'19 IN SDE George Karlaftis (Purdue Verbal)

[IrishLax]

Who knows if he’ll end up dominating CFB and then the NFL and be a hall of famer.

I don’t follow recruiting much anymore, but seeing him top 10 on 247 I checked on him with some people. He camped at ND last summer and was not good. Also someone who saw him multiple times in the spring didn’t think he was great, much less a five star. Maybe Elston is an idiot, but I’m surprised to hear he “dominated” The Opening. Someone is gonna be wrong here.

 

[BabyIrish]

IDK about that. We've stayed on a lot of kids who were not all that warm. The fact he was a Miami lean, got a bunch of A1 offers, committed to PU, got more offers, took more visits to UF and USC, and is now trending towards scUM, shows me he's open and has not shut things down.

Unless he said "ND, thank you but, I have zero interest in becoming Irish, and never will", I think you keep things a little warm with him. Or you pop in from time to time with a check in text when you see him being open to other visits and offers.

Did we ever cool on him? Nothing in this thread suggests that, just that we were no longer in his top group once other big schools started offering. Maybe I missed something.

 

[T-Boone]

I'd start using Nana and Axl Rose to recruit him "what are you going to live in Lafayette the rest of your life?"

 

[Irish YJ]

Did we ever cool on him? Nothing in this thread suggests that, just that we were no longer in his top group once other big schools started offering. Maybe I missed something.

I'm not sure if it's we've cooled on him, it's more like we've never been hot on him. Not sure, but it seems he's never been that high on ND's board. If you look at his 247 timeline, not much after April of last year from ND. IIRC some of the paid sites have implied we may have backed away, or simply prioritized others.

First he said parents want ND, IU, or PU, but says he wants Miami. He then commits to PU, but says Michigan is still in it. If ND was pushing, just seems strange.

I'm not an expert or insider, so if anyone else has paid site detail or insight, please share..

 

[T-Boone]

He looks better than Joseph Anderson going off their films.

 

[BobbyMac]

It's a shame. His little brother is going to be a BEAST.

 

[T-Boone]

It's a shame. His little brother is going to be a BEAST.

Just read his brother has short listed Michigan, Purdue and SMU but surely they mean MSU?
Do you know if the brother is featured in any of the film George has put out?

 

[BobbyMac]

Just read his brother has short listed Michigan, Purdue and SMU but surely they mean MSU?
Do you know if the brother is featured in any of the film George has put out?

He has his own Hudl page. First name's Yanni. There's some info on him in the 2021 Master List

 

[NDINDY]

He has his own Hudl page. First name's Yanni. There's some info on him in the 2021 Master List

I have a little insight on this. I know Georges uncle and have talked with him several times about this and him going to ND. From the start, George has not felt the "love" from ND like he has from other schools. He did not have a good relationship with coach Elko. He talked with Elko about possibly seeing if there was interest in his brother a year little over a year ago and Elko said he had not heard about his brother and that his brother probably wasn't that good. Then at camp, did not have a good experience. From what I heard, he did not understand some of the drill at camp and did not look great there. The kid is still new to football and that was only after his second year of playing football.
I heard ND has contacted him, in the past couple of months, but I don't think they have tried very hard. Would love to see him come to ND. Thats pretty much all I know!

 

[IrishLax]

I have a little insight on this. I know Georges uncle and have talked with him several times about this and him going to ND. From the start, George has not felt the "love" from ND like he has from other schools. He did not have a good relationship with coach Elko. He talked with Elko about possibly seeing if there was interest in his brother a year little over a year ago and Elko said he had not heard about his brother and that his brother probably wasn't that good. Then at camp, did not have a good experience. From what I heard, he did not understand some of the drill at camp and did not look great there. The kid is still new to football and that was only after his second year of playing football.
I heard ND has contacted him, in the past couple of months, but I don't think they have tried very hard. Would love to see him come to ND. Thats pretty much all I know!

Yup, this echoes what I was saying about him having a bad camp.

Bottom line is someone is gonna be wrong... either it's ND coaches who screwed up not recognizing some unrefined talent, or the services are going to have egg on their face acting like this kid is Joey Bosa.

FWIW, I'm not sure he's really been recruited hard by any major school in the Midwest. I think a lot of schools basically share ND's evaluation of him at this point. A coach for another major program recently shared that their evaluation of him was "similar to that of a high 3-star" when asked for a comparison... I don't know anyone that has him pegged as a top 10, 5-star player besides 247. With him only playing football for two years, who knows how he turns out.

