6 Thoughts on a Thursday

Recruiting elite players can be unpredictable, but I’m not sure there has been anything quite as unpredictable for Notre Dame as what’s happening with Dante Moore‍’s recruitment.

Something might happen today. Tomorrow might be a different story. This tale has had a few twists along the way so you never know if a few others could be in store.

There were many people who thought it would play out with the Irish moving on from Moore. It may be the case and it’s difficult to blame Notre Dame if they did elect to move on. 

There are reasons why the staff went all in on Moore and with so much invested, it makes sense to continue to leave the door open. It also makes way too much sense to start getting involved with other quarterback targets. To not do so at this point feels like an unsound strategy to say the least.

The main takeaway from this is that putting everything into one player’s recruitment, at a position where you are only going to take one player, is playing with fire. And when that player is openly changing the narrative of when he might decide and adding in new teams to the mix, it’s on the coaches to read the room and adjust their plan.

It’s time for Notre Dame to make an adjustment. It’s funny that they waited so long because they are still recruiting players who could project to Vyper or safety though they feel much more secure with commitments Keon Keeley‍ and Peyton Bowen‍ taking visits. The hope is that this is a lesson learned for Freeman and he doesn’t repeat recruiting mistakes like Brian Kelly did too often over his dozen years in South Bend.

I think Notre Dame will be more than okay. It doesn’t hurt that they should be gaining a commitment from an elite 2024 quarterback tonight. But now is the time to for this staff to make a pivot even if the door for Moore hasn’t closed. They don’t want to be stuck in a position where he is shutting it for them and no one can predict if that will happen or not at this point in time.

2. I haven’t studied enough of the quarterbacks who don’t have Notre Dame offers to tell you which direction I’d like to see the Irish go for additional targets, but last year 4-star Devin Brown flipped from USC and ended up committing to Ohio State on December 1st. 4-star Nick Evers flipped from Florida and committed to Oklahoma on December 13th. Walker Howard was up for grabs until late in the cycle and there were three other 4-star quarterbacks who flipped from other programs in the summer and fall.

It’s certainly not unprecedented to go out and land an elite prospect after starting over at the position if that is what Notre Dame is forced to do. Kelly’s staff managed to do pretty well after Blake Barnett de-committed in June of the 2015 cycle. They were able to flip Brandon Wimbush from Penn State in October. (It didn’t work out for either player in college, but that’s a different story)

In the 2021 cycle, Jaxson Dart didn’t get his first Power 5 offer until September. In the 2020 cycle, Ohio State offered CJ Stroud in October and landed him in December. The 2023 quarterback for the Irish might not even be someone that is close to their radar at the moment.

Should Notre Dame bring in a quarterback to visit this summer or will they wait until the fall? That’s the question I’m most interested in at the moment. The answer to that will be an indication of whether or not they had a backup plan ready or if they need to fully reset their board.

3. Hypothetically, let’s say Notre Dame either doesn’t end up with a quarterback this cycle or they don’t land one who is considered a blue-chip prospect.

Would that open up them to pursuing an undergraduate transfer at the position? Would they ever get into the game for the Justin Fields or Kyle Murray types or would it strictly be graduate transfers?

This is all under the assumption that Notre Dame will eventually ease up on standards for admissions for undergraduates.

I really don’t know what the right move would be because there is also the fact that they won’t want to rock the boat with CJ Carr‍ and what could be the biggest determining factor is the development of Tyler Buchner and Steve Angeli.

If they signed Moore this cycle, it wouldn’t be on the table. It feels like it should at least be a conversation if the right quarterback comes along, but that hasn’t been how Notre Dame has approached it previously.

4. How big of an impact would not landing Moore have on the receiver position this cycle?

It feels like an unanswerable question at this time, but it wasn’t like Braylon James‍ waited to commit until something publicly happened with Moore. I’m not sure how much it changes how recruits like Jaden Greathouse‍, Ronan Hanafin‍, and Rico Flores Jr.‍ view Notre Dame either. I guess we’ll see soon enough.

I doubt we see many new wide receiver names pop onto the radar who might have if Moore was part of the class, but again, it’s all unanswerable at the moment.

On the other hand, getting Carr committed early is something I believe is going to help them get off to a fast start with receivers in the 2024 class. That’s one reason why it was a great thing for Notre Dame to have 2024 4-stars Cam Williams‍ and Mylan Graham‍ at Irish Invasion working out with Carr. It’s not crazy to think that both could end up catching passes from Carr at Notre Dame and Irish fans should be thrilled if that happens.

5. I’ve written about the Midwest not producing as many top prospects in recent years, but 2024 looks like it could be very strong for the region. That’s always good news for Notre Dame.

They already has a commitment from DT Brandon Davis-Swain‍ (Michigan) and look to grab another one in Carr tonight. Notre Dame is likely going to be a major player for Williams (Illinois), Graham (Indiana), and Brauntae Johnson‍ (Indiana) as well. Al Washington will very likely have the Irish in the mix for elite DT Justin Scott‍ (Illinois) too.

There is a long way to go before any of those players sign, but when there are prospects of that caliber who are close to home, it’s a very big deal. Especially if Notre Dame continues to recruit like they have.

6. There was a rumor going around about Carr possibly re-classifying to the 2023 class. ISD’s Christian McCollum shot that one down pretty quickly with his reporting on Tuesday. 

We’re seeing more and more players re-classify these days. I just don’t see it happening any time soon at Notre Dame unless they get a VERY early commitment from someone who is way ahead of the game academically.

I’ve found it almost comical that some players have announced late in the spring of their junior years in high school that they are re-classifying to enroll in the fall. Only in the world of bending over backwards for athletes could that possibly be a thing that was feasible at certain schools.

That is something I don’t ever see happening at Notre Dame. I don’t think it would be out of the question for someone like Carr, who hasn’t started his junior year of high school yet, to make up the classes needed, but that’s still a lot of work to put in. It would be an impossible workload for someone who committed while they nearing the end of their junior year.

One day I’m sure it will happen with a Notre Dame recruit, maybe even one day soon, but I would be surprised if it happened the same way it is happening at other programs.

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