Recruiting Week In Review
Written by Joe Bradshaw
It seems that in recruiting, the physical size of the prospect directly relates to the uncertainty of that player’s ceiling. The reality is that 16, 17 and 18-year-old young men generally have considerable growing and maturing to do yet. In positions where size can play such a pivotal role, recruiters must be adept at projecting how that prospect is going to grow, get stronger and more physical between the end of his junior year in high school and, typically at the earliest, his sophomore year in college. Will a 215-pound linebacker grow into a 260-pound defensive end? Will a 245-pound tight end develop into a 315-pound left tackle? Being able to project how a high school prospect changes over the course of his college career can mean the difference between a good recruiting class and either a great one or an average one.
Last week, Irish Sports Daily reported on two young men who, though only currently rated as three-star recruits, possess the size and athleticism to become five-star college football players. What have you been missing by not being a member of Irish Sports Daily?
Aeneas DiCosmo, DE, 6-3, 217, Bergen Catholic High School, Oradell, NJ is nearing the end of his recruitment. Exactly when that happens, he’s not quite certain but he’s narrowed his finalists down to three, has two left to officially visit and will accomplish that by the end of June. He calls his timeline for a decision “loose” but also commented that “it’s looking early July right now.”
His three finalists consist of Notre Dame, Michigan and Stanford. Stanford is the only one that he’s officially visited at the moment and it seems that the Cardinals set a very high bar for the Irish and the Wolverines to hurdle.
“The Stanford visit was awesome,” he said. “I was there for about two days. I had a chance to stay with two players overnight and experience what it’s like to be a student there. You definitely can see how humble the players are and how you’re another student there. You’re on the campus with Olympians and some of the smartest kids in the country so you kind of have to be humble there.”
DiCosmo is planning on majoring in Business and, after taking five years of Mandarin already, hopes to also work that somewhere into his education. While he believes that he can work out an educational plan in Palo Alto that will be satisfactory, he was much more specific about how Stanford plans to use him on the football field.
“Either inside or outside linebacker,” he shared. “Right now, it’s kind of a little bit of both, but going forward, we’re going to hash that out and see which one.”
DiCosmo has previously taken unofficial visits to Michigan and Notre Dame, though at the time of his trip to South Bend, the Irish had not yet extended a scholarship offer. He was very positive about his time spend in Ann Arbor.
“I had a lot of fun there, walking around with a few of their players and Coach (Chris) Patridge and talking with Coach (Don) Brown and Coach (Jim) Harbaugh,” he said. “It was definitely a pretty awesome experience seeing their plan for me. Coach Brown is such a great defensive coordinator. He knows how to attack the offense in so many different ways, so being a part of that would be pretty awesome.”
His trip to Notre Dame was for Irish Invasion last summer.
“I always say the football tradition there, you can feel it as soon as you walk on campus,” he explained. “You’re surrounded by gold everywhere and can feel the rich history there. That’s definitely something that you can carry on the field with you.”
Notre Dame’s scholarship offer was a big moment for DiCosmo.
“Growing up, that was one of my dream schools,” he shared. “Completing that goal was pretty big for me, making that become a reality was pretty cool.”
DiCosmo will arrive in South Bend on June 15th for official visit, one week before he will go to Michigan. He plans to get a much more comprehensive experience than he did during his only other visit to Notre Dame.
“I already know they have a lot of commitments and pretty much everyone who has visited has committed shortly afterwards,” he said. “I want to see that experience and hang with some of the players and see their perspective on everything and what they like about the school. I want to talk to some of the academic professors there.”
Notre Dame is projecting DiCosmo to play the Drop position.
“I think it’s something I have a pretty good understanding of and something I could definitely see myself doing.”
Academically, Notre Dame’s Mendoza School of Business is perennially one of the best business schools in the nation. That is not lost on DiCosmo.
“They have a pretty renowned business program so I’m thinking about that,” he explained. “I’ve taken Mandarin the last five years, so that’s definitely a skill I’d like to master.”
In the end, each of the schools can offer strong academic and football programs. And though each are unique, DiCosmo believes that his final decision will come down to a feeling.
“I think being on campus will help me figure out which kind of vibe I like the most,” he said. “Like I said before, being around the players and seeing how they feel about everything is going to be essential to my decision.”
No one can accuse Notre Dame of stringing along Erick All, TE, 6-4, 225, Fairfield High School, Fairfield, OH. Notre Dame did a preliminary investigation of All about a week before Irish Offensive Coordinator Chip Long showed up at his school and then later in the day offered him a scholarship.
“Coach Long told me to call him and I called him and he offered me,” All recalled. “He said he liked my personality and he liked my highlight film. He just said he loved my film and he’s looking for tight ends like me.”
In addition to Notre Dame, All has been offered by a number of top football programs including Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, Pitt, Wake Forest, Maryland, Louisville, Boston College, Cincinnati and others. Still, he admitted the Irish offer was special. The next step in his recruitment is to get him on campus.
“I’m trying to go down there for a visit but I don’t know if we’re going to get down there yet,” he said. “He said he’s going to text me dates and stuff. I just want to see the facilities and meet the coaching staff to see how they are.”
As of now All doesn’t have any official visits set and says that all the schools that have offered him are still in the running. He’s planning to make a decision towards the end of his senior season.
These two summaries are just a sample of the Notre Dame football recruiting information available each week on Irish Sports Daily.