Notre Dame Recruiting Mailbag - Part One
In this week’s recruiting mailbag, there are the usual questions over quarterback recruiting and certain misses. We will get there. Other topics include some underrated recruits in the 2023 class, potential in-state targets and some great high school players of the past. The members of the premium message board really brought their A game this week.
The questions were submitted here for this week’s mailbag. As always, we appreciate all members of the Irish Breakdown community for continuous support and submitted questions.
@joshua-knipp: Can we talk about any quarterback recruits that Notre Dame is going after?
@jay_henry: Any update on Kenny Minchey and where he stands with Notre Dame?
What is a recruiting mailbag without some quarterback talk? Almost simultaneously, we received two separate quarterback questions to start the mailbag off with, so naturally combining them made a lot of sense. The Notre Dame staff will be constantly evaluating the quarterback position moving forward. The two players to most keep an eye on are both currently committed to other schools.
Kenny Minchey is currently committed to Pittsburgh and is a player that most people are curious about. This interest is going to be one that will need to grow during the season. Minchey appears solid to Pitt and it will take a massive effort to potentially flip him. I’m not entirely sure flipping him will be possible at the end of the day, but the latest intel we had is he's at least listening. Only time will tell but I’d guess he’s a little bit of a long shot.
The other name is one that should already be very familiar with Notre Dame recruiting followers. Notre Dame has been trying to get back involved with Maize (Kan.) High School quarterback Avery Johnson for some time. As is the case with Minchey, flipping him from in-state Kansas State could be a challenge, but Notre Dame doesn't have to rush either recruitment.
It’s tough to predict what will come of it but obviously there is a previous relationship with the staff and having two Kansas players already in the class sure doesn’t hurt. Current Notre Dame athlete commit Dylan Edwards has a very strong relationship with Johnson to boot. We will see how that particular recruitment goes.
For now, those are two signal callers to keep a close eye on, but Notre Dame is doing plenty of work behind the scenes on several quarterbacks in the class. With that being said, sources have indicated that OC Tommy Rees has been high on Johnson for a very long time, which is why he was offered last summer. Rees also became very high on Minchey after his strong junior season.
@burgere23: Do you think (Marcus) Freeman has learned some lessons this year which will result in the 2024 class being better?
I would like to believe that every good coach, especially those who seem to be incredibly thought out and critical as Coach Freeman, are constantly evaluating themselves and always considering what they can do better. From a recruiting perspective, every coach has misses. I also believe that a lot of these “misses” aren’t necessarily the fault of the Notre Dame staff.
Each case is very individualized and I believe that context is important. The biggest growth that I believe Freeman is learning is how to supplement and answer the hang ups around the NIL issue. Whether that is an evolution in their ideology or a chance in tactics, I’m sure they are learning just like everyone. In certain instances, I do believe that it will help their process improve tremendously.
@floating-irish: Which recruit in the country do you think is getting the most overrated and who do you think is getting underrated?
I would rather not point to a specific player that is overrated, but I will say that typically some offensive tackles can be way overvalued at times because they are just physically more advanced and can bully opposing defenders. In a lot of cases, I’d rather find really good athletes at the position who have some room to gain weight moving forward.
That’s why I am much higher on Phoenix (Ariz.) Pinnacle offensive tackle Elijah Paige than the consensus. The Notre Dame commit is a player who needed to put out more weight than where he was as a junior, and he has done just that. Now weighing over 300 pounds, Paige brings a 6-7 frame with extremely long arms. Athletically, he is very impressive and brings an advanced feel from a technical perspective. If Paige is able to play with increased core strength as a senior, he could be due for a huge ranking boost.
Right now, he sits as an unranked three-star by both On3 and ESPN. The highest Paige is ranked is No. 237 overall player overall according to 247Sports. I’m not sure that there are 100 players better nationally than Paige, at least from an upside standpoint.
