lot of merit in that statement and has been vocal against statements made with such certainty regarding Floyd’s future.
One thing that can be said with certainty is that Floyd and his family will be in South Bend for the USC game this weekend – his lone scheduled official visit to this point – and will take in a game-day atmosphere.
There has been some discussion of a November 3rd visit to Columbus for Ohio State’s game against Wisconsin. If he doesn’t make it in November, then it’s possible that he and his parents will try to make it during one of the first couple of weekends in December. And because of proximity, Floyd will also likely take an official visit to Minnesota.
It also should be noted that Floyd will not enroll early wherever he decides to attend school. In fact, Cretin-Derham Hall has never had a prospect from their program enroll early at his college destination.
“We would encourage them to stay and complete their experience here,” said Bischoff. “Michael’s a different kind of kid in that the impact he can make on a campus on a freshman level we feel is pretty different from any kid we’ve had.
“We did at least approach the topic with his family and Michael wants to be here to go to his senior prom. He wants to be here to run track and to play basketball. And he’s looking forward to that. We’re certainly optimistic that he would be able to have an impact coming in at the normal time frame (enrolling for the summer session in June).”
Addressing further rumors, the impact of Notre Dame’s season, and the Carufel situation:
One rumor that has been circulating in recent weeks, perhaps in relation to the aforementioned prediction of Floyd to Ohio State, is that he and quarterback Terrelle Pryor are a package deal. Bischoff doesn’t put much stock into that rumor, pointing out that Pryor and Floyd met for the first time during Floyd’s summer tour of schools in the Midwest, and since then they have only spoken with each other on a few brief occasions.
According to Bischoff, Floyd is satisfied with the quarterback situations at each of the schools he is considering. He liked what he saw from Ryan Mallett at Michigan and Jimmy Clausen at Notre Dame when he visited each of those schools this summer. He’s optimistic about what Pryor could bring to Ohio State and what Dayne Crist and John Nance (Floyd’s teammate and quarterback at Cretin-Derham Hall) will bring to Notre Dame and Minnesota, assuming that each quarterback stays true to his verbal commitment.
“In terms of his observations of the quarterback position (at the school’s he’s considering), he’s in a good situation with any of those kids,” Bischoff said in response to the rumor of a Pryor/Floyd package deal. “He feels really confident that whatever school he goes to, there’s a guy that can get him the ball based on what he saw this summer.”
When BlueandGold.com spoke with Bischoff earlier this recruiting season, he stated that Floyd had reservations about committing himself to any rebuilding projects. How then does Michael classify the 1-6 Irish program?
“He’s very open about the fact that (Notre Dame’s record) has not bothered him,” said Bischoff. “He’s been really positive about that not bothering him, and he’s not really looking at their season as a problem. He’s aware of the recruits that are coming. He’s aware of the kids that are there now that are young, and he feels like there’s a good nucleus of talent that’s already there that’s just young and inexperienced.
“I think the reality is that they’re playing a lot of younger kids and there’s a lot of experience occurring, and they’re trying to keep their recruits happy by saying, ‘We’re playing a relatively young team, and you’re going to be a part of that young team.’ They seem to have no indication from their commitments right now in this ’08 class that anybody’s wavering.
“I talked to Rob (Ianello) yesterday, and he felt very good about where the ’08 people are. And so that’s a good sign. Michael’s really shown no indication that their start has bothered him at all.”
Former Cretin-Derham Hall offensive lineman Matt Carufel decided to leave school last Thursday, and on Sunday night Bischoff confirmed to BlueandGold.com that he had decided to stay in St. Paul and would seek a transfer come January to either Minnesota or Iowa.
Concern set in almost immediately as to how Carufel’s decision might impact the recruitment of Floyd. Bischoff acknowledged that he and the coaching staff at Cretin-Derham Hall had discussed the situation with Floyd.
“We have talked to Michael about this and encourage him to look at his recruitment as an individual and not through Matt's eyes,” Bischoff noted. “We said that while Matt was there and we will continue to encourage that while Matt moves on. Matt is not looking to throw ND under the bus and will respect Michael's process.
“Michael and his parents will be coming this weekend and taking the official visit. They are all very excited and look forward to the experience. Michael and his family continue to be excited about Notre Dame and we will just have to see how the weekend goes for them and then what the next step is. It does appear that he will visit Ohio State either Nov 3 or one of the first two weekends in December, and he also plans to continue in the recruiting process with Minnesota, Florida and Michigan and see about next steps with them.
“I don't think this will leave a bad taste with Michael.”
