'10 KY S Austin Collinsworth (Notre Dame Signee)

[jason_h537]

Wide Receiver
Fort Thomas, Kentucky Highlands

Ht: 6-0
Wt: 178
40: 4.7
Shuttle: 4.25
Vertical: 31
GPA: 3.55

Rating:
Rivals: ; NR Safety; Rating 5.5
Scout: ; #98 Safety
ESPN: ; #118 Safety; Grade 74

Offers:
Notre Dame (Jan '10)
Cincinnatti
Harvard (OV)
Kentucky
Louisville
Middle Tennessee St
Stanford
Oregon
Vanderbilt

ND Recruiter: Kelly

Decision: 12/18/09 Notre Dame

 

[jason_h537]

3 star Safety on Rivals.
Chris Collinsworth is his dad

I forgot to add that Kelly offered him in the thread title

 

[irish4ever]

3 star Safety on Rivals.
Chris Collinsworth is his dad

I forgot to add that Kelly offered him in the thread title

Offered from a ND perspective, right? Or is it a "carry over" from when Kelly was @ Cincy?

 

[BGIF]

Offered from a ND perspective, right? Or is it a "carry over" from when Kelly was @ Cincy?

He has an ND offer. Cincy's offers are Cincy's offers.

 

[BGIF]

He doesn't appear to have taken any officials so far. He has made trips to Cincinnati and Kentucky.

Would be kind of bittersweet if he ends up at ND and his dad, who used to love to skewer ND football on TV, would be wearing ND gear and cheering for his ND son.

 

[JefMaj]

I have to believe that his dad, if looking out for the best interest's of his son... has to be saying that he needs to take a hard look at ND...

 

[NDinL.A.]

Many ND fans are up in arms over this offer, and I can see why, considering his ranking. But let's loot at this from BK's perspective. First, we just lost Parker. And we've lost out already on Amerson and Carrrington. That leaves Riley and Cooper on the board, and neither guy is considered a lock. So we're think at safety. Second, look at this quote from Kelly:

"I want our players to be tough gentlemen...I gotta lot of respect for analyst out there, relative to stars,and the recruiting and the tom lemmings and the rivals and the scouts, but I'm going to recruit guys that I believe that fit what we are going to do here at ND, I want guys who love to play the game. At the end of the day I want to be surrounded by guys who love to play football... we are going to miss on some guys, if they are just looking at ND as a stepping stone to the NFL, then we are going to miss on some guys..."

So BK might be looking at film on our current recruits and not seeing what HE looks for in a football player. And he might have looked at Collinsworth's film and saw something that the recruiting 'gurus' didn't see.

As much as I'd like to bitch about the way Kelly's recruiting is going after ONE week, I'm going to sit back and trust the guy who's been a winner everywhere he's been. And hopefully our trust will be rewarded...

 

[Ben E.]

his dad is the nfl equivalent to mark may imo!

 

[Big23Head]

After looking over his profile I am pretty happy with this. We need DB's, particularly safeties. The kid is intelligent (Harvard offer) and I like Oregon and Stanford offeres with their style of play. Seems like a good fit and he has room to grow physically too. And he is a US Army AA

 

[WabashFalcon]

Hey... I like this offer. Kelly's being pro-active on the recruiting front and we offered a position of need. Plus, this may give us a little media BAMP that could, if ya think about it, help with the media poll.

 

[IrishInFl]

After looking over his profile I am pretty happy with this. We need DB's, particularly safeties. The kid is intelligent (Harvard offer) and I like Oregon and Stanford offeres with their style of play. Seems like a good fit and he has room to grow physically too. And he is a US Army AA

I noticed that too. It seems that Kelly does respect the ND model of a successful student.

 

[The Polish Irishman]

I have faith in Kelly.

Austin Collinsworth - Yahoo! Sports

Scout.com: Austin Collinsworth Profile

 

[Polish Leppy 22]

I don't know how all this is going to work out. It's very early. We have no idea what's ahead.

But imagine how sweet it would be to beat Michigan and USC with a bunch of 3 and 4 star guys

 

[The Polish Irishman]

According to ISD:

Visited ND yesterday.

Also was the MVP of the State Title game

 

[IrishInFl]

I just want to beat USC period. It's been far too long. BTW, is this Kelly's first offer as the ND HC? I kinda like Dyjaun Lewis. Great size, good speed.

 

[tko]

I just want to beat USC period. It's been far too long. BTW, is this Kelly's first offer as the ND HC? I kinda like Dyjaun Lewis. Great size, good speed.

I also want to beat all those teams we're supposed to beat and hopefully with quality Kelly recruits that he can coach up we take care of biz week in and week out.

 

[acerider8]

He looks like he'll be a bit of a project at 178 pounds and 4.7 speed (who knows who times these things), but the kid is intelligent, has good football bloodlines, and seems to be a winner. He'd be a great addition to this class.

 

[Big23Head]

To help with perspective, Kyle McCarthy was a 2 star recruit 6-1", 190lbs. McCarthy's times are quicker but it shows where this kid could get to.

 

[GOLDENISTHYTATE]

David Bruton was a 3* recruit, and Ndukwe was a 3* WR who I think has been our best safety over the last 5-8 years.

