Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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2016 RECRUITING ISSUE 7 Recruits from Florida, tying it with the 1987 haul for the most Notre Dame ever signed from the Sunshine State in one campaign: running back Tony Jones Jr. and safety Spencer Perry (Bradenton), running back Deon McIntosh (Fort Lauderdale), wide receiver Kevin Stepherson (Jacksonville), offensive guard Parker Boudreaux and linebacker Jonathan Jones (Orlando), and safety Devin Studstill (Palm Beach Gardens). Perry's family actually lives in Georgia, but he played in Florida. The 1987 group was led by center Mike Heldt. The 1990 class signed six, featuring cornerback Tom Carter and quarterback Kevin McDougal. 7-0 Advantage for Notre Dame in number of recruits who decommitted from other schools: quarterback Ian Book (Washington State), defensive ends Khalid Kareem (Alabama) and Ade Ogundeji (Western Michigan), linebacker Daelin Hayes (USC), safeties D.J. Morgan (Arizona State) and Spencer Perry (Florida) and cornerback Troy Pride Jr. (Virginia Tech). This also marked the first time in Brian Kelly's seven recruiting seasons that a player did not switch to another school after originally pledging to Notre Dame. It is the first time it didn't happen to the Fight- ing Irish since 2006. 14 Aggregate ranking of Notre Dame among the four major football-recruiting services, with none higher than 12th or lower than 16th. Rivals ranked the Fighting Irish No. 12, followed by Scout at No. 13, 247Sports at No. 15 and ESPN at No. 16. Signing Georgia star athlete Demetris Robertson later this month could inch them into the top 10. 22 Years since ND has signed a football player from Canada, linebacker Bill Mitoulas in 1994. Wide receiver Chase Claypool, from British Columbia, ended that streak this season. He could become the eighth Canadian to earn a football monogram, with former 1995-2000 athletics director Mike Wad- sworth among them. 26-2 Record that cornerback Julian Love's Nazareth Academy team compiled in 2014 (14-0) and 2015 (12-2) while winning consecutive Class 5A championships in Illinois. 219 Pounds that running back Tony Jones Jr. weighs. He is the largest back to sign with the Irish since Kelly's first year in 2010, when Cam Roberson checked in at 6-1, 220. A knee injury ended Roberson's career the next year. 1990 The last year we can recall Notre Dame signing seven defensive back prospects like it did this season. That 1990 haul included two first-round picks in Tom Carter (after junior season) and Jeff Burris, plus two other future NFL players in John Covington and Willie Clark. 3,596 Career yards receiving (at 20.7 yards per catch) by California's Javon McKinley, the most we can ever recall by an incoming Notre Dame player. Michael Floyd had 2,487 his last two years of high school. McKinley's total is the third most in CIF Southern Section history. — Lou Somogyi