ND Football Recruiting Well -- "Looks to Build on #3 Class w/Recruiting Weekend"
I've posted some links / stories about the transfer rule sea change in college football and how Michigan's seeming self-imposed "box" on making undergrad transfer credits difficult is annoying and limiting.
However flipping the script a bit... per 24/7 and CBS Notre Dame is doing very well at recruiting this cycle, and nationally too (I realize it's a national brand but... in general they have a big ten and eastern footprint). Anybody know why? The recent playoff appearances? Is it really that simple?
This would bode well for future iterations of Michigan then, wouldn't it? If we are going to compare to an academic-athletic peer in football, notre Dame is consistently the institution mentioned. I realize they don't play Ohio state each year but if just the boost of playoff appearances is this evident, even though ND gets rail roaded each time they are in the "final four", this simple feat seems to boost recruiting.
Not trying to neg here but I think a similar logic applies to the recent “Rutgers is doing really well in recruiting thread” in that it’s super damn early to care where a class is ranked - they also have a ton of commits already. ND has finished with a couple of classes around 10th and then a few in the mid teens in the last few year - very similar to our own results actually. I wouldn’t read too much into it personally.
...and they kinda won more than 2 games last year.
Yeah it is still very early and they probably won’t end up 3rd but they have a pretty good recruiting class and also lead for a lot of top targets. They are shaping up to have an impressive class.
Bookmark this topic and save it until the conclusion of recruiting…early signing is still 6 months away.
Since they have twice as many commits as we do, we should look at the average recruit ranking. ND = 0.9067. UM = 0.9047. Almost identical.
Despite ND making the playoffs and Michigan stumbling last year, we are recruiting at basically the exact same level as they are, according to average recruit rankings. We may finish strong and pass them or maybe not, but depending on class size, we will most likely sign a class very similar to theirs.
Does this mean that even if Michigan makes the playoffs, they won’t start recruiting at the same level of Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, and OSU? I don’t know, but it would be awesome to find out.
Notre Dame sucks
OP, why is ND recruiting so well? I think it's because they are a national brand with a large footprint and have done pretty well with the recent playoff appearances. Ooops - you already answered that...
Are we still allowed to say, "to hell with Notre Dame?"
Thanks for asking. I'd say no. "To hell with Notre Dame" for us is (IMO) getting really old and dangerously close to "scUM" for Sparty.
It’s a Bo quote brainiac.
Ok, but I prefer F#%K Notre Dame.
To each his own, but I will never stop saying “to hell with Notre Dame.”
I thought the threat of autoban had not officially been rescinded.
"National brand" I hate the reference to the Michigan "brand" or to any other university being a brand. It cheapens the degree to a marketing gimmick.
I think two things can be true at once. They are off to a good start recruiting but it is too early to say definitively. We can look at several other U of M classes recently that that were highly ranked after the BBQ weekend but fall as we move forward. However, Notre Dame is still in on a lot of good players and seems to have picked up major momentum from the playoffs. Time will tell if they can keep it up.
This early in the cycle I'd ignore volume and focus more on average per recruit ranking. For example ND is at 90.67 and UM is at 90.47. Generally you'd assume they will be about the same once numbers are all said and done. By comparison Bama, who is at #12 is at 95.05 and will guaranteed leap frog ND once they have more commits.
Most years an average per recruit ranking of 90 will put you around #10 which is about what you shoot for to be good enough to be a playoff team and competitive with everyone minus the top 3 elite teams which tend to be Bama, OSU, & UGA or Clemson which tend to be more in the 93-94 range.
It's the Rudy factor...
It looks like it's going to mean something, but in the end it comes up short.
I'll show my self out
I don't like Notrah Dame.
Or even Noter Dame.
Michigan has had multiple top 5 recruiting classes recently without making the final 4. Why do we care if ND is recruiting well? Michigan is the only school I care about.
Notre Dame is the Gonzaga of CFB
Did I accidentally open ndnation.com?
Their class is so high because they have a lot of commits (14) compared to other schools in the Top 10-20. Their class average is not that impressive. Rutgers and Miss St are also in the Top 10 because they each have 13 commits already, but their average is poop.
People complain about Michigan's class, but their class average is only .2 behing ND's at the moment. They will not stay at #3.
I will just leave this here.
https://www.theringer.com/2020/12/30/22206556/notre-dame-bowl-game-playoff-blowout-recent-history
There top rated recruit is josh burnham from traverse city Michigan which was a Michigan lean ....so that's great.
Speaking more as a college football aficionado and less as a Michigan fan, but they’ve made the BCS title game and the playoff three times in a decade. I hate Notre Dame, but that deserves a tip of the hat. Blown out or not, they were considered among the best by the computers or the people who opinions matter. I’ll buy the “but we play Ohio State every year” excuse when we go 11-1, Ohio State is the only team we lose to each year, and still can’t make the playoff. That won’t keep us out every year, probably not most years. Three playoff blowouts would be huge for our rep at this point.
Great job Mississippi State! They take down ND in the college baseball tournament. To hell with Notre Dame!!
ND’s class ranking of 3rd is not going to hold with other recruiting powers just now starting to get commits.
But ND’s top 7-8 targets (all higher ranked than their current highest ranked player Burnham) are just now visiting & ND expects to land almost all of them as they were the leader going into the visit. I know of four silent commits among that group already, three of which are ranked higher than Burnham.
ND will finish in the 6-8 range, which is probably about their best case scenario under current recruiting ranking guidelines, but much higher than their 11-15 ranked classes of the past decade. SI re-ranks the classes upon graduation & ND’s last three classes that were ranked 11, 12 & 14 coming out of HS, were re-ranked 5th, 5th & tied for 5th leaving college. So that shows good evaluation & development.
ND also released multiple “bad recruiters” from their staff despite multiple of them being ND football royalty like Todd Lyght & Autry Denson.
They now have noted great recruiters in Lance Taylor, Marcus Freeman & Mike Mickens, to go along with Mike Elston & Bill Polian.
A couple of questions Michigan needs to ask themselves:
1) Can they release dead weight, even if they are Michigan men?
2) Can they evaluate & develop talent and not just Star chase?
3) Can they be honest with themselves? I’ve never seen a group of reporters/analysts that cover a team blow more smoke up fans’ rears than the guys on Michigan’s Rivals & 247 sites.
I can name you a dozen players off the top of my head that OSU/ND passed on that Michigan took then the reporters from the Michigan sites declared Michigan beat out OSU/ND for them & distort reality to keep their fanbase happy.
If you research Michigan, OSU, ND & PSU, four teams who generally recruit a lot of the same players from the same region, you will see a distinct difference in recruiting strategies.