Recruiting Week In Review
Notre Dame’s 2017 and 2018 recruiting classes were good classes. They filled a number of needs, built key depth and hopefully will produce some genuine game breakers. With that said, the Irish really need their 2019 class to be great, not good. It’s this class that the Irish need to take them to the next level, the National Championship level. Notre Dame is off to a good start with three highly ranked four-star recruits already verbally committed and they stand at or near the top of numerous other prospects’ lists. Irish Sports Daily reported on two of these young men last week, each the type of players that the Irish need to take that next step. What have you been missing by not being a member of Irish Sports Daily?
Jalen Curry, WR, 6-3, 200, St. Pius X High School, Houston, TX was a Florida State commit until Head Coach Jimbo Fisher left to take the head coaching job at Texas A&M. Since then, Curry has de-committed from the Seminoles and has re-opened the recruiting process. While both Florida State and Texas A&M should be considered favorites, he’s made it clear that he’s made no decision at this point.
“I’m just chilling right now with the recruiting process,” Curry told ISD’s Christian McCollum. “I de-committed to make sure I made the best decision for me because it’s a very important decision. I’m really taking my time and I’ll make a lot of unofficial visits during the spring.”
Curry is in the process of getting to know new FSU head coach, Willie Taggart and his staff.
“I’m hoping to build a relationship with some of the coaches there,” he shared. “I’d really like to see how they do things with the program and what type of offense he runs. I know he spreads the ball around and throws it a lot, so I’ll see how everything goes. I really love the tradition and the program they have there. They’re definitely still in it.”
Many analysts forecast Curry’s committing to Texas A&M would be a near certainty given his previous relationship not only with Jimbo Fisher but with A&M. The in-state school has been recruiting the four-star receiver since his freshman season and there’s definitely a sense of comfort and familiarity there.
“It’s (A&M) close to home as well so I’ve just been building a relationship with them since my freshman year,” he explained.
Curry has also been in touch with LSU, Ohio State, Florida and “a couple other schools out there as well.” Notre Dame falls into that last category.
“I’ve talked to Coach (Brian) Kelly and the offensive coordinator and the wide receivers coach a couple of times,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll make a visit up there during the spring as well.”
Curry is impressed with the “great tradition” Notre Dame possesses and cited that as a reason for his interest.
“They’ve been producing players in The League for a very long time,” he said. “They’ve been winning for a long time and they just won a great bowl game against LSU.”
He hopes to get up to South Bend to get to know the staff better and check out the campus. He’s also interested in getting to Texas A&M, LSU and Arkansas.
“Chad Morris, he’s a good coach up there,” Curry said of Arkansas’s new head coach. “I just want to visit a lot of places really.”
While the Irish are very uncertain of where they stand with Curry, they have a much clearer picture of their place in Chez Mellusi’s mind. Mellusi, RB, 6-1, 200, Naples High School, Naples, FL visited Notre Dame last September and came away very impressed and named the Irish his leader. Now, months and many offers later a source close to the four-star recruit says that little has changed. Despite receiving offers from Michigan State, LSU, Texas A&M, South Carolina and numerous others, the Irish remain at the top of his list.
Mellusi plans to take an official visit to South Bend in April and many expect him to make his Notre Dame commitment then. One of Notre Dame’s primary competitors is USC (the West Coast one) but distance may be a big impediment for the Trojans.
“I don’t know if he wants to go all the way out to the West Coast,” a source told ISD.
In addition to USC, Auburn and Miami could also be in line to get visits before Melusi’s final decision but all signs point to each of those schools having considerable ground to make up.
“I think his mind is on Notre Dame,” a source said. “Right now, I think Notre Dame is number one.”
There’s much that the Florida standout likes about Notre Dame, the campus, the atmosphere, the tradition, but what means more than anything else to him is the education.
“Education is first and foremost before football,” the source said.
These two summaries represent just a sample of the Notre Dame football recruiting information available each week on Irish Sports Daily.