Who's next? - 2018 Version

[Rack Em]

To be fair, I enjoy Koon's bitching because he often says what I'm thinking. It's one thing to have a bunch of 3 recruits committed, but it's another when a handful of players who were thought to be near committing start opening things back up. That's a bad trend no matter what time of the year it is.

 

[OCIrish]

I wish we would have started recruiting super slowly so you couldn't just bitch the entire summer.

Wouldn't matter, Beau, he'd just find something else to bitch about.......some things will never change!!

 

[OCIrish]

Also, does he have new plans to visit USC again? Or what? He visited us in late May and the California schools in late June.

If you look at the dates, he's going to games on back to back days. One weekend, two games, and a little less expensive for the family. Hell, if I'm a recruit from the Midwest, this just makes an awful lot of sense to me.

 

[koonja]

What you call b!tching, I call stating the sad truth. Let's recap the summer..

Two of our best committed players said never mind in Gervin and Lacy.

Now onto the recruits we have the best chance for, and all of the momentum for.

Jack Lamb
ND had all of the momentum. He had already visited UCLA, but people spoke like ND was possibly his leader before he visits ND. Visits ND, and now UCLA is going to win out.

Kevin Austin
ND the long presumed leader, could pop at anytime according to all analysts as far back as early June. Has NO other schools to visit, but just can't get himself to commit to ND.

Houston Griffith
Told reporters he wants to go somewhere where he can win a championship. Now ND is 100% out of it.

Cam McGrone
From IN, visits this summer for II, will commit to Michigan.

Shayne Simon
If there were ever a kid that had momentum to ND, it was him. And Elko worked him at II personally more than anyone else. All signs pointed to ND, and now he's torn between us and Michigan.

Donte Burton
Do you realize how easy it should be for ND to attract CBs after taking none? Forget the pick of the liter, we're now praying for 3-stars to fill our massive void at Corner. Like everyone else we were in good shape for, he is all ND coming in. He doesn't have offers that stack up to ND. Every analyst says "could commit on ND visit". Comes to ND, pushes his decision back lol.

Jason Oweh
Likes ND, Will have visited twice after tomorrow. Will go to either PSU or OSU depending on who wants him. His parents graduated from Harvard.

Thomas Booker
This guy is the profile of a ND kid. He's seen ND multiple times. He's trending to ND. Won't pull the trigger and keeps canceling visits to ND.

That's ok with you guys? You think the staff is doing a good job closing? Urban is texting girlfriends, Harbaugh is sleeping over at houses, and BK is no where to be seen or heard of.

Urban puts recruits names on the board and basically tells his staff 'do not come back to work unless he makes it to our summer camp'.

If that satisfies you, I'm thankful to not share your levels of complacency on the matter. This is simply not good enough.

 

[BobbyMac]

In regards to Caroll, SC and UCLA are playing back to back on Saturday and Sunday so 2 birds, 1 stone. Pretty smart move by UCLA to play A&M on Sunday while SC has the Mighty Bronco's of Western Michigan.

Carroll could be in South Bend the following weekend for UGA.

 

[BeauBenken]

What you call b!tching, I call stating the sad truth. Let's recap the summer..

Two of our best committed players said never mind in Gervin and Lacy.

Now onto the recruits we have the best chance for, and all of the momentum for.

Jack Lamb
ND had all of the momentum. He had already visited UCLA, but people spoke like ND was possibly his leader before he visits ND. Visits ND, and now UCLA is going to win out.

Kevin Austin
ND the long presumed leader, could pop at anytime according to all analysts as far back as early June. Has NO other schools to visit, but just can't get himself to commit to ND.

Houston Griffith
Told reporters he wants to go somewhere where he can win a championship. Now ND is 100% out of it.

Cam McGrone
From IN, visits this summer for II, will commit to Michigan.

Shayne Simon
If there were ever a kid that had momentum to ND, it was him. And Elko worked him at II personally more than anyone else. All signs pointed to ND, and now he's torn between us and Michigan.

Donte Burton
Do you realize how easy it should be for ND to attract CBs after taking none? Forget the pick of the liter, we're now praying for 3-stars to fill our massive void at Corner. Like everyone else we were in good shape for, he is all ND coming in. He doesn't have offers that stack up to ND. Every analyst says "could commit on ND visit". Comes to ND, pushes his decision back lol.