It may sound silly to call a player who is ranked inside the top 50 overall players in the 2023 class underrated but I’m still not sure that Ohio State defensive end commit Jason Moore is getting the type of hype that he deserves. The 6-6, 265-pound defender is a potentially elite player who I believe should be ranked within the top 25 players in the nation. He is going to be a special football player for the Buckeyes.
@zarembar: Indiana has some solid prospects in the 2024 class according to the composite, such as Brauntae Johnson, Ian Moore and Mylan Graham. Can you explain where things stand with them and Notre Dame?
Things have escalated best so far with Fort Wayne (Ind.) North Side athlete Brauntae Johnson so far. He has called Notre Dame his “dream school” after he was offered this summer. Johnson doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to make a decision but he has already been on campus multiple times since he was offered. They should be considered the early favorite for the talented defensive back, but there is work to be done on both sides before Johnson can consider jumping on board, should he eventually decide to do so.
Like Johnson, New Haven (Ind.) High School wide receiver Mylan Graham also received a scholarship offer to Notre Dame following his performance at the Irish Invasion. Based on things we have heard, there’s interest there but I wouldn’t put Notre Dame at the top of the list. Some other premier programs are already courting Graham, and Ohio State will be especially tough team to beat. Things obviously could change very quickly, but there's folks around him who are pro-Ohio State, and that combines with Ohio State's recent success at the position (including with Indiana standouts Austin Mack and Terry McLaurin) to make the Buckeyes the early favorite, assuming the Buckeyes make a push for him.
New Palestine (Ind.) High School offensive lineman Ian Moore is an interesting case. He is a well regarded player by a couple recruiting platforms and has nice size at 6-6 and 295 pounds. The Notre Dame staff is keeping close tabs on him but for now they have not offered him. Moore has a clear interest in the Irish. This will be an interesting recruitment to keep an eye on.
@eastcoastirish53: Who is the best high school player you’ve ever seen in person? Not necessarily the highest ranked, or the most successful, but who dominated the high school competition more than you’ve ever seen?
One of the coolest things that coaching high school did was get me well acquainted with some very talented football players. In some cases, teams I coached on would have wished that they didn’t get so familiar with them. It’s hard to pick just one player, especially when three really come to mind quickly.
The easy answer would be current Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, who started for Salem High School in New Jersey. The first time I saw Taylor was actually evaluating a team we were schedule to play. My jaw dropped as I watched No. 23 absolutely dominate his competition. He was truly a man amongst boys on that level. I got to see Taylor again during spring track, where he was a state champion 100-meter sprinter. He ran a blistering 10.49 second time despite being around 210 pounds at the time.
I would be hard pressed if I didn’t mention former NC State wide receiver Kelvin Harmon, who was a massive headache while he played for Palmyra High School. He played Group I football in New Jersey and it was just not fair. When the offense wasn’t clicking, they could just throw him out a screen and watch him physically dominate everyone with his big frame and explosiveness. It also helped that former Syracuse star wide receiver Taj Harris played on the other side of Harmon so he wasn’t the only star to account for.
I never coached against him but I was in attendance when former Delaware running back Wes Hills torched my alma mater for 452 yards and eight touchdowns in one game. He dealt with a variety of injuries during his Blue Hen career but ended up at Slippery Rock, where he set program records in his lone season with the squad, eventually leading to a Senior Bowl invitation and brief stint in the NFL. It was the single most dominant performance I have ever seen with my own eyes. Hills was an NFL athlete who was playing with children.
All three players spent some time in the NFL and all played lower level football in New Jersey. It wasn’t fair.
@christopher-crosby: Okay, so I’ve heard you use the term outside track when it comes to defensive lineman. I’ve never really heard that term. What does it mean and is there a different phrase for that term that maybe I have heard?
That references edge defenders in particular. The outside track could also be referred to as “the edge.” If you picture a traditional pass rush for a defensive end, they are trying to smoothly work around the outside shoulder of a tackle. That is the outside track. If they hit an inside move, then that would be the inside track for comparison. It’s just jargon for winning the outside shoulder as an edge rusher.
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