Football Articles
Notre Dame vs. Stanford Recruiting Battles
Posted by Michael Collins on September 23rd, 2010 under Football, Recruiting
Wayne Lyons
As an unbeaten, ranked and favored Stanford comes to town, let’s examine their recent recruiting battles. For the most part, these have pitted their current coaches, Brian Kelly and Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh has been quite aggressive with his offers, seemingly having worked through their Admissions Office acceptance processes, to make hundreds of offers nationally over the past two years. Here’s how the head to head battles have been won over the past two classes.
2010 Class
Notre Dame Wins (3)
Tai-ler Jones (WR, GA) – After an initial verbal commitment to Stanford, Tai-ler flipped to the Irish after an Official Visit for the USC game. He has earned a starting spot this year.
Tate Nichols (OL, KY) – Another Stanford verbal commit, Kelly convinced Nichols to come to Notre Dame this past January. Nichols was a TE coming out of high school. He has put on about 20# under the Irish strength and conditioning program. He is listed as third at the Left Tackle position on the depth chart. Stanford had four OL commits last year besides Nichols.
Chris Badger (S, UT) – Chris decommitted from Stanford in June (2009) choosing the Irish. He is a hard-hitting safety. While he would have provided needed depth at Safety this year, Chris chose to go on his two year Mormon mission.
Stanford Wins (2)
Devon Carrington (DB, CA) – Devon committed to Stanford on the same day that Badger decommitted. Though he was an early Irish target, Carrington was a solid commit to Stanford. He is not listed on their depth chart and may redshirt.
Blake Lueders (DE/OLB, IN) – Blake was a June commit to the Irish and a target for the Kelly staff. He is an Indiana native, who played in the Army All-America bowl. But he decommitted after a January trip to Stanford. He is listed as second team OLB behind Thomas Keiser.
2011 Class
This year provides a truer measure of the Kelly vs. Harbaugh staff recruiting battles. The Irish have concentrated on OL and Defensive front seven needs and been quite successful.
Notre Dame Wins (5)
Matt Hegarty (OT, NM) – A top OT, Matt chose Notre Dame and has been solid. Rivals ranks Matt as a four star and the #5 OT in this class.
Conor Hanratty (OG, CN) – Conor had Stanford in his favorites, but when ND offered, he accepted.
Clay Burton (OLB/DE, FL) – Clay will play the position Lueders would have taken.
Tony Springmann (DE/OL) – This Indiana native stayed home, choosing the Irish. Stanford was one of his top choices, though.
Jarrett Grace (ILB, OH) – An April commit to the Irish, this Cincinnati Colerain prospect will be a solid addition to the Irish LB core and ranked the #22 ILB.
Stanford Wins (2)
Brendan Austin (OT, CO) – The Irish hotly pursued Brendan for our remaining ROT slot, but he has chosen the Cardinal. Brendan is a four star and the #22 ranked OT in this class.
James Vaughters (ILB, GA) – James was offered early by the Irish, but we did not make his top 5 favorites. He is a four star prospect, ranked the #5 ILB in this class.
Remaining Battles
Wayne Lyons (S, FL) – One of the top Safeties in this class, Wayne would be a terrific addition to the Irish class at a position of need. Both ND and Stanford have made his top 7, which also include the three Florida schools, Nebraska and UCLA. Wayne has made two Official Visits (ND and UCLA) with one set up for Nebraska.
Troy Niklas (TE, CA) – Troy has narrowed his list to Notre Dame and Stanford. Troy was initially considered a DE prospect for the Irish until commitments from two top DEs. Will the Irish have room?
Miles Shuler (Ath, NJ) – Miles plays QB in high school, but his 4.4 speed projects him as a WR in college. His top seven include Notre Dame but not Stanford.
Brennan Scarlett (DE/OLB, OR) – Brennan has offers from both schools, but ND has probably filled up at his position. He has yet to narrow his list, but may remain on the West coast.
While the recruiting battle for the 2011 is far from over, from Stanford’s perspective, the Cardinal want to get an Official Visit from Lyons, secure Niklas from ND, and make Scarlett’s list of favorites. Notre Dame would love to fill out their class with Lyons and Shuler among a few others.
