2. How to measure a recruiter
When Mike Elko got hired as defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, the immediate question for every fan was "can he recruit?" Fans like great coaches but they love great recruiters.
When I was asked my thoughts on Elko's recruiting prowess, it was a hard question to answer. You can't judge it by his national recruiter ranking on 247Sports or by the number of prospects associated to his name. The guy came from Wake Forest, Bowling Green and an assortment of FCS schools before that. He's not used to recruiting five-stars. But that doesn't mean he can't do it.
My answer to those questions was typically something to the effect of "he has a reputation as a hard-worker and he takes recruiting seriously." At a place like Notre Dame, that's really all you need. But that doesn't mean they are common traits.
Since Elko has arrived, Notre Dame has stolen a four-star safety 2017 commit out of California late in the process (Jordan Genmark-Heath) as part of a furious signing day close. That close included flipping a DE from Maryland (Kofi Wardlow), winning on a defensive end out of Hawaii (Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa) and beating Michigan State on one-time Virginia linebacker commit Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.
Now Notre Dame's 2018 class is ranked 2nd nationally thanks in part to Elko and the staff locking down Derrick Allen out of Georgia, the No. 52 player in the country on Monday.
The emblem on your polo matters in recruiting and we're quickly finding out that Elko in a Notre Dame shirt can do some serious damage nationally.
Column by 247Sports CFB Insider Barton Simmons: Alabama's WRs, Notre Dame's recruiting
