Pete Werner

By far the biggest news to come out of Under Armour All-America practice in Orlando this week was the reemergence of Ellis Brooks as a legitimate prospect for Notre Dame. We spoke with Brooks at the beginning of the week and the Virginia linebacker he explained how the Irish told him they were full at the position after their flurry with David Adams , Drew White and Pete Werner committing within hours of each other back in March. But Werner's decommitment has opened up a spot and Notre Dame is back in the hunt for Brooks, who has an official visit scheduled to South Bend at the end of January. Brooks told us he had no hard feelings toward the Irish when they essentially dropped him because he understands recruiting is a business. We checked in with multiple sources close to the situation later in the week, who all confirmed Brooks' maturity prevents him from holding a grudge against Notre Dame. Brooks told us he had a visit scheduled to Notre Dame when the commits came, but we didn't realize he was supposed to make the journey out to South Bend the very next week, so his interest in the Irish was and is legit. The sources also told us Notre Dame could end up being a "natural fit" for Brooks given the fact he currently attends the Benedictine School in Richmond, which is a Catholic military academy. Some wonder if Brooks will latch onto some of the similarities at Notre Dame quickly. We're told he's very much looking forward to the trip to Notre Dame, which will take place the final weekend before January. Brooks took an official visit to Maryland earlier this month. He has trips locked in to Oregon and Northwestern prior to his Notre Dame visit and could use his fifth trip to another school, although that would end up being a mid-week visit given the calendar leading up to National Signing Day. Obviously one major factor that could work against Notre Dame is the fact the staff hasn't been building a relationship with Brooks the last several months the way some of the competition has. But after speaking with some sources, that's not enough to count the Irish out at this point. We're told relationships will be important, but Notre Dame has been making up ground with recruiting coordinator Mike Elston taking the lead. There's also a connection to Mike Elko, who offered Brooks a scholarship when he was still at Wake Forest. Also, we're told Brooks isn't ruling out the possibility that he just clicks with the people at Notre Dame right off the bat. He's looking forward to being around the coaches and the players in South Bend to see if he can make those kinds of instant connections. The players could actually be more important than the coaches as we were told Brooks understands "coaches come and go." There is one coach who will be vital to recruiting Brooks and that's the strength and conditioning coach. Notre Dame hasn't announced Paul Longo's replacement as of now, but it's hard to imagine that role will remain unfilled through the end of next month. Brooks is well aware of the fact that he'll likely spend more time with the strength coach than any other member of the staff and it'll be important that he does feel comfortable with him. Michigan may be a school that's mentioned at some point, but sources close to the program in Ann Arbor don't believe the Wolverines will be a factor. Despite still having three and possibly four official visits left to squeeze in the final month before National Signing Day, Brooks isn't stressed about the process. He knows he's going to end up at a good school and doesn't feel any kind of pressure that he needs to make the perfect selection. HEISMAN WINNER HAS HIGH PRAISE FOR DAVIS: Avery Davis isn't going to be Charlie Ward in college, they just have different styles. But Ward, who is coaching quarterbacks for Team Armour here this week, does see a lot of similarities between the future Notre Dame quarterback and another elite signal-caller."He's a smooth operator," Ward said of Davis. "He kind of reminds me of Russell Wilson a lot with his size and the way he delivers the football, his calmness in the pocket. He's very cerebral and is starting to understand where he's supposed to go with the football and what he's supposed to do, but he's definitely a guy who can make things happen." Ward likes what he's seen from Davis in terms of intangibles. "I don't know if he's quiet, but I know he can get out of his shell and lead his team and have people follow him," the former Florida State star said. "I think he has those types of qualities. It's hard to do it here. You're only here a couple of days, but you can tell he has those types of qualities where people want to follow him." Ward said Davis still has some work to do with his mechanics, but in terms of arm strength, he has "that 'It' ball." The game has changed enough that 6-foot isn't the magic number it used to be in terms of bare minimum height for a quarterback. Davis is listed at 5-11. "It doesn't hurt to have role models like a Russell Wilson," said Ward. "Coach (Steve) Mariucci was just talking about Jeff Garcia being smaller in stature and those types of things. You can always point back to guys who have made it. I'm sure they'll play him at quarterback because he can play the position and has those intangibles to help a team win. "In this day and age, you can play in The League if that's an aspiration for a smaller quarterback, but when it's all said and done, it comes down to getting the job done and I think he's capable of doing that."ADAMS MAKES STRONG IMPRESSION: As we said yesterday, Notre Dame linebacker commit David Adams doesn't jump out among the other linebackers at Under Armour, but that's just based on the look test. When you get beyond that, he's certainly turned some heads, among them, Team Armour linebackers coach Jermain Crowell. "Aw man, he's a high-IQ football kid," Crowell said of Adams. "He plays fast and gets to the ball well. "He's just got a high football IQ. He pays attention to tendencies and he plays well with his hands at the point of contact. He gets off blocks. He puts everybody where they're supposed to be." Crowell was an assistant at Cass Tech in Detroit before taking over as head coach at Michigan's Belleville High School. "He's got to develop physically, but he fits in out here," Crowell said of Adams. "You see him with the rest of the linebackers and he fits in. He's making plays. He's playing downhill, he's getting off blocks, he's putting people where they're supposed to be. He's the perfect MIKE." Without knowing, Crowell was ready to wager on at least one measure of Adams' intelligence. "I'm willing to bet you he's got a super score on his SAT. I bet you he does." REGIONAL POWERS NEVER GAVE UP ON WRIGHT: If you saw our interview with Brock Wright yesterday, you know the Irish tight end commit wasn't budging on his decision to go to Notre Dame, but that doesn't mean the regional schools ever gave up. A source close to the situation told us schools kept coming after Wright all of the way until the end with Texas and Alabama leading the way as being the most persistent. When we say these schools came after Wright hard, they came after him hard. They worked just about any angle they could find to the point of diminishing returns. But the real reason they were never able to establish any traction is because Wright would never entertain the idea of seriously talking to any other coaches, let alone going to another school. He's had an affinity for the Irish that goes back almost a decade and he'll fulfill his dream of attending Notre Dame when he enrolls at school in two weeks.SOME IMPORTANT PERSPECTIVE: Over the next five weeks, recruitniks will see dozens of high school prospects don hats to make their college announcements. Some will handle it with class and others undoubtedly won't. We spoke to the head coach of one prospect who will be making his announcement on live TV to get his thoughts. "I'm not a big fan of those things at all to be honest with you," the coach admitted. "I don't like them. I get it. If I was a kid, I would want to do the same thing, trust meI think back to when I was 15, 16, 17, I would have wanted the same exact attention, trust me. I would have wanted to be on stage, to be on TV. "But it infuriates me when kids play the little game where they pick up one and choose another. It's so disrespectful." This coach made it very clear that his player will not be "playing the hat game." "I said, 'Those coaches have spent a lot of time recruiting you,'" the coach told us. "'They have families and they have a job to do. Don't disrespect people.'" But the "hat game" is just a symptom of what this coach sees as an overarching issue. "I have a huge problem with putting kids on a platform before they've really done anything," he said. "I just think people should be humble. That's just me, that's not right or wrong. I wish kids would have an announcement at a school function and then go to college and try to do the best they can. "If you win the Heisman, OK, go ahead on stage. I'm just not a big fan of it. There are so many kids who never make it who put on this big production and don't even make it through school. Even some of the five-star guys don't even make it." The coach admits it's just his opinion and that he's blessed to have a player who has been asked to make his announcement on such a stage, but he still isn't a fan of what it represents. "They think I'm probably old school and don't understand what they're going through," he laughed. "If they would ask me, I would give them my opinion, but in their mind, they're saying, 'You ain't playing college football, you don't have offers. You're not going to have the chance to be on TV.'" While he isn't going to force his opinions on his players, he does make sure they realize what they're really in for at the next level. "I have this conversation with a lot of kids," he shared. "'When you guys show up for that first team meeting, your relationship with that coach changes. If he's a cool guy, he's still a cool dude. They're going to care for you as a young man for the most part, but the relationship stops. They're not your buddy anymore. They're not going to be asking you things they asked you about before. "'You better be on time. You better be attentive because they'll run you out. They're making a lot of money and their families are counting on them. They don't want to lose their jobs because some little 18-year-old kid is going to pout because it's not about them anymore.'" This coach's biggest problem is players trying to direct all of the attention on themselves and said