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whiskey said:
September 23rd, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Lyons is truly the last key player on the board. Land Lyons and this class answered all requirements. I still can’t help but think about those knucklehead safeties that ND lost out on the last couple of years that are now buried on the depth chart elsewhere. Starling comes to mind but I know there were a few others.
September 24th, 2010 at 6:27 am
In a perfect world, we could land a stud safety who can come right in and play and boost our defense. Is Lyons that guy?
We desperately need better safeties NOW! I think our current players are okay, but I don’t envision them really making a difference through 2011.
We need difference makers at safety. It would be great to land Lyons and have him team up with Hardy back there. But even if they are tremendous standouts will they see the field in 2011?
I’m pumped about this recruiting class, it’s just kind of a bummer to think that we won’t see much improvement at safety until 2012. Guys like Tuitt and Lynch can come right and make an impact. It’s a lot harder to do at safety.
Michael Collins said:
September 24th, 2010 at 9:04 am
I agree with Eric that Safety is a difficult position to recruit and project for. Over the years we have gone after and missed Taylor Mays, Major Wright, Myron Rolle and Eric Berry. Out of highs school, Berry was a DB and Mays was an “Athlete”.
Here’s the current Irish players – H. Smith (4*, Ath), Slaughter (4*, DB), Blanton (4*, DB), McCarthy (4*, DB) and Motta (4*, LB).
If you examine the top 15 Safeties drafted by the NFL this past year, only 4 were rated as Safeties coming out of HS (Burnett, GT; Wright, Fl; Jones, GA, and Stuckley, KS). Stuckley was a 3* and the others were 4 or 5*s.
Of the others, two were CBs (Berry, TN; Coleman, OSU), two were QBs (Allen, USF; Chancellor, VaTech); one was a WR (Lewis, MS) and four were “Athletes” (Thomas, TX; Mays, USC; Jones, LSU; Rolle, FSU). One (Asante, NE) came from a Comm. Co. And, TJ Ward walked on at Oregon having been injured his senior year in h.s.
In addition to Hardy and Lyons as safety prospects, this year the Irish have offered Hasean Clinton-Dix (Ala commit), Kasen Williams (FSU commit), Chris Jones (ND is in top 5 with Alford recruiting) and Quincy Aldridge. Only Jones has visited, but has to overcome in-state draws from Ala and Auburn, in addition to Florida and Tenn.
George Atkinson is committed and is versatile enough to play any skilled positon. Miles Shuler would be a good slot receiver with his great speed or possibly a Safety with some bulking up (now 173#). Ideally, a Lyons commit would make all the pieces fall into place.
September 24th, 2010 at 9:38 am
What I’d do is take the prospect who has the best combination of speed and power, and put that guy at safety. I think Hardy could be that guy.
I was thinking the other day is George Atkinson should play safety. I’m sure Kelly will keep him at receiver, but boy could he be a big addition on defense. His tape reminds me of Reggie Bush a little bit, super elusive and fast, yet looks very under control. I think he has big days ahead of him.
Michael Collins said:
September 24th, 2010 at 10:15 am
At this point, Scout’s Team Rankings have the Irish at #4 with 19 commits and 6 commits from the Top 100 players. Players average star ranking is 3.37.
Stanford is ranked #5 with 22 verbals, no players in the top 100 and an average ranking of 3.36.
(Rivals has yet to come out with their team rankings)
http://notredame.scout.com/a.z?s=109&p=9&c=14&yr=2011
Notre Dame may be waiting on Savon Huggins, a top 10 RB also from New Jersey (Scout #6, Rivals #9). But there is mutual interest with the Irish from two of Stanford’s RB recruits – Amir Carlisle (Rivals #11) and Remound Wright (Rivals #14). Remound is Tony Springmann’s teammate at Bishop Dwenger H.S. in Fort Wayne.
Stanford and Irish wage war in recruiting | Inside the Irish said:
October 19th, 2010 at 11:46 am
[...] discussed it briefly during the IBG, but the boys at One Foot Down did a nice job breaking down the recruiting wars that have been taking place between Palo Alto and [...]
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