Under Brian Kelly, Notre Dame’s speed and athleticism has skyrocketed. That being said, watching the speed and athleticism that teams like Oregon, Alabama and LSU put on the field year after year inevitably leads one to believe that no team, Notre Dame included, can have too much of this good thing.
Not surprisingly, the Irish have often looked South and West for the elite athletes and this year is no different. Last week, Irish Sports Daily reported on two skill position players that hold Notre Dame offers and would enable the Irish to continue to build the kind of athletic team that will return them to the National Championship game. What have you been missing by not being a member of Irish Sports Daily?
Earlier this spring Cameron Scarlett, RB, 6-2, 215, Central Catholic High School, Portland, OR knew that Notre Dame intended to offer him a scholarship. Still, when the offer did come he was very excited.
“Coach (Steve) Pyne texted me and told me Coach (Matt) LaFleur told him they were going to offer,” recalled Scarlett. “A couple weeks before that I was talking to Coach LaFleur. He told me an offer was coming soon and that they really liked me. It was really exciting. Notre Dame has always been a special place to think about. It’s really high on my list because of the culture and tradition they provide you with.”
Scarlett (pictured) possesses the ability to play a number of positions in college but his first love is running back. A positive for the Irish in his recruitment is that they want him as a running back.
“They’re recruiting me and offered me as a running back,” he informed. “I don’t really have a preferred position, whichever one would help out the offense more, but running back was my first love and first position.”
Notre Dame’s national television contract has frequently paid dividends in recruiting and it has enabled Scarlett to get to know them better.
“I watch their games on TV quite a bit,” he said. “I see that they like to run the ball, which is important to me.”
In addition to Notre Dame, Scarlett also holds offers from most of the west coast elite. Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Cal, Arizona and Arizona State among many others have stepped forward with scholarship offers and the talented Oregon running back feels both humbled and blessed by the attention he’s receiving. It wasn’t very long ago that another Scarlett, Cameron’s brother Brennan, was the focus of all the recruiting attention. Brennan eventually signed with Cal but Cameron insists that doesn’t make him a Cal lock.
“It won’t really have an impact,” he said. “It definitely has given me a better perspective of Cal and showed me more about the school, but it won’t really have an impact on where I go.”
What will have an impact upon where he ends up is the relationships he builds with the coaches and the players at the schools that are recruiting him.
“Their football team, how they’re doing and how they plan to do the next couple of years,” he said about what he’s most concerned about with the schools that are recruiting him. “My relationship with the coaching staff, the school, the academics; from there it goes to how I feel around the school and area and stuff.”
Scarlett does not have a timeline for making a decision, acknowledging that it could be anytime between now and signing day.
While Cameron Scarlett was well known to the Irish as well as numerous other schools, Donte Jackson, ATH, 5-11, 175, Riverdale High School, New Orleans, LA has only recently seen his recruitment blow up. In only a one week period, he received scholarship offers from Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Oregon and Notre Dame. Jackson was noticeably thrilled with the Irish offer.
“I was very excited, very, very excited,” he said about the Notre Dame offer. “It’s just the fact that it’s a storied program. It’s known for producing some real good players. I was really excited about the fact that I have the chance to be one of those players who comes out of Notre Dame and be successful. They have a high graduation rate. It was a real good offer.”
Jackson is being recruited by Notre Dame defensive backs coach Kerry Cooks.
“I’m going to stay in touch with Coach Cooks a lot,” he said. “He’s a real cool guy so I could see myself staying in touch with him and just taking it from there. I’m going to try to get up to South Bend sometime this summer to check out the place and take the next step.”
Jackson talked about what he’s going to be looking for in a school.
“I’m just going to be really looking for how the coaches interact with the players, how the coaches interact with me,” he explained. “I’m looking for a family environment, a place I can call home in the fall of 2015.”
Jackson plans on taking a number of visits this summer. In addition to Notre Dame he hopes to trek to Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Georgia and Oregon. The recruiting services list him as an athlete and while he’s on his visits he will get the opportunity to see where the respective schools see him playing at the next level. Jackson, however, knows exactly where he wants to play describing himself as a “corner and punt return, kickoff return.”
What Jackson will bring to whichever position he plays is speed, speed and more speed.
“My fastest hand time (in the 40) is a 4.25,” he said. “My fastest laser time is a 4.34.”
Speed like that will undoubtedly get the attention of college coaches, but there’s more to the Louisiana blazer than just speed.
“Everybody wants a chance to coach my speed and everybody likes my aggressiveness at the corner position,” he stated. “I’m a high energy player. I’m strong for my size.”
Jackson doesn’t profess to have a timetable for his decision nor does he claim any favorites at this point.
“I like every team the same,” he shared. “I treat every coach the same. I’m just going to go from there.”