Plus , the others are right. We have to play it safe because we took a small class last year with one safety recruit, and we lose McCarthy, Brown, and Herring this year. Whether you consider them big losses or not, you have to replace them with someone, and this kid looks like a fine replacement.

 

[OCIrish]

I don't know how all this is going to work out. It's very early. We have no idea what's ahead.

But imagine how sweet it would be to beat Michigan and USC with a bunch of 3 and 4 star guys

Sorry, but it's not going to happen, if this is BK's idea of recruiting then stick a fork in us, we're done. I mean, hell, I've still got 4 yrs. of NCAA eligibility left, where's my offer? This is it? Scraping the bottom of the barrel?

 

[jason_h537]

I never heard of this kid until yesterday but safety is a position that can be taught. Zibby was a 4 star QB. With that said, he still has to try and reach Riley and Cooper, although Riley seems like a much longer shot than before. At least Badger is solid

 

[IrishInFl]

There's a reason why we never heard of him, he sucks.

The state championship mvp sucks?

 

[Big23Head]

Well get used to him, Austin is Irish!

Commit #18 (again)

http://twitter.com/ndatrivals

Scout is also now reporting this

 

[Dacian_Irish]

There's a reason why we never heard of him, he sucks.

Your attitude sucks!

You have to trust BK. He has been doing this for like 20 years. He knows we are weak at this position so he is bringing guys in immediately. We can't afford to take the chance and only go with one safety this year.

In my opinion this is a great move. Plus you never know he may be a great player in a couple of years.

 

[NDinL.A.]

Here's what ESPN says about him:

Collinsworth is a tall and physically impressive skilled athlete. He has good size in terms of height but needs to put on some overall strength and bulk. A long strider that doesn't have great lateral agility or shiftiness, but does kick it into gear and demonstrates excellent playing speed-- especially on a straight-line. Takes great pursuit angles to the football from the safety position; often makes tackles on the opposite side of the field when coming from the backside or crossfield. A real competitive football player that gives 100 percent every play and will lay out to make a tackle. Shows the talent to go up high to make a play on the deep ball and gets a quick break on the ball-- good ball skills. Excels as a punt return specialist; fields the ball with the courage in a crowd and heads upfield immediately. Collingsworth is a very intelligent football player that makes the most out of his football skills. He will get better and better at the next level as he physically matures. We are not sure he is the right fit to be matched-up in many man-to-man situations especially against speedy, quicker players, but we really like his football awareness.


Collinsworth was considering offers from Cincinnati, Oregon, Louisville, and Kentucky. He visited campus yesterday and committed to Coach Kelly quickly after.

"It's a great balance for me," Collinsworth told Pete Sampson at Irish Illustrated. "I was looking for that balance of academics, football, social life and people. I really found that at Notre Dame

This is the type of recruit that ND fans laud while other fans snicker. Let's be honest...we've been laughing at Michigan for getting 3 star recruits that fit what DickRod wants to do. This is a 3 star recruit that fits the type of mentality that Kelly wants.

This is also the type of recruit that works his tail off and makes the most out of every single ounce of talent God has given him, and lunch pail guy that will work and work and work and learn and learn and learn and by his redshirt junior year you never want to see him off the field. The type of kid you see in other schools where you're like 'damn, why didn't WE offer that kid?'

Now, you obviously can't build your class around these guys, but we're just going to have to trust Kelly on this one. Oregon liked him...

EDIT: Here's a youtube video of him. Check it out:

YouTube - Austin Collinsworth Highlights

 

[JefMaj]

He has the desire to get where his dad was... on Sundays... and he will have to do it through hard work and who knows.... BK needs to get guys he thinks he can mold and he feels will work their butts off... I'm in!!!! So I trust his judgment.

 

[jmurphy75]

There's a reason why we never heard of him, he sucks.

That's a great response.....way to class it up and make a kid feel welcome. I hope he turns into another McCarthy and makes you eat your words. I really can't belive you'd post this crap on a recruits thread. Like it or not he'll be wearing an IRISH jersey show some respect.

 

[DirtySecret]

That's a great response.....way to class it up and make a kid feel welcome. I hope he turns into another McCarthy and makes you eat your words. I really can't belive you'd post this crap on a recruits thread. Like it or not he'll be wearing an IRISH jersey show some respect.

Why would he eat his words? McCarthy wasn't that great, he blew coverage a couple times this year, one was on a wide open Uconn player running in for a TD. Secondly, we need playmakers not a guy who's ranking is 98. We already have a soild safety in Chris Badger who by the way is better ranked and also works his tail off, so we can take a chance to chase Riley. No matter how well you coach him up, he's going get burnt by faster wide outs.

 

[NDinL.A.]

Why would he eat his words? McCarthy wasn't that great, he blew coverage a couple times this year, one was on a wide open Uconn player running in for a TD. Secondly, we need playmakers not a guy who's ranking is 98. We already have a soild safety in Chris Badger who by the way is better ranked and also works his tail off, so we can take a chance to chase Riley. No matter how well you coach him up, he's going get burnt by faster wide outs.

Who said anything about not recruiting Riley? Read the depth chart. It's been known that ND is going after 3 safeties. Landing Collinsworth has no effect on the recruitment of Riley...

 

[JefMaj]

To date: I'll take BK's evalation of talent over any of yours....

Austin Collinsworth Steers Highland To Victory Against John Hardin