2025 Master Thread

[Reaper97]

We'll see where things end up. The current 61% blue chip ratio is not special

I’m not concerned about that ratio with this class.
I believe a couple of the 3 Stars will be the best players in the class in college.
Some of the best players the past 5 years in each class were not highly ranked recruits.
Greathouse, Morrison, Alt, Kyren Williams, Foskey.
I see that in Bryce Young, Mullins, Jones, etc…

 

[DillonHall]

There are some three-stars that won’t remain three-stars in the final rankings update.

Yet another statement that's made annually. Except every fan base says this one

 

[PutuporShutup]

We'll see where things end up. The current 61% blue chip ratio is not special

Yeah, not huge on the D… I really like about half the defensive class

 

[Reaper97]

Bold of you to think O'Leary could get all three.

Why O’Leary?
You realize there is a recruiting coordinator, defensive coordinator & head coach recruiting them too?

You are turning into Driskell.
Giving credit to Bowden & Freeman when they help get a recruit, but blame only the position coach when they don’t.

Here is something that will blow your mind.
According to NFL scouts, ND Safties have been in correct position more than any team in the country. Problem is, Brown can’t catch. But he is always in position. If he could catch, he would have 3 INTs, ND beats OSU & he is an AA candidate.
O’Leary is coaching them up great. Just wish they could catch. But the Safties still have more INTs than the CBs.

 

[DillonHall]

Some of the best players the past 5 years in each class were not highly ranked recruits.
Greathouse, Morrison, Alt, Kyren Williams, Foskey.

Every single one of these players was considered a composite blue chip...

 

[PutuporShutup]

I’m not concerned about that ratio with this class.
I believe a couple of the 3 Stars will be the best players in the class in college.
Some of the best players the past 5 years in each class were not highly ranked recruits.
Greathouse, Morrison, Alt, Kyren Williams, Foskey.
I see that in Bryce Young, Mullins, Jones, etc…

Greathouse Morrison and foskey were highly rated … all four stars and greathouse was round 100th in country overall

Jones is already highly rated and young is moving up rankings already

For me it’s the urlacher Hobbs rezac Powell that I’m not high on … Mullins I go back and forth

 

[Reaper97]

Yet another statement that's made annually. Except every fan base says this one

Except ND’s 3 Stars end up All Americans and drafted.
Crazy ND was a top 5 program between ‘17-‘21 with mostly 3 Stars.

 

[DillonHall]

Except ND’s 3 Stars end up All Americans and drafted.
Crazy ND was a top 5 program between ‘17-‘21 with mostly 3 Stars.

Obviously there are always exceptions to the rule, but I think blue-chip ratio is the best way to evaluate a team's talent level

 

[Reaper97]

Every single one of these players was considered a composite blue chip...

You didn’t think any of them were good.
Don’t act like you were all in on any of them.

Joe Alt was the 400th ranked player on the composite.
Morrison was 311.
Kyren was 358.

Just stop acting like you considered any of them a good get.

 

[CanadalovesND]

Yet another statement that's made annually. Except every fan base says this one

And yet it’s true.

Not every three-star will be bumped up, but I fully believe there are a few worthy of a fourth star. We will see come January.

 

[DillonHall]

You didn’t think any of them were good.
Don’t act like you were all in on any of them.

Joe Alt was the 400th ranked player on the composite.
Morrison was 311.
Kyren was 358.

Just stop acting like you considered any of them a good get.

What does my opinion have to do with the discussion? It's factual that they were considered composite four star recruits

 

[CanadalovesND]

Obviously there are always exceptions to the rule, but I think blue-chip ratio is the best way to evaluate a team's talent level

ND is somewhere in the Top 6 or 7 for blue-chip % on their entire roster nationally

 

[Reaper97]

Greathouse Morrison and foskey were highly rated … all four stars and greathouse was round 100th in country overall

Jones is already highly rated and young is moving up rankings already

For me it’s the urlacher Hobbs rezac Powell that I’m not high on … Mullins I go back and forth

Morrison was not in the top 300.
He was a 3 Star until Bama offered & Nick Saban personally visited him.

 

[DillonHall]

And yet it’s true.

Not every three-star will be bumped up, but I fully believe there are a few worthy of a fourth star. We will see come January.

Fans think every 3 star is underrated and should be upgraded. Also, if anyone loses a star, there must be a conspiracy. Obviously if someone gains a star, that means someone else has to lose it

 

[DillonHall]

ND is somewhere in the Top 6 or 7 for blue-chip % on their entire roster nationally

Dude you're making my point for me. The team's BCR this year is 65%. The current 2024 recruiting class is lower at 61%. So by using the BCR metric, there's no reason to consider this year's class "special"

 

[Rockin’Irish]

Maybe it would be wise to wait until the recruiting season is over and the 2024 class is signed before we start criticizing it?

 

[DillonHall]

Maybe it would be wise to wait until the recruiting season is over and the 2024 class is signed before we start criticizing it?

