Recruiting Week In Review
The college football early signing period has changed the dynamics of recruiting. Unofficial visits have become much more important, in some cases even taking on the characteristics of an official visit. Recruiting, which has started earlier and earlier is being pushed up even more than before. And Notre Dame seems to be up to speed in playing by the new rules. The pace of their offers have accelerated and it’s clear that they are hitting the current Classes of 2019 and 2020 very hard.
The new recruiting rules have also resulted in players making their choices earlier as well. Last week Irish Sports Daily reported on two young men that are planning quick decisions. What have you been missing by not being a member of Irish Sports Daily?
When Notre Dame extended a scholarship offer to Kenan Christon, RB, 5-10, 185, Madison High School, San Diego, CA, Irish Running Backs Coach Autry Denson made certain that the Californian and his father were comfortable with the process.
“He just wants to make sure wherever I go that it’s the right fit for me,” Christon said of Denson. “He was just talking to me and my dad and just wanted to make sure my dad was comfortable with what was going on and then he offered me.”
Christon and his father were not only comfortable but ecstatic.
“I was very excited,” he shared. “I told him ‘Thank you’ multiple times. Me and my dad got excited. We told him we were going to jump around and do some backflips.”
Christon’s reaction is even more positive for the Irish considering the fact that he’s been offered by some very illustrious programs. USC, UCLA, Nebraska, Stanford, Washington State and others have all thrown their hat in the ring for the three-star prospect’s services. For his part, he knows why the Notre Dame offer is so exciting.
“It’s a big school and it’s close to my dad’s hometown,” he explained. “I know it’s a big academic school. They want to make sure you’re a student more than you’re an athlete. You have to be a student-athlete to get far in life, not the other way around.”
Christon is a 4.0 GPA student who acknowledges that academics are “a big part of everything I do.” He hopes to get to South Bend in the coming months in order to get a closer look at all the Irish have to offer.
“They were talking about me getting out there during the summertime,” he said. “I just want to go out and see the campus, see what everything looks like. I just want to get to know the coaches.”
Christon is planning to commit prior to his senior season, so the summer is going to be very important for him. He’s intending to take his official visits during the summer. In addition to academics, he is also focusing on the “family aspect” of the programs recruiting him in helping him choose his final destination.
For Adam Berghorst, DE, 6-7, 245, Zeeland East High School, Zeeland, MI his final college decision is likely to come even sooner than Christon’s. In fact, his most recent visit to Notre Dame may have represented their last chance to impress the three-star defensive end before he pulls the trigger. Realizing that it might be their last chance, the Irish made a very strong case.
“It was a great, great visit again,” Berghorst said. “I met with the baseball staff, watched practice and then met with all the football coaches again. It was a great day.”
If one hasn’t already figured it out, Berghorst is planning to play both football and baseball in college. That poses particular difficulties but Notre Dame tight end Cole Kmet is doing just that and the Irish coaches made sure that he spent plenty of time with the Michigan prospect.
“We just discussed again how he does it,” Berghorst shared. “He said he’s doing really well with it and loves the experience which his good. He said he’s doing better in college academically than high school. He said he gets a lot of help and has a lot of tutors, which he said is not a bad thing at all. I asked him if he was going to continue to do it and he said, ‘Without a doubt.’”
Berghorst also spend time with the baseball staff and came away impressed by them as well.
“They’re really knowledgeable,” he said. “They’ve been there for a while, both of them have been a lot of places. The pitching coach seems to know a lot; just good guys and I enjoyed talking with them.”
To top off his day, Berghorst received the opportunity to watch the football team practice, an experience he called “awesome.”
“I liked watching Coach (Mike) Elston coach,” he shared. “I thought they got after it. It was very high energy and very intense which was good.”
He also met with Notre Dame Defensive Coordinator Clark Lea and Head Coach Brian Kelly.
“They really gave me more reasons to come to Notre Dame,” he remembered. “It was really cool. In Coach Elston’s d-line room, he pulled up clips of my highlight tape and had the same ones of his team doing it and compared them and made a video out of it, which was awesome.”
Berghorst had nothing but praise for the Notre Dame football coaches.
“They really have done well with the program,” he said. “We talked a lot about how Coach Elston took over linebackers a couple years ago and then went back to the d-line and how he sent guys to the NFL. With Coach Lea we talked about how it was his first season as defensive coordinator and how he’s working with that and how it’s a step up and stuff like that.”
Berghorst has trips planned to Michigan State and Northwestern and then hopes to make a final decision. While the Irish won’t get the final say, when asked if Notre Dame helped itself Berghorst responded, “without a doubt.”
These two summaries represent just a sample of the Notre Dame football recruiting information available each week on Irish Sports Daily.