Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/109499
Webb's football career never got off the ground due to an injury, Carufel transferred to Minnesota and Wenger played a sixth year at Florida after he was not given medical clearance by Notre Dame. Young started from day one and joined Olsen as sixth-round draft picks in 2010. Stewart also become a regular starter in 2010-11. Solid, decent group … but never quite the collective dominance that was projected upon their arrival. Timing Is Everything For the first time since 2006, Notre Dame has signed a complete set of offensive linemen in one recruiting class. No one arrives with quite the fanfare of the five-star Young, but all five received four-star ratings from 247Sports. • The 6-6, 290-pound Hunter Bivin was one of two Notre Dame players mentioned on the 57-man Parade AllAmerican team. Bivin was honorable mention, while outside linebacker Jaylon Smith was first team. Former NFL head coach Herman Edwards singled out Bivin as his team's top offensive lineman at the Under Armour All-America Game, where Bivin adjusted after making the move from tackle to center. • The 6-5, 300-pound Steve Elmer received the Anthony Munoz Award as the nation's top offensive lineman at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. • The 6-7½, 280-pound Mike McGlinchey was athletic enough to line up at fullback, tight end and linebacker while also starring for the basketball team at Penn Charter in Philadelphia. • The 6-5, 280-pound Colin McGovern also received scholarship offers from Alabama and Ohio State, the only two classes that consistently deemed better than Notre Dame's. • The 6-5, 305-pound John Montelus, who was born in Haiti, excelled on three straight state title teams at Everett, Mass. Offensive linemen have a tendency to commit early, and this group was assembled prior to last May. Elmer had already verbally committed way back in September 2011, his junior year. Bivin, McGlinchey and McGovern joined him the weekend of March 2425 during a spring visit for junior day. Montelus rounded out the set on April 21, the weekend of the Blue-Gold Game. According to 247Sports national recruiting analyst Steve Wiltfong, this group will be blessed with advantages to maximize their potential that the 2006 unit did not have. Some of it is tangible, including the strength and conditioning program directed by Paul Longo. Others are intangible, such as the momentum of a 12-0 regular season that provides the program a genuine belief it can legitimately vie for championships. "When that group [in 2006] came into Notre Dame, they didn't have the same strength program and training table," Wiltfong said. "So Sam Young never developed physically the way everyone thought he would because he wasn't able to under what Notre Dame had in place for their football