ND's Current Class Ranking

[Crazy Balki]

Do you think that they'll stay ahead of LSU, Ohio State, USC or Florida State? We have more commits and that's why we're slotted higher at the moment. It's a statement on quantity more than it is quality with team rankings in July.

You're also forgetting that a lot of our guys are due for a major jump. Those that come to mind: Ruhland, McKinney, White and Adams. I see at least 4 of our commits that are 3-stars now, ending up as 4-stars by NSD.

 

[drake29]

You're also forgetting that a lot of our guys are due for a major jump. Those that come to mind: Ruhland, McKinney, White and Adams. I see at least 4 of our commits that are 3-stars now, ending up as 4-stars by NSD.

Time to put the Kool aid down....

 

[Ironman8]

Time to put the Kool aid down....

McKinney is for sure a 4 star player. Watch his tape, look at who is still actively recruiting him. White was a four star, then lost it when others passed him - he is obviously right on the cusp and a bump up or down would probably be contingent upon him attending a recruiting site camp or game.

Ruhland is a four star on ESPN already, but I think a high three star is probably about right for him talent wise. His tenacity and aggressiveness are why I love him though, not because of his measurables. Adams is a four star talent, but is coming off a major injury. If he comes back strong, we got a good one. But I think him being labeled three stars now because of the uncertainty is proper.

Don't think arguing for a 4 star of any of those 4 prospects is homerish at all. Others in the class? Yeah, sure. Not those 4 though in my opinion.

 

[WakeUpEchoes]

For the ledge jumpers over the current class, we are #7 on 247, 6 ahead of OSU and 28, yes 28 (!!!), ahead of UM

Has 247 updated its rankings since Cornell/Hilliard?

 

[IrishLax]

A lot of the guys we've recruited are meh prospects without wow factor. This class will probably finish somewhere in the teens, which is solid. The #10 team last year was around 260 and the #20 was around 230 on points. It's hard to imagine us not ending up in the 240 range at least.

 

[STLDomer]

Has 247 updated its rankings since Cornell/Hilliard?

Those were the rankings linked by Loy after Boykin committed so I assume so.

3 commits that I would have as a 4 IMO are:

McKinney
Taylor
White

I'd also give Boykin a bump.

 

[WakeUpEchoes]

A lot of the guys we've recruited are meh prospects without wow factor. This class will probably finish somewhere in the teens, which is solid. The #10 team last year was around 260 and the #20 was around 230 on points. It's hard to imagine us not ending up in the 240 range at least.

Edit: You edited your post with some more factual basis after I posted. Damn you.

 

[Crazy Balki]

McKinney is for sure a 4 star player. Watch his tape, look at who is still actively recruiting him. White was a four star, then lost it when others passed him - he is obviously right on the cusp and a bump up or down would probably be contingent upon him attending a recruiting site camp or game.

Ruhland is a four star on ESPN already, but I think a high three star is probably about right for him talent wise. His tenacity and aggressiveness are why I love him though, not because of his measurables. Adams is a four star talent, but is coming off a major injury. If he comes back strong, we got a good one. But I think him being labeled three stars now because of the uncertainty is proper.

Don't think arguing for a 4 star of any of those 4 prospects is homerish at all. Others in the class? Yeah, sure. Not those 4 though in my opinion.

My thoughts exactly. I didn't include Fertitta, Coleman or Guyton, because they just don't have the wow factor, or at least haven't shown it. Coleman seemed like a better CB to me than White, which is why I wasn't so high on White when he committed, but then I heard a lot about him moving to safety, which made me look deeper into his tape. I don't think any of those guys will end up 4-stars, maybe a little higher than they are right now, but not even to warrant an extra star.

 

[koonja]

McKinney is for sure a 4 star player. Watch his tape, look at who is still actively recruiting him. White was a four star, then lost it when others passed him - he is obviously right on the cusp and a bump up or down would probably be contingent upon him attending a recruiting site camp or game.

Ruhland is a four star on ESPN already, but I think a high three star is probably about right for him talent wise. His tenacity and aggressiveness are why I love him though, not because of his measurables. Adams is a four star talent, but is coming off a major injury. If he comes back strong, we got a good one. But I think him being labeled three stars now because of the uncertainty is proper.

Don't think arguing for a 4 star of any of those 4 prospects is homerish at all. Others in the class? Yeah, sure. Not those 4 though in my opinion.

Do you like Coleman or White better?

 

[Ironman8]

Do you like Coleman or White better?

Coleman. I really like his tape.

 

[Irish Man3]

Do you like Coleman or White better?

White all day IMO.

I know the question wasn't asked in my direction but I really like White. Really good ball player that can play any position in the secondary.

 

[koonja]

I still haven't seen good film on White. Can't ever figure out who he is in the highlights cause it's limited and/or they don't use the yellow highlight.

 

[arrowryan]

Do you like Coleman or White better?

Coleman's athleticism reminds me of KVR

 

[Crazy Balki]

Do you like Coleman or White better?

Difficult question. As a CB, Coleman. He has much more fluent hips and is a bit more athletic, but White is a harder hitter, has a little bigger frame and can home in on someone like a missile.

 

[IrishLax]

For fun, I just used the class calculator tool... and assuming we get up to 22ish with Bilal, 1 elite RB, and 3 mid-to-low 4 star players we'd be looking at something between 245 and 255. Last year that would've put us in the 12-14 range.

With defections and other shakeups who knows... we might even get some risers. Right now it's weird because all of our guys are basically dragged down by one "hater" service. For example, we only have 5 composite four star players: Hoge, Tillery, Crawford, Barajas, Boykin. But on the individual services:
247 - 9x 4
ESPN - 9x 4
Scout - 6x 4
Rivals - 7x 4

Of our 16 position player commits, I think 12 are rated at a 4 level by at least one service. So it's going to be interesting to see what happens... either the low rankings will normalize such that a bunch of our guys bump up to low 4 level, or some guys with lofty rankings from a particular service will move down some. Personally, I think the difference between the #1 player and the #50 player is bigger than the difference between the #50 player and the #300 player. As such, I'm happy to have a bunch of guys that are quality, but there is no doubt we lack "game changers" in this class.

 

[irishfan]

Not that anyone asked my opinion, but absolutely loved Coleman's tape. Kid cuts and picks up speed like crazy. Perfect CB hips. Athletically, I think he is off the charts and had one of the more impressive highlight vids I've seen for 2015.

 

[NDPhilly]

Still don't understand how fertitta was a take but whatever

 

[TheTurningPoint]

Still don't understand how fertitta was a take but whatever

Because he fits a need.

 

[Rack Em]

Because he fits a need.

Money?

 

[Kaneyoufeelit]

Money?

Sicilian.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

My thoughts exactly. I didn't include Fertitta, Coleman or Guyton, because they just don't have the wow factor, or at least haven't shown it. Coleman seemed like a better CB to me than White, which is why I wasn't so high on White when he committed, but then I heard a lot about him moving to safety, which made me look deeper into his tape. I don't think any of those guys will end up 4-stars, maybe a little higher than they are right now, but not even to warrant an extra star.

To be fair, I thought the same thing about Will Fuller when we offered and I was a little 'meh' on Corey Robinson offer as well. I think given the lackluster performance last year (we lost to Pitt and Michigan), it's to be expected that the train isn't running at full force.

Wait till the season begins. If Kelly and BVG have their respective groups primed, then we will see a lot of fireworks in South Bend and a lot of stories asking where all of this speed came from. Kelly really likes to pick his battles so during a game, we'll see a handful of possessions be termed "hurry-up", and we'll see points in batches.

We'll see stories coming out about the "magic turf" because this next year our offensive numbers are going to skyrocket. If our defense is up to the task, then we are in for an exciting 2014.

Before anyone accuses me of polyanna, kool-aid fandom, I expect we'll lose 2-3 games with 3ish games coming down to the final 5 minutes. It'll probably be due to a porous defense, that wasn't in sync but we'll have the firepower to match point for point.

I'm really anxious to see the new product this fall!

 

[goldandblue]

I must be on a different page than anyone else when it comes to the defense this year. I fully expect our defense this year to out-shine, out-last, out-perform, our defense from 2013. We were pitiful last year defensively. I never felt like we were playing to win on the defensive side of the ball. I expect a lot more aggression and tenacity from this years scheme/squad.

 

[ACamp1900]

We were pitiful last year defensively. I never felt like we were playing to win on the defensive side of the ball. I expect a lot more aggression and tenacity from this years scheme/squad.

USC??

 

[Bluto]

USC??

With just about everyone on the two deep in the front seven with an injury. I'd imagine that Bama would have gotten completely blasted by Auburn, ATM and even worse than they did against Oklahoma if they had faced the same situation in the front seven of their D.

 

[IrishLax]

With just about everyone on the two deep in the front seven with an injury. I'd imagine that Bama would have gotten completely blasted by Auburn, ATM and even worse than they did against Oklahoma if they had faced the same situation in the front seven of their D.

Such a good point. The defense was designed last year to feature:

Day-Nix-Tuitt (literally all them battled injuries all season)... and I think 7-8 total DL suffer significant injuries. I still remember Carlo lining up as a DT lol....

Spond/Councell (season enders)-Grace(season ender)-Fox/Calabrese-Shembo

Jackson-Safeties (I think we had 4 different possible projected starters all battle injuries... Collinsworth, Farley, Shumate, Baratti)-Russell

If you're Bama, you can probably survive that. But no one loses that much talent (especially in the trenches) and is capable of putting up a superior season.

 

[goldandblue]

USC??

one game? also, I didn't specify reasons for being lackluster on D which injuries were certainly a huge part of. I just expect a much better product on the field this year while it seems others have low expectations.

 

[ACamp1900]

one game? also, I didn't specify reasons for being lackluster on D which injuries were certainly a huge part of. I just expect a much better product on the field this year while it seems others have low expectations.

Well you said they were never playing to win... my point was they just about single handedly won one of the biggest games of the year... so there is at least that. Injuries or no.

 

[WakeUpEchoes]

Such a good point. The defense was designed last year to feature:

Day-Nix-Tuitt (literally all them battled injuries all season)... and I think 7-8 total DL suffer significant injuries. I still remember Carlo lining up as a DT lol....

Spond/Councell (season enders)-Grace(season ender)-Fox/Calabrese-Shembo

Jackson-Safeties (I think we had 4 different possible projected starters all battle injuries... Collinsworth, Farley, Shumate, Baratti)-Russell

If you're Bama, you can probably survive that. But no one loses that much talent (especially in the trenches) and is capable of putting up a superior season.

Yeah I think Day-Nix-Tuitt played a total of like 20 snaps together all year?

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

I honestly don't expect our defense to be bad, I just expect them to not be great and to have lapses. The defense is new and with change comes pain.

I'll be rejoicing with everyone if we field a top 25 defense because I'd almost bet we'll have a top 20 offense. I just want to temper the expectations for myself, by remembering that we have all new personnel, players returning from injury, new defensive scheme and coach.

Everything could fall into place and that'd be amazing. More likely, we have some bumps in the road and our schedule will not be kind if the bumps are too big.

 

[IrishLax]

I honestly don't expect our defense to be bad, I just expect them to not be great and to have lapses. The defense is new and with change comes pain.

I'll be rejoicing with everyone if we field a top 25 defense because I'd almost bet we'll have a top 20 offense. I just want to temper the expectations for myself, by remembering that we have all new personnel, players returning from injury, new defensive scheme and coach.

Everything could fall into place and that'd be amazing. More likely, we have some bumps in the road and our schedule will not be kind if the bumps are too big.

I think we'll be quite good but give up more points than we're used to. We're also going to make a lot more big plays.

None of our CBs have elite man-cover skills or recovery speed. We experimented against Temple and Michigan with man coverage and it lead to too many big plays. I think if KVR, Luke, and Riggs all stay healthy it'll be the best corners we've had in a LONG time but I also think they're going to get toasted a couple times if BVG is silly enough to leave them on an island. I hope he doesn't do that.

If Jarron Jones and Sheldon Day stay healthy this DL will be better than last year's in terms of production. If Smith and Schmidt stay healthy, I think our linebackers will also be FAR more productive than they were in 2013. Our ILBs were abysmal at times last year.

So all things considered... this D might give up some points, but if the key pieces stay healthy I expect it to be a more overall productive unit than what we saw last year.