 

[Luckylucci]

FWIW, Jayson Oweh had only played football for 1 year and seemed to understand the drills just fine. Maybe George wasn't engaged in the process, which could've been a red flag. Who knows, but I've seen some of the tape, those weren't difficult drills to understand. He just looked physically slow doing them.

Now, I've seen the recent tape of him at the spring/summer events, that he's getting all the praise from. And, he's getting better, much improved from last spring/summer. But he's just like Nana, in that, there is some really good, some ok, and some bad. He is nowhere near being the caliber of player, right now, that 247 thinks he is. It's especially funny because 247 says that their 5 star ratings are supposed to resemble 32 (5 star prospects) for 32 first round draft picks. Well, I'd bet there is a less than 1 percent chance Karlaftis is getting drafted in the top 10 or even 32, if there was a draft held, for college programs, today.

As Lax said, this isn't just ND. There are other programs and evaluators that clearly feel this way as well. I guess we'll see.

 

[NDIrish88]

FWIW, Jayson Oweh had only played football for 1 year and seemed to understand the drills just fine. Maybe George wasn't engaged in the process, which could've been a red flag. Who knows, but I've seen some of the tape, those weren't difficult drills to understand. He just looked physically slow doing them.

Now, I've seen the recent tape of him at the spring/summer events, that he's getting all the praise from. And, he's getting better, much improved from last spring/summer. But he's just like Nana, in that, there is some really good, some ok, and some bad. He is nowhere near being the caliber of player, right now, that 247 thinks he is. It's especially funny because 247 says that their 5 star ratings are supposed to resemble 32 (5 star prospects) for 32 first round draft picks. Well, I'd bet there is a less than 1 percent chance Karlaftis is getting drafted in the top 10 or even 32, if there was a draft held, for college programs, today.

As Lax said, this isn't just ND. There are other programs and evaluators that clearly feel this way as well. I guess we'll see.

I agree. Said this in a previous post, "Look at the SDE rankings and tell me he is better than Antonio Alfano, Chris Pickering, and Zach Pickens and Chris Hinton." no way he is better than these guys who he is a head of.

 

[BobbyMac]

Well I for one hope Harbaugh lands him and he sits on their bench next year. I don't wanna see another Ryan Kerrigan, Mike Neal, or Kawann Short playing against ND in '21.

Who knows, maybe Yanni will have forgotten all of this by ESP '20 / NSD '21.

 

[KizerWilhelm]

He did not have a good relationship with coach Elko. He talked with Elko about possibly seeing if there was interest in his brother a year little over a year ago and Elko said he had not heard about his brother and that his brother probably wasn't that good.

That last part doesn't sound like anything a professional coach would say to a recruit. Gut tells me there's more to the story there.

 

[BobbyMac]

Here's Trieu, Wiltfong & Simmons talking about Kalaftis. I think they are spot on with the other 3 five stars they mention with Karlaftis. If you forget about the #9 OA part, Simmons makes a great point about why he like Karlaftis. He goes on to say, whether it's #9 or #30, he has the profile to be a great player going forward. So he got the Bosa Bump. Wiltfong says he likes him in the Top 100.

Starts at 5:20. Freebie.

https://247sports.com/Article/Notor...ings-discussion-with-Barton-Simmons-119903145

 

[BobbyMac]

That last part doesn't sound like anything a professional coach would say to a recruit. Gut tells me there's more to the story there.

Elko did NOT say that... like that.

Plus

Over a year ago, his brother Yanni was in 8th grade.

 

[NDIrish88]

IMO the staff probably saw some red flags from his attitude. Just a hunch. watch his opening film and let me know if you think.

 

[KizerWilhelm]

Elko did NOT say that... like that.

Plus

Over a year ago, his brother Yanni was in 8th grade.

Maybe Elko HAD heard of him, he just thought they were saying Laurel.

 

[ColinKSU]

Yup, this echoes what I was saying about him having a bad camp.

Bottom line is someone is gonna be wrong... either it's ND coaches who screwed up not recognizing some unrefined talent, or the services are going to have egg on their face acting like this kid is Joey Bosa.

FWIW, I'm not sure he's really been recruited hard by any major school in the Midwest. I think a lot of schools basically share ND's evaluation of him at this point. A coach for another major program recently shared that their evaluation of him was "similar to that of a high 3-star" when asked for a comparison... I don't know anyone that has him pegged as a top 10, 5-star player besides 247. With him only playing football for two years, who knows how he turns out.

I'm inclined to side with you on this subject. I could buy that maybe he just had bad at while camping at ND, but if that were the case, it doesn't really explain him being committed to Purdue. I find it hard to believe that he had one bad day at Notre Dame, and that caused all the other major programs in the Midwest to also not give him much attention.

I see why the sites would like him, based off of his measurables and potential, but I just don't get them *loving* him as much as they do. Someone is going to be super wrong on this and I'm interested in seeing who that will be.

That last part doesn't sound like anything a professional coach would say to a recruit. Gut tells me there's more to the story there.

Agreed. That sounds like something a family member who obviously is on the kid's side and wants the best for him would say if they felt like they got snubbed by a program.

 

[T-Boone]

Someone is going to be super wrong on this and I'm interested in seeing who that will be.

I would rather that ND sign him and be wrong and have him take up a roster spot for 4 years than not sign him and be wrong and watch him dominate Big 10 for 3 or 4 years.

 

[Luckylucci]

IMO the staff probably saw some red flags from his attitude. Just a hunch. watch his opening film and let me know if you think.

Saw that and this wouldn't surprise me. I believe there was a similar issue at another camp.

 

[BobbyMac]

I would rather that ND sign him and be wrong and have him take up a roster spot for 4 years than not sign him and be wrong and watch him dominate Big 10 for 3 or 4 years.

I would disagree at any position except DE. ND needs a big, athletic DE with potential this cycle. Of course, maybe Karlaftis, Weaver, Olges, Oben, Orhorhoro & Eichenberg (along with Waggoner & O'Rourke last year) all end up meh.

They better get Rylie Mills commitment at the Michigan game.

 

[IrishLax]

Maybe Elko HAD heard of him, he just thought they were saying Laurel.

Post of the Year nominee.

 

[Irish#1]

FWIW, Jayson Oweh had only played football for 1 year and seemed to understand the drills just fine. Maybe George wasn't engaged in the process, which could've been a red flag. Who knows, but I've seen some of the tape, those weren't difficult drills to understand. He just looked physically slow doing them.

Now, I've seen the recent tape of him at the spring/summer events, that he's getting all the praise from. And, he's getting better, much improved from last spring/summer. But he's just like Nana, in that, there is some really good, some ok, and some bad. He is nowhere near being the caliber of player, right now, that 247 thinks he is. It's especially funny because 247 says that their 5 star ratings are supposed to resemble 32 (5 star prospects) for 32 first round draft picks. Well, I'd bet there is a less than 1 percent chance Karlaftis is getting drafted in the top 10 or even 32, if there was a draft held, for college programs, today.

As Lax said, this isn't just ND. There are other programs and evaluators that clearly feel this way as well. I guess we'll see.

This is one reason I don't put anymore stock in ratings than I do. Too much is put into "potential" when a kid gets rated. If a kid can run a 4.29 40, but has a hard time understanding which hole to hit or drops 50% of the balls thrown their way, potential goes out the window. The scene is littered with kids who just never reached their potential. The NFL is the poster child for drafting players (QB's) on potential.

 

[KizerWilhelm]

Good article on the brother, offered by Michigan, Purdue, and Michigan State already.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">West Lafayette (Ind.) High 2021 OLB prospect Yanni Karlaftis on track to be highly recruited: <a href="https://t.co/8fzhSgX5AS">https://t.co/8fzhSgX5AS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/AllenTrieu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AllenTrieu</a></p>— Steve Wiltfong (@SWiltfong247) <a href="https://twitter.com/SWiltfong247/status/1039160280809439234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Supposedly we lost out on George because Elko said Yanni "probably wan't that good" when George asked about him, which again, strikes me as completely made up.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Good article on the brother, offered by Michigan, Purdue, and Michigan State already.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">West Lafayette (Ind.) High 2021 OLB prospect Yanni Karlaftis on track to be highly recruited: <a href="https://t.co/8fzhSgX5AS">https://t.co/8fzhSgX5AS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/AllenTrieu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AllenTrieu</a></p>— Steve Wiltfong (@SWiltfong247) <a href="https://twitter.com/SWiltfong247/status/1039160280809439234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Supposedly we lost out on George because Elko said Yanni "probably wan't that good" when George asked about him, which again, strikes me as completely made up.

You mean Laurel?

 

[T-Boone]

It sounds like George does not like Elko which means he is even more likely to like ND now since we fired him for Lea.

 

[ThePiombino]

Would love to have him, but something about him... Has that...Ohio State look in his eyes.

 

[greyhammer90]

Would love to have him, but something about him... Has that...Ohio State look in his eyes.

 

[zelezo vlk]

Can't trust a Buckeye or a Greek