Recruiting Superlatives!

[IrishLax]

Here is my list. Reply with your 'winners' and a one sentence justification. Oh, and add any categories I left off.
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Biggest Get: Stephon Tuitt. Just think the guy is perfect for our system and is at a position of need.
Biggest Miss: Amir Carlisle. This is a toughie but I think he could've been a star in our offense and may never see the field at USC (projected 4th/5th on depth chart this year despite coaches promising to use him as Reggie Bush).
Biggest Surprise: Landing Ishaq Williams. Especially in the manner Diaco pulled that off as he was about to head to Penn State and all signs seemed to be suggesting he would likely commit on his OV... simply awesome.
Biggest Sleeper: Josh Atkinson. This is a very tough one, so many choices and I really like Hanratty, Farley and Rabasa, but I think he could end up being a stud and NFL draft pick because of his wicked speed.
Biggest Immediate Impact: Ishaq Williams. I think he starts the year backing up Fleming or working with Filer at the other position if Shembo stays as an understudy to Fleming.
Best Steal: Troy Niklas from USC. This is debatable but I'm going to leave off Lynch/Tuitt because we had them first... getting a kid named TROY who lives in So. Cal to be the capstone of our class versus signing with the arch-nemesis Trojans is pretty huge.
Best Story: The Lynch Saga. 'Nuff Said.
Recruiting MVP: Bob Diaco. This is another tough one and there are a lot of deserving people, but showing up at Ishaq's house at 4:30 AM is straight epic.

 

[Ironman8]

Biggest Get: Aaron Lynch
Biggest Miss: Savon Huggins
Biggest Surprise: Stephon Tuitt, the first time.
Biggest Sleeper: Ben Councell isn't a sleeper anymore, so I will say Mathias Farley and Jarrett Grace.
Biggest Immediate Impact: 3 way tie. Aaron, Ishaq, and GAIII.v
Best Steal: Nick Martin. Needed him on the O-line.
Best Story: Ishaq's Diaco visit.
Recruiting MVP: Alford & Diaco obviously.

 

[Kingbish01]

I could just copy and paste IRONMAN8....Only difference may be Christian French as a big miss.

 

[irishff1014]

Biggest Get: Ishaq Williams
Biggest Miss: Savon Huggins
Biggest Surprise: Stephon Tuitt, the first time.
Biggest Sleeper: Cam Mcdaniels
Biggest Immediate Impact:Hardy,Tuitt,Williams,Tuitt
Best Steal: I am going to say Tuitt to come back to Irish
Best Story: Ishaq's Diaco visit.
Recruiting MVP: Alford & Diaco obviously

 

[TerryTate]

Biggest Get: Lynch
Biggest Miss: Lyons
Biggest Surprise: Ishaq
Biggest Sleeper: Rabasa / Councell
Biggest Immediate Impact: Lynch / Ishaq / Daniels / Tuitt
Best Steal: Golson
Best Story: Ishaq
Recruiting MVP: Bobby D / Alford

 

[rtrn2glory]

Biggest get: Tuitt
Biggest Miss: Justice Hayes, had em and lost em woulda been big with minimal RB depth
Surprise: Ishaq, though we had no chance.
Sleeper: Hardy, even though he's a four star I think he could be pretty special
Immediate impact: Tuitt/Lynch both will have a huge impact
Best Steal: Councell, SEC missed big time on this one I gotta feeling
Best Story: Lynch for sure
MVP: whole staff not fair to pick one they all did a great job!!

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Here is my list. Reply with your 'winners' and a one sentence justification. Oh, and add any categories I left off.
------------------------------------------------
Biggest Get: Stephon Tuitt. Just think the guy is perfect for our system and is at a position of need.
Biggest Miss: Amir Carlisle. This is a toughie but I think he could've been a star in our offense and may never see the field at USC (projected 4th/5th on depth chart this year despite coaches promising to use him as Reggie Bush).
Biggest Surprise: Landing Ishaq Williams. Especially in the manner Diaco pulled that off as he was about to head to Penn State and all signs seemed to be suggesting he would likely commit on his OV... simply awesome.
Biggest Sleeper: Josh Atkinson. This is a very tough one, so many choices and I really like Hanratty, Farley and Rabasa, but I think he could end up being a stud and NFL draft pick because of his wicked speed.
Biggest Immediate Impact: Ishaq Williams. I think he starts the year backing up Fleming or working with Filer at the other position if Shembo stays as an understudy to Fleming.
Best Steal: Troy Niklas from USC. This is debatable but I'm going to leave off Lynch/Tuitt because we had them first... getting a kid named TROY who lives in So. Cal to be the capstone of our class versus signing with the arch-nemesis Trojans is pretty huge.
Best Story: The Lynch Saga. 'Nuff Said.
Recruiting MVP: Bob Diaco. This is another tough one and there are a lot of deserving people, but showing up at Ishaq's house at 4:30 AM is straight epic.

