ND is a different place. It's not for everyone. Even great kids could just not like the feel of campus and want a different type of college experience.

On top of that, there are a lot of personalities involved in recruiting. He could just not be hitting it off with the coaches, recruits, or current players.

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there is such division over his projection?

What don't Scout and 24/7 like about him as much as ESPN and Rivals?

But there seems to be something about his recruitment that says he just isn't that interested in ND. Maybe he is getting more attention elsewhere, maybe he isn't as high on the staff's board. Who knows?

He has appeared to be a tOSU lean for the last few months. I don't think another visit to ND will change that.

Smith could play any spot on the OL or even DE. I wonder if the staff is looking at Mama as a NG more so than OG.

ND would still take Braden Smith, Jones, or Damien Mama. Jones is visiting ND one more time in June before deciding.

and he is a pretty highly sought-after OT from Chicago. I believe he is a consensus Top 50 type recruit. ND didn't seem to pursue him too heavily, which could be a result of a more thorough evaluation by the staff.

Rivals - 4 stars, #6 OT, #55 overall
Scout - 4 stars, #24 OT, #230 overall
ESPN - 4 stars, #7 OT, #55 overall, 84 rating
24/7 - 4 star, #14 OT, #191 overall, 91 rating
24/7 Composite - 4 star, #9 OT, #93 overall

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Their rankings are consistently a large outlier from Scout and Rivals. It seems like they really aren't putting the resources out there to evaluate these kids enough to catch up to the other big boys.

NOTHING bothers me more than that list of offensive line recruits from 2003 to 2006.

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That's right, the video game.

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Bc he knew Tressel would be fired a decade later

Sam Young's class was good on paper.

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OSU has landed four OL recruits. ND offered one of them (Evan Leslie).

ND, meanwhile, has landed nine OL recruits. OSU offered seven of them (all but Elmer, whom they would have offered had he waited, and McGlinchey).

(Sam Hubbard, who decommitted from ND lax after Tosu offered him a football scholarship), that he "turned down ND for a chance to coach at OSU".

Of course that led me to wonder when that rejection could have possibly occured.

1. Was it in 2009 after Swarbrick fired Weis and Meyer was weeks away from an announced "indefinite leave of absence"?

Problem is Tosu job wasn't open at that point and nobody, save bitter M fan, thought that Tressel job was in any jeopardy at that point.

2. Swarbrick contacted Meyer after Kelly's first season to guage interest.

Does that sound like Swarbrick to you? Would Jack toss his guy overboard to chase after a guy who just retired for "health" reasons?

Scenario #3 which I deem most likely.

3. The punk bitch is lying.

JJ Jansen. I find that so poetic and perfect.

Freshman: 0:00
Sophomore: 2:26
Junior: 0:00
Senior: 12:40

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We got burned on both ends on that one. I wonder if he ever even played a down.

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offers go out during this evaluation period.

But I don't recall that group being immediately preceded or followed by another great one.

...there's really nothing OSU can offer (other than downtime and an academically-light college experience) that a winning ND program doesn't provide a recruit more and better of. All they can really combat ND with is B1G tradition, which (1) ain't what it used to be (see: no NCs, few first-round NFL picks, Rutgers) and (2) doesn't mean anything to kids who grow up outside the center of the midwest. And in increasing numbers, the players we are pursuing do live outside of that area where people are by nature more likely to pee their pants over OSU and UM. So it must really suck that much more for Meyer when we slip into Ohio and take away a Jimmy Byrne. Couldn't happen to a nicer fella.

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Between the performance this year and the recruiting results, I think it's fair to say at this point that it's been a great hire - despite my reservations. Many Tennessee fans would have said I was being generous - they despised the guy.

http://www.bluegraysky.com/forum/index.php?id=83807

Only Morton ever ended up playing any meaningful minutes at OL (and, while he tried hard and was a great ND guy...)

A lot was expected of Bonelli, but he never really panned out. Landri, was a great DL. The other guys got hurt? I think?

Off the top of my head, OSU made a run at poaching Bivin last summer. Byrne was basically ND vs. OSU. And OSU was pushing hard on both Nelson and Mustipher.

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To find a OL class that generated a lot of excitement. That 2006 class might qualify, but I remember thinking at the time that the 99 class was remarkable. They'd later prove that they were too hyped but the excitement was palpable.

Ambron, Neal OL 6-7 275 Littleton, CO (Littleton)
Curtin, Brennan OL 6-8 295 Palm Beach, FL (Benjamin)
Faine, Jeff OL 6-3 310 Saint Mary, FL (Seminole)
Gillis, Ryan OL 6-3 315 Bowie, MD (DeMatha)
Milligan, Sean OL 6-4 285 Norcross, GA (Norcross)

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Looks like we got the better end of the deal when OSU hired our previous OL coach.

Across the nation, around the world: everybody have fun tonight!

--
The 2007 ND-UCLA game was a once in a lifetime experience, I hope

Is that too much to ask?

--
"F--- everyone who isn't us."
#Team128

ND has always been pretty good at landing highly rated OL recruits. The following are all the 4+ star guys on Rivals.

But notice that while ND did have a few banner classes (from a rankings perspective in '02 and '06), rarely were back to back strong classes put together. Weis did a pretty good job but then things got thin during Kelly's first few recruiting years.

Thankfully it looks like ND is putting together a second very strong class (again, rankings wise). That's a good thing given the relatively high miss rate on OL rankings, not to mention their injury attrition rate.

2002 - Bonelli, Ryan, Landri, Raridon, Morton
2003 - Sullivan
2004 - none
2005 - none
2006 - Carufel,Olsen,Stewart,Wenger,Young
2007 - Nuss, Romine
2008 - Cave, Clelland, Robinson
2009 - Bullard, Martin, Watt
2010 - James, Lombard
2011 - Hegarty
2012 - Stanley
2013 - Bivin, Elmer, McGlinchey, Montelus
2014 - Bars, Byrne, Mustipher, Nelson

EDITED:

#1 on Scout
#2 on Rivals
#4 on the 24/7 Composite

Dad played for ND in the '80s, one brother plays O-Line for Michigan, the other plays D-Line for Penn State.

ND has been picking up the pace on (Rivals) Top 100 recruits that happen to play the OL.

2002 - Derek Landri
2006 - Sam Young
2007 - Matt Romine
2008 - Trevor Robinson
2009 - Chris Watt
2010 - Matt James
2011 - Matt Hegarty
2013 - Steve Elmer, John Montelus
2014 - Alex Bars, Quenton Nelson

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Alex-Bars-133720

Bars is actually the highest ranked of all the recruits in the 247 composite, with a ranking of No. 92. I think that speaks both to Bars' talent and to the difficulty that the recruiting services have in ranking OL prospects.

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--
"F--- everyone who isn't us."
#Team128

Then I quote one of the genius lyricists of the 1980s when I say:

"Everybody have fun tonight; everybody wang chung tonight."

--
The 2007 ND-UCLA game was a once in a lifetime experience, I hope

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Tags:
recruiting