Yeah while the kid at this point looks to be incredibly talented and one of the top QB's in the nation, there is no guarantee that he will pan out. But win some lose some. The Barajas kid who we flipped from Penn State said all the same things about Penn State that Barnett said about ND when he committed. Then he decided to change his mind. PSU fans probably felt exactly like ND fans do right now. From what I read the verbal of Kyler Murray to Texas A&M was the catalyst for Oregon deciding to go after Barnett. They thought they were going to get Murray, who is a perfect fit for their offense, but his dad was an A&M QB when Scott was at A&M. Don't know where we go for now. We need a QB in every class, or we'll be back in the same boat we've been in for a couple of years, no depth at QB. We don't know how good Zaire will be, we don't know how good Kizer will be, we don't know if Golson will stay this year only or 2015 as well. We don't know if he stays for 2015 if Zaire or Kizer will transfer, etc. You just have to have some numbers at QB.
Movin' On ....Irish offer 2015 QB Travis Waller from Servite. He's the #5 rated dual threat QB, Barnett is the #3 rated on Rivals. Supposedly Kelly is exploring to see if the #1 QB Jarett Stidham of Texas (Texas Tech verbal) has any interest. If he does he will get an offer as well....but that's a long shot. [/img]
FWIW, I am a big believer in Servite products. Steve Beuerlein was a good one for ND a long time ago. The TE who just bolted on us was a Servite kid. We've traditionally whiffed on those OC Catholic school kids. You see a lot of them playing at USC and UCLA, as well as other spots. I'd like to see us start taking more kids from there. That's a tremendous program that centers on the right things. People joke about me returning to California and having Carson play for Damien, including Carson. The truth is, you'd have to convince me to not send him to Servite. Not that it would happen, but given that opportunity, that's where I'd send my son.
ND <r><QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> Proof again that nothing these kids say until after they sign and report for fall camp can be taken seriously.</r>
ND <t>Brandon Tiassum, DT From Indiana just gave his verbal to ND. See you on signing day Brandon, maybe, possibly, who knows?!</t>
Looks like a nice player, also rumors that the QB from So. Cal. Travis Waller is going to announce for the Irish soon. He's the #5 ranked dual threat, Blake Barnett was the #3 ranked dual threat...so not too bad of a recovery by the coaching staff if he does in fact verbal for ND.
re: Travis Waller I've seen him play several times, because Servite plays on TV a lot. He's nowhere near as developed as Barnett, especially as a passer. He's an old-fashioned option QB; similar to the types that Ohio State and Michigan have been getting. He reminds me of Devon Gardner. I'm not a fan of these types of QB, so maybe I'm the wrong guy to talk about them. One thing is for sure: if this kid gets in there for the Irish, the QB will run the ball......a lot. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1VwXBS5LlwA?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Looks like the Irish picked up a 6-5 285 DT from Indy, Brandon Tiassum. Always happy to see D linemen in the mix.
To echo what JO'Co observed, everything I've read says the kid is a really great athlete but much more raw as a passer than Barnett. Barnett could probably start some place as a true freshman. BTW everybody expected him to verbal to Oregon, and of course maybe he will but he's headed to the SEC for some visits. LSU and Alabama will get visits. Waller is a great kid to bring in as we have some talented guys ahead of him and he'll need to sit and watch a few years and develope as a thrower before he's ready. Rumor is that Barnett and his dad told Kelly they wanted to look around, and Kelly told them that's fine but if that's what he wants then ND was going to look elsewhere. At first I thought why push the kid away, let him take some trips keep talking to him etc. But QB is so important that if the Barnett kid is going to want to take a lot of trips and delay his "final" decision by that time we'd be probably be out of it with any QB's who'd be worth giving an offer.
ND <r><QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> Kelly did the right thing as far as I'm concerned. I'm sorry but Kelly would be boxed in if he let him do that. You hold off recruiting other kids at the QB position believing your gonna get Barnett only to have him pull the rug out from under you at the last minute and your stuck with the B or C list kid when you know you could have had an A lister. <br/> <br/> I watched the Waller video, the kid has some serious wheels for sure! Barnett seems like a sure home run for any school that gets him but ND has time to develop the Waller kid if we do get him.</r>
:idea: Kelly is doing this right. Look what happened to Bob Davie who trusted the "word of honor" of both recruits and their parents. The Irish wound up with zero QBs. Remember that year? Not one varsity-ready QB in the entire school...
C. J. Leake...never forget him. He and his parents were at ND a week or so before Nat'l Signing Day and told Davie they were looking forward to ND. They already knew that they were going to "Shock" The world with their annoucnement to Wake Forrest on Nat'l Signing Day. If ever a family got what they deserved it was them. They were sure both QB's would have great college careers and on to the Pro's. CJ was never even a good college QB and Chris did win a Nat'l Title at UF but was never really the dominant QB he was predicted. Sort of like Jimmy Clausen, dominated at HS level but each successive level was less successful.
Picked up another DL recruit in Treadway from Illinois. He isn't highly recruited but he did work out for the staff so if you are a "trust" the coaches kind of guy you like the pickup. Right now though we are recruiting more like TCU than ND. We have a lot of nice players/good players, players that the coaches like and wanted...but none of them are in the Rivals 100. Now I get it that the "star" system is over rated at times and we can all point to 3 star kids who became stars and 5 star kids who didn't (Dayne Crist). Of course we have a long way to go and I've seen various lists of guys we are in on who are in the top 100 so it's unlikely that we'll be shutout of top 100 players. Still at the moment it feels like TCU.