2025 Master Thread

[Irish du Nord]

Ikinnagbon szn?

 

[notredomer23]

Ikinnagbon szn?

🫨🫨🫨

 

[IAIrish]

Ikinnagbon szn?

It's surprising Shanklin's academics became a deal breaker at this point for as long as he's been recruited. Without inside info, assuming he had a poor sat or semester?

I've always been in the "take 'em both camp" but forced to choose, Ikinnagbon seems borderline 5* when you watch his film... His size and twitch are rare. Makes him a critical piece at this juncture.

 

[arrowryan]

While Ikinnagbon would be a great pickup, I think there's a slim chance he will be able to play Vyper. He hasn't gotten into a college weight room yet, and he's already 250. By the time he's ready for college ball, he'll probably >260.

They have one Vyper right now, in Hulak. They'll need to expand the board. I struggle to figure out why they suck ass at recruiting Vypers.

 

[fightingirish26]

While Ikinnagbon would be a great pickup, I think there's a slim chance he will be able to play Vyper. He hasn't gotten into a college weight room yet, and he's already 250. By the time he's ready for college ball, he'll probably >260.

They have one Vyper right now, in Hulak. They'll need to expand the board. I struggle to figure out why they suck ass at recruiting Vypers.

Yeah, I know PSU is recruiting ikinnagbon as a DT. Not sure about the rest of his suitors.

 

[stlnd01]

Competing would be getting unofficial/official visits, being in prospects top 3, etc

Freeman actually did very well with this in his first cycle with guys like Caleb Downs, Samuel Mpemba, Dante Moore, Keon Keeley, Peyton Bowen, etc. He even got that running back from Florida (Young I think was his name?) to come up on a whim for a look.

In a way, the worst thing that happened for perception of Freeman as a recruiter was being in on - and even getting commits from - but ultimately not landing any of those players. We went from the #1 class in spring to, what, like 10th on Signing Day and the vibe was “same ol disappointing shit” when in reality that class is pretty damn good even without Keeley, Bowen and Moore.

And, of course, the game changed dramatically during that cycle. Take NIL out of the conversation and we probably land at least one probably two of those three. Fast-forward a year or two to today when NIL for recruits is more established than it was in late 2021/early 2022 and Moore and maybe Keeley are never even in the picture for us. Freeman’s recruiting in a very different landscape than BK ever did at Notre Dame, with better results.

Even if we’re not reeling in top five classes, he’s doing fine, building a roster with more depth and talent across the board than we have seen in a long time. That’s the point.

 

[Irish4life]

In a way, the worst thing that happened for perception of Freeman as a recruiter was being in on - and even getting commits from - but ultimately not landing any of those players. We went from the #1 class in spring to, what, like 10th on Signing Day and the vibe was “same ol disappointing shit” when in reality that class is pretty damn good even without Keeley, Bowen and Moore.

And, of course, the game changed dramatically during that cycle. Take NIL out of the conversation and we probably land at least one probably two of those three. Fast-forward a year or two to today when NIL for recruits is more established than it was in late 2021/early 2022 and Moore and maybe Keeley are never even in the picture for us. Freeman’s recruiting in a very different landscape than BK ever did at Notre Dame, with better results.

Even if we’re not reeling in top five classes, he’s doing fine, building a roster with more depth and talent across the board than we have seen in a long time. That’s the point.

I still maintain that the biggest loss from that cycle is Keeley. And if NDs leadership was more aggressive and proactive with NIL I think he signs with us.

 

[allenm5333]

I still maintain that the biggest loss from that cycle is Keeley. And if NDs leadership was more aggressive and proactive with NIL I think he signs with us.

If Saban wasnt at Bama then, he wld be here (or ohio state)

 

[stlnd01]

I still maintain that the biggest loss from that cycle is Keeley. And if NDs leadership was more aggressive and proactive with NIL I think he signs with us.

Yep. It’s a perfectly normal move for an elite prospect like him to choose Saban-era Bama over Notre Dame. But he was so solid with us for so long that it does feel like NIL tipped the balance there.

 

[NDMatt91]

I still maintain that the biggest loss from that cycle is Keeley. And if NDs leadership was more aggressive and proactive with NIL I think he signs with us.