Jason Oweh
Likes ND, Will have visited twice after tomorrow. Will go to either PSU or OSU depending on who wants him. His parents graduated from Harvard.

Thomas Booker
This guy is the profile of a ND kid. He's seen ND multiple times. He's trending to ND. Won't pull the trigger and keeps canceling visits to ND.

That's ok with you guys? You think the staff is doing a good job closing? Urban is texting girlfriends, Harbaugh is sleeping over at houses, and BK is no where to be seen or heard of.

Urban puts recruits names on the board and basically tells his staff 'do not come back to work unless he makes it to our summer camp'.

If that satisfies you, I'm thankful to not share your levels of complacency on the matter. This is simply not good enough.

Half of this (at least) was addressed by Lucky earlier. Sorry kids aren't committing on your timetable. Would you rather us NOT be the lead school for some of these kids? Because it seems to be that you believe that if we're in the lead, but a kid doesn't commit right as soon as we are in the lead, that they must be headed elsewhere.

Calm down man. You're acting like you haven't been posting on this board for half a decade. You've seen this shit time and time again. Some kids commit early, some kids don't. We are still in the summer for goodness sake.

 

[koonja]

Half of this (at least) was addressed by Lucky earlier. Sorry kids aren't committing on your timetable. Would you rather us NOT be the lead school for some of these kids? Because it seems to be that you believe that if we're in the lead, but a kid doesn't commit right as soon as we are in the lead, that they must be headed elsewhere.

Calm down man. You're acting like you haven't been posting on this board for half a decade. You've seen this shit time and time again. Some kids commit early, some kids don't. We are still in the summer for goodness sake.

I'm not un-calm. I'm saying it's unacceptable.

Do you think it's a positive sign that a kid is leaning heavily towards ND, has told reporters he's ready to commit anytime, visits ND, then comes out of his visit saying he needs more time?

Lamb, Austin, McGrone, Burton have all left their visit and move their commit date back. I believe this is true for Booker, who has said 'commit anytime', but doesn't seem close to a decision.

 

[IrishLion]

Kevin Austin
ND the long presumed leader, could pop at anytime according to all analysts as far back as early June. Has NO other schools to visit, but just can't get himself to commit to ND.

Don't know why you're bothered by this one. Some kids have timelines, and Austin is sticking to his. Doesn't change the information that ND is the leader. No need to get worked up here.

Houston Griffith
Told reporters he wants to go somewhere where he can win a championship. Now ND is 100% out of it.

He looks like a safety, and ND doesn't need another safety now. If he were a pure CB, this would be concerning, and the recruitment would probably look a bit different.

Cam McGrone
From IN, visits this summer for II, will commit to Michigan.

Another kid that is trying to figure out what he wants to do. No need to freak out when the staff can't really do anything differently.

Shayne Simon
If there were ever a kid that had momentum to ND, it was him. And Elko worked him at II personally more than anyone else. All signs pointed to ND, and now he's torn between us and Michigan.

I don't think he's truly torn, I think he's just playing out the process. Until he openly says something that puts ND behind someone else, no need to worry on this one yet.

Donte Burton
Do you realize how easy it should be for ND to attract CBs after taking none? Forget the pick of the liter, we're now praying for 3-stars to fill our massive void at Corner. Like everyone else we were in good shape for, he is all ND coming in. He doesn't have offers that stack up to ND. Every analyst says "could commit on ND visit". Comes to ND, pushes his decision back lol.

I'm with you on this one. We need pure corners ASAP. THIS is where the staff needs to press, but they aren't.

Jason Oweh
Likes ND, Will have visited twice after tomorrow. Will go to either PSU or OSU depending on who wants him. His parents graduated from Harvard.

This kid is a victim of Urban stringing him along. PSU is the favorite, but the next visit to ND could change that. Standard recruiting stuff. Different than the Booker situation.

Thomas Booker
This guy is the profile of a ND kid. He's seen ND multiple times. He's trending to ND. Won't pull the trigger and keeps canceling visits to ND.

