Players who almost ended up at ND

GrangerIrish24

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I am very fortunate to be close with someone who coached under Lou and also worked a lot with recruiting. He has had some fun stories to tell me. He recently told me about how Qadry Ismail wanted to come to ND to play with his brother. For lack of better terms, they didnt push for him because they didnt want to have to continue to deal with the family.
 

NDMatt91

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Omar Hunter
I'm not sure if we'll ever know the real reason he decommitted. The speculation online was because the team sucked (3-9 season), not wanting to play in a 3-4 (but why commit in the first place?), or distance from home (yet he tried to get an official set up with USC). There was an ND site that said Weis pulled his offer because he wanted to take OV's when he was still committed, and Lemming confirmed that was the case.
 

Wild Bill

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The
Not sure how big of a “miss” it was but Amon Ra St Brown felt like a big miss considering his brother came to ND. USC got the better St Brown.
All three boys went to different schools and I'm not sure he seriously considered nd.
 

JerseyIrishMan

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Another early 2010s name, who actually did make it to campus… Aaron Lynch. Was crushed when he left after his freshman year… Dude was a beast
 

Jiggafini19Deux

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The legend of Martez Wilson that I've heard goes something along the lines of the following:

Wilson attended Simeon HS. Corwin Brown was an alum of Julian HS. These two CPS schools are rivals. Brown goes to Simeon and the coach/coaches are going on about Illinois, Zook, Reggie Mitchell, Mike Locksley, etc. A shouting match ensues between Brown and the Simeon coaches. In addition to that, Corwin Brown is later asked to leave the house while on a visit to Wilson.

Illinois ended up getting the final visit in December 2006 and two weeks later Wilson committed. Arrelious Benn had committed to Illinois by then as well. Michigan, ND and others then accuse Illinois (in a very passive aggressive manner) of doing things under the table because there's simply no way Illinois out works any of them in football recruiting when Zook had a staff that was put together to do exactly that.

It was a proverbial shit show. Wilson was never a lock to ND.
 

stlnd01

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Not being argumentative, but I wouldn't say he had a decent career. As a Colts fan, he didn't ring a bell so I looked him up. Drafted by the Saints and cut after a year. Colts then picked him. Questionable character guy looking at his college and pro career.

Not being argumentative either - and I pay very little attention to the NFL let alone the Colts - but he played in every game for five years straight and earned $11 million. That’s better than most of the flameouts we’re discussing here. Even if - I agree - the character red flags are abundant.
 

Wild Bill

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Laquan Treadwell was kinda entertaining. I think Will Fuller and the admiral's kid were in the same class so that one worked out, I guess.

I always thought Allen Lazard would have been a great fit at ND if he had chosen to leave his home state. I think all the receievers ND picked up in that class busted and Lazard could have been a difference maker in SB.
 

IAIrish

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Thanks @NDMatt91 for the thread. It's crazy to think if ND lands some of these guys, how different those ND teams end up, especially the ones who were close to getting over the proverbial hump.

Anquan Boldin comes to mind looking at all the wrs on this list.
 

BeatSC

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I’d say Will Shipley but we were better off without him.
 

NDFAN2008

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I think if Freeman was coaching he would have landed a lot of this guys we missed. Like I said Kelly was a lazy recruiter at times.
 

NDMatt91

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Didn't Jonathan Baldwin want to come to ND but Admissions wouldn't accept him?
 

NDisme

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He was a three star player who didn't have an offer from Ohio State or Michigan. What is true now would've been true then if he'd signed. ND fans would've puked coat hangers about it.
Dan Fox was a 4 star but no offer from OSU or Michigan. Can’t imagine I’d be that upset at the time with Keuchly over Fox
 

Jiggafini19Deux

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Dan Fox was a 4 star but no offer from OSU or Michigan. Can’t imagine I’d be that upset at the time with Keuchly over Fox
This.

I didn't really know who Luke Kuechly was until he became Luke Kuechly. An exclusive club I'm sure.
 

NDisme

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This.

I didn't really know who Luke Kuechly was until he became Luke Kuechly. An exclusive club I'm sure.
I don’t remember throwing any parties when we landed Fox though. We took plenty of 3 stars in Kelly/ Weis era. I’m sure everyone would’ve been just fine.
 

NDPhilly

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Jiggafini19Deux

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I don’t remember throwing any parties when we landed Fox though. We took plenty of 3 stars in Kelly/ Weis era. I’m sure everyone would’ve been just fine.
I'm not going to disagree that the world kept turning regardless. We're all still here 15 years later and I still have to check myself when I spell Kuechly. I wanna get it right for his sake.

The point about Kuechly is that nobody made a fuss about it at the time, and he was a three star Ohio Catholic school kid at that (Fox was also an OH Catholic school guy). That's recruiting wheelhouse shit in any era of ND recruiting. He has a tremendous college career, goes 9th overall and suddenly many of the ND brigade comes out saying "why didn't we offer?" Lots of programs didn't offer him.

Now comes the Venn Diagram of those same Kuechly fans who get bent out of whack when a three star offer commits and signs. Past and present.
 

IRISHDODGER

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Another ND football alum absolutely kicking ass. The program doesnt do enough to highlight guys like this - he's likely making more a year than late round draft picks.
Fond memory of Mr. Fox: Took my family to Senior Day game vs Wake Forest in 2012. Beautiful weather, relaxing game & followed that up w/ KSU & Oregon going down later that night which vaulted ND to #1 by the time I went to bed. After the game my kids (11 & 8 at the time) wanted to hang outside the stadium after the game to try to get autographs or shake hands w/ players. They got quite a few although I was disappointed at the # of “adults” walking around w/ multiple helmets & photos to be signed & eventually sold to the highest bidder. Dan Fox signed for both of my kids. Then Dan asked my youngest if he enjoyed the game. After my son nodded w/ approval, Fox handed him one of his gloves as a souvenir.

SIDE NOTE: This was when Manti-mania was at its highest point. I was convinced that Manti smuggled himself out of the stadium in a covered laundry cart being pushed by a team manager.
 
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