social media isn't helping. "They're feeling a lot more special than what they really are," he said. "It's really gotten to where these kids are asked their opinion about everything. They feel like they're empowered. They feel like they're a lot better than a lot of them are. "Quite frankly, some of these guys will never make it in football even though they're four and five-stars. They're going to need to respond to it in a way so they can still be successful in life even when they're not the football player they thought they were going to be." But he knows it's part of a culture that is trickling down from the college game. "You see games all of the time and a guy might make a nice catch or he might break up a play and he starts doing all his gyrations and taunting," he said. "The very next play or two plays later, he gets burnt for a touchdown or misses a tackle or drops a ball. It's like c'mon, man." He pointed to Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley's home-run swing after throwing a touchdown pass during the Big Ten Championship Game. "And they were losing at the time," he said. "I told my wife, 'I hate this stuff. Why do kids have to act like that?' Maybe I should have coached in the 50s or 60s. But it is what it is. It's the world we live in now and I'm trying to adapt to allow our kids to show emotion because football is about emotion and you can't take it out. I just hate when kids bring attention on themselves. "That's why I tell our kids all of the time, 'You scored a touchdown, but it wasn't just you. First of all, God gave you the athletic ability. You've got guys blocking for you. You've got a guy who threw it and you're pointing to your chest.'" ELKO WAS A WANTED MAN: New Notre Dame defensive coordinator Mike Elko came well-recommended. In fact, the coaches at Florida State put in a good word for Elko, although that may have been so they didn't have to deal with him on an annual basis. The Seminoles staff said Elko gave them more problems than anybody from a scheme standpoint. It wasn't Brian Kelly they told this to though, it was Willie Taggart. We're told Taggart had targeted Elko as his top candidate for the defensive coordinator job with Oregon behind Charlie Strong of course, who was everybody's top, if unrealistic, candidate. When Kelly landed Elko at Notre Dame, Taggart got his number two choice, Jim Leavitt. 2017 CLASS BEYOND TIGHT: For months now, we've talked about the bond Notre Dame's 2017 recruiting class has formed. It hasn't always been strong enough to keep the entire class intact, but even in those instances, the strength of those relationships has come to light. Florida wide receiver Jordan Pouncey became the latest prospect to decommit when he did so on Tuesday. While the other members of the class were sad to see him go and weren't necessarily of the "good riddance" mindset, we've learned Pouncey was told by other members of the group in no uncertain terms that if he wanted to decommit, he should just go ahead and do so and not look for an excuse to blame it on. The outpouring of support on social media from guys like CJ Holmes and Jonathon MacCollister says a lot about the way the group feels about Pouncey as a person, but these guys are all in and if you're half-in, they'd rather you be half-in somewhere else.MORE THAN LONGO?: It's been a hot debate amongst Notre Dame writers and fans that the Strength and Conditioning program needed to changewell maybe there wasn't that much debate about whether a change needed to be made, but rather what change or changes. Notre Dame has made the change at the top with Paul Longo having been reassigned. But according to a source, there still might be a few things the new strength and conditioning coach will need to improve other than just what goes on inside The Gug. Our source believes the problems with the strength and conditioning program date back and aren't limited to Longo. Players were told how to eat, but obviously, Longo and the strength and conditioning staff can't be there with them 24 hours a day. In some cases, players were choosing sleep over eating breakfast. Longo specifically told players it was essential they eat or have fuel after workouts, but it wasn't happening, so players weren't getting bigger. Our source believes if the players followed the plan, then they might see results despite other changes being needed within the program itself. Longo supposedly addressed the concerns that several Notre Dame fans were pointing to. He was trying to hold people accountable, but he could not be there all the time for the players to see who was eating and who wasn't. As for the sleeping part, the source also believes Notre Dame is so busy that sleep is always a premium. "Right after they work out, when the blood is pumping, is when they should be eating," explained the source. "Well, some would get protein shakes afterward, but not eat to fuel their muscles due to busy schedules. "Some would not eat after practice because they want to sleep or study. I'm sure there is much more Longo could have done, but it seems like there is also a lot more the kids could have done tooThe players have to decide what is a priority to them."

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Quick update on the 2017 Notre Dame linebacker commit Pete Werner.