Michael Smith

With just Michael Young committed in the 2017 class, the Irish need to expand the receiver board and here are three names that could fit into Notre Dame's offense.

When Brian Kelly was announced as the head coach of Notre Dame eight years ago, his first task was putting together a coaching staff from scratch. Out of his nine assistants, four came over with him from Cincinnati Bob Diaco, Charley Molnar, Mike Elston and Tim Hinton. He decided to keep one holdover, Tony Alford, from Charlie Weis' staff. That left four slots to fill. After Jeff Quinn took the head coaching job at Buffalo, Kelly needed to find an offensive line coach. He tagged former Kansas offensive coordinator Ed Warriner for that job. He found a spot for his former assistant Chuck Martin, then the head coach at Grand Valley State, as well. Bob Diaco's former college teammate Kerry Cooks was also added and seemed like a logical fit. Then there was Mike Denbrock. If you were a member of Irish Sports Daily at the time, you would have heard then that it was a good hire. Denbrock not only did a good job as a position coach previously at Notre Dame from 2002-2004, but he did a good job as a recruiter as well. Throw in that he worked with Kelly from 1992-1998 at Grand Valley and it sure seemed like a logical fit. It's obviously turned out extremely well with Denbrock in his return to Notre Dame, but he wasn't seen as a coach on the rise before he got the opportunity. After being part of Tyrone Willingham's staff at Washington following his first stop in South Bend, he ended up at Indiana State. That's a pretty big step down and after being a part of two staffs that were fired, most people would assume he must not be that good of football coach. Despite being fired from two jobs and then taking a job at an FCS school, any assumption that he wasn't a good coach or that he could not coach at a top school has proven to be false. It could be argued that he has been the most valuable staff member during Kelly's time at Notre Dame. It was not a flashy hire that made headlines. It was simply the right hire because he is a fit with the program, a good recruiter and a coach who has done a great job of developing players. In terms of everything combined into one for an assistant at Notre Dame, Denbrock checks all the boxes, which is why ISD Publisher Mike Frank mentioned him in the piece he did yesterday, which you can read here. After a 4-8 season, Kelly is back to putting together a staff that could have as many new faces as his first season at Notre Dame. There are already two new coaches with Brian Polian and Mike Elko coming to town. Kelly still needs to find someone to coach quarterbacks and there is a real possibility he may need to bring in new people on the defensive side of the ball after Elko gets done interviewing the current staff members. This is obviously a critical time for him to get these hires right.There needs to be a balance of things weighted for each hire and being fired from a previous job should not disqualify someone. It might be perceived as more of a win to steal away a coach from another blue-blood program, but Denbrock is a great Notre Dame example of someone who looked to be declining in terms of his career when in reality he wasn't. Those were circumstances out of his control when he was fired. Denbrock didn't bring buzz. He brought substance. Hiring him ended up being one of Kelly's best decisions since he's been at Notre Dame. Even in the case of someone like Lane Kiffin, who left three head coaching jobs with a poor reputation, it turned out very well for Nick Saban when he brought him on at Alabama. Kiffin did not do a good job as a head coach, but he did a great job as an offensive coordinator in Tuscaloosa. Kiffin worked hard as a recruiter and had overall track record of success calling plays. That part mattered more than the recent head coaching failures. What someone has done recently as a coach matters, but not as much as an overall rsum, especially when it comes to doing a specific job. Looking at the two new hires, Elko and Polian are two great examples of checking the right boxes for the two positions they have been hired for. Elko has never recruited players to Notre Dame, but he has had to target players that needed to achieve strong academic requirements at Wake Forest. He also played and coached college football at Penn. That helps. He hasn't signed 4 and 5-star recruits before, but he has done a very good job at identifying good talent and helping develop that talent. Now he'll get to do it with a wider net of potential prospects. The most important and in our minds, mandatory requirement for the defensive coordinator is someone who has a history of success on the field. Elko certainly has that and he's also done so with less raw talent than he will have at his disposal at Notre Dame. He's had three years of success with a bottom-tier team in a Power 5 conference. He's earned this opportunity and there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about him being the hire at defensive coordinator.For Polian, everything is obvious. He's not only had a ton of past recruiting success at top schools as an assistant, he's had part of that success recruiting to Notre Dame. From a recruiting perspective, it's an absolute home run. He is outstanding as an individual recruiter and also has been a recruiting coordinator before. Even if he doesn't have the title this time around, it's still a bonus to have him assist in that capacity. As for his role coordinating special teams, he doesn't have the rsum that suggests he is going to transform Notre Dame's special teams into one of the top units in the country. But he has been a special teams coordinator for 11 years now compared to only three years when he first was hired at Notre Dame in 2005. Scott Booker had zero years of experience coordinating special teams when he was assigned to that role. The experience matters in this case. After last year's mistakes, Kelly is looking for competency and stability. Those are two things Polian can certainly provide. In an ideal scenario, Polian and Elko would have previous relationships from coaching with Kelly before as well. Previous working relationships aren't what is most important, though. Those relationships worked out well for Kelly with Denbrock and Chuck Martin, but we all know it did not work out well with Brian VanGorder. Past on-field success is important, but primarily in the jobs that they are being asked to do. Past recruiting success is important, but being able to sell what Notre Dame is offering a student-athlete makes a coach even more valuable. And in the end, it all has to fit within the puzzle of the entire staff. There needs to be a balance of outstanding on-field teachers combined with relentless recruiters. Kelly has an opportunity to start over and find the right mix with his staff this offseason. So far, he's done a very good job finding the right balance with Elko and Polian. MORE ON ELKO THE RECRUITER: Last week in this space, we heard from some people about what Elko is like as a recruiter. Now that the former Wake Forest defensive coordinator has been officially hired as Notre Dame's new DC we were able to get some additional thoughts from a couple other people who have dealt with him on the recruiting trail."He's very intellectually sound," the parent of a player recruited by Elko told us. "He knows what it takes to recruit really high-end kids, that high-caliber kid that Notre Dame looks for, the combinations of the brains and the brawn and all of that. He was really good."The same parent noticed Elko seemed to have a better overall grasp of what he was selling at Wake Forest than your typical assistant coach."He was just real knowledgeable about classroom sizes and stuff like that," we were told. "The product he had, he knew everything about it. He was good. He was a very good marketer of what he had to offer."That parent is convinced Elko will be even more successful on recruiting for the Irish."He knows what it takes to do that," we were told. "He knows what it takes to be a part of a university like Notre Dame. He knows. "There are a lot of these guys there are hundreds and hundreds of coaches but you have to be a special coach to be able to be involved with a university like Notre Dame or Stanford or where he came from. It just takes a certain cat. You can't just send anybody out there to recruit those kids."And this parent says parents of Notre Dame targets will notice as well."The parents look for certain things, certain things the coaches say, certain things about how they treat their kids," the parent said. "When you're talking to somebody on that playing field, you expect a whole lot out of those people. I don't know why it's different, but I think it is."Elko "was on top of" everything, according to the parent and gave off an aura of comfort and confidence."I liked him," the parent said. "I thought he was a really nice fella. He was very impressive to talk to. He had knowledge coming out of his ears."He was talking real. He was a real dude. He was being real friendly about the conversation. You felt like you were talking with someone who had a lot of knowledge, somebody who had been through the process and was trying to lead kids in the right direction, not just selling them a bill of goods."We also spoke with a defensive prospect who was recruited to Wake Forest by Elko. "He was a great recruiter," the player said. "He came down to see me as much as he possibly could. He always stayed in touch with me. He recruited me hard through the whole process. I know he's a family guy. He's just a real good family guy. My mom liked him."In addition to Elko's personality, this defensive back loved the schemes the coach was employing."I liked the system he ran a lot at Wake Forest," the DB said. "He told me about the system, but the corners coach explained it to me. They ran basically everything you could possibly run."Every team in the NFL doesn't run the same coverages, it's not just one coverage. Being able to run different coverages would make me more versatile."FAITH GUIDES FIELDS FAMILY: We're running a story with the mother of 2017 Oklahoma safety Evan Fields on Christmas Day which we think you'll enjoy, but should offered her thoughts on specific to Notre Dame, which we wanted to share with you today.Last week, Fields released a top four of Notre Dame, Oregon, Arizona State and Kansas State. The Irish and the Ducks just extended scholarship offers in the last couple of weeks, but still managed to make his list of finalists. He's already taken official visits to Arizona State and Kansas State and is scheduled to make trips to his other two favorites next month."Everyone knows Notre Dame has a wonderful reputation when it comes to academics, when it comes to their ballclub," Evonnda Fields told Irish Sports Daily. "As a parent, you want the very best for your child. Evan is smart. He knows what Notre Dame is about and what they stand for."Mrs. Fields and her family were proud just to be on the Irish's radar."It was a prestigious honor to even be thought of by them," she said. "We're definitely going to take this official and go see what they're about, see what they have to offer and see how Evan will work into their program."Football is very important to the Fields family, you'll find out why on Sunday, but so is education."As a parent, I have a lot of questions on the academic side," Mrs. Fields said. "We love sports and everything, but injuries are unforeseeable. Not everybody makes it to the NFL and even if you make it to the NFL, we know it's a two to three-year career. "As a parent, the academics is the main thing for me. I want Evan to be able to get a degree and what a blessing to have a degree paid for by an institution like that. You can get a job anywhere within the United States and outside of the United States. I want the very best for him."Still, the Oklahoma defender will be the one making the decision in the end."He wants to take a look at it and like I told Evan, 'I'll always be your Bonnie. Whatever you want Son. It's your decision. You're the one who has to live out that life and that dream for the next four to five years,'" Mrs. Fields said. "Regardless of what I think, it is his decision on what he chooses and I'm just going to ride with him. I don't want to be one of those parents where my kid comes back and says, 'Mom, it was you who held me back because you wanted this for me.' I don't want that burden."Mrs. Fields admits it's going to be difficult to