Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MARCH 2019 69 FOOTBALL RECRUITING before Christmas and go on about their senior year is valuable." In the first year of early signing, the Notre Dame staff was a little skepti- cal about it, but now there is a better recognition to get the "Big Boards" started by January for the 2020 and even 2021 class. If there is one potential drawback, it's that the accelerated process can sometimes lead to missing out on the late bloomers. "It's always nice to be able to eval- uate senior film," Notre Dame de- fensive coordinator Clark Lea told Fighting Irish Media. "Sometimes when guys are making decisions so early, you fill a class up and you lose the chance to do that. "Everything now is being pushed forward, so you really have to work two classes ahead, and that's going to be kind of unique to this cycle because this is the first time going through it." AN EASIER SELL JOB A year ago at this time, Notre Dame linebackers coach Clark Lea was suddenly promoted to the defen- sive coordinator role for the first time in his coaching career. As the succes- sor to Mike Elko (who left for Texas A&M), Lea's role in recruiting was not so much salesman as soother. "Some of that, when the transition happened, was me creating comfort for them and saying, 'This isn't going to change that much. You're going to have a coach who believes in you, a coordinator who believes in you,'" Lea told Fighting Irish Media in Feb- ruary. "That just gave them peace of mind." Nothing is more reassuring to prospects than seeing actual success, and Lea's first season as coordina- tor saw 12-1 and College Football Playoff participant Notre Dame fin- ish No. 6 in pass efficiency defense, No. 9 in the Fremeau Efficiency Index in defense and No. 13 in scoring de- fense, among the top five outputs the past 40 years. In each of the past two recruiting cycles, Notre Dame recruited a full defense (and then some) at every position, and this time Lea will be making his pitch to not just his posi- tion group (linebackers) but every prospect on defense. "My involvement is going to be way more important in terms of in- fluencing these guys' decisions," he said. "It's a challenge because you're really going to have to cast a wide net, not just on linebackers but de- fensive linemen and players in the secondary … when you're trying to build a culture, you get excited about that opportunity." ✦ Rating The Recruits: Updated In the February 2019 edition, Blue & Gold Illustrated football analyst Bryan Driskell had an initial evaluation of Notre Dame's then 21-man class by extensively grading game film and production. With even more time in January to review and add new tape to his study and evaluation, plus adding defensive end Isaiah Foskey into the class, here is his final overall analysis of the players on offense and defense. Some have remained the same, including safety Kyle Hamilton, offensive tackle Quinn Carroll and defensive tackle Hunter Spears still leading the top prospects in the class, but a few changes also occurred. BGI'S FINAL 2019 CLASS RANKINGS National Rank Rk. Signee, Pos. Star Rating Upside Range Last Update 1. Kyle Hamilton, S 5.0 5.0 Top 25 1 2. Quinn Carroll, OL 4.5 5.0 Top 50 2 3. Hunter Spears, DT 4.5 5.0 Top 100 3 4. Andrew Kristofic, OL 4.0 5.0 Top 100 6 5. Isaiah Foskey, DE 4.0 5.0 Top 100 — 6. Jacob Lacey, DT 4.0 4.5 Top 100 5 7. Zeke Correll, C/G 4.0 4.5 Top 100 7 8. Marist Liufau, LB 4.0 5.0 Top 250 13 9. Cam Hart, WR 4.0 4.5 Top 250 8 10. NaNa Osafo-Mensah, DE 4.0 4.5 Top 250 4 11. Osita Ekwonu, LB 4.0 4.5 Top 250 10 12. Kendall Abdur-Rahman, WR 4.0 4.5 Top 250 12 13. Jack Kiser, LB 4.0 4.5 Top 250 19 14. K.J. Wallace, CB 4.0 4.0 Top 300 11 15. Brendon Clark, QB 4.0 4.5 Top 300 14 16. Isaiah Rutherford, CB 4.0 4.0 Top 300 15 17. John Olmstead, G 4.0 4.0 Top 300 16 18. Litchfield Ajavon, S 4.0 4.0 Top 400 9 19. JD Bertrand, LB 3.5 4.0 Top 400 17 20. Kyren Williams, RB 3.5 4.0 Top 400 18 21. Howard Cross III, DE 3.5 4.0 Top 400 20 NR Jay Bramblett, P — — — — NR Harrison Leonard, PK* — — — — * Walk-on The list above comes from the grades each player received based on his projection from senior film plus his upside grade. Each player is graded out on eight different position-specific categories plus an upside grade. Pos. — Refers to the position the player was recruited to play at Notre Dame. Star Rating — Refers to the current ranking based on skills and production up to this point. Upside — Refers to the potential the player possesses if he taps into his full potential. National Rank Range — Refers to the approximate range Driskell believes each player would rank if his grade was projected into the Rivals rankings. According to Rivals.com, Edina (Minn.) High standout Quinn Carroll is Notre Dame's top-rated player in its 2019 class, at No. 68 nationally. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM