'16 CA LB Caleb Kelly (Oklahoma Verbal)

[Irish#1]

Can anyone confirm we completely spared his RS? We didn't put him in for some stupid extra point block in the bowl game did we?

Do you really think the staff is dumb enough to waste a red-shirt year for an extra point attempt?

 

[irishff1014]

I'm not sure how we can look at a roster of Jaylon Smith, Cole Luke, KVR, Redfield, Shumate, Sheldon Day, Jarron Jones, Isaac Rochell, Nyles Morgan, Drue Tranquill, Greer Martini, Andrew Trumbetti, Romeo Okwara, Nick Watkins etc. and say there isn't any talent. Those players are talented. Its the coaches job to get the best out of his players and put them in a position to be successful. I highly doubt that at any point going forward we have a meaningful upgrade in talent on defense overall.

The highest rated player in the two cycles of 2015 and 16' classes, as of now, is Shaun Crawford at a composite of .9456. From 2012 onward, so 2012, 13', and 14' ND signed Jaylon Smith, Max Redfield, Nyles Morgan, Isaac Rochell, Elijah Shumate, and Sheldon Day, all rated higher. Lets basically call it a rating of .94+ rating. So in 3 years Diaco signed 6 and in 2 years, BVG will have signed 1, hopefully more, but he'll have to sign 3 (not sure if that happens) in order to get up to the avg. of 2 per year Diaco was at during this very poor recruiting effort he had. What would I rather have 2 per year or .5 per year?

A majority of the contributing players on this defense were recruited from 2012 onward. In fact a majority of that list, in the first paragraph, is Diaco players that are plenty capable of playing high level football.

To the depth point, that isn't a Diaco problem as much as it is a ND problem. Because ND doesn't oversign or kick underachieving players out we have to have a higher hit rate. We've lost a lot more players due to injury and early NFL draft on Defense than offense during this time period. Thats just the way it is, Diaco didnt make those rules and BVG is having to deal with them too, thats why we failed miserably last cycle to hit on the right number of true S targets. How many DE's did BVG bring in last cycle, 1, Bo Wallace who never made it to campus. 2 positions where we need more depth.

To the last bolded, that proves he's a good coach. He can take a group of players, get them to buy in, and be successful even though they may not have been perfect for the system or "his" guys. Diaco took talent and made it better. He had a group of lost and confused players that had never seen a successful system before. A lot of players spoke or have spoken about that since. Some that were playing different positions for the first time. I don't see too many players on this 10-3 team that BVG can say that about. If BVG had taken over that roster, I don't even want to know what would've happened or the excuses we'd have to come up with.

Right on Lucci. You always word your opinions well.

 

[Luckylucci]

I completely disagree. First of all, I typo'd '12 and meant to say '13. Diaco/Cooks still tried hard in '12, just had misses. It's really '13 where Diaco just literally stopped recruiting at one point and started looking for a HC gig, and '14 where he and Cooks really mailed it in.

And it's not about who Diaco/Cooks landed -- and I could go through and list why they shouldn't be given credit for a guy like KVR that he was allowed to borrow from offense only after failing to have any of their '12 class CB verbals AND opting to pass on other players when those guys were shaky AND having their class of '11 signees be poor players -- it's about the holes.

From '12 through '14 here is the haul at DB:

Elijah Shumate
CJ Prosise
John Turner
Nicky Baratti
Devin Butler
Rashad Kinlaw
Cole Luke
Max Redfield
Nick Watkins
Drue Tranquill

Teams typically recruit minimum 4 DBs a year. Diaco/Cooks only managed to sign 10 guys over three years. One of those immediately washed out, and one moved to offense (which is allegedly [although I don't necessarily believe it] because he was bad at safety). Another never should have had an offer and can't play. So now we're down to 7 functional bodies over three classes... because of nothing but poor recruiting of one flavor or another. Of those 7 bodies, you have 3 total CBs over three classes and 4 total safeties. Two of the safeties have never been healthy.

So BVG was left with 2 healthy bodies at safety and 3 healthy bodies at CB over THREE FULL RECRUITING CLASSES. That's so beyond excusable that I truly have no words to describe how horrible that recruiting is.

And the hilarious part is that as bad as that recruiting is, linebacker is even worse.