see her son leave, but has faith in God's plans even if she gets emotional discussing them."I want my kid to be able to spread their wings and fly. Evan and I have had this discussion. I have shed many tears because I know I'm getting ready to lose him. I told Evan, 'You keep God first. You spread your wings and you fly.' I want what's best for him. "That's the only thing I want, but I will miss him and I worry about not having a high income and be able to be there the way I want to for him, but I trust God and I know he'll make a way."WHAT'S UP WITH BRINI?: Even before Latavious Brini visited South Bend this summer, it was clear the 2017 Florida cornerback was intrigued with Notre Dame. Coming off that visit for Irish Invasion, it was obvious Brini liked what he saw. Even as he neared his decision to commit to Georgia a couple weeks later, he wasn't ready to rule out the Irish completely.As we reported earlier this week, Brini has since backed off that pledge to the Bulldogs and has reconnected with Notre Dame. He told us he was just waiting to get back with Notre Dame assistant Todd Lyght to schedule an official sometime in January.That is obviously encouraging, but after talking with another source, it sounds like the Irish still have some ground to make up if they are going to land Brini on National Signing Day."I could be wrong, but it seems like he may be leaning toward staying close to Florida," the source said. "After the Notre Dame visit, I'm not going to say he lost interest, but it's kind of far. I think the schools that are closer to home are getting his attention more."While Brini hasn't ruled out the Bulldogs, our source said he may have got caught up in some of the excitement that came with last year's coaching change."I think it might have been just feeling the energy of Kirby Smart," the source said. "Kirby came in with a lot of energy and he had a lot of kids jump onboard. I think he may have got caught up in the wave as things played and just being a kid. Then he realized maybe he wasn't really feeling Georgia."As we said, Georgia remains in the mix, but apparently so do some other schools. "Miami keeps popping up," said our source who added that LSU and Florida Atlantic have also been mentioned a lot. "He cooled way off on Florida State. Florida State and Alabama, they're not even in the question."Despite the distance, there's no reason to doubt the sincerity of Brini's interest in the Irish."Definitely the opportunity to play early," the source said of what Brini learned during that unofficial visit this summer. "That was a big thing for him. The Notre Dame education, just the opportunity, just the opportunity to be successful after football. I'm pretty sure every school is giving him that same spiel too, but I know the Notre Dame name and Notre Dame effect, that stood out to him."Still, our source would bet on one of the regional schools."We'll probably just have to wait and see, but I'm guessing it's probably going to be one of the in-state schools."TARGET TALK: At this point, Notre Dame can't do much more than wait on Jamire Calvin.The 2017 Los Angeles wide receiver took the last official he'll take before his announcement and he took it to South Bend, so the Irish have to feel good about that.We talked with a source familiar with Calvin's recruitment following his trip to South Bend. "He liked it a lot," the source said.Coming from Southern California, it doesn't seem like weather is going to play any factor."He said, 'The cold doesn't bother me at all,'" we were told. "He talked about the academics too. They're obviously great."Fellow California receiver Javon McKinley acted as Calvin's host for the weekend."He said he really liked it," the source said.As we've reported before, while Calvin released a top four of Notre Dame, Nebraska, Washington State and Alabama while he was in South Bend, we don't feel the Crimson Tide are true threats. Our source confirmed that as well. We feel like it's an Irish-Cornhuskers battle at this point, although new schools, including Texas could make this one interesting down the stretch, especially since Calvin hasn't ruled out taking a fifth official visit after his announcement.But our source believes Calvin has a good handle on what he's going to do."I think he kind of knows," we were told. "I have a feeling he has a pretty strong feeling where he wants to go. He's not saying anything, but I saw him a little bit more excited about Notre Dame than he was before. He doesn't say a lot a lot or go into great detail. He seemed really happy with Notre Dame. I'm not saying they're the leader or anything. I really don't know."Calvin is excited about the opportunity to announce at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Jan. 7th, so it's doubtful he'll give anything away before then even if he does know.***As expected, cornerback Thomas Graham was removed from the Target List after he committed to Oregon. ***Brini has been added to the list as has Texas wide receiver Gavin Holmes, who released a top seven on Thursday night that included the Irish along with Arizona State, Baylor, Nebraska, Oregon, UCLA and Utah.We caught up with a source close to Holmes this week who told us the 5-foot-11, 180-pounder could play on the outside or in the slot, but that his quickness and speed would be ideal for an inside receiver. We were also told Holmes has a great work ethic and is starting to develop the kind of swagger elite receivers possess without letting that change the person he is away from the field. Holmes says he'll "definitely" visit South Bend for an official next month.***Former Washington commit Connor Wedington is another addition. The West Coast athlete could play cornerback or running back and is very serious about the role academics will play in his decision. Stanford looks like the team to beat given the fact that he decommitted from the Huskies after gaining admittance in Palo Alto, but maybe Notre Dame can offer him similar opportunities.***Florida wide receiver Michael Smith has been added to the list as well after landing an offer from the Irish and expressing a desire to visit.Check out the complete 2017 Target List here.And if you missed our breakdown of the entire list earlier in the week, you can read Inside The Target List here.