You really knocked it out of the park here bro. I can't argue with any of those choices, and the justification for each is pretty spot-on. With Riddick back at RB most likely, I'd put Davaris Daniels as my biggest immediate impact just to shake it up a little bit.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Biggest get: Tuitt
Biggest miss: Huggins
Biggest surprise: Ishaq/Niklas
Biggest sleeper: Rabassa/Jalen Brown
Biggest immediate impact: Tuitt (tough maybe Ishaq/Lynch)
Biggest steal: EVERETT GOLSON (enough said)
Best story: Lynch (Diaco's Ishaq story in a close second)
Best recruiter: Bob Diaco, enough said

 

[Old Man Mike]

Get: Lynch/Tuitt [it's the combination that's unstoppable].
Miss: Shuler [just gotta feeling].
Surprise: Lynch re-commitment [Thank Heaven].
Sleeper: McDaniel [but a lot of others here].
Immediate impact: ... wow...AIII on runbacks is a conservative choice; but---Councell? Tuitt? Lynch? Hardy? Golson? ...whew!!!
Steal: Golson/Lynch/Tuitt.
Story: "novel-length"=Lynch; "short story"=Ishaq.
Recruiter: Alford/Diaco, but a lot of heroes here.

 

[Rhode Irish]

Biggest Get: Tuitt and Lynch. Hate to cheat and pick two, but I think they're both statement gets and I think they will compliment each other in such a way that they will be forever linked and their legacies will end up being intertwined.

Biggest Miss: Justice Hayes. And I still don't really get it. I guess I can understand his decommitment, because when it happened we were struggling and Michigan appeared headed in the right direction. But I wish we could have swung him back after Michigan collapsed and fired their coach and we rallied on the field and on the recruiting trail. I think he would have been a huge get, so I have to consider him a huge miss.

Biggest Surprise: Ishaq Williams. Everyone with any insight thought he was headed to Happy Valley. The story of how we prevented that has made Diaco a living legend. Honorable mention to Niklas. When the only surprise on signing day is the addition of a 4* recruit, it is a good NSD.

Biggest Sleeper: Everett Golson. He is an impressive kid. I think he gets looked over because of his height (no pun intended. OK, maybe it was intended). He certainly has some terrific tools and I can envision him being a force in BK's spread in a couple of years. I just hope he isn't rushed and they let him redshirt. If he somehow doesn't emerge it will only be because Hendrix is the real deal, so even that won't be a bad thing.

Biggest Immediate Impact: Tuitt. That dude is LARGE. He looks like the most physically ready of the group. Could also see Lynch and/or Williams getting off to a fast start with the benefit of being in the program for the spring.

Best Steal: Lynch. I know people have shied away from calling him a steal since he was originally committed to ND. But Florida State was a machine this year and we stole him from them. I think it only makes it sweeter that his association with ND was dead, and we brought it back from the grave. Cool stuff. The story about how we scooped Ishaq from PSU is also legendary, and the way we re-flipped Tuitt also deserves some kudos.

Best Story: Ishaq.

Recruiting MVP: Kelly, but I think he owes Diaco, Alford, et. al one hell of a steak & lobster feast, followed by all the Macallan 25 year old scotch they can put away. Ultimately, this is his program, and he is responsible at the end of the day for its success or its failure. He brought in the recruiters, and he is the one common thread for each recruit: at the end of the day they have to buy what he is selling in order to commit to Notre Dame.

 

[jason_h537]

Biggest Get: Lynch, Needed big time playmakers on the dline
Biggest Miss: Lyons, Need immediate help in the secondary
Biggest Surprise: Ishaq, He was all PSU until he got a visit from Diaco
Biggest Sleeper: Josh Atkinson, Will get every opportunity to contribute early
Biggest Immediate Impact: Lynch, Will become the 3rd down pass rusher
Best Steal: Tuitt, Southern boy with long relationship with GT
Best Story: ???? everyone has a story
Recruiting MVP: Alford, one of the best in the country

 

[Irish Man3]

Biggest get: Tuitt/Lynch
Biggest loss: Hayes/Huggins
Biggest Suprise: Lynch/Ishaq
Biggest Sleeper: Rabasa/Councell
Biggest Impact: Entire front seven

 

[jason_h537]

Councell is a top 100 on Rivals and top 10 in his position. Guys are really reaching calling him a sleeper aren't you

 

[IrishLax]

Councell is a top 100 on Rivals and top 10 in his position. Guys are really reaching calling him a sleeper aren't you

Exactly why I didn't list him. He was my sleeper until people noticed him. By definition ... he can't be a sleeper anymore now that he has recognition.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Councell was a sleeper for most of the year, people are starting to give him recognition.

