Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/638727
2016 RECRUITING ISSUE 1 Five-star player signed by the Irish in Michigan linebacker DAELIN HAYES — who actually started only seven games during his three-year high school varsity career. As a sophomore, he suffered a season-ending left shoulder injury a few plays into his first game. As a junior in California, a custody battle led him to play only three games before he had to return to Michigan. This past season, Hayes injured his right shoulder in game three and didn't play again. 3 Different Catholic schools attended by all three Notre Dame offensive line recruits, all of whom were on MaxPreps' first two All-America teams: tackles Tommy Kraemer (Cincinnati Elder) and Liam Eichen- berg (Cleveland St. Ignatius), and guard Parker Boudreaux (Orlando [Fla.] Bishop Moore). 5 Teams in USA Today's final 15 this sea- son who had Notre Dame players rep- resented: No. 4 IMG Academy (running back Tony Jones Jr. and safety Spencer Perry), No. 7 Centennial (wide receiver Javon McKinley), No. 11 St. John Bosco (safety D.J. Morgan), No. 14 Aquinas Institute (outside linebacker Jamir Jones) and No. 15 Loyola Academy (long snapper John Shannon). Ann Arbor (Mich.) Skyline linebacker Daelin Hayes was the lone five-star recruit to bring his talent to South Bend. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM BY THE NUMBERS were slower in touching in the recruit‑ ing process." Something as simple as knowing the date of this summer 's Irish Invasion — a detail the staff did not finalize until March of last year — helps with those efforts, especially when trying to convince high school players to travel to Notre Dame for the summer event. In addition to the staff turnover one year ago that prompted the Irish to rethink their recruiting strategy, Kelly also had a better idea of what he wanted in a recruit and in the process after being in his current position for five years. "It definitely helps when you know exactly what you're looking for. I think you're probably scrambling a little bit more in your first couple of years be‑ cause you're still kind of figuring out what's your profile, how are we going to go about doing this," Kelly said. "We had a clear mandate as to how we recruit here. That was easier to articulate, and then it's a matter of putting the right pieces and the right people on the staff." ✦