Recruiting Week In Review
Written by Joe Bradshaw
There are obviously numerous components to building a winning football program at the Power Five level but one of the most important is the presence of speedy playmakers on both sides of the ball. Notre Dame has a tradition of success in recruiting playmakers on the offensive line and lately on the defensive line as well. They are looking to duplicate that success at the skilled positions and if they are able to do so, it could vault them into national championship talk on a yearly basis. Last week Irish Sports Daily reported on two young men in the Class of 2022 who are bona fide playmakers already and both have an interest in Notre Dame. What have you been missing by not being a member of Irish Sports Daily?
Caleb Burton, WR, 6-0, 165, Del Valle High School, Del Valle, TX had recently been in contact with Irish Wide Receivers Coach Del Alexander and suspected that a Notre Dame scholarship offer might be coming. His perception proved to be correct when Alexander formally extended a Notre Dame offer.
“I was very happy and it felt good knowing such a prestigious school like Notre Dame has confidence in me to hand out an offer,” he said. “I know Notre Dame is one of the top academic schools in the country and it’s not common offers get handed out there.”
In addition to the Irish, Burton also holds offers from Texas, Oklahoma, LSU, USC, Michigan, Miami, Penn State, Boston College, Duke, Georgia Tech and many others. While he is impressed with Notre Dame’s academics, he’s also very impressed by what they do on the field.
“The football aspect of it is very interesting to me because they have had many successful players through their program, so it’s nothing new for them and that’s what I like to see,” he explained.
Burton knows what appeals to coaches most about his game.
“What coaches love about my game is how fast I play, what I do after the catch and how easily I come in and out of breaks,” he shared.
The four-star wide receiver plans to stay in touch with Alexander and has expressed an interest in speaking to Head Coach Brian Kelly and strength coach Matt Balis.
“I believe when all this COVID stuff is over, me and the fam will definitely get on campus and check it out,” Burton said. “The most important thing when it comes to making a final decision is having a good relationship with my position coach and the strength coach.”
Like Burton, Malaki Starks, ATH, 6-2, 190, Jefferson High School, Jefferson GA is a dynamic athlete. In fact he is so dynamic that college coaches are in a quandary where to play him; not because he’s not good enough to play a position but because he’s good enough to play several.
Notre Dame Defensive Backs Coach Terry Joseph extended Starks his scholarship offer and that might be indicative of where the Irish see him at the college level. Right now, though, Notre Dame is more interested in just getting a prospect with his athleticism on campus.
“(Joseph) said they need a couple more athletes to be that powerhouse team,” Starks said. “He said my grades are good which is really important when you are recruiting somebody. He said you don’t come across many recruits this early who have good grades and can play so they went ahead and hopped on.”
Starks possesses an illustrious list of scholarship offers. In addition to the Irish, he’s been offered by Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Virginia and others. He described himself as being “very excited” about the Notre Dame offer.
“I don’t know much about Notre Dame but one of my receivers on my team who is going to be a big recruit, Dawson Crawley, that’s his dream school and he’s told me about it,” Starks shared. “I went to the Georgia-Notre Dame game and I was really excited about it. I’m going to start doing my research just like every other school, starting to reach out and build relationships with the coaches and doing research to find out more about the school.”
Because Starks could excel on either side of the ball, Joseph asked him which he would prefer.
“I told him I wasn’t really sure,” Starks said. “I told him that my two favorite positions are wide receiver and DB. He told me that since I’m such a good athlete, it doesn’t really matter what I’m playing as long as I’m playing somewhere. I think they want me for defense but I’m not completely sure.”
Starks has already visited Georgia and Alabama and would like to make it to South Bend among other places.
“I want to go visit Notre Dame,” he said. “I want to go to Clemson, FSU. I want to go back to Georgia and Alabama.”
Starks knows what he’ll be looking for when he’s on campus and when he makes his final decision.
“When I’m picking a school, I want to go somewhere it’s competitive and it feels like family,” he explained. “A place that has really good leadership.”
These two summaries represent just a sample of the Notre Dame football information available each week on Irish Sports Daily.