Recruiting Week In Review

Written by Joe Bradshaw

I’m not one of the ‘rankings don’t matter’ crowd. Numerous analyses demonstrate that they do. However, there are certainly players that continue to physically and athletically mature through their high school senior years as well as their college career. And recruit rankings don’t always do a very good job of measuring heart and desire. Last week Irish Sports Daily reported on two prospects, one in the Class of 2018 and one in the Class of 2019 that reflect both sides of the stars debate. What have you been missing by not being a member of Irish Sports Daily?

Chris Murray, OL, 6-3, 300, Mater Dei High School, Santa Ana, CA has seen his recruitment take off recently and no one is less surprised than his head coach, Bruce Rollinson. He has watched one of his prize pupils receive scholarship offers from numerous top tier college football programs including Notre Dame and Stanford. 

“He’s very, very excited,” Rollinson related. “I don’t know what they didn’t see the first time through, not just Notre Dame, but Stanford has offered him and other prominent universities and then all of a sudden he caught fire.”

Rollinson continued. 

“I’m really happy for him. He’s got an outstanding work ethic. He’s one of those kids who doesn’t have a whole lot to say, but does his talking with his helmet.”

And, according to Rollinson, his play speaks volumes. 

“God blessed him with tremendous power, tremendous balance,” he shared. “He can flat out get into you. I see a lot of upside to the kid because he’s getting bigger as you and I speak. I think he’s going to get bigger as a college football player. I don’t think he’s done growing and not just pound wise. He’s shot up to 6-3 and he’s almost 6-3.5.”

Rollinson is convinced that Murray has all the tools necessary to excel at the next level. 

“He’s got levers, his balance is incredible and he’ll hit you,” he said.

For Murray, the offer from Notre Dame was special. 

“He was very excited for the opportunity to possibly play for the Irish,” Rollinson said. “It’s not a done deal. Stanford came in late, a lot of the Pac 12. I think he’s going to get some more offers as the season unfolds, because, like I said, he was late on the come out.”

Rollinson expects Murray to take a visit to South Bend this fall as long as it fits in with Mater Dei’s football schedule and Notre Dame’s. 

Irish Sports Daily

Unlike Murray, Brandon Smith, DE, 6-4, 220, Louisa County High School, Mineral, VA has been on almost everyone’s radar for quite some time now and that includes Notre Dame. The 2019 prospect stays in close contact with Irish Linebacker’s Coach Clark Lea and through multiple conversation’s Lea’s advice has been unwavering.

“Coach Lea says to keep on being the humble person that I am and doing my schoolwork and everything else will fall where it is,” Smith shared. 

19 scholarship offers and growing, from schools like Notre Dame, Alabama, Ohio State, Penn State and others will certainly test the four-star’s recruit’s humility. None of that seems to be causing him to waver from his goal of improving upon his team’s one and done performance in last year’s Virginia playoffs. He sees great things from his team this year and believes they possess the potential to make a strong playoff run.

“The team is building together, chemistry is building up and everything is meshing together,” he said. “We have to stay healthy. Towards the end last year, people started to wear down, getting shin splints and other nagging injuries that lead to injuries.”

Smith’s goals for his team are wrapped up in his goals for himself and knows that he must have a laser focus to accomplish all that he wants. 

“I want to be the best me I can be,” he said. “I plan on blocking out all the distractions and I know other players try and get into people’s heads and say stuff, but I have to be able to block that out and play my game.”

This summer, Smith attended camps hosted by both Under Armour and Nike as well as camps at Penn State and Virginia and used them to improve his game. 

While he did not camp at Notre Dame he does plan to return to South Bend this fall to see the Irish in action.

“I am definitely going to try,” he said. “The academics, the tradition and the people there are great. It is something that I have to talk to my parents about to make sure everybody’s schedules line up, so we are all able to attend the game.” 

These two summaries represent just a sample of the Notre Dame football recruiting information available each week on Irish Sports Daily.