Totally agree with you. I definitely think it's premature to call it special though. We probably won't know how good this class is for 2-3 years. This entire argument started because I was mocking someone calling the 2025 class potentially special. That word gets thrown around too much

 

[mrmcgrail]

It's special because of the offensive talent they are getting that has been the Achilles heel to the program they are trying to go the Clemson route which is smart

 

[Irish du Nord]

The 2024 class is pretty special.
They are still pushing hard for some top talent to make it legit special.

23 was pretty special too, had some unfortunate decommits but was still such a deep class

 

[DillonHall]

2023 was definitely an elite class. 81% BCR

I was hoping 2024 would continue the upward trend but it just hasn't worked out. Hard to overcome losses to Marshall and Stanford

 

[CanadalovesND]

Dude you're making my point for me. The team's BCR this year is 65%. The current 2024 recruiting class is lower at 61%. So by using the BCR metric, there's no reason to consider this year's class "special"

My point was the class wasn’t going to remain at 61%.

It will never been 85-90% like Bama and Georgia classes, but for ND to consistently hit around 70%, that’s a huge difference maker.

BK averaged in the mid 55s, and had a couple classes in the 46-48% range.

Superlatively speaking, 65% or higher is a special class for ND.

 

[DillonHall]

My point was the class wasn’t going to remain at 61%.

It will never been 85-90% like Bama and Georgia classes, but for ND to consistently hit around 70%, that’s a huge difference maker.

BK averaged in the mid 55s, and had a couple classes in the 46-48% range.

Superlatively speaking, 65% or higher is a special class for ND.

It's sad if we think 65% (our current roster) is considered special. I wouldn't consider a class special unless it was at least 75%. Especially after we just hit 82%

Just because we're doing better than Kelly doesn't mean we're recruiting at an elite level

 

[ColinKSU]

Why O’Leary?
You realize there is a recruiting coordinator, defensive coordinator & head coach recruiting them too?

You are turning into Driskell.
Giving credit to Bowden & Freeman when they help get a recruit, but blame only the position coach when they don’t.

Here is something that will blow your mind.
According to NFL scouts, ND Safties have been in correct position more than any team in the country. Problem is, Brown can’t catch. But he is always in position. If he could catch, he would have 3 INTs, ND beats OSU & he is an AA candidate.
O’Leary is coaching them up great. Just wish they could catch. But the Safties still have more INTs than the CBs.

Bold of you to think O’Leary, the recruiting coordinator, defensive coordinator and head coach could get all three.

 

[Lberry]

It's sad if we think 65% (our current roster) is considered special. Especially after we just hit 81%

Thank you for respecting ND enough to have high expectations. Need more of this. Not sarcasm.

 

[DillonHall]

Yeah BCR has its obvious flaws, but depth is important. And as others have pointed out, lower level 4 stars can definitely be difference makers at a higher rate than 3 stars

 

[NDMatt91]

My point was the class wasn’t going to remain at 61%.

It will never been 85-90% like Bama and Georgia classes, but for ND to consistently hit around 70%, that’s a huge difference maker.

BK averaged in the mid 55s, and had a couple classes in the 46-48% range.

Superlatively speaking, 65% or higher is a special class for ND.

Here is the Blue-Chip percentage for all of Kelly's classes. I even included the 2022 class even though he didn't see it all the way through.

2011: 12/23 (52.2%)
2012: 11/17 (64.7%)
2013: 19/23 (82.6%)
2014: 16/22 (72.7%)
2015: 14/23 (60.9%)
2016: 10/23 (43.5%)
2017: 10/21 (47.6%)
2018: 14/27 (51.9%)
2019: 17/22 (77.3%)
2020: 9/17 (52.9%)
2021: 14/27 (51.9%)
2022: 18/22 (81.8%)

Total: 164/267 (61.4%)

If you take out 2022 since he didn't see that class all the way through it's under 60% (59.6%). Of the 8 Defensive players in the 2022 class who were blue-chip recruits, Freeman played a key role in 7 of those recruitments. He was the primary recruiter for 5 of them and the secondary recruiter for 2 of them. The funny thing is that his lowest blue-chip percentage class, 2016, was arguably his best class. 13 players from that class have played in the NFL, including 5 recruits who were 3 stars.

 

[DillonHall]

Thanks for taking the effort to do that. Clearly shows that 65% is not that special unless you thought Kelly was doing an amazing job

 

[NDPhilly]

Average recruit rank >>>> blue chip ratio. 2019 class may have had an awesome BCR, but only had 1 top 100 recruit.

 

[Lberry]

Average recruit rank >>>> blue chip ratio. 2019 class may have had an awesome BCR, but only had 1 top 100 recruit.

This. Our 90's count the same as OSU's 96's and those are different athletes.

 

[DillonHall]

I don't know if anyone's taken the time to see how significant average recruit rank is compared to BCR. Plus a 91 vs a 92.2 doesn't have much meaning to the average fan

BCR is a quick and easy way to gauge a team's talent level. And there's some data for it regarding championship viability. But obviously not very in-depth.

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