Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE Notre Dame recruit, Texas safety Nick Baratti, who was born on the same day that No. 2 Notre Dame defeated No. 1 Florida State, 31-24 — Nov. 13, 1993. That was the last time the Irish reached the summit in football, only to lose it a week later … and it has never been the same since then. Taekwondo specialists in this year's Irish recruiting haul. Long snapper Scott Daly owns a black belt in the martial art (and also does yoga), while safety John Turner won an AAU national champion- ship in the discipline as a junior high competitor in 2005. the total to 24 since 2006, the first year Notre Dame permitted early enrollees in football. This is also the third straight year it includes a quarterback, with Everett Golson (2011) and Tommy Rees (2010) preceding Kiel. 1 2 3 touchdowns off his 18 punt returns than Notre Dame had in punt return yards (three) during the 2011 regular season. year award: They included Scott Grooms (No. 1 QB by Parade in 1980), Kent Graham (Quarterback Club of Washington, D.C., in 1986), Rick Mirer (USA Today first team in 1988), and Ron Powlus and Jimmy Clausen, who were national players of the year in 1992 and 2006, respectively. 247Sports lists Kiel as its No. 1 quarterback in the nation. 4 6 16-man freshman class. Indiana had the most with three (quar- terback Gunner Kiel, defensive lineman Sheldon Day and safety John Turner), while North Carolina had two with center Mark Harrell and linebacker Romeo Okwara. The "Big Three" of California (cornerback Tee Shepard), Florida (wide receiver Justin Ferguson) and Texas (safety Nick Baratti) had one apiece. Last year, Notre Dame's 23-man class on National Sign- ing Day came from 14 different states. 13 Different states repre- sented in Notre Dame's 16 Willingham to Charlie Weis. Notre Dame also inked only 17 players apiece in 1984 (highlighted by 1987 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown) and 2004, led by running back Darius Walker. class was ranked highest by ESPNU at No. 10 and lowest by Rivals at No. 22. 16.8 17 Freshmen signed on Feb. 1, which represents the second lowest number in one recruiting class at Notre Dame. The fewest were 15 in 2005, during the head coaching transition from Tyrone Average recruiting ranking by Notre Dame in 2012 from the five major services of 247Sports, ESPNU, MaxPreps.com (Tom Lemming), Rivals.com and Scout.com. The Irish we can recall in Irish history was wide receiver Malcolm Johnson, who didn't turn 17 until Aug. 27 of his freshman year in 1994, when he redshirted. Age that outside linebacker Romeo Okwara will turn June 17, meaning that the Nigerian native was a 16-year-old high school senior all-star in football. The previous youngest football recruit 51-2½ 18 MARCH 2012 year South Carolina state record with his jump, and it ranked him No. 2 nationally among high school athletes in that category. The Big East title was won last year with a 51-1 leap, and the Notre Dame record is 51-11. Triple jump in 2011 of wide receiver Chris Brown, who Irish head coach Brian Kelly considers the "steal" of this year's Notre Dame recruiting haul. Brown broke a 32- — Lou Somogyi Touchdowns scored on punt returns in 2011 by Virginia native and safety prospect C.J. Prosise en route to making first-team all-state as the punt return man. In other words, Prosise had more Irish quarterbacks since 1980 — including Gunner Kiel this year — who were either ranked No. 1 nationally as a pocket passer by at least one recruiting service or won a national player of the Early enrollees this spring semester: defensive lineman Sheldon Day, quarterback Gunner Kiel and cornerback Tee Shepard. The most were five in 2010 and 2011, and this year's trio brings 2012 Recruiting: By The Numbers time for many of them, I don't think you can go into a signing day saying, 'This thing is over with.' "I have had surprises every single recruiting day, some good, some not so good. As it relates to this one, I'm happy about the guys that signed with us because they know why they're here, and that's the most im- portant thing." Kelly expects Kiel, and the other signees, to compete to make an im- mediate impact. At the end of the 2011 season, emerging junior An- drew Hendrix began sharing more time at quarterback with classmate Tommy Rees. The position appears to be up for grabs heading into spring practices and includes rising sopho- more Everett Golson. "Because we had needs in this class," Kelly said, "in the recruiting process we clearly tell our freshmen, 'You better be ready to compete.' I don't think we set the bar any dif- ferent for Gunner Kiel than we do for any other freshmen as it relates to coming in and competing." Kiel's star power and his coach's office and says, 'Coach, I'll play tight end, quarterback, just let me help the team win.' And he's now being recognized I think in a manner that he should be, by being named first-team all-state in Texas playing tight end at 6-2. That's un- heard of, uncharted territory ,and he's a guy that we get excited about as well." Now that Notre Dame has put a of the draft," Kelly pointed out Tom- ball, Texas, defensive back Nick Baratti as another key signee. "He's a football player," Kelly said. "Here is a kid who goes into bow on another crop, Kelly has al- ready turned his attention to 2013. "I think I've had 15 phone calls today to 2013 recruits," he said. "As you can see, there's not much time to sit around and think about the last recruiting process. "You have to react and move for- BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED proud of snagging a handful of prospects in which perhaps other programs didn't see the value. Calling Hanahan, S.C., wide receiver Chris Brown a "steal twisting path to Notre Dame overshadows the rest of the class, but Kelly was ward, which we have done already today." ✦