Same as CB's here, we NEED a WDE, but the staff is having trouble pressing for one. Unlike Oweh, the staff appeared to have an inside jump on Booker, and couldn't take advantage... that's more of a problem than Oweh deciding between three big-time schools.

I agree with your general frustration on the slow summer recruiting, but the only two things to really get worked up about are CB recruiting in general, and the situation with Booker. And even then, it's likely that Booker just doesn't feel as warmly about ND as he once did, and there's nothing you can do about that.

I think some of the defensive recruiting stuff is also a purposeful "holding pattern," both from some kids and the staff, as everyone wants to see the roll out of the new defense. But even so, the lack of CB's needs to be fixed ASAP.

 

[koonja]

Don't know why you're bothered by this one. Some kids have timelines, and Austin is sticking to his. Doesn't change the information that ND is the leader. No need to get worked up here.



He looks like a safety, and ND doesn't need another safety now. If he were a pure CB, this would be concerning, and the recruitment would probably look a bit different.



Another kid that is trying to figure out what he wants to do. No need to freak out when the staff can't really do anything differently.



I don't think he's truly torn, I think he's just playing out the process. Until he openly says something that puts ND behind someone else, no need to worry on this one yet.



I'm with you on this one. We need pure corners ASAP. THIS is where the staff needs to press, but they aren't.



This kid is a victim of Urban stringing him along. PSU is the favorite, but the next visit to ND could change that. Standard recruiting stuff. Different than the Booker situation.



Same as CB's here, we NEED a WDE, but the staff is having trouble pressing for one. Unlike Oweh, the staff appeared to have an inside jump on Booker, and couldn't take advantage... that's more of a problem than Oweh deciding between three big-time schools.

I agree with your general frustration on the slow summer recruiting, but the only two things to really get worked up about are CB recruiting in general, and the situation with Booker. And even then, it's likely that Booker just doesn't feel as warmly about ND as he once did, and there's nothing you can do about that.

I think some of the defensive recruiting stuff is also a purposeful "holding pattern," both from some kids and the staff, as everyone wants to see the roll out of the new defense. But even so, the lack of CB's needs to be fixed ASAP.

You're making an excuse for every instance basically, and giving an incredible benefit of the doubt. We have kids coming in saying "I'm ready anytime", and analysts talking with them and their family saying "he could commit this weekend"... And they leave and say they need more time. That's a terrible sign.

It often works the opposite way: Kids will visit USC, OSU, Michigan, etc over the summer, going in saying they're taking their time and taking other visits. Love the visit so much, they commit unexpectedly.

ND, through its sufficient recruiting plan, has managed to do the opposite. Bravo.

 

[Irish#1]

What you call b!tching, I call stating the sad truth. Let's recap the summer..

Two of our best committed players said never mind in Gervin and Lacy.

Now onto the recruits we have the best chance for, and all of the momentum for.

Jack Lamb
ND had all of the momentum. He had already visited UCLA, but people spoke like ND was possibly his leader before he visits ND. Visits ND, and now UCLA is going to win out.

Kevin Austin
ND the long presumed leader, could pop at anytime according to all analysts as far back as early June. Has NO other schools to visit, but just can't get himself to commit to ND.

Houston Griffith
Told reporters he wants to go somewhere where he can win a championship. Now ND is 100% out of it.

Cam McGrone
From IN, visits this summer for II, will commit to Michigan.

Shayne Simon
If there were ever a kid that had momentum to ND, it was him. And Elko worked him at II personally more than anyone else. All signs pointed to ND, and now he's torn between us and Michigan.

Donte Burton
Do you realize how easy it should be for ND to attract CBs after taking none? Forget the pick of the liter, we're now praying for 3-stars to fill our massive void at Corner. Like everyone else we were in good shape for, he is all ND coming in. He doesn't have offers that stack up to ND. Every analyst says "could commit on ND visit". Comes to ND, pushes his decision back lol.

Jason Oweh
Likes ND, Will have visited twice after tomorrow. Will go to either PSU or OSU depending on who wants him. His parents graduated from Harvard.

Thomas Booker
This guy is the profile of a ND kid. He's seen ND multiple times. He's trending to ND. Won't pull the trigger and keeps canceling visits to ND.

That's ok with you guys? You think the staff is doing a good job closing? Urban is texting girlfriends, Harbaugh is sleeping over at houses, and BK is no where to be seen or heard of.

Urban puts recruits names on the board and basically tells his staff 'do not come back to work unless he makes it to our summer camp'.

If that satisfies you, I'm thankful to not share your levels of complacency on the matter. This is simply not good enough.

So tell me why these kids have to commit on your timetable? Maybe they've made their mind up, but want to wait to announce on a certain day like a birthday, opening game of their HS season, promised parents they would wait to make sure they had plenty of time to think about it.

ND isn't the only school that goes through this. I posted an article about a month ago that asked why Bama's recruiting was only like 41st.

 

[koonja]

So tell me why these kids have to commit on your timetable? Maybe they've made their mind up, but want to wait to announce on a certain day like a birthday, opening game of their HS season, promised parents they would wait to make sure they had plenty of time to think about it.

ND isn't the only school that goes through this. I posted an article about a month ago that asked why Bama's recruiting was only like 41st.

You're missing the point. They either say directly, or communicate to the analysts, they're ready to commit once they know, maybe even on the visit. Then they change their mind upon seeing ND.

That's because Bama goes after the big fish who win championships. If they went hard after 3 stars like we are, the kids would be pissing themselves with joy and pass out while committing.

 

[koonja]

Breaking news: McGrone just canceled his plans to visit ND this month. Will try to visit later on.

This is good news right? Good sign!

 

[GowerND11]

That's ok with you guys? You think the staff is doing a good job closing? Urban is texting girlfriends, Harbaugh is sleeping over at houses, and BK is no where to be seen or heard of.

Urban puts recruits names on the board and basically tells his staff 'do not come back to work unless he makes it to our summer camp'.

If that satisfies you, I'm thankful to not share your levels of complacency on the matter. This is simply not good enough.

To be fair, I find it really creepy that they text girlfriends and have sleepovers.

 

[koonja]

To be fair, I find it really creepy that they text girlfriends and have sleepovers.

I do as well, but it's the effort that I'm pointing to.

 

[GowerND11]

I do as well, but it's the effort that I'm pointing to.

Fair point, but if it takes a 53 year old dude sleeping at your house to make you feel "special" and want to commit.... You're probably not coming to ND anyway.

 

[koonja]

Fair point, but if it takes a 53 year old dude sleeping at your house to make you feel "special" and want to commit.... You're probably not coming to ND anyway.

Don't get into the weeds on my example. I also think that's weird. But the fact that their staffs go that hard after recruits, and BK is... what is BK doing? Is why we end up with kids coming in who scream "ND kid" who quickly fade from ND.

BK doesn't need to text girls or stay over at a house. But he should be absolutely grinding on calls, texts, and everything else he can do to get kids to visit. And then when they visit, CLOSE on the ones who are ready to make a decision.

 

[Wingman Ray]

Honestly, I dont know why a kid would commit to a team that went 4-8 last year against lukewarm competition unless they grew up die hard ND fans anyway or someone 100% sold on ND academics. I would think anyone with good options would wait and see if BK can actually do something with what he has or continue to crap the bed and make excuses.

In the end it doesnt matter. Another .500 season and anyone we have with talent will decommit anyway and can you honestly blame them[/I]?

 

[GowerND11]

Don't get into the weeds on my example. I also think that's weird. But the fact that their staffs go that hard after recruits, and BK is... what is BK doing? Is why we end up with kids coming in who scream "ND kid" who quickly fade from ND.

My point with your example is that it's just that... weird. We don't hear much about what BK does for one major reason IMO... He isn't doing weird shit like texting girlfriends, sleeping over, wrestling in living rooms (Bo Pelini), painting pictures of recruits (Richt), etc.

 

[zelezo vlk]

My point with your example is that it's just that... weird. We don't hear much about what BK does for one major reason IMO... He isn't doing weird shit like texting girlfriends, sleeping over, wrestling in living rooms (Bo Pelini), painting pictures of recruits (Richt), etc.

Koon to BK:

 

[GowerND11]

You can talk all you want about closing. I get it, I agree I want us to close on a lot of top prospects. Sometimes we lose out. It isn't because all our coaches are just lazy as f***. It's because sometimes, a kid games teams by putting us in his top 5. It's because, he realizes we went 4-8 the year before. It's because other teams pay him, we don't.

You can rag on BK all you want, but you don't know what he's doing. He may well be up until midnight with a recruit, but if he doesn't want to pull the trigger, that's not on BK. And again, some of your examples, as others have pointed out don't matter in your argument since they aren't committing until later.

This is why I have backed off getting so upset with recruiting. It sucks when we lose a guy, it's great when we get one, but I've learned to not get so upset over what kids decide they want to do.

 

[woolybug25]

Honestly, I dont know why a kid would commit to a team that went 4-8 last year against lukewarm competition unless they grew up die hard ND fans anyway or someone 100% sold on ND academics. I would think anyone with good options would wait and see if BK can actually do something with what he has or continue to crap the bed and make excuses.

In the end it doesnt matter. Another .500 season and anyone we have with talent will decommit anyway and can you honestly blame them[/I]?

No shat. We went 4-8 last season and have the #12 class and that's not good enough for Koon.

What's equally hilarious is that 2 out of the 3 teams with coaches that "really hustle" have a 2018 recruiting class ranked below ours at this time. lolz

2018 Football Team Rankings

Koon just needs some drama to hang his hat on. Every year its a new one. This is this years enlightenment.

 

[zelezo vlk]

No shat. We went 4-8 last season and have the #12 class and that's not good enough for Koon.

What's equally hilarious is that 2 out of the 3 teams with coaches that "really hustle" have a 2018 recruiting class ranked below ours at this time. lolz

2018 Football Team Rankings

Koon just needs some drama to hang his hat on. Every year its a new one. This is this years enlightenment.

Drama is koon's gatorade. It replishes his electrolytes. It's got what he craves

 

[woolybug25]

Drama is koon's gatorade. It replishes his electrolytes. It's got what he craves

He's saying that's okay
Hey baby do what he please
He has the stuff that he want
It's the thing that he need
He'll look you deep in the eyes
He's touchin' himself so to start
He says there's no turnin' back
He's trapped it in his heart

 

[dwshade]

You can talk all you want about closing. I get it, I agree I want us to close on a lot of top prospects. Sometimes we lose out. It isn't because all our coaches are just lazy as f***. It's because sometimes, a kid games teams by putting us in his top 5. It's because, he realizes we went 4-8 the year before. It's because other teams pay him, we don't.

You can rag on BK all you want, but you don't know what he's doing. He may well be up until midnight with a recruit, but if he doesn't want to pull the trigger, that's not on BK. And again, some of your examples, as others have pointed out don't matter in your argument since they aren't committing until later.

This is why I have backed off getting so upset with recruiting. It sucks when we lose a guy, it's great when we get one, but I've learned to not get so upset over what kids decide they want to do.

Refreshing logic. I'm amazed how people get worked up about recruiting 7-8 months before signing day. People like Koon are attention whores who try to stir things up with pure BS. Frankly I just blow right past his posts because I'll know I'll just be dumber for having read it.

 

[IrishLion]

You're making an excuse for every instance basically, and giving an incredible benefit of the doubt. We have kids coming in saying "I'm ready anytime", and analysts talking with them and their family saying "he could commit this weekend"... And they leave and say they need more time. That's a terrible sign.

They aren't excuses... it's just how recruiting works. Every situation is different and needs to be read on a case-by-case basis. That's what Lucky, Beau, and now I have tried to do for you. But you'd rather go with the blanket, "everything sucks, we suck at recruiting."

ND always has slow periods in recruiting. In fact, this class got off to a phenomenal start, which is partly why it's slow right now. The spots that usually get filled with commitment "flurries" in the summer were generally already filled. Now they'll focus on CB's, WR's and another OL during the season.

Hopefully the defense looks okay once the season starts, and that in turn helps with CB recruiting, and also helps with Oweh or some other WDE.

Also, Burton is the only kid that said he wanted to commit soon and then backed off, so stop getting worked up by that. Simon hasn't ever had a timetable, and Austin is sticking to his. No problems there.

