2023 - State of the Recruiting Class

[FDNYIrish1]

I’m going to sit back and enjoy a great class full of 4 stars while sipping some Irish whiskey and listening to fairytale of New York on repeat. Hopefully I don’t decide to rearrange the neighbors Christmas decorations like I did last year. I’ll focus on the great kids we have, not the ones who chose other paths. Cheers lads.

 

[ColinKSU]

Not this asinine figure again. My god.

Mel Tucker lost 27 scholarship players to the portal at Michigan State when he got the job.

Brent Venables lost 17 at Oklahoma.

Virginia lost 20 when Tony Elliot came in.

TCU lost 15 in the transition to Sonny Dikes.

It’s OK if you don’t think it’s going to happen to ND. I’m hopeful the administration realizes it will though.

 

[Dale]

Mel Tucker lost 27 scholarship players to the portal at Michigan State when he got the job.

Brent Venables lost 17 at Oklahoma.

Virginia lost 20 when Tony Elliot came in.

TCU lost 15 in the transition to Sonny Dikes.

Cool.

 

[BabyIrish]

Is it me or have we shot on Kelly for being a below average recruiter and he’s about to outdo Marcus in his first year. Will probably smoke him in the transfer portal as well. Oh well. It was looking good for a while there. Some of these pussy recruits want the easy way out with easier curriculum, less position competitors and better weather. We need a watch list for the defectors so some of us poor sports can route for the to fail.

How did he outdo Freeman? Freeman’s class has a slightly better class average rating than LSU.

 

[CanadalovesND]

Mel Tucker lost 27 scholarship players to the portal at Michigan State when he got the job.

Brent Venables lost 17 at Oklahoma.

Virginia lost 20 when Tony Elliot came in.

TCU lost 15 in the transition to Sonny Dikes.

Re-read that statistic again.

It wasn't about what was lost. It was about what was remaining.

 

[Irishdrunk]

Not a great day. This is not the type of class that is "Gap Closing"

 

[TorontoGold]

You can see what Freeman has done, compared to Kelly. And if you count 2022 class as Kelly's class you are simply wrong.

Anyone who thinks MF and BK are in the same stratosphere recruiting, you must have a sweet deal with the Oklahoma Meth Collective, because there's no way they are remotely similar.

 

[CanadalovesND]

Not a great day. This is not the type of class that is "Gap Closing"

It didn't fully close the gap, but it does begin that process. Back-to-back top ten classes mate.

 

[CanadalovesND]

Anyone who thinks MF and BK are in the same stratosphere recruiting, you must have a sweet deal with the Oklahoma Meth Collective, because there's no way they are remotely similar.

At this point, it's exhausting having to explain it to the same four or five posters on this board.

Just because LSU signs a better class, it doesn't make Kelly a better recruiter.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

Is it me or have we shot on Kelly for being a below average recruiter and he’s about to outdo Marcus in his first year. Will probably smoke him in the transfer portal as well. Oh well. It was looking good for a while there. Some of these pussy recruits want the easy way out with easier curriculum, less position competitors and better weather. We need a watch list for the defectors so some of us poor sports can route for the to fail.

You have to compare Kelly's Irish classes with Freeman's. Not Kelly's LSU classes where everyone is a take.

 

[Blazers46]

 

[Free Manera]

Kelly was a trash recruiter and ND hit his ceiling with him. It was hopeless. Freeman is an elite recruiter and if nothing else there is now hope. That’s the facts ma’am.

 

[tecateparty]

I don't feel like this has any reflection on how good a recruiter Freeman and his staff are. We are right now at a disadvantage with NIL.

 

[Domina Nostra]

I agree that it certainly looks like Freeman is a better recruiter, but it also looked like Kelly was going to be landing defensive linemen like Aaron Lynch and Stephon Tuitt.

Kelly was not a great recruiter--I think he started mailing it in for sure--but he also had to start at ND following the Weis debacle. Freeman is following 30-6 over the previous 5 years. These kids grew up with very good, very competitive ND football.

So to me it's too early to tell. I think Freeman will work harder for sure. But his success on the field will dictate his ultimate success.

My prediction is that if we go 10-2 next year, Freeman will get another good class. If we go 8-4 again, things will get tough for him.

 

[KPENN]

I agree that it certainly looks like Freeman is a better recruiter, but it also looked like Kelly was going to be landing defensive linemen like Aaron Lynch and Stephon Tuitt.

Kelly was not a great recruiter--I think he started mailing it in for sure--but he also had to start at ND following the Weis debacle. Freeman is following 30-6 over the previous 5 years. These kids grew up with very good, very competitive ND football.

Weis recruited well when he was at ND though. When BK started he inherited a team that had a 5* QB, WR, TE and LB. Weis got some guys, unfortunately he couldn’t get the o-line and d-line figured out

 

[Dale]

We now know though that BK could land high rated defensive recruits when his DC was a dog on the trail.

BK as a recruiter himself had one main job, to land a top QB and he largely gave up after getting burned a few times.

 

[greyhammer90]

So did the mods delete the Peyton thread? Lol truly a legendarily stupid recruitment.

 

[FWIrish4]

So did the mods delete the Peyton thread? Lol truly a legendarily stupid recruitment.

Brother…wait til you see the latest news. We got 48 more hours!

 

[CanadalovesND]

Does anyone have a list of the EEs?

(siap and hopefully not off topic)

12 dudes. It was originally 14 but Edwards and P Böen decommitted.