Jaylon Smith
Michael Deeb
Nyles Morgan
Greer Martini

Those are the only true LBs he signed in 3 years. Maybe you could add Randolph in there depending on how you want to classify him? Three years and he got four total guys... and the best part is that he had passed on Morgan before Brian Kelly stepped in and took over recruiting him. If up to Diaco, we very seriously could've ended up with just Deeb, Martini, and Smith over THREE FULL YEARS... like how the fuck is that even possible?

Contrast to BVG recruiting... signed 3 LBs in his very first class, one of which we already know is at least moderately competent. On track to sign another 2-4 LBs in this class. At DB, he inked 4 DBs last year (if you don't count Fertitta) and would've signed more if Cooks had done his job instead of having one foot out the door. He's going to sign another SEVEN DBs this year to try to make up for Diaco/Cooks... he's playing massive catchup. You don't need everyone to be a Jaylon Smith. What you need are a high quantity of athletes such that your ensured of depth and at least some of them panning out.

You cannot, CANNOT, CANNOT sign 1 LB a year and 3 DBs a year and pretend that everything is going to be OK. And you can't blame BVG for playing Schmidt when there was only one scholarship MIKE linebacker on the roster when he took over, and from the little we've seen from him he isn't any good. Martini was so much better than Morgan in limited run last year despite being completely ill-suited for the position from a physical standpoint.

You have to be kidding, right? KVR was a freshman all american CB. He didn't borrow shit. He realized thats where his future was at and its been pretty successful since. The way your posting is just to fit your narrative.

In that case I could say that for his system from 13'-14', LB's for Diaco's system are as followed.

- Hill CAT LB
- Martini
- Morgan
- Trumbetti CAT LB
- J. Williams CAT LB
- Smith
- Deeb
-Randolph (not including him is a reflecction of your bias. He was recruited as a LB for every school recruiting him, including us.

Now thats 8 LB's over 2 cycles. Not bad at all or exactly perfect.

Also, it is a fact that he signed a MIKe LB in every class accept for 2012 because we had plenty of depth at the time and a RS Grace ready to step in. 13' was Deeb, 14' was Nyles Morgan and Greer Martini. This lack of depth is due to those guys either being injured or not ready. Neither is a Diaco problem.

A majority of the DB"s that BVG is signing are S's or starting at S type players. Thats because BVG bombed last cycle at S. That isn't a Diaco problem.

How in the world can Martini be ill-suited for Mike LB, honestly never ever heard or thought that before? Or at least more ill suited than Schmidt? He's bigger, faster, and stronger, not one physical trait that is inferior to Schmidt's. He's the perfect Mike LB and thats exactly what Diaco recruited him for.

 

[koonja]

Do you really think the staff is dumb enough to waste a red-shirt year for an extra point attempt?

I honestly wouldn't put it past them. I love BK but seriously question his use of the RS at times.

 

[Luckylucci]

Also, using health as a part of the conversation is really beyond ridiculous. As if in 2012, 13',14' he should've known that these players he was recruiting wouldn't be healthy. There are only so many scholarships and its an ND problem that we can't bring in 25 each class, thats precisely why we only signed 1 S last class. Because as a staff we can't/won't or don't bring guys aboard and recruit over them or oversign. I don't have a problem with that and under a different DC I have no doubt it wouldn't be a problem, because our capable backups would be ready.

 

[ThePiombino]

Didn't it take like 3 years for BVG's defense to pickup at UGA. Once they picked it up it was deadly I believe.

So the year we lose Smith, Day, Shumate, Russell, and the only player to get reps at MLB all year will be the year of becomes deadly?

 

[IrishLion]

So the year we lose Smith, Day, Shumate, Russell, and the only player to get reps at MLB all year will be the year of becomes deadly?

A bunch of young dudes that have been on the sidelines and in the drills learning for three offseasons finally get their chance to shine, combined with the fact that BVG is going to need to at least dumb the system down a little bit, and the defense could improve once again.

 

[ThePiombino]

A bunch of young dudes that have been on the sidelines and in the drills learning for three offseasons finally get their chance to shine, combined with the fact that BVG is going to need to at least dumb the system down a little bit, and the defense could improve once again.

The fans guys we've been told aren't good enough for reps all this time? Hope you're right.

 

[IrishLion]

The fans guys we've been told aren't good enough for reps all this time? Hope you're right.

That's kind of what I'm getting at.... we know Nyles Morgan and Greer Martini can fly around. Maybe, since BVG will have almost no choice but to involve one or both of them as the MLB, the defensive scheme will need to be simplified a bit to accommodate them. And if that happens, perhaps the entire unit will actually be able to do more "playing" and less "thinking."

 

[ColinKSU]

A bunch of young dudes that have been on the sidelines and in the drills learning for three offseasons finally get their chance to shine, combined with the fact that BVG is going to need to at least dumb the system down a little bit, and the defense could improve once again.

What about BVG makes anyone think he *has* to dumb down the system in 2016? If anything, he seems shockingly unwilling to make even the slightest tweeks to "his" system.

 

[irishff1014]

As for Van Gorder, I'm 100% convinced that there are some scheme issues. I'm not a smart enough of a football guy to really break down those issues, so I'll let a smarter person opine on that like I've seen on ISD, etc. They exist, and they generally have to do with the variability/complexity getting in the way of the players being in the best position to maximize their strengths.

WITH THAT BEING SAID... the biggest issues are personnel driven. So I don't know if I blame BVG for not molding his scheme better to the players he has, or if I blame Diaco/Cooks for just a laughably pathetic job of recruiting from '12 onward in their areas of responsibility. The cupboard was left really fucking bare, and BVG did everything imaginable to add 1) emergency fillers in the '14 class 2) tons of players we haven't really yet gotten a chance to see in the '15 class.

Remember, Diaco won with nearly 100% Weis recruits + a star player he signed in '11. Whereas offense has built depth and talent every year since Kelly has been here, it's impossible to look at the defensive recruiting and think the same. They landed a couple ELITE players but left insane depth holes at other positions.

I like Lax's and in no means am I trying to call him out but isn't this a Kelly issue?

Imo it is. Diaco wasn't a great recruiter so then he hires another defensive coordinator in his circle that doesn't recruit well. Kelly knows at ND he has to have an acceptable defense. I know what the numbers say but I also watched them play. Much like lax I am not a top defensive scout but I know that they style of defense we played didn't give us much room to succeed.

 

[IrishLion]

What about BVG makes anyone think he *has* to dumb down the system in 2016? If anything, he seems shockingly unwilling to make even the slightest tweeks to "his" system.

Well, he didn't have to scale back on the system this year because he had his "quarterback" in Joe Schmidt.

He won't have Joe next year. So he may literally have no choice but to scale it back in terms of complexity.

 

[IrishLax]

You have to be kidding, right? KVR was a freshman all american CB. He didn't borrow shit. He realized thats where his future was at and its been pretty successful since. The way your posting is just to fit your narrative.

That's total BS, dude. KVR was recruited for offense. He was recruited for RB with potential to maybe play slot WR. After missing on Darby and Shephard not getting cleared, the staff planned to start Lo Wood and Bennett Jackson. They needed bodies DESPERATELY on that side of the ball, so prior fall camp Kelly decided to try out a bunch of people -- including KVR, Davonte Neal, etc. -- at CB to see if any could play it. None of whom were recruited for the position, and Diaco had no hand in any of their recruitments.

In August the move was official, and a few weeks later Lo Wood tore his Achilles. The rest is history, but Diaco never said a peep to him in recruiting nor was he recruited for anything but offense. Doing triage on offensive skill players to find competent DBs because the guys you targeted in '12 didn't stick and your '11 recruits either 1) sucked or 2) didn't stick is NOT a feather in the cap of Diaco recruiting.

In that case I could say that for his system from 13'-14', LB's for Diaco's system are as followed.

- Hill CAT LB
- Martini
- Morgan
- Trumbetti CAT LB
- J. Williams CAT LB
- Smith
- Deeb
-Randolph (not including him is a reflecction of your bias. He was recruited as a LB for every school recruiting him, including us.

So your premise is that he recruited 4 CAT LBs (i.e. your typical glorified 3-4 rush end) and 4 LBs to play actual linebacker positions? That would be an illustration of Diaco being a complete idiot with recruiting. He still would've been signing 4 total linebackers to play 3 linebacker spots. The premise would still hold.

For starters, Kolin Hill and Williams were both signed

Now thats 8 LB's over 2 cycles. Not bad at all or exactly perfect.

Except it obviously isn't. Are we seriously going to sit here and act like Jhonny Williams ever had a chance of being a "linebacker"? Or Trumbetti? You can kind of/sort of make the case for Hill and Randolph. But they were all rush ends. Williams was a DE for Missouri when committed there and is a DE on his current team. He's quite obviously not remotely close to a functional body for linebacker.