 

[koonja]

They aren't excuses... it's just how recruiting works. Every situation is different and needs to be read on a case-by-case basis. That's what Lucky, Beau, and now I have tried to do for you. But you'd rather go with the blanket, "everything sucks, we suck at recruiting."

ND always has slow periods in recruiting. In fact, this class got off to a phenomenal start, which is partly why it's slow right now. The spots that usually get filled with commitment "flurries" in the summer were generally already filled. Now they'll focus on CB's, WR's and another OL during the season.

Hopefully the defense looks okay once the season starts, and that in turn helps with CB recruiting, and also helps with Oweh or some other WDE.

Also, Burton is the only kid that said he wanted to commit soon and then backed off, so stop getting worked up by that. Simon hasn't ever had a timetable, and Austin is sticking to his. No problems there.

If you think it's normal for kids to come in leaning towards ND, tell reporters they may commit on the visit or at any time, then leave and say they need more time and are pushing out their decision, let's just agree to disagree and I'll spare IE my disappointment. I think it's a bad sign, and with a handful of kids doing that this summer, it's a bad trend.

 

[IrishLion]

If you think it's normal for kids to come in leaning towards ND, tell reporters they may commit on the visit or at any time, then leave and say they need more time and are pushing out their decision, let's just agree to disagree and I'll spare IE my disappointment.

Who did that beside Burton?

Because Burton was leaning toward ND, and was possibly going to commit, but then he learned that he's got work to do academically, soooooo

 

[koonja]

Who did that beside Burton?

Because Burton was leaning toward ND, and was possibly going to commit, but then he learned that he's got work to do academically, soooooo

Every situation is slightly different, but basically, the below at some point were ready to commit whenever and/or admitted they may commit on the visit and backed off afterwards:

Kevin Austin (reporters said he may commit at II)
Donte Burton
Thomas Booker (I don't know for sure he said he'd commit anytime, but he's gotten all of his QUs answered by ND and analysts are starting to say "what are you waiting for if you're coming here" specifically in regards to him.
Shayne Simon was a possibility at II or anytime after, and now appears to be taking his time and possibly leaning to Michigan now.

You'd expect these stories to work in reverse. Like "I didn't plan to commit until August, but after visiting ND and the coaches, I knew where I wanted to be so I pulled the trigger". Where are those stories?

 

[RDU Irish]

No shat. We went 4-8 last season and have the #12 class and that's not good enough for Koon.

What's equally hilarious is that 2 out of the 3 teams with coaches that "really hustle" have a 2018 recruiting class ranked below ours at this time. lolz

2018 Football Team Rankings

Koon just needs some drama to hang his hat on. Every year its a new one. This is this years enlightenment.

Interesting our average star power is higher than five of the eleven teams in front of us and only two teams behind us have higher per recruit averages (Michigan and Washington). Then you have Mr. 583 national recruit Ja'mion Franklin at 3* - how many 3 stars were at The Opening again? Micah Jones at 411 national composite largely thanks to 247 ranking him 791 (versus Rivals at 170). I am having a really hard time shooting holes in our recruiting at this stage of the game.

 

[IrishLion]

Every situation is slightly different, but basically, the below at some point were ready to commit whenever and/or admitted they may commit on the visit and backed off afterwards:

Kevin Austin (reporters said he may commit at II)
Donte Burton
Thomas Booker (I don't know for sure he said he'd commit anytime, but he's gotten all of his QUs answered by ND and analysts are starting to say "what are you waiting for if you're coming here" specifically in regards to him.
Shayne Simon was a possibility at II or anytime after, and now appears to be taking his time and possibly leaning to Michigan now.

Austin - again, never had plans to make an announcement except to say "late summer." Reporters were wrong, that's not the staff's fault lol

Burton - learned he had work to do, or else he would have committed. But be upset about it if you want

Booker - one of those guys that seems to be looking for any excuse to not come to ND, but the staff probably should've put more pressure on him when they had the inside track. I understand frustration on this one.

Simon - again, this was reporters saying he could commit, without Simon himself having plans to do so.

So of your four examples, only ONE actually had plans to commit and backed off. You're stretching for the others based on reporters being reporters.