Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Notre Dame fills some needs with 16-man recruiting class A MIXED REVIEW FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE Head coach Brian Kelly noted the emphasis for this recruiting class was placed on landing skill players, most notably in the defensive backfield and at wide receiver. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND includes 13 incoming freshmen, three early enrollees and a transfer. Kelly explained on signing day in N 16 BY WES MORGAN otre Dame head coach Brian Kelly's third National Sign- ing Day with the program is in the books. The 2012 haul 2011 how he breaks down a recruit- ing class: "Everybody's a GM, and every- to the position. So let's not get caught on that today. You'll see that we've listed our players either in the skill, big skill or power category, and we truly recruit that way." This year a "specialist" category body's a director of player person- nel," he said sarcastically. "I can tell you we're a little bit more broad in the approach relative to once you fit that profile of size and weight, once you fit that profile relative to your academics and character, we're a little bit more open ended relative MARCH 2012 was added, but Kelly's overall phi- losophy remained the same. Notre Dame added 10 skill players (those in direct contact with the ball), four power players (linemen), one big skill player (big, but athletic enough to play at a variety of positions on both sides of the ball) and one spe- cialist (snappers and kickers). Amir Carlisle, a 5-10, 180-pound running back, landed in South Bend via transfer from Southern Califor- nia. Carlisle was the Trojans' fourth- leading rusher as a freshman last season (19 carries for 118 yards in eight games), and is already enrolled at Notre Dame along with quarter- back Gunner Kiel, defensive back Tee Shepard and defensive lineman Sheldon Day. "We knew about his family, and when he approached us about the potential for transferring, we were excited about it. We felt like he had the right traits, the right character traits, to come here and be extremely successful," Kelly said of Carlisle. "He's here on campus right now. He was released by USC to pursue the transfer, so he is on scholarship and he is in our workouts right now. We're very, very excited about add- ing his speed, his athleticism to our football team." BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED