Like Everything Else, Notre Dame Recruiting In 2020 Was Unprecedented
COVID-19 has been so devastating to families across the country that examining its impact on college football recruiting could be seen as trivial.
Maybe for those who follow it as an escape, it is – of course, maybe that escape was needed as much this year as ever before – but for those whose livelihoods depend on it, it isn’t.
And for the young men making the most important decisions of their lives during unprecedented times, it certainly isn’t trivial.
Notre Dame signed 24 prospects to National Letters of Intent on Wednesday. This early period has been more dramatic for the Irish than any since the early date was instituted three years ago as the Irish continue to chase more than a couple prospects beyond the first signing day.
While the vast majority of commits had confirmed their plans to sign this morning/afternoon, there was some uncertainty surrounding Tennessee linebacker Prince Kollie after defensive coordinator Clark Lea’s hiring at Vanderbilt, but he did in fact sign with the Irish on Wednesday.
However, Notre Dame is still waiting for official word on the plans of Louisiana running back Logan Diggs, who received an offer from LSU last week and isn’t expected to sign today.
Meanwhile, the Irish are still chasing a running back to either pair with Diggs or help replace him.
Michigan’s Donovan Edwards will announce his decision this afternoon, but we’ve removed him from our Target List and expect him to land at either Michigan or Georgia.
But New Jersey’s Audric Estime is firmly on our Target List after receiving the offer he seemed to be waiting for from Notre Dame on Monday. We’re told not to expect Estime to sign with the Irish less than 48 hours after being offered, but he could be ready by the end of the week.
Recruiting has been in a dead period since the middle of March, when all in-person recruiting halted. Quite the challenge for a process built on relationships.
Things can – and often do – change when it comes to recruiting, but with much of the cycle frozen in place for several months, by the time COVID crushed the country, the die had been cast in many cases.
But not in all cases.
Coaches and prospects found ways to adapt to the new landscape and while many things changed, even more remained the same.
There were commits, decommits and even a couple recommits. There were (unguided) visits, cancelled visits and even a couple secret visits. There were wins, losses and at least one breakup that may or may not have been mutual along the way.
The speculation and realization of coaching changes have also complicated things for some prospects in the final days as they always do.
There were some late surprises like the signing of local quarterback Ron Powlus III, yes son of that Ron Powlus.
When the NCAA announced a dead period on March 18, 2020, Notre Dame had seven verbal commitments in the Class of 2021. That dead period was initially supposed to be in place for less than a month, a laughable amount of time in hindsight.
In addition to the seven prospects it had committed at the time – QB Tyler Buchner, OL Blake Fisher, DL Gabriel Rubio, TE Cane Berrong, WR Lorenzo Styles Jr., WR Deion Colzie and S Justin Walters – the Irish had already laid the groundwork with several targets it would eventually add to the group.
But while some schools held their major spring recruiting weekends prior to the pandemic hitting, Notre Dame had to scratch its major event for the Class of 2021. As the full impact of COVID was realized in the ensuing weeks and months, it became clear that attempts to reschedule were pointless.
It’s impossible to know the true impact that had on the Irish’s final haul, but fans may be wondering “what if” throughout running back Will Shipley’s career at Clemson.
There would be no guided unofficial visits, no official visits, no camp season, no evaluation period and no in-home visits.
Coaches tasked with identifying the best fits for their programs on and off the field and then convincing those players that the fit was mutual were stripped of their most effective tools.
Meanwhile, prospects were robbed of the opportunities to prove themselves worthy without the evaluation period, camp season and – in some cases – their senior football seasons. And the ones who were fortunate enough to have significant opportunities before the shutdown were denied proper chances to fully evaluate their options.
Schools across the country quickly began learning how to employ software to conduct “virtual visits,” allowing them to speak with kids face-to-face while offering digital tours of their campus over Zoom.
In some ways, that only ramped up the pressure on prospects as some decided they’d seen enough to make commitments. Once others took note of their peers pulling the trigger, they were put in a bind not unfamiliar, yet still unprecedented given the circumstances; weighing the benefits of making a swift, but not completely informed decision against being patient and the possibility of missing out on a spot at the school of their choice.
This stress led to the emergence of the unguided unofficial visit.
Several prospects with the time and means traveled to college campuses, including Notre Dame, to give themselves tours absent any in-person contact with school staffs. These types of visits helped the Irish seal the deal with players like tight end Mitchell Evans, cornerback Chance Tucker and defensive end Will Schweitzer, the latter two taking theirs under the radar.
The Irish had already positioned themselves well with players like offensive linemen Rocco Spindler and Pat Coogan, wide receiver Jayden Thomas, defensive end Jason Onye and cornerback Ryan Barnes, so they weren’t working from scratch in landing their eventual commitments.
Some prospects adapted to the new nature of recruiting, like offensive lineman Joe Alt, who made his pledge to Notre Dame less than two months after receiving his offer from the Irish following multiple virtual visits.
Diggs was adamant about wanting to take visits before making a decision, but the circumstances just didn’t allow for it. He did finally get to South Bend for the Irish’s regular season finale two weeks ago, a trip that could prove pivotal as LSU tries to flip him in the final hours of the process.
The Spartans were Estime’s leader back in the summer and he made it a priority to get to East Lansing in August. He’d commit to Michigan State the following month. But a monster senior season led to additional interest. The Irish extended an offer on Monday and while they’re now considered the favorites, a solid source doesn’t expect Estime to sign with Notre Dame today. The same source did leave open the possibility of Estime signing before the early period closes on Friday.
Florida offensive lineman Caleb Johnson landed his Irish offer a week before the pandemic hit. He assumed he’d get back to South Bend eventually, but when that became unlikely, the Indiana native committed to Auburn, a school he had the chance to visit shortly before the dead period was instituted. But the Irish stayed on him and ended up flipping him in November.
Johnson was one of four outright flips along with defensive end Devin Aupiu (UCLA), Schweitzer (Nebraska) and cornerback Philip Riley (USC) with Estime as a possible fifth.
Riley represented the rare flip/recommitment as he made his initial commitment to the Irish before committing to the Trojans and eventually back to Notre Dame. Colzie was the other recommit, having committed in October of 2019, decommitted in March and recommitted in September.
This recruiting cycle was like none other before it and – despite the fact that the dead period is scheduled to stretch into at least April of 2021 – hopefully, like none other after it.
But with every school operating on a relatively equal playing field, the things that always matter still mattered.
All of the Irish prospects talked about the blend of academics and athletics Notre Dame offers and all of them developed meaningful relationships with the staff in South Bend. Winning certainly helps, evidenced by the unusually large number of prospects who flipped to the Irish down the stretch.
But Notre Dame’s perfect 2020 regular season is likely to pay even more dividends in the Class of 2022 and beyond…at least that would normally be the case.