Recruiting Week In Review
Written by Joe Bradshaw
As Notre Dame gets close to filling their 2021 class, they are increasingly focusing their recruiting on the Class of 2022. With only two verbal commitments thus far, slots are wide open for nearly every position. Last week Irish Sports Daily reported on two 2022 prospects that hold Notre Dame offers and have showed great interest in the Irish. What have you been missing by not being a member of Irish Sports Daily?
Tyson Ford, DE, 6-6, 250, John Burroughs High School, St. Louis, MO has been attending Catholic schools his entire academic life. A transition to a Catholic university would create a natural fit, at least according to Notre Dame Defensive Line Coach Mike Elston. Ford doesn’t disagree.
“I’ve been in private school my whole life, so he said it would be where I fit the best,” Ford said. “I’m used to it, I’ve been there. I’ve spent most of my life in private Catholic institutions, so he just knows it would be a great fit for me as a school.”
Ford continued.
“As a football team, I love the players they coach. They have aggressive players and players who have the potential to go to the NFL and that could possibly be me.”
Elston has made Ford a priority, staying in frequent contact with the four-star recruit.
“I talk with Coach Mike Elston,” he shared. “He’s been saying that he would love to have me play for his program. He says I’m the type of person they want playing for them.”
In addition to Notre Dame, Ford currently holds offers from Missouri, Michigan State, Texas A&M, Kansas State, Illinois, Kansas, Iowa State, Kentucky, Arizona State and many others. Notre Dame is competing against some strong programs but the Irish may have an ace in the hole.
“I love Coach Elston,” Ford said. “I really like how he shows that he wants me in the program and really takes the initiative to talk to me all of the time.”
When the dead period is finally lifted, Ford plans to hit the road to check out his favorites.
“I’ll be at schools like Notre Dame, Michigan State and Mizzou,” he said. “Those are my top three right now. I’d just like to see the facilities they offer and everything they want to show me about the program; how the football team practices, how the coaches treat the players, just get a feel for how it would be if I went there.”
Mike Elston isn’t the only coach that has made an impression on a recruit. Offensive Line Coach Jeff Quinn has been in regular contact with Wisconsin offensive lineman Billy Schrauth. Schrauth, OL, 6-5, 265, St. Mary’s Springs Academy, Fond du Lac, WI talked with ISD about his frequent communication with Quinn.
“I’ve been keeping in contact with Quinn every week,” he shared. “We do a FaceTime every Monday. I’ve done a virtual tour with some coaches too. It’s just been going pretty good.”
Quinn has made a strong impression on the four-star prospect.
“So far, he’s been great,” Schrauth said. “He’s been straightforward with me which helps a lot. He stands for a lot of things that I was brought up in.”
Quinn has emphasized to the St Mary’s star his commitment to the “Five F’s”, faith, family, football, fishing and fun.
“He’s a down to earth guy,” Schrauth said. “My family and I are really able to relate to him.”
Schrauth learned quite a bit more about Notre Dame during a virtual tour.
“It’s kind of more the academic side of things,” he explained. “That was good just to see how big and powerful that alumni network is that they have.”
Schrauth’s scholarship offer list is quite impressive. In addition to Notre Dame, he has also received offers from Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, Northwestern, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Arizona State just to name a few. In fact, his offer list is so extensive he’s been forced to focus on just eight to ten schools, “the schools I could see myself playing at.”
He will soon trim even that list and Notre Dame is in a great position to make the cut.
“I’ll probably go visit a few of them, probably five or six and those will be the schools I’ll probably be sticking with,” Schrauth said. “Notre Dame will definitely be one of them.”
He has yet to visit South Bend and is looking forward to the opportunity to get on campus.
“I haven’t really met any of the coaches, so I just want to shake their hands and get to know them,” he said. “It’s kind of hard over the phone and everything. It’s working for now, but you can’t beat that face to face meeting.”
These two summaries represent just a sample of the Notre Dame football recruiting information available each week on Irish Sports Daily.