So people still refer to him as a sleeper.

Regardless, he's gonna be special.

 

[Irish Man3]

Who is everyone talking about in our front seven outside of ND fans? Stephon Tuitt, Aaron Lynch, and Ishaq Williams so yes I consider him a sleeper.

 

[woolybug25]

Biggest Get: Lynch
Biggest Miss: Shuler
Biggest Surprise: Niklas, I thought he was USC fo sho
Biggest Sleeper: Jalen Brown
Biggest Immediate Impact: Tie between Lynch and Tuitt
Best Steal: Niklas, because it we beat USC for him.
Best Story: 4:30 am, shoes polished, hair coifed
Recruiting MVPiaco and Martin (Martin gets no credit, but he was the reason we got Tuitt back).

 

[TDHeysus]

Biggest Get: Aaron Lynch
Biggest Miss: Savon Huggins - ND missed out on him, but it wasnt a huge loss.
Biggest Surprise: Getting Aaron Lynch back.
Biggest Sleeper: Everett Golson, prolly not a sleeper. But he will excel in the BK system in the years to come.
Biggest Immediate Impact: Aaron Lynch (Ishaq, and Tuitt will be there too)
Best Steal: Troy Niklas. Our win, is USC's loss.
Best Story: Diaco 4:30am visit to Ishaq - All the DE\OLB's that committed
Recruiting MVP: Diaco. I had to pick one, obviously Alford deserved to mentioned as well.

 

[woolybug25]

Why does Chuck Martin get no love for his recruiting?

 

[IrishLax]

Why does Chuck Martin get no love for his recruiting?

I would give Martin TONS of love.. he's just not showing up on the MVP ballot above Alford and Diaco. Alford because he affected so many recruits and Diaco because of his legendary Ishaq house call. Martin (and many others) did absolutely fantastic jobs on the trail this year.

 

[SoDakDomer]

Biggest Get: Mike Floyd
Biggest Miss: Kyle Rudolph
Biggest Surprise: Mike Floyd
Biggest Immediate Impact: Mike Floyd
Best Steal: Mike Floyd
Best Story: Mike Floyd

 

[woolybug25]

I would give Martin TONS of love.. he's just not showing up on the MVP ballot above Alford and Diaco. Alford because he affected so many recruits and Diaco because of his legendary Ishaq house call. Martin (and many others) did absolutely fantastic jobs on the trail this year.

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Tuitt say that Martin was the reason he switched back to ND? I would think that would put him on the same "love" level as Alford and Diaco, no?

 

[woolybug25]

Biggest Get: Mike Floyd
Biggest Miss: Kyle Rudolph
Biggest Surprise: Mike Floyd
Biggest Immediate Impact: Mike Floyd
Best Steal: Mike Floyd
Best Story: Mike Floyd

I like this. ^^^^

 

[TDHeysus]

Biggest Miss: Kyle Rudolph

I cant believe I'm saying this, but I think ND is in good hands in the TE position. To the point where ND can lose Rudolph, and not skip a beat. I dont want to minimize Rudolph's contribution to the team because he was huge, but Eifert looks to step in I really believe there will not be any drop in production from that TE position.

 

[choo choo]

just got in from work, did all the verbals send in their loi's?

 

[irishff1014]

Yes and picked up Troy Niklas

 

[choo choo]

what an awesome class, congrats coaches you all did a hell of a job

 

[ACamp1900]

biggest steal as in stealing him away from someone else... I'm suprised no one has said Williams with all that happened with his last few days of recruitment...

I'd go there.

 

[IrishLax]

Two more categories!

Most Underrated: This is tricky because you could make a case for each different recruiting service, but I'm going to go with Hanratty for overall. The guy is dominant.. just hasn't ever faced tough competition in Connecticut and is being penalized for it.
Biggest Upside: Farley. Great athlete with only two years playing football and is only scratching the surface of his potential.

In other news too many of you are cheating and putting ties and slashes. The hard part is making the choice!

 

[Rhode Irish]

biggest steal as in stealing him away from someone else... I'm suprised no one has said Williams with all that happened with his last few days of recruitment...

I'd go there.

I did mention Ishaq, but ultimately I went in a different direction. He was my honorable mention.