'24 TX S Paul Mencke Jr (Duke Verbal)

[Luckylucci]

I think one of the CBs, possible two if Beasley flips, are future Safties.

Cool. That doesn’t change anything. In an era of college football where 5 and 6 DB’s play together more and more. Having 6 or 7 in a class is hardly a problem. Hopefully they don’t make the same mistake they did the last two cycles and under recruit the position.

Edit: We do realize that in each of the last two cycles the staff has been "full" at DB both times. Yet walked away woefully unprepared post NSD. Or, some point post NSD. No reason to not over recruit a position of such great need. Especially when you have such quality athletic profiles to pick from

 

[Luckylucci]

I hope I’m wrong, but Urlacher is probably the floor of how I see this current recruiting class. I just don’t see it at his current or actual position.

I hate saying this about commits but I’d like to have that one back. Hopefully I regret this post down the line.

 

[Armyirish47]

It may not matter but I don't see what is strategically smart about it. There is no downside to bringing a guy in on a visit.

The only downside I can think of is that teams are capped on how many official visits they use and want to make sure they have enough allocated for other positions/likelier commits/higher rated prospects?

 

[Luckylucci]

The only downside I can think of is that teams are capped on how many official visits they use and want to make sure they have enough allocated for other positions/likelier commits/higher rated prospects?

Yes, but is that ever really an issue?

It’s a power move. One that I think lacks upside.

 

[ColinKSU]

I hate saying this about commits but I’d like to have that one back. Hopefully I regret this post down the line.

I hope I’m wrong too. Like Bryce Young, you’re betting on his DNA, but he doesn’t have the measurables or obvious athletic gifts Bryce already displays.

If “he sure hits hard” is the best thing you can say about a safety recruit, I really need to see more.

 

[Reaper97]

Cool. That doesn’t change anything. In an era of college football where 5 and 6 DB’s play together more and more. Having 6 or 7 in a class is hardly a problem. Hopefully they don’t make the same mistake they did the last two cycles and under recruit the position.

Edit: We do realize that in each of the last two cycles the staff has been "full" at DB both times. Yet walked away woefully unprepared post NSD. Or, some point post NSD. No reason to not over recruit a position of such great need. Especially when you have such quality athletic profiles to pick from

My scenario does have 6. (If you count Beasley).
If they don’t think Gallegos is the guy, I don’t mind them walking away from him. The way you feel about Urlacher seems to be the way they feel about Gallegos. With Urlacher, he at least has the DNA & upside & position flexibility. Gallegos seems to have peaked in the ND staff’s eyes.
They will probably use the fact they passed on Gallegos when they push for the others in their message.

 

[Luckylucci]

My scenario does have 6. (If you count Beasley).
If they don’t think Gallegos is the guy, I don’t mind them walking away from him. The way you feel about Urlacher seems to be the way they feel about Gallegos. With Urlacher, he at least has the DNA & upside & position flexibility. Gallegos seems to have peaked in the ND staff’s eyes.
They will probably use the fact they passed on Gallegos when they push for the others in their message.

I said they should have kept his visit. No downside to him taking it. You lose the leverage when you cancel the visit.

I want them to take both Ziglar and Miles. You said one or the other.

Johnson, Ziglar, Miles, Beasley, Hobbs, Moore.

 

[Reaper97]

I said they should have kept his visit. No downside to him taking it.

I want them to take both Ziglar and Miles. You said one or the other.

Johnson, Ziglar, Miles, Beasley, Hobbs, Moore.

I meant they HAVE to have one or the other.
I will take both.
I’m still curious if Mencke changes his mind. He has three more days.

 

[IAIrish]

I would love Johnson and either Ziglar/Miles.
Then recruit Andrews as a no matter what kid you know is for down the line.
Flip Beasley.
Then get 3 Safties next year.
Having 3 this year & 3 next year is better than 4 this year & 2 next year.
Beasley could be the key as a swing guy.

It's crazy that years back, 6 dbs would've been way too many. With the evolution of the game, programs probably need to start taking 5-6 dbs per year, especially factoring portal.

I'm on record for loading upon dbs. Johnson, Beasley being top two.

 

[BobbyMac]

I meant they HAVE to have one or the other.
I will take both.
I’m still curious if Mencke changes his mind. He has three more days.

Does the clean sweep of Fong, Loy & Kevin mean he already made up his mind and gave them the scoop for the announcement?