EEs are: Minchey, Greathouse, James, Flores, Pendleton, Houstan, Zinter, D Bowen, Ausberry, Minich, Shuler and Gray

 

[Old Man Mike]

Lets quit rewriting history to fit prejudices. Weis STUNK as an overall team recruiter.
He could snag a 5* QB and some top receivers, but he left us stunningly bare in crucial areas.
... and when Kelly arrived, it was ONE allegedly functional QB in the QB room (Crist).
Kelly had a MOUNTAIN of team building work to do. At least do homework and speak facts.
One can if one wishes write all manner of crap trashing Coach Kelly, but geez base it on something real.

On the topic of the thread: We did good. . 15 ESPN 300s was about fifth in the country. . Alabama (22) and GA (19)
were the top dogs, but not bad Coach and Staff.

 

[NDRock]

Lets quit rewriting history to fit prejudices. Weis STUNK as an overall team recruiter.
He could snag a 5* QB and some top receivers, but he left us stunningly bare in crucial areas.
... and when Kelly arrived, it was ONE allegedly functional QB in the QB room (Crist).
Kelly had a MOUNTAIN of team building work to do. At least do homework and speak facts.
One can if one wishes write all manner of crap trashing Coach Kelly, but geez base it on something real.

On the topic of the thread: We did good. . 15 ESPN 300s was about fifth in the country. . Alabama (22) and GA (19)
were the top dogs, but not bad Coach and Staff.

Agree. I wonder how much of the Weis stuff was ND not wanting to oversign. I remember we always tried to be at 85 on signing day (February) instead of in August, when you had to be. We’d have the normal attrition and find ourselves in the mid 70’s by the opener, which in turn caused holes in the roster. Been fairly recent since we changed this approach.

 

[NDpendent]

Not a great day. This is not the type of class that is "Gap Closing"

What! This class might not have erased the gap but it definitely closes the gap. The only position they missed on was vyper. I can't remember the last time we landed this many 4 star impact players. Sure we missed on a couple big impact players but this is still a very good class

 

[FWIrish4]

 

[Old Man Mike]

Eh... I can easily be wrong, but that 85 stuff seems a burden that Coach Kelly put too seriously on himself, rather than Weis.
Weis did not know defense, didn't personally care to, and as far as I know spent very little time personally recruiting defense.
He was almost as bad on OLine. If we want to hoist a lazy coach on a petard, hoist Weis' bulk, if you can. Not Coach Kelly's.

 

[Junkhead]

So did the mods delete the Peyton thread? Lol truly a legendarily stupid recruitment.

It's pretty much a given that he is going to Michigan State to play soccer. I heard it from a reliable source on here.

 

[Domina Nostra]

Does anyone have a list of the EEs?

(siap and hopefully not off topic)

I think they are all designated on the Spring 2023 Roster thread

 

[indianamouse]

I don’t know.
BK was good about moving on from certain kids & just getting the solid ones in that 150-200 range.

I care about wins & losses.
8-5 with a top 5 team.
Or 54-9 last 5 years.

On paper top 5. But we saw in games the glaring weaknesses

 

[CANONIZEFATHERSORIN]

Yeah at the end of the day it is a really good class with more than enough talent we should be competitive against anyone in America. I think with this it just becomes a question of Freeman's coaching abilities. There's enough talent we should be cruising to 10-2 and 11-1 seasons once again.

 

[Irishdrunk]

At this point, it's exhausting having to explain it to the same four or five posters on this board.

Just because LSU signs a better class, it doesn't make Kelly a better recruiter.

Therefore you accept the ND limitations Kelly was concerned about??? Methinks so.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Lets quit rewriting history to fit prejudices. Weis STUNK as an overall team recruiter.
He could snag a 5* QB and some top receivers, but he left us stunningly bare in crucial areas.
... and when Kelly arrived, it was ONE allegedly functional QB in the QB room (Crist).
Kelly had a MOUNTAIN of team building work to do. At least do homework and speak facts.
One can if one wishes write all manner of crap trashing Coach Kelly, but geez base it on something real.

On the topic of the thread: We did good. . 15 ESPN 300s was about fifth in the country. . Alabama (22) and GA (19)
were the top dogs, but not bad Coach and Staff.

Okay, but let's not pretend like Freeman inherited a great situation.

The notion that he did because Kelly had a great record the previous 5 seasons doesn't tell the full story.

ND started last season 6-1, but had it not been for some major heroics from the likes of Jack Coan, Kyle Hamilton and Kyren, they could've easily been 3-4. The kind of difference makers that Kelly had the luxury of to bail him out in '21 wasn't available for Freeman in '22.

Freeman inherited the mess that was the WR room, along with an unideal QB situation, and the lack of LB experience and depth, and the lack of size at DT.

Freeman also had to play a significantly tougher schedule in '22 than Kelly had in '21. Here's the number of teams with winning records that Freeman played this year:

Ohio State (11-1), Clemson (11-2), USC (11-2), North Carolina (9-4), Marshall (9-4), BYU (8-5), Syracuse (7-5).

Now here's the number of teams with winning records that Kelly played in '21:

Cincinnati (13-1), Wisconsin (9-4), Purdue (9-4), Toledo (7-6).

Freeman had to face nearly double the number of winning teams in his first year, while also inheriting the several deficiencies on the roster that Kelly allowed to permeate over the years that were no longer his problem.