We also thought Zeke Elliot was a DB, and he's already arguably the best RB in the NFL as a rookie.
You're correct that they never, ever should've pushed the safety angle and that's one of the primary reasons a perceived huge lead in his recruitment immediately went *poof* in favor of Ohio State.
But another way of phrasing that recruitment is that ND was on him early with a handful of other schools while he was still underrated. And they worked him out, saw he was an elite athlete, and said he could play either S or RB. None of us really know how good he could've been in that role, so he's probably not a good indicator of the staff "missing" on an evaluation. They liked him a ton as an ATH and pushed hard for him to be one of the first commits in the class.
I don't think a ND offer/no offer really says anything about the prospect.
I wrote "I'm not saying he's overrated" and then listed every school that did offer him. So it sounds like we agree. The staff misses a LOT on evaluations, like just this year being late on Oliver Martin when he was a flat out superior prospect to many of the guys we were hard... and Sam Hubbard... and many others. Some of them are just painful, obvious misses.
With regards to Walker Little, I'm just not sure I see a #1 overall player. Top 50, sure. But I'm not sure he's even the best linemen... in fact, the industry composite says there are 3
offensive tackles better than him. And in terms of overall players... I think very few schools would trade guys like Najee Harris or Jaelan Phillips for Walker Little. Very, very few. So I don't really understand 247's ranking of him, but we'll know better in a few years. I don't even think he will be the best tackle on his team.
