Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/109499
the next wave of highly rated players looking to unseat veteran players. Kelly believes Notre Dame is reaching that level. "They're not elite players if they're afraid of competition," he said. "Those that back off and say, 'Well, you've got two of these guys and you've got three of those' — now, sometimes that makes a difference, granted; I understand that. But by and large, we've made the case in recruiting where we see you, and we're honest with them. Here's where we see you're at and this is where you're going to be, and if you do this, you're going to get your playing time. "From our end, the elite players have that confidence that no matter who's in front of me, I'm going to beat them out. And I mentioned that with [quarterback] Malik Zaire. Here's a young man that if you look at the numbers, you go, whoa, there's a lot of numbers at that position. This didn't bother him one bit. He had the confidence in his ability. I'm looking for those kind of guys." ✦ consider that the starting five offensive linemen for Notre Dame's 1988 national champs 25 years ago were a collective 6-4, 275 after a few years on campus. 15 Different states, plus the District of Columbia, represented in Notre Dame's 24-man recruiting class, likely the most in the country. The only ones with multiple players were "The Big Three" of Florida (4), Texas (3) and California (2), plus Pennsylvania (2) and Ohio (2). 17 Notre Dame recruits among the 24 who played in national all-star games in December or January: Eight in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, five in Semper Fidelis held in Los Angeles and four in the Under Armour All-American Game in St. Petersburg, Fla. That's not including cornerback Devin Butler's participating in the Feb. 5 International Bowl in Austin, Texas. 221 Receptions as seniors by Notre Dame's incoming fourman receiving crew of William Fuller, Torii Hunter, James Onwualu and Corey Robinson. They totaled 4,002 yards (18.1 yards per catch) and 47 touchdowns. That's not even including safety Max Redfield's 45 catches for 757 yards and six scores. 1,120 Yards rushing by quarterback Malik Zaire during his senior year at Archbishop Alter in Kettering, Ohio. He also passed for 1,990. Our research shows he is the first Notre Dame quarterback recruit to eclipse both 1,000 yards in rushing and passing as a high school senior. The next closest was Tony Rice in 1985 with 1,334 yards passing and 934 rushing. photo courtesy 247sports