Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/941859
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MARCH 2018 19 2018 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE SOMOGYI A fter Notre Dame inked 21 play- ers during college football's first early signing period Dec. 20-22, the traditional National Signing Day on the first Wednesday of Febru- ary was perceived to be anticlimactic when compared to the past. That was not the reality on Feb. 7, which was Signing Day II in the 2018 college football recruiting cycle. For the first time since 2006, the Fighting Irish exceeded the NCAA's 25-man limit in a class by signing 27 with the addition of six more players. Because a school-record seven of the 27 this year already have enrolled for the spring semester that began Jan. 15, four of those seven can be applied to the previous year's harvest of 21. The six new additions Feb. 7 fea- tured two offensive linemen, two cor- nerbacks, a running back and a wide receiver, and five of them had pre- viously been committed verbally to other schools. • Three-star running back C'Bo Flemister (5-11, 190), a native of Wil- liamson, Ga., came on board after hav- ing originally committed to Georgia Tech and its triple-option scheme. • New Orleans three-star wide re- ceiver Lawrence Keys III (5-11, 170) was the lone player who had not origi- nally issued a verbal pledge to another school. • Three-star offensive tackle Luke Jones (6-5, 289) from Little Rock, Ark., originally committed to the home state Razorbacks before flipping to the Irish shortly after the early signing period. He stayed with the Irish despite the departure of offensive line coach Harry Hiestand to the Chicago Bears. • Three-star offensive lineman Jar- rett Patterson (6-4, 280) from Laguna Hills, Calif., was the third flip after originally giving a verbal to Arizona State. • Annapolis, Md., cornerback DJ Brown (6-1, 180) had pledged at first to Virginia, but he then veered his course Jan. 30 and signed with the Irish a week later. • Finally, the top surprise was four- star Washington (D.C.) Woodson cornerback Noah Boykin, who com- mitted right around noon when head coach Brian Kelly was scheduled to hold his National Signing Day press conference. When Kelly arrived for his media session, he was unaware that Boykin had selected Notre Dame and could not comment on it until given the go- ahead later. A huge fan of the early signing pe- riod, Kelly said he and his staff were able to devote extensive attention on their remaining targets and areas of need in January rather than apply that time to continuing to recruit the first 21. "It really puts you in a very good position looking at this second signing day in terms of what we were focusing on — and that focus was the defensive backfield, offensive line, and then run- ning back," Kelly said. "And I think we hit all of those quite well." In December, the Irish signed only two offensive linemen and wanted to bring in two more. Goal accomplished. They inked one running back in De- cember and definitely needed to sign a second with Josh Adams' early depar- ture to the NFL plus the dismissal of sophomore Deon McIntosh and fresh- man C.J. Holmes from the team this winter. Goal accomplished. The Irish did not sign a cornerback last year, so getting three or four this season was a priority, and the addi- tions of Boykin and Brown in February was a boost. Goal accomplished. EXCITING FINISH The Irish added six players to their strong 27-man class on the second National Signing Day ✦ 2018 NOTRE DAME SIGNEES Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown (High School) Jayson Ademilola DT 6-3 288 Jackson, N.J. (St. Peter's Prep) Justin Ademilola DE 6-2 246 Jackson, N.J. (St. Peter's Prep) Derrik Allen S 6-2 215 Marietta, Ga. (Lassiter) Kevin Austin WR 6-2 197 Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (North Broward Prep) Bo Bauer* LB 6-2 212 Harborcreek, Pa. (Cathedral Prep) Noah Boykin CB 6-2 176 Washington D.C. (Howard D. Woodson) TaRiq Bracy CB 5-11 170 Milpitas, Calif. (Milpitas) DJ Brown CB 6-1 180 Annapolis, Md. (St. John's College) John Dirksen OL 6-5 303 Maria Stein, Ohio (Marion Local) C'Bo Flemister RB 5-11 190 Williamson, Ga. (Pike County) Ja'Mion Franklin DT 6-1 296 Ridgley, Md. (North Carolina) Houston Griffith* S 6-0 194 Chicago (IMG Academy [Fla.]) Luke Jones OL 6-5 289 Little Rock, Ark. (Pulaski Academy) Micah Jones* WR 6-5 202 Gurnee, Ill. (Warren Township) Phil Jurkovec QB 6-5 204 Pittsburgh (Pine-Richland) Lawrence Keys III WR 5-11 170 New Orleans (McDonogh 35) Jack Lamb* LB 6-3 211 Temecula, Calif. (Great Oak) Braden Lenzy WR 6-0 175 Tigard, Ore. (Tigard) Cole Mabry OL 6-5 275 Brentwood, Tenn. (Brentwood) Paul Moala S 5-11 196 Mishawaka, Ind. (Penn) Ovie Oghoufo* LB 6-3 208 Lathrup Village, Mich, (Harrison) Jarrett Patterson OL 6-4 280 Laguna Hills, Calif. (Mission Viejo) Shayne Simon LB 6-3 212 West Orange, N.J. (St. Peter's Prep) Jahmir Smith* RB 5-10 198 Sanford, N.C. (Lee County) George Takacs* TE 6-6 244 Naples, Fla. (Gulf Coast) Tommy Tremble TE 6-3 224 Johns Creek, Ga. (Wesleyan) Joe Wilkins Jr. CB 6-2 180 North Fort Myers, Fla. (North Fort Myers) * Enrolled Jan. 15 for the spring semester The Irish believe they landed a star in quar- terback Phil Jurkovec, who was named an All- American by the U.S. Army, CBS Sports and MaxPreps following a stellar senior campaign at Gibsonia (Pa.) Pine-Richland. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM