Nice story. By Eifert returning next year I will buy into his assertion that Kelly's tirades are not effecting the players. He knows better than I. On Rees starting I say nonsense. Not if Kelly wants to run his offense the way it is meant to run. Rees is so slow afoot that he is no threat whatsoever to run. And that makes the option a No Option. If Tommy Rees is starting next year then Houston, we have a problem!
Notice Decker was raided...but Kiehl and his parents made an honorable decision. :wink: Seriously, though...I gotta wonder (a little bit) about a kid who decommits twice...hopefully he will work out for you.
Hey we're beyond that now, most have concluded that Decker was actually a project at OL and most likely will be a career backup at OSU which is why Tressel never offered him. Makes me sleep better to take that POV!! On Kiel, the real story is his mom threatened to stop loving him if he didn't go to ND! Seriously there has been a lot written on LSU message boards that his mom was the mover/shaker here. One said he heard that Kiel was handcuffed and marched to ND registration at gun point!! But at least nobody remembers Deckers first name since we are so overjoyed at getting Kiel.
Looks like we are fizzling out down the stretch. All of the big recruits that we were in on at the 11th hour have gone elsewhere apparently. We have a quality class of recruits but a small one ( 17 ), Of course we still have 48 hours of this stuff to go so who knows but at the moment Scout ranks our class at #9. We had one 4 start CB recruit who seems to have been denied admission because he did not have two years of Spanish in HS. OK. Urban Meyer did not waste time staking out his dominance in the midwest. He took two Irish recruits, two current coaches and one former coach and moved the Buckeyes to #3 in the recruiting wars in a year when they are on suspension. Now that is salemanship!
Yeah after last years exciting finish to recruiting where everything seemed to fall our way, this year it's going the other direction. Coach D says this class is missing some parts but is still very good and compliments last years class well but that the small numbers means that they have a slim margin for error. I think most point to the turmoil this year with the Weis players vs Kelly getting so much pub, and Kelly's sideline behavior getting so much scrutiny (deserved or not) plus the disappointing record that should have been a 10 win season (blown USF and UM games) and maybe even a win over FSU.
The only thing that will turn this ship around is to beat some ranked teams. And that loss to FSU in the bowl game was a "turd in the punchbowl" as well. Kelly will have many chances to over-achieve in 2012.
If Kelly can get good QB play next year then he has a chance, if we get more of the same then while he won't be done as I think Swarbrick is going to give him the full 5 years, he'll be on a respirator.
Here's IMO an interesting story about the long snapper to whom we gave a scholarship for the 2012 class. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...notre-dame-football--20120201,0,5646382.story
As Krebs said on the other recruiting topic, this was a nightmare finish for ND and Kelly. This really a small class, he has 16 and had room for 20-21 players. The loss of Greenberry was the final insult. Last year we were all flying pretty high, nice finish to the season and an excellent recruiting class including some very big commitments at the very end. We won most if not all the big battles down the stretch. This year we limped home with a Nat'l TV beat down by Standford and then letting FSU off the hook in the bowl game. Kelly really has his back against the wall next year, not that I think Swarbrick will fire him, but if he doesn't have a good year then it will be another struggle to get a top 10 type of class in recruiting. Unfortunately for Kelly he's got a tough schedule and he still does not have the QB situation that he needs. Everybody wants Tommy Rees to be at the far end of the bench and not see the field, but that of course means a brand new starter that is either a RS Freshman, a True Freshman or a Jr who has only played a few snaps.
:x The view from the Far West is not good. So many players that the Irish wanted wound up at either USC or Stanford; the two 12 Pac teams on the schedule every year...
Three of our toughest annual opponents had huge recruiting hauls ( USC - Michigan - Stanford ). Meyer and Kiffin prove that it's the Coach as much as the current situation when it comes to recruiting. Both programs in the throes of sanctions and they still had huge hauls. We were able to fend off a 4 star CB who was ready to sign because he did not have a second year of Spanish in HS. :roll:
For anyone who might be interested in an in-depth analysis of the recruiting class, along with Coach Kelly's comments on each individual. The "anyone" includes you whiny little girls who want to focus only on the empty space in the glass. Meet the Recruits
I thought we'd get Jordan Westerkamp away from you guys. But good luck to him, he seems like a really nice kid.
Rumors are that Jack Swarbrick is a finalist for B12 Commissioner. Not sure why he'd want that job to tell you the truth.