Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/109499
Moving Forward Notre Dame gets to work on its 2014 recruiting class W By Jason Sapp hat a difference a year makes. While the 2011 recruiting campaign at Notre Dame ended on a high note with a tandem of touted defensive linemen in Aaron Lynch (now at South Florida) and Stephon Tuitt, including a National Signing Day surprise in bigskill player Troy Niklas, it appeared as though the recruiting woes of the past were no more. And then came the 2012 class. Notre Dame suffered two late five-star defections, when wide receiver Deontay Greenberry flipped to Houston in the 11th hour and cornerback Ronald Darby switched to Florida State. Both losses cam in areas of focus. Notre Dame's class had risen to No. 3 in the country in 247Sports' rankings, but the class plummeted down to No. 17 in the aftermath. That wasn't the case this year. The Irish coaching staff used the drastic differences in the two classes as a way of getting back in the lab and formulating a plan to assure it didn't happen in the 2013 haul. Only North Carolina native Jeb Blazevich is rated as the No. 5 tight end nationally and the No. 198 overall player in the land by 247Sports. He's at the top of Notre Dame's wish list in 2014. Photo courtesy 247sports so much is under a coach's control when dealing with teenagers, but the issue of having other programs in the mix heavily while being committed had to change.