Tag: commit 2013

Thank God for Irish fans – Durham Smythe a long time Irish fan and a de-commit from Texas doesn’t leave ND this weekend without committing to the Irish. 6’5″ 230 will add to the long line of Irish Tight Ends. I fully expected this but again the Notre Dame Nation is still strong across the land. Let’s face it – if Texas wanted him, that’s good enough. The guy has to be good and with so few offers left must be something the coaches liked. Great pick up for ND.

Now, we need the DL’s who visited–just have to wait on that to the last minute – if Fitts and Vanderdoes pull the trigger – very sweet finish.

At least for now let’s celebrate landing the next Tyler Eifert. Welcome aboard Durham – you’ll do great.

Well 2 weeks left until National Signing Day and this weekend Notre Dame has a number of recruits coming in – most already committed to USC. A new name popped up a de-commit from Texas TE Durham Smythe 6’5″ 230 who will bypass Michigan and visit ND for the weekend festivities.

Smythe is an interesting story – he has been a long time ND fan and felt ND was too late with their offer so he committed to Texas, now he’s available. Paired it down to Stanford (just visited) Michigan, whom he was scheduled to visit this weekend but jumped ND ahead – I think he commits this weekend, if all goes well. He’s a lot like Eifert in that he also played WR this year for his High School team. ND coach Scott Booker just visited him and got him for this weekend.

Here is his highlight video:

By my calculation we have 2 spots left and ND would really like to get DL Fitts and Vanderdoes – especially Vanderdoes – both scheduled for this weekend. Jaylon Smith will also be there to help in the recruitment.

If weekend goes well it will jeopardize 5th year for Fox or Calabrese or both. I really would like these 2 back. They can stabilize the middle and really help the young guy Grace who moves into Manti’s position. We already have a really young secondary and we don’t want to rookies as the inside backers
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If I had to pick one, it would be Calabrese, who was terrific on short downs and goal line D.

Interesting weekend and I’m hoping for at least 2 commits – Smythe and Vanderdoes.

Nd recruiting continues to roll by adding 5 star Safety 6’3″ 200 Redfield a previous USC commit. It just doesn’t get any better than that. Maybe we can get their top DL recruit also a de-commit to further bury the Trojans – stake thru the heart. USC quit against Georgia Tech in their Bowl Game and all recruits saw it.

So we now have 3 official 5 Stars – Redfield, RB-Bryant and LB Jaylon Smith. I’m upping that number to 6 by adding LB Anzalone and OL Biven and Elmer.

With 23 in the fold we maybe have 2 left and I think 5 guys will be visiting ND later this month and watch out if we stomp Bama.

Concerning Redfield – we already have about 5 Safety’s so Kelly may use him as a WR just to get him on the field – nice luxury to have.

Here is his highlight reel:

Doug Randolph 6’3″ 236lb outside linebacker switches to Notre Dame. Commit to Stanford since June he backed away and briefly considered Virginia.

Notre Dame has a nice pipeline open to the Woodberry Forest HS in Virginia with CJ Proise enrolled and 2014 commit ILB Greer Martini both from the Virginia school.

This is a great pickup, Notre Dame now has 5 outstanding Line Backers–Anzalone, Deeb, Mattingly, Jaylon Smith and now Randolph. I would say these 5 as good(better) as any at any school in the country.

Tip of the hat to coaches Booker and Diaco for reeling him in.

• So, not many openings left in this class. Would be nice to pick up at least one outstanding CB and WR.
• Need 2 more defensive linemen–bigger the better. Maybe the Michigan game will complete this class.
• Lot of talent in this 2013 class, which has to have the attention of guys ND is still chasing down.
• Randolph commit will put ND in the top 5 for 2013.

Here is his highlight reel:

Much to my surprise 4 star ILB Alex Anzalone announced on ESPN he will attend Notre Dame and plans to enroll this winter. This is a great pickup for ND–I was positive he was going to Penn State and stay close to home. While he cited academics and coaches, what really sold him were the other commits in this class–really tight group and the right kind of guys as they say. Looking like a monster class and Anzalone completes the LB’S AT 6’3″ 235 lbs, he will play inside with Michael Deeb while Smith and Mattingly will be the OLB’S. Looks like he will wear number 5 and continue the Manti tradition. Here is a good highlight reel:

Seem that 5 other will enroll early–QB–Zaire, WR’s–Onwualu and Robinson, TE–Heuerman and OT–Elmer. All will apply to last years recruiting class of 16 and too much math for me to figure how many they can take for 2013.

Now they need some defensive linemen which hopefully will include a big Nose Guard. They have the LB’s now get some help for them on the DL–believe we only have 2 now at DE–so some tackles would be nice. These kids follow recruiting and they too know the quality of this class and landing Anzalone might snowball the rest on wish board.

Michael Deeb a very physical hitting Inside Linebacker 6’2″ 237 lb 3 star from Plantation Fla. visited ND last week and that sealed the deal–not just football but the academics especially the Business School. He calls himself a 4th quarter player–keep hitting harder from the start and finish by physical play especially the 4th quarter–he is a finisher and punisher and I really wanted this kid for inside. My opinion– a great pickup.

Deeb has about 30 offers including Florida State but he has now closed down his recruitment and is all in for Notre Dame. Okay we have the 2 OLB’s in Smith and Mattingly and Deeb as one ILB now just waiting on Anzalone for the other ILB spot. So c’mon Alex make this a super class.

All of the 2013 commits look very very solid and only 5 or 6 spots left–so I say again if you want ND you better get on board like NOW.

Danny Mattingly 6’4″ 220 lb. 3 star from Spokane Washington commits on first visit to campus. Projected as line backer, Mattingly also can play tight end.
ND beat out Washington, Alabama, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Oregon. Mattingly joins Jaylon Smith as 2nd LB commit for 2013. Long time ND fan and nephew of Yankee great Don Mattingly has relatives in Indiana.

That leaves about 6 slots left for this recruiting class and so far they all look solid. So we need 1 LB, 1 CB, 1-2 DL, 1-2 WR’s and maybe a RB—not a lot left so whoever’s close better grab offer while they can.