Recruiting Week In Review
Written by Joe Bradshaw
To be a national champion in college football, a team must have good quarterback play. Three yards and a cloud of dust is no longer the reality. What is the reality is a dynamic quarterback, playmaking skill position players and an opportunistic defense; but, it begins with quarterback play.
One area in which Notre Dame has excelled during the Brian Kelly era is recruiting quarterbacks. The Irish have already landed their quarterback in the Class of 2018 and just recently received a verbal commitment for a quarterback in the Class of 2019. What have you been missing by not being a member of Irish Sports Daily?
Cade McNamara, QB, 6-1, 185, Damonte Ranch High School, Reno, NV recently made his verbal commitment to Notre Dame. For McNamara, it was love at first sight.
“Notre Dame really checked all of the boxes,” he explained. “As soon as I stepped on campus I knew something special at Notre Dame was there for me.”
McNamara credits his relationships with Coach Kelly and quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees with being a big part of his attraction to the Irish.
“I believe me and Coach Kelly and Coach Rees’ relationship is really good,” he shared. “Their philosophy on being a quarterback, I believe suits me very well and I believe it describes me.”
Though McNamara knew he was ready to commit, he wanted to do so in person, so he made a trip to South Bend to experience the Notre Dame campus in greater depth. He really liked what he saw and, if there was any doubt, it was removed.
“Last week I went back to South Bend to get a harder look at the campus and meet all of the coaches again,” he said. I wanted to be able to commit to Coach Kelly’s face, which I did on Thursday.”
Both McNamara and Kelly were thrilled with his commitment.
“He was very excited,” McNamara said of Kelly’s reaction. “I got to talk to him Thursday in his office and he was super pumped for me. It was super exciting and truly an honor with all of the great quarterbacks who have gone through Notre Dame.”
McNamara talked about the ways in which he found the Irish quarterback philosophy such a complete fit.
“I believe my competitiveness, my heart, my hard work ethic and with my talent level, I believe I can be a difference maker when it comes to a team standpoint,” he said. “Really, my goal is to win a national championship with Notre Dame. I believe we will be able to do it.”
Now that McNamara’s on board, he has turned his attention from recruit to recruiter.
“My job is to recruit the players I believe can help us win the national championship,” he said. “I’ll talk about what we’re trying to do at Notre Dame, Notre Dame for life, the tradition and what we’ll accomplish.”
As a general rule, quarterbacks make earlier commitments than other recruits, because quarterback slots fill up quickly. Other position players tend to make the choices more slowly. Geordon Porter, WR, 6-2, 175, Etiwanda High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA has not yet made his commitment but the Class of 2018 receiver has narrowed his list to seven. Notre Dame is on that list.
“I just felt like there were certain schools I should focus on and just to narrow it down to make the process easier,” he said. “All of the schools are both good academically with good programs. I love their offenses, they love to throw the ball, which is great for a receiver like me.”
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The next step in Porter’s recruiting process is to visit his schools of interest. Besides Notre Dame, UCLA, Alabama, Arizona State, Cal, Utah and Colorado made the cut. Once the three-star receiver does that, he will make his final decision.
His visit to South Bend will take place for the September 9th Georgia game.
“I just want to see the environment around there, the school and just see how the game is and how they run the offense and how the team plays,” Porter said. “That’s a really great program with a great tradition. There’s great alumni and great people around there, people who love football, a great environment to be around as a football player and as a person as a great academic school.”
Notre Dame special teams coach Brian Polian and wide receivers coach Del Alexander have been Porter’s primary recruiters.
“They really like me,” he shared. “They really want to get me down there to experience how Notre Dame is and they think I’d really fit well in their offense as a receiver.”
Porter admits no favorites at this point, preferring instead to let the visits determine his final choice.
“The deciding factor will probably be how the trips go and to see how great of an environment surrounds the school and see how I feel and if I’m 100 percent sure about the decision and will want to play in the offense and go to school there,” he said.
These two summaries represent just a sample of the Notre Dame football recruiting information available each week on Irish Sports Daily.