We appear to have landed our 2027 QB

based on multiple crystal balls that are rolling in.

https://247sports.com/player/wonderful-monds-iv-46150691/

It may seem like Monds is our backup choice after losing Lopati to Michigan, but in fact he was the first QB that the staff offered for the 2027 class following Jarrardʻs reclassification. He also was the top-ranked QB in the 2028 class before he decided to reclassify himself, so we have landed two QBs in a row who are playing up a year (and have seen their rankings by the recruiting services suffer as a result).

I know that OSU hosted him at least three times and wanted him badly, so this is quite a coup.

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And he is definitely more coveted than Lopati, so he is nowhere close to a backup plan.

But my only reservation is that this recruitment, even if he commits, is not close to being done.

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You watch the first couple throws and say "yup, we're offering him." Pretty mature passer. Also built and runs like Leonard.

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Freeman's got so much riz they need to call him Aura Parseghian

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If it's true that he's actually on the younger side for a 2028 recruit, he may eventually have to shift to tackle.

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Is