There are 2 things that frustrate me with ND's approach with NIL. First, they think it's gross to pay HS recruits but are fine with outbidding $EC schools for the best grad transfer QB's available. We need players like Bowen, Rushing, etc. if we want to win a Natty. The second thing, which is my main frustration, is that they apparently don't allow fans to contribute to NIL. OSU folks have said that a big reason why Downs transferred was because their fans contributed to their NIL fund, which allowed them to drop the biggest bag for Downs. If you're not going to pay acquisition fees for HS recruits, I understand it. It's frustrating, but I understand it. But, if you're going to focus on paying transfers instead of HS recruits and players like Downs who you were in on during HS enter the portal, you absolutely have to drop the biggest bags for them. You have to buy them and do that by any means necessary. You need to go all-in on buying the best players in the portal who can get through admissions. They also need to start bringing in players who aren't grad transfers. They need to start buying players they recruited who hit the portal after 1 year who have multiple years of eligibility left. If ND allowed fans to contribute to fund, there's no doubt in my mind that they'd clean up. The ND Football twitter account has 670K followers. If just 25% of those followers made 1 payment per year of $20, that would be $3.3 Million in additional NIL money every year. I think that would be on the conservative end of what they could bring in.

 

[stlnd01]

But, if you're going to focus on paying transfers instead of HS recruits and players like Downs who you were in on during HS enter the portal, you absolutely have to drop the biggest bags for them. You have to buy them and do that by any means necessary. You need to go all-in on buying the best players in the portal who can get through admissions. They also need to start bringing in players who aren't grad transfers. They need to start buying players they recruited who hit the portal after 1 year who have multiple years of eligibility left.

And this is where you run into the graduation requirements issue for undergrad transfers. So few, like, sophomores who are majoring in criminal justice online at Oklahoma or someplace are going to have the coursework and credits to come to Notre Dame and expect to graduate with a real major and all the required classes in four years. It’s actually easier - from that perspective - to pay up for HS recruits and start them fresh.

Obviously, that’s a choice Notre Dame makes. Maybe they will make a different choice in the future (and there seems to be more flexibility when it comes to basketball transfers?). But expecting everyone to graduate on time has always been a pretty big part of our identity. That won’t change easily.

 

[arrowryan]

Very positive update on Tanook Hines, from Loy

 

[dublinirish]

Very positive update on Tanook Hines, from Loy

Sounds like an attack helicopter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[irishff1014]

In a way, the worst thing that happened for perception of Freeman as a recruiter was being in on - and even getting commits from - but ultimately not landing any of those players. We went from the #1 class in spring to, what, like 10th on Signing Day and the vibe was “same ol disappointing shit” when in reality that class is pretty damn good even without Keeley, Bowen and Moore.

And, of course, the game changed dramatically during that cycle. Take NIL out of the conversation and we probably land at least one probably two of those three. Fast-forward a year or two to today when NIL for recruits is more established than it was in late 2021/early 2022 and Moore and maybe Keeley are never even in the picture for us. Freeman’s recruiting in a very different landscape than BK ever did at Notre Dame, with better results.

Even if we’re not reeling in top five classes, he’s doing fine, building a roster with more depth and talent across the board than we have seen in a long time. That’s the point.

Freeman and staff are doing a much better job than Kelly did a recruiting very good depth pretty much across the board. Again he has really improved his staff.

In reality you have to wait til the end of the class to really be critical of it. Look at Young this year he constantly moved up each set of ratings. But we do need to start landing more top 100 guys. Yes 5 stars make a difference but so do top 50 and top 100’s.

 

[NDWarrior]

Visiting June 14th!

 

[a mike]

Visiting June 14th!

From that cohort the visit should go about as well as Elijah Rushing's did

 

[NDPhilly]

If we're expanding the DE board, any guesses on who we target next?

Some potential fits. Just spitballing here.

Cedric Works, Kentucky Wildcats, Edge

2023: Played junior season at Clayton (Ohio) Northmont. Recorded 82 tackles, 6.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss. Also plays basketball.

247sports.com

Mariyon Dye, Tennessee Volunteers, Defensive Line

Played basketball as a freshman and sophomore.

247sports.com

Caden O'Rourke, Northwestern Wildcats, Edge

Caden O'Rourke is an Edge from Frankfort, IL.

247sports.com

 

[Irish du Nord]

If we're expanding the DE board, any guesses on who we target next?

Some potential fits. Just spitballing here.

Cedric Works, Kentucky Wildcats, Edge

2023: Played junior season at Clayton (Ohio) Northmont. Recorded 82 tackles, 6.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss. Also plays basketball.

247sports.com

Mariyon Dye, Tennessee Volunteers, Defensive Line

Played basketball as a freshman and sophomore.

247sports.com

Caden O'Rourke, Northwestern Wildcats, Edge

Caden O'Rourke is an Edge from Frankfort, IL.

247sports.com

Do we know why Gabe Kaminski never was a serious option post visit? I get that he is similar in stature and location to Hulak and the staff likes Hulak more presumably

 

[Rocketman84]

While Ikinnagbon would be a great pickup, I think there's a slim chance he will be able to play Vyper. He hasn't gotten into a college weight room yet, and he's already 250. By the time he's ready for college ball, he'll probably >260.

They have one Vyper right now, in Hulak. They'll need to expand the board. I struggle to figure out why they suck ass at recruiting Vypers.

They keep taking the same type of "project" recruit for the position and it doesn't work out.

 

[Irish du Nord]

They keep taking the same type of "project" recruit for the position and it doesn't work out.

Edge Commits by class
2024-Loghan Thomas and Cole Mullins
2023-Boubacar Traore and Armel Mukam (outgrew position)
2022-Aiden Gobaira (Burnham and Tuihalamaka moved to Edge while Gobaira went to 5tech)
2021-Will Schweitzer and Devin Auipiu (transferred). Jason Onye moved to 5T and DT really quickly
2020-Jordan Botelho
2019-Isaiah Foskey and NaNa Osafo Mensah (moved to 5Tech)

I’d say 2021 is the only year we took a bunch of projects, maybe 2024 too because Thomas came in really light but both he and Mullins came in off of injuries so that’s going to delay how quickly they get into shape to play. If Boubacar was considered a project, he’s one that’s worked out pretty well so far.

We should be in the position where we stack Okwara/Hayes/Foskey/Traore types every year, unfortunately we’ve been snakebitten in recruiting by NIL (Keeley, Lightfoot, Rushing) and now academics with Shanklin.

I hope we find the guy this year because there are always lower rated guys who turn into monsters and day 1 picks. Many of whom, though not all, are pretty developed when they arrive on campus and make impacts in their Sophomore/Redshirt Freshman seasons.

 

[INLaw]

We recruit like we plan to go 3 man front on edge players but not on tackles. The vyper seems to be a position they almost just plan to have a lb grow into most cycles

 

[Denny]

Tanook Hines... CB's to ND from Loy and Mike Roach; a national analyst.

 

[CanadalovesND]

He had a great visit, but I wasn't expecting it to be "CB great". He's quoted in stating that he will decide after his OVs.

He has OV's set up with ASU (April 19), Arkansas (June 7), Baylor (June 14) and USC (June 21). He did say he would move one of his visits around to get up to South Bend again for an OV.

I sense this is a projection pick from Loy.

 

[GoldenThrone]

Tanook Hines... CB's to ND from Loy and Mike Roach; a national analyst.

Is a DUDE! Been a huge fan of this talent from the beginning. Young man visits & now it may become a reality for the Irish! Finish off the 2025 WR class with Hines & Meadows! Damn that’s some talent as a whole! Go Irish! ☘️☘️☘️

 

[GoldenThrone]

He had a great visit, but I wasn't expecting it to be "CB great". He's quoted in stating that he will decide after his OVs.

He has OV's set up with ASU (April 19), Arkansas (June 7), Baylor (June 14) and USC (June 21). He did say he would move one of his visits around to get up to South Bend again for an OV.

I sense this is a projection pick from Loy.

Crystal ball picks are both confidence level 7 & based off of the history of the picks, confidence level is not a projection pick. Hoping this comes to fruition, but I’d say some serious confidence behind those crystal balls. 🔮 Go Irish! ☘️

 

[dublinirish]

 

[NDpendent]

He had a great visit, but I wasn't expecting it to be "CB great". He's quoted in stating that he will decide after his OVs.

He has OV's set up with ASU (April 19), Arkansas (June 7), Baylor (June 14) and USC (June 21). He did say he would move one of his visits around to get up to South Bend again for an OV.

I sense this is a projection pick from Loy.

Timelines frequently move up after visits and there are limited spots left at WR. That could be moving the timeline up if he wants in. Usually Loys projection picks are a confidence of 6

 

[CanadalovesND]

Singer with a prediction for CB Trystan Haynes (OK) to ND

Trystan Haynes - Oklahoma Sooners - Cornerback

Explore Trystan Haynes's athlete profile at On3.com. Get news and insights into his playing career, statistics, and achievements in sports.

www.on3.com

 

[Cpnd1]

Visiting June 14th!

Singer with a prediction for ND

 

[CanadalovesND]