It's like signing Luke Massa and trying to call him a WR, or saying Chase Hounshell should count as a TE. I don't care what you try to retroactively label them as, recruiting 4 guys that can only sort of play one very specific rush OLB position in a 3-4 doesn't mean you did anything to effectively address your actual needs at actual linebacker. It's like calling Ryan Kerrigan a "linebacker"... it's only true in a very specific, literal sense in a very specific scheme.

Also, it is a fact that he signed a MIKe LB in every class accept for 2012 because we had plenty of depth at the time and a RS Grace ready to step in. 13' was Deeb, 14' was Nyles Morgan and Greer Martini. This lack of depth is due to those guys either being injured or not ready. Neither is a Diaco problem.

OK then who was playing WILL? If all of those guys are MIKEs then was no one manning the other ILB spot? Because remember, Jaylon Smith played DOG linebacker when he got here.......... the entire premise being presented above has obvious holes. If those were all MIKEs, then you had 3 MIKEs, 0 WILLs, and 1 DOG over three full years.

A majority of the DB"s that BVG is signing are S's or starting at S type players. Thats because BVG bombed last cycle at S. That isn't a Diaco problem.

Cooks bombed last cycle at safety, if anyone did. He was co-defensive coordinator and in charge of secondary recruiting... and did effectively nothing (because he knew he was leaving) even after it was obvious that Prentice McKinney wasn't getting in. And ND still signed 4 DBs... two CBs, one safety, and one combo player. Because the rest of the staff hustled hard on Mykelti Williams to close the cycle.

How in the world can Martini be ill-suited for Mike LB, honestly never ever heard or thought that before? Or at least more ill suited than Schmidt? He's bigger, faster, and stronger, not one physical trait that is inferior to Schmidt's. He's the perfect Mike LB and thats exactly what Diaco recruited him for.

1) He played WILL in HS.
2) He started off as a WILL when he got here.
3) He played SAM this year.
4) He only played MIKE last year when Morgan was so bad that they benched him... they needed someone with Martini's football IQ in the middle and he played really DESPITE being ill-suited for the position and basically not practicing there ever until that point.

Martini has the football IQ and instincts you're looking for in a MIKE, but his body type is much better suited for WILL or really any kind of OLB.

 

[IrishLax]

I like Lax's and in no means am I trying to call him out but isn't this a Kelly issue?

Imo it is. Diaco wasn't a great recruiter so then he hires another defensive coordinator in his circle that doesn't recruit well. Kelly knows at ND he has to have an acceptable defense. I know what the numbers say but I also watched them play. Much like lax I am not a top defensive scout but I know that they style of defense we played didn't give us much room to succeed.

Yeah, I really do think it falls on Kelly to a large degree. He hires the staff, he tasks people with recruiting responsibilities. The issues in the secondary and at LB are as much to do with recruiting the wrong guys as they have to do with not recruiting "hard."

Think about all the decommits we had from those positions... Okotcha, Darby, Mattingly, Anzalone, etc. Then you realize that it happened year after year, and there weren't contingency plans. And then realize that on top of that, a lot of the guys they signed didn't pan out at all or had off the field issues.

Kelly stepped in eventually and got Morgan. He and Elston also rallied hard to get Mykelti Williams. That's really not enough. He (and Alford) didn't really do a good job of having Plan B type guys or depth. I don't really see a lot of the same issues this year with Elston as the recruiting coordinator.

 

[ab2cmiller]

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[IrishLax]

Also, using health as a part of the conversation is really beyond ridiculous. As if in 2012, 13',14' he should've known that these players he was recruiting wouldn't be healthy. There are only so many scholarships and its an ND problem that we can't bring in 25 each class, thats precisely why we only signed 1 S last class. Because as a staff we can't/won't or don't bring guys aboard and recruit over them or oversign. I don't have a problem with that and under a different DC I have no doubt it wouldn't be a problem, because our capable backups would be ready.

No, the reason we only signed one safety last class is because we missed on a ton of guys because Cooks did no recruiting. And Prentince McKinney decommitted because of academics.

We fought like hell to keep Mykelti Williams from Ohio State and I honestly can't think of many other guys that the staff has fought that desperately for. He was a must keep.

