How about a recruiting rundown?

by BPH, San Diego, Tuesday, June 02, 2009, 14:01 (6266 days ago) @ Jay

With the May evaluation period over, things should start to pick up this month on the recruiting front, with several ND prospects expected to make their decisions. Here are some thoughts on where things stand at each position.

QB
With Austin Hinder committing to Cal, Nick Montana is the only QB remaining from the initial wave of offers. Most reports have him down to ND, OSU, Stanford and Georgia. Stanford just took a QB commitment today, but apparently he's taking a two-year mission right away, so it doesn't rule out another QB in the class. A new prospect on the radar is Ohio QB Andrew Hendrix, who has offers from ND, OSU, Tennessee and Miami. He seems to be the fallback choice for both ND and OSU, and my guess is that ND will end up with either Montana or Hendrix, with OSU getting the other. If we take two QBs, Ohio's Luke Massa could be the second one if he performs well at camp this month.

RB
Recent offers went out to Malcolm Jones (from Oaks Christian) and Marquis Flowers (from Arizona), but Jones seems to favor Stanford and Flowers' interest is uncertain. My guess is that the RB in this class will be either Gio Bernard from St. Thomas Aquinas or Jordon James from California. I have no idea if Weis wants a FB in this class, but if he does, it could be Zack Zwiniak from Maryland.

WR
We've been in a holding pattern here since Tailer Jones committed to Stanford. We still have Daniel Smith committed and room for 2, maybe 3 more. The best bets seem to be Corey Cooper and Kyle Prater, who are friends and could be a package deal. But Cooper remains a "soft" Illinois commitment and Prater is an elite national recruit who probably needs to see a bunch of wins this fall to remain interested. Another intriguing possibility is Justin McCay, another 5-star stud whose coach is Tim Grunhard and reportedly favors ND and Florida.

TE
Alex Welch's recent commitment almost certainly means that ND is done at the position. Welch is a great get, a consensus 4-star player with offers from OSU, Oklahoma and FSU among others.

OL
Christian Lombard is committed, with wildly different opinions of him. Scout has him as the No. 1 OG in the country and in the top 100 overall, while Rivals rates him as a mid 3 star. Let's hope Scout is right. We have a host of great options for the other 2 or 3 spots, at least two of which should be top-shelf OTs. Ohio's Matt James could pop for ND this month, which would give ND the leeway to wait on the decisions of studs like Seantrel Henderson, Brandon Linder, James Stone, etc. A local prospect to watch is Laken Tomlinson, an Illinois kid who reportedly was offered by USC and OSU last month.

DL
We probably need at least four, with three DEs and one DT. Chris Martin, of course, is already on board as one of the most talented and most gung-ho-for-ND recruits in recent memory. ND is reportedly recruiting Anthony Barr as a DE, and if he commits as expected, we'd have the most gifted bookend DL in God knows when. The third DE will probably be either Blake Lueders (my preference) or Chance Carter. A good bet for the DT spot is New Jersey's T.J. Clemmings, who has freakish potential at 6-6, 265 with a basketball player's athleticism.

LB
After the haul of the last two years, the need here is as low as it's been in a while. My guess is two, with Kendall Moore and Prince Shembo the most likely (Barr also might factor in at this position).

DB
Corwin Brown is a man on a mission in recruiting this year, and nowhere is that more evident than at the position that's his specialty. I think he was left bitterly disappointed by the defection of Marlon Pollard and the late losses of Byron Moore and Jawanza Starling last year, and he's bent on making up for it. By most accounts, he's personally responsible for our lead/very favorable position with CBs Cody Riggs, Spencer Boyd and Lo Wood and safeties David Amerson and Devon Carrington. We also have good shots at three DBs from the LA area: safeties Sean Parker and Dietrich Riley and cornerback Josh Shaw. Shaw was the most recent offer, and he said he came close to committing on the spot. Hopefully we can withstand USC's pending offer this month.

My best guess at a class based on current info:
QB - Montana, Massa
RB - Bernard
WR - Smith, Prater, Bennett Jackson
TE - Welch
OL - Lombard, James, Linder, Erik Kohler
DT - Clemmings
DE - Martin, Barr, Lueders
LB - Moore, Shembo
CB - Wood, Boyd, Shaw
S - Amerson, Carrington, Parker