If he commits on CBSSports, I'll go yeah.

 

[Luckylucci]

So is Mencke officially out? Focused on just Tae, Miles and Ziglar?

I haven't seen that said, anywhere. Though it sounds like he's set on visiting Duke and if that happens. Likely ends his recruitment by ND.

Sounds like Andrews is a take but likely doesn't matter for this class.

 

[arrowryan]

I haven't seen that said, anywhere. Though it sounds like he's set on visiting Duke and if that happens. Likely ends his recruitment by ND.

Sounds like Andrews is a take but likely doesn't matter for this class.

Why would a visit to Duke end his recruitment with ND though? That makes it sound like they safeties beating down the door to be in this class. Other than Tae Tae, I can’t point out a safety that I think for sure will be in the class.

 

[NDpendent]

Why would a visit to Duke end his recruitment with ND though? That makes it sound like they safeties beating down the door to be in this class. Other than Tae Tae, I can’t point out a safety that I think for sure will be in the class.

If you read between the lines of what some on the beat have said, it seems if he takes a visit to Duke they aren't going to hold his spot over the safeties that will be on campus this week. So if any of them want in after this weekend they will take their commitments.

 

[Katzenboyer]

I haven't seen that said, anywhere. Though it sounds like he's set on visiting Duke and if that happens. Likely ends his recruitment by ND.

Sounds like Andrews is a take but likely doesn't matter for this class.

I don't think a visit to Duke ends his recruitment. But if someone else commits (Ziglar or Miles most likely) then he won't have space in the class.

 

[Reaper97]

If you read between the lines of what some on the beat have said, it seems if he takes a visit to Duke they aren't going to hold his spot over the safeties that will be on campus this week. So if any of them want in after this weekend they will take their commitments.

Yeah, technically if none of those recruits commit & Mencke finished his visits & wants to commit to ND, he still could.
But he would be taking a huge chance no others commit.

 

[NDpendent]

Yeah, technically if none of those recruits commit & Mencke finished his visits & wants to commit to ND, he still could.
But he would be taking a huge chance no others commit.

Yeah Loy pretty much said if he visits Duke then he probably wont be in the class, which means they are probably in closing mode with either Miles or Ziglar

Edit- Or both

 

[Reaper97]

Yeah Loy pretty much said if he visits Duke then he probably wont be in the class, which means they are probably in closing mode with either Miles or Ziglar

Edit- Or both

It’s crazy to me that Miles, a kid from Texas with a half dozen P5 offers, doesn’t even have a profile in ESPN or Rivals.
Then Ziglar is a top 100 player on one site & almost a 2 Star on another.

 

[Luckylucci]

Which is why I said "likely". It's not the act of visiting Duke that does it, it's the events that take place between now and the end of his Duke visit that do. Which is 4 other S's visiting, 3 of those guys being better prospects IMO, and the staff bent on closing out the position.

Though if he really did commit on campus, leave, and then say he was going to take that OV I could see how that would rub some the wrong way. I haven't read that for myself. It just seems like what some are inferring happened.

 

[Reaper97]

So, on IB podcast today Driskell kept saying “20 commits.”

Someone asked him about it afterwards & he replied that was a mistake, there are only “19 public commits.”

And mentioned multiple times there is another announced coming very soon.

So I think we all can agree it’s Tae.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Yeah. Right now - as Elko has Duke on the upswing while Stanford wanders the wilderness - you're probably right. I just can not ever remember a recruit we wanted choosing Duke instead, while I can with a few guys vs. Stanford. One - Paulson Adebo - was even a DB from Texas. But there's always a first.

Agree no need to dick around on this though. If no one else jumps and Mencke comes to his senses in a few weeks, cool. But we can offer other guys too.

The circumstances on this are unique. The staff drew a line in the sand with Paul, and if that means he signs with Duke instead, so be it. This goes for Northwestern, Stanford, Vanderbilt or anywhere else.

Recruiting is a massive pain in the ass. Half the battle is going to be finding guys who want to be all in and what Freeman's vision for the program is all about. "You want to commit? Fine. That means you're done visiting and looking. So are we."

It might not be how the Oregons, TAMUs and Georgias handle their business. We may not agree with it as fans and maybe life would be easier if they just played ball like everyone else in order to land the Bowens and Keeleys. This is the path they've chosen, however.

 

[IAIrish]

The circumstances on this are unique. The staff drew a line in the sand with Paul, and if that means he signs with Duke instead, so be it. This goes for Northwestern, Stanford, Vanderbilt or anywhere else.

Recruiting is a massive pain in the ass. Half the battle is going to be finding guys who want to be all in and what Freeman's vision for the program is all about. "You want to commit? Fine. That means you're done visiting and looking. So are we."

It might not be how the Oregons, TAMUs and Georgias handle their business. We may not agree with it as fans and maybe life would be easier if they just played ball like everyone else in order to land the Bowens and Keeleys. This is the path they've chosen, however.

It'll always go both ways. The players and the team/staff. If you follow it and enjoy it as much as i do, you find that nearly all of the circumstances are unique.
Strap in, toke the peace pipe and enjoy the spectacle that is "off season" recruiting. The human element and everything therein that adds layers of complexity is fascinating to follow.
Just don't get emotionally invested or you'll want to self-flagellate like the Filipino sect...

 

[stlnd01]

It'll always go both ways. The players and the team/staff. If you follow it and enjoy it as much as i do, you find that nearly all of the circumstances are unique.
Strap in, toke the peace pipe and enjoy the spectacle that is "off season" recruiting. The human element and everything therein that adds layers of complexity is fascinating to follow.
Just don't get emotionally invested or you'll want to self-flagellate like the Filipino sect...

Yep. It's interesting and all. But mostly a diversion between the actual games. The thing to remember is that - with a few exceptions - any given recruit is a relatively interchangeable part at this stage of their career. There's lots of fish in the sea. If you miss on one, there will be another. And you won't know who's actually the better football player for two or three years.

Yes more higher-rated guys is obviously better. And Notre Dame needs to upgrade its raw talent to reach the next level. But to Jigg's point, you also want the guys who want to be here (especially in this portal/NIL era). Personally the only '24 recruit I'd really sweat losing right now is Carr, and he seems solid as a rock.

 

[NDFAN2008]

He is visiting Washington in a few weeks.

 

[BobbyMac]

He is visiting Washington in a few weeks.

I wonder if that was a… 3 free airline tickets back home visit… since Mom’s side of the family is from there (If I remember correctly)?

Get done with the visit and seeing one side of the fam then head over to Spokane to see Pop’s side.

 

[Irish#1]

It'll always go both ways. The players and the team/staff. If you follow it and enjoy it as much as i do, you find that nearly all of the circumstances are unique.
Strap in, toke the peace pipe and enjoy the spectacle that is "off season" recruiting. The human element and everything therein that adds layers of complexity is fascinating to follow.
Just don't get emotionally invested or you'll want to self-flagellate like the Filipino sect...

Not being argumentative, but I find them to be much closer to being the same than unique. The ones I would classify as unique are ones like Isaiah McKenzie and more recently Dante Moore.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

It'll always go both ways. The players and the team/staff. If you follow it and enjoy it as much as i do, you find that nearly all of the circumstances are unique.
Strap in, toke the peace pipe and enjoy the spectacle that is "off season" recruiting. The human element and everything therein that adds layers of complexity is fascinating to follow.
Just don't get emotionally invested or you'll want to self-flagellate like the Filipino sect...

Yeah. I still think it sucks. More now than ever.

 

[MacIrish75]

Yeah. I still think it sucks. More now than ever.

It gives me something to follow between the end of the season and the start of practice. We all have our vices. One of my biggest certainly is crootin. And sports betting.

Man…if you could gamble on recruiting on FanDuel…I’d be in some trouble.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

It gives me something to follow between the end of the season and the start of practice. We all have our vices. One of my biggest certainly is crootin. And sports betting.

Man…if you could gamble on recruiting on FanDuel…I’d be in some trouble.

I'm not asking anyone to justify anything, to be clear. I'm simply stating that I think it's garbage and the situation present day is even worse than ever.

I used to be into it about as much as anybody several years ago. Over the years I've come to consume it with indifference.

 

[MacIrish75]

I'm not asking anyone to justify anything, to be clear. I'm simply stating that I think it's garbage and the situation present day is even worse than ever.

I used to be into it about as much as anybody several years ago. Over the years I've come to consume it with indifference.

I was actually trying to reply to IAIrish, but quoted the wrong post. Totally get your perspective on it, though.

 

[Katzenboyer]

ISD now saying ND won't pursue Mencke any further. Seems like the ship has sailed.