 

[irishff1014]

Yeah, I really do think it falls on Kelly to a large degree. He hires the staff, he tasks people with recruiting responsibilities. The issues in the secondary and at LB are as much to do with recruiting the wrong guys as they have to do with not recruiting "hard."

Think about all the decommits we had from those positions... Okotcha, Darby, Mattingly, Anzalone, etc. Then you realize that it happened year after year, and there weren't contingency plans. And then realize that on top of that, a lot of the guys they signed didn't pan out at all or had off the field issues.

Kelly stepped in eventually and got Morgan. He and Elston also rallied hard to get Mykelti Williams. That's really not enough. He (and Alford) didn't really do a good job of having Plan B type guys or depth. I don't really see a lot of the same issues this year with Elston as the recruiting coordinator.

I think the addition of Denson will close the gap big time. But I also think the recruits watch us play and see the product of our defense and probably drives some away. Jaylon wanted to be here and was a great the best athlete we have seen in a long time. And I think the issue of Joe has been beat up enough.

 

[Luckylucci]

That's total BS, dude. KVR was recruited for offense. He was recruited for RB with potential to maybe play slot WR. After missing on Darby and Shephard not getting cleared, the staff planned to start Lo Wood and Bennett Jackson. They needed bodies DESPERATELY on that side of the ball, so prior fall camp Kelly decided to try out a bunch of people -- including KVR, Davonte Neal, etc. -- at CB to see if any could play it. None of whom were recruited for the position, and Diaco had no hand in any of their recruitments.

In August the move was official, and a few weeks later Lo Wood tore his Achilles. The rest is history, but Diaco never said a peep to him in recruiting nor was he recruited for anything but offense. Doing triage on offensive skill players to find competent DBs because the guys you targeted in '12 didn't stick and your '11 recruits either 1) sucked or 2) didn't stick is NOT a feather in the cap of Diaco recruiting.



So your premise is that he recruited 4 CAT LBs (i.e. your typical glorified 3-4 rush end) and 4 LBs to play actual linebacker positions? That would be an illustration of Diaco being a complete idiot with recruiting. He still would've been signing 4 total linebackers to play 3 linebacker spots. The premise would still hold.



Except it obviously isn't. Are we seriously going to sit here and act like Jhonny Williams ever had a chance of being a "linebacker"? Or Trumbetti? You can kind of/sort of make the case for Hill and Randolph. But they were all rush ends. Williams was a DE for Missouri when committed there and is a DE on his current team. He's quite obviously not remotely close to a functional body for linebacker.

It's like signing Luke Massa and trying to call him a WR, or saying Chase Hounshell should count as a TE. I don't care what you try to retroactively label them as, recruiting 4 guys that can only sort of play one very specific rush OLB position in a 3-4 doesn't mean you did anything to effectively address your actual needs at actual linebacker. It's like calling Ryan Kerrigan a "linebacker"... it's only true in a very specific, literal sense in a very specific scheme.



OK then who was playing WILL? If all of those guys are MIKEs then was no one manning the other ILB spot? Because remember, Jaylon Smith played DOG linebacker when he got here.......... the entire premise being presented above has obvious holes. If those were all MIKEs, then you had 3 MIKEs, 0 WILLs, and 1 DOG over three full years.



Cooks bombed last cycle at safety, if anyone did. He was co-defensive coordinator and in charge of secondary recruiting... and did effectively nothing (because he knew he was leaving) even after it was obvious that Prentice McKinney wasn't getting in. And ND still signed 4 DBs... two CBs, one safety, and one combo player. Because the rest of the staff hustled hard on Mykelti Williams to close the cycle.



1) He played WILL in HS.
2) He started off as a WILL when he got here.
3) He played SAM this year.
4) He only played MIKE last year when Morgan was so bad that they benched him... they needed someone with Martini's football IQ in the middle and he played really DESPITE being ill-suited for the position and basically not practicing there ever until that point.

Martini has the football IQ and instincts you're looking for in a MIKE, but his body type is much better suited for WILL or really any kind of OLB.

The KVR convo is truly funny. The next time BVG turns an "offensive" player into a All American, I'll have to remember that he should get shit on for it. That was an exceptional job by Coach Diaco and one that paid huge dividends for this program. You know, because he was only the starting DB on the BEST ND defense in forever, thats all.

Yes, he brought in Deeb, Martini, and Nyles for Mike/Will and he brought in all those CAT Lb's and then Randolph and Jaylon for Dog. Over those cycles that is plenty of players. You have a functional two deep at all positions accept for 1 position. Lets just call that Mike then, to fit this narrative. You still had Grace with tons of eligibility and was pegged as the heir apparent to Manti the entire time.

On Trumbetti, you do realize that he plays some 3-4 LB currently, right? He is an ideal ROLB candidate for a 3-4 defense. There is no kind of sort of about it, Randolph and Hill were being recruited by other schools as 3-4 LB's thats just plain and simple fact.

I guess what you are failing to understand is that since BVG came some of these players don't have the same homes at the same positions. Also, not a Diaco problem. He recruited just fine for his system. It worked and the results prove that.

The actual need it addresses is that position. Haha, as if being a 3-4 OLB doesn't exsit, really?

His LB's are interchangeable, in theory. So Will and Mike are essentially the same, just one is tasked with calling out the plays, I thought everyone knew that. He said it multiple times. So he essentially had Deeb, Martini, and Nyles for 2 spots. With Grace and Moore already here for those same two positions. So 5 for 2 is 1 shy of a functional 3 deep at the positions. From from bare or being in dire straits. Had Jaylon and Randolph at Dog with Councell, who could be moved inside, and all those CAT's. So, yep not bad at all. It is only because this DC can't be flexible in his approach or suit his system to his personnel that anyone should view it that way. We'll see if his personnel change the results or if he's out first. I'll side with the latter, then we can blame Diaco again, for BVG's inability to be flexible or change with the times.

On Martini, the bolded is basically irrelevant as that was by a coach thats not Diaco, so its on BVG's plate now. To the actual point of him being a Mike or not, I illustrated that above. Diaco always said it was true for every position on defense that the whole thing should have symmetry but admitted thats very hard to do. He said its easiest with the inside LB spots and those guys have very similar responsibilities. Greer is 6'2 1/2, 245 lb's thats a perfect size for a sophomore MIKE.

I'll just add that by no means am I saying Diaco was a perfect recruiter, nobody is, or even doing it at a high level late in his tenure. ND has depth issues and will almost always until we change the way we go about things. Holding spots, over signing, grey shorting etc. and that's not on him. We've already seen it happen to BVG at S last cycle. Too hard to go after who you "want" and signs who you "need" when you're at ND. However, the cupboard wasn't bare or even close

 

[GBdomer]

Ivins basically thinks it's a battle between ND and OU and closer then most people think

 

[Sherm Sticky]

I have no idea what this thread is about anymore.

 

[dad4aa]

Ivins basically thinks it's a battle between ND and OU and closer then most people think

I never knew who the favored was here. Is this helping ND by being closer than people think or hurting ND by Oklahoma being higher than people think?

 

[IrishLax]

The KVR convo is truly funny. The next time BVG turns an "offensive" player into a All American, I'll have to remember that he should get shit on for it. That was an exceptional job by Coach Diaco and one that paid huge dividends for this program. You know, because he was only the starting DB on the BEST ND defense in forever, thats all.

I don't get what's hard to separate about coaching versus recruiting. Diaco was an elite COACH. He showed that many times. He showed that in his first season, when he schemed up the defense for the last couple games (most notably what he did with Brian Smith) and got amazing production resulting in a winning streak and our first win over USC in ages despite all kinds of adversity. He showed it the next year, too, when over the second half of the season opponents broke 20 points only once (and that was a top 10 team lead by Andrew Luck). And he obviously showed it in 2012.

He was a low effort, low production, and borderline illogical RECRUITER after his try-hard first two years (that also had bad results).

Yes, he brought in Deeb, Martini, and Nyles for Mike/Will and he brought in all those CAT Lb's and then Randolph and Jaylon for Dog. Over those cycles that is plenty of players. You have a functional two deep at all positions accept for 1 position. Lets just call that Mike then, to fit this narrative. You still had Grace with tons of eligibility and was pegged as the heir apparent to Manti the entire time.

On Trumbetti, you do realize that he plays 3-4 LB currently, right? He is an ideal ROLB candidate for a 3-4 defense. There is no kind of sort of about it, Randolph and Hill were being recruited by other schools as 3-4 LB's thats just plain and simple fact.

The whole point is that this is completely irrelevant to recruiting for actual linebacker. Whether you run a 4-3 or a 3-4 you have 3 actual linebackers that you need to recruit for, and then the OLB is unique. Actual linebackers can potentially play multiple linebacker positions... which is different than a rush OLB. A rush OLB either plays that specific position in a 3-4, or they play DE in a 4-3. Von Miller can play OLB in a 3-4 or DE in a 4-3. Same with Ryan Kerrigan. And almost all 3-4 OLBs.

It extremely, EXTREMELY rare to find a freak that can play either rush OLB AND inside linebacker. And quite obviously, none of Trumbetti, Williams, Hill, or Randolph have the body type + athletic traits to do that.

So you're left with 4-5 total guys to fill 3 linebacker spots... most schools recruit 9 guys to fill those same spots over a period of 3 years. So Diaco recruited about half of what was necessary to adequately fill out the roster.

I guess what you are failing to understand is that since BVG came some of these players don't have the same homes at the same positions. Also, not a Diaco problem. He recruited just fine for his system. It worked and the results prove that.

See, this is where you're just flat out wrong. We would've been arguably MORE screwed sticking in his 3-4 than changing systems. Had we stuck with Diaco's scheme, in 2014 we would have barely even had a full two deep of scholarship players at linebacker. That's not OK! It's not OK to have 5 total recruited scholarship bodies (two of whom are TRUE FRESHMAN!!! and one was a 5th year player he knew since taking the job CAN'T PLAY, the other is a 4th year player he knew by the middle of the '13 season was injured and unlikely to be ready to play... and Michael Deeb) for two ILB spots.

So you're actually defending a guy that built an inside linebacker depth chart over 4 recruiting classes to have 4 total recruited players (Grace, Deeb, Morgan, Martini) + 5th year Kendall Moore... for two spots. That's utterly ridiculous.

 

[NDdomer2]

I think its saying not as much of a lock to OU as some think.

I'm still not buying it though.

 

[IrishLax]

I think its saying not as much of a lock to OU as some think.

I'm still not buying it though.

I don't think he's an OU lock at all, in fact I think we're running even at this point.

 

[NDdomer2]

I don't think he's an OU lock at all, in fact I think we're running even at this point.

That would be amazing. His quotes from above appeared "even" as well. Kid doesnt give much away from what I have read.

I am just skeptical on all things Fresno/OU

 

[Big23Head]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Caleb Kelly says he hasn't heard from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Michigan?src=hash">#Michigan</a> since DC change. Says <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oregon?src=hash">#Oregon</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotreDame?src=hash">#NotreDame</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oklahoma?src=hash">#Oklahoma</a> make up top group</p>— Irish Sports Daily (@ISDUpdate) <a href="https://twitter.com/ISDUpdate/status/684127243577131010">January 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kelly reiterates that he has not made a decision yet.</p>— Irish Sports Daily (@ISDUpdate) <a href="https://twitter.com/ISDUpdate/status/684127706405978113">January 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
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[Big23Head]

Scout: Army Bowl: Five-Star LB Caleb Kelly Breaks Down His Top Three

San Antonio, Texas -- Fresno (Calif.) Clovis West linebacker Caleb Kelly broke down his top three schools at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl...

Fresno (Calif.) Clovis West outside linebacker Caleb Kelly is enjoying his time in San Antonio for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and is cherishing the opportunity.

"The best part playing in this game is representing God, family and the people who fight for us," said Kelly.

The five-star and No. 2 outside linebacker nationally, Kelly has honed in on three schools: Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Oregon.

Kelly broke down what makes each school stand out.

Notre Dame: "Academics are the biggest thing that they talk about and the help is there. And they always talk about the connections after football and have some linebackers leaving and they have a lot coming back.

Kelly visited Notre Dame with his fourth trip in Mid-December.

Oklahoma: "Oklahoma is losing five linebackers and have been there for me from the jump. I am real close with the coaches and have built a strong relationship. They have the degree I need and the fans love me there.

Kelly received his first offer from Oklahoma, in the spring of 2014 when he was a sophomore and visited officially in late November.

Oregon: "The coaches have been there forever and need help and they are losing a lot of linebackers. You could see they need a leader."

The Ducks were the lone Pac-12 school to get a visit from Kelly, getting one from him in early October.

Kelly has his announcement day set too.

"I'm announcing on Signing Day," said Kelly.

 

[Irish YJ]

Sure sounds like OK

 

[NDdomer2]

Still calling OU.

 

[johnnycando]

Boomer.