'11 NM OT Matthew Hegarty (Signed Notre Dame LOI)

[TerryTate]

according to ISD twitter:

On Sunday, ND verbal Matt Hegarty informed Brian Kelly that he will not be enrolling early

Nooooooooooooo

 

[irishff1014]

That could be bad i hope he is staying with us though.

 

[TerryTate]

Apparently he wants to play his senior basketball season and enjoy his senior year.

He reaffirmed on his visit that he would not waiver

 

[Sherm Sticky]

It's cool...let him enjoy playing basketball and being the bigman on his high school campus...But if we lose him I will literally have a mental breakdown.

 

[irishff1014]

Good thing he is staying now that opens another spot for a star EE

 

[Sherm Sticky]

The only EE we currently have is Brindza...If Golson commits he takes one...Ishaq would be an EE also, but I'm not getting a good feeling about him coming anymore.

 

[TerryTate]

Carrico is EE as well

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Carrico is EE as well

That's right my bad bro...good looking out

 

[irishff1014]

Ishaq is really keeping his cards close to him thats for sure.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Hegarty not enrolling early may not be a bad idea. [because it keeps an EE open]. Hegarty is [in my poor estimation] a Tackle [rather than a Guard or Center] because of his great feet. Maybe even a left tackle. At Left Tackle we have Martin returning and probably his back-up as well. [Romine]. At right Tackle we have Dever returning and, I would guess, Nichols raring to bring his mountainous body into the two deep as well. Hegarty, as good as he is, might see the wisdom of redshirting behind these behemoths and learning, just as Nichols and Lombard are doing this season. [I see Lombard battling Watt in a Godzilla vs King Kong epic for Stewart's starting spot].

But, however it sorts out, the point of the post is that we will have Old Notre Dame style O-line depth, and Hegarty can afford to watch a year before he stuns the D-1 football world with how good he is.

 

[calidomer43]

BK will not redshirt his best OL recruit when OL is an area we need help with...

on a side note...our HS played Hegarty's team in a 7 on 7 tourny this summer. Their coach had nothing but great things to say about Mathew and I cant wait for this kid to get on campus

 

[BCSorBust]

I didn't realize we needed Oline help this past year. That was something we never really talked about because they mainly played pretty well especially taking into account a completely different system. We also have all of the starters and meaningful reserves returning except for Stewart. If there is a time to redshirt Oline recruits next year would be that time **knock on wood for no injuries**

 

[DillonHall]

I didn't realize we needed Oline help this past year. That was something we never really talked about because they mainly played pretty well especially taking into account a completely different system. We also have all of the starters and meaningful reserves returning except for Stewart. If there is a time to redshirt Oline recruits next year would be that time **knock on wood for no injuries**

I agree. There's good depth on the O-line currently.

 

[calidomer43]

He will early enroll and compete...may not start but he will compete for a job.

 

[IrishinSyria]

If Sam Young wasn't ready to play as a freshman (and he wasn't) Hegarty won't be either. It's much better to keep the big boys in the weight room and at the training table for a year while they learn the system and get used to battling each other in practice.

 

[IrishMoore1]

I agree. There's good depth on the O-line currently.

are you guys serious? we need tremendous help on the O-line. Our guys still can't run the ball, and we have little to no depth, especially at tackle. Romine doesn't exactly count as depth, and who knows he may or may not be back next year.

The fact remains: we are still not a good rushing team.

 

[BCSorBust]

agree to disagree

 

[mcbri014]

It's cool...let him enjoy playing basketball and being the bigman on his high school campus...But if we lose him I will literally have a mental breakdown.

Don't worry he is Irish all the way. I read the article on ISD about Hegarty. While he may not be enrolling early, there is no way he is decommitting. He was never 100% sure about being an EE and you can't blame a kid for wanting to stay for his last semester of high school, especially if you play a second sport. The article reaffirms his commitment is 100% the entire time just so we all don't have a mental breakdown. He is easily good enough to play as a freshman.

 

[chyrspchuck]

I love the idea of guys sitting for a year, so even if he is good enough, I hope BK doesn't make Charlies mistakes and start a kid when he could beef up and muscle up for a year.

 

[johnnykillz]

Matt's Aztec football team wasn't good enough for the Artesia Bulldogs from just down the road from me, once again, this year. Artesia won the 4A football championship for the 27th time in New Mexico history this year.

Artesia is also Landry Jones' Highschool...

Artesia Bulldog Football

Regardless, I'm sure there are a few Bulldogs in need of medical aid after Hegarty today. Hopefully Matt wins his championship with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish!

 

[Ultimate Penn St. Hater]

Sorry to hear that his team lost. Hopefully he will be a big part of an Irish national championship team.

 

[SoJerseyIrish]

I'll say it again, this is the KEY recruit in this class, this is the franchise LT that ND will need after Martin leaves......this kid has the potential to be SPECIAL....REAL SPECIAL.

 

[tadman95]

Article on ESPN.com reviewing OL recruits - Hegarty is mentioned as one of the Best in Space offensive linemen. He is gonna be huge!

Five-star OTs Christian Westerman, Cyrus Kouandjio and La'El Collins highlight the OL superlatives. - ESPN

 

[rtrn2glory]

I'll say it again, this is the KEY recruit in this class, this is the franchise LT that ND will need after Martin leaves......this kid has the potential to be SPECIAL....REAL SPECIAL.

If this kid is as good as I hope he is he will be playing before Martin's time is done, most likely at Right Tackle. Dever should get a 5th year and then after that he could be stepping in and starting at Right Tackle as a redshirt freshman bigger and stronger much like Martin did this year.

Hope we can get him inked and into the program!!!

 

[Old Man Mike]

we might want to consider him a left tackle since that's where the blindside heat on right-handed QBs comes, and Hegarty is supposed to be fabulous "in space" [translation: great feet].

 

[rtrn2glory]

If he's that good by then put him there, but it's gonna be hard to move Martin to right tackle with two years of experience under his belt. I remember Coach Kelly raiving about him all last spring and fall on how he's the complete package of strength and athletic ability. For a freshman he was very consistent in his pass protection this year and is only going to get better, although, he did move to right tackle for a few, so not saying it can't be done...eitherway we got two pretty good anchors in there as long as we get Hegarty inked.

 

[DillonHall]

There's no reason Hegarty can't start out at RT then move to LT after Martin leaves.

 

[rtrn2glory]

The beauty of this spread system is the majority of guys you recruit for the o line have the capability of playing all 5 spots. That gives your depth quite a boost in the long run.

 

[tadman95]

Sports Illustrated HS Player of the Week

New Mexico's Matt Hegarty is nation's top offensive lineman - SI.com - High School Player of the Week

Holy cow, are we lucky! This guy has Notre Dame written all over him. Definitely have a man crush.

 

[palinurus]

are you guys serious? we need tremendous help on the O-line. Our guys still can't run the ball, and we have little to no depth, especially at tackle. Romine doesn't exactly count as depth, and who knows he may or may not be back next year.

The fact remains: we are still not a good rushing team.

See, I agree with this. I did not see the Irish dominating on the line very much this year at all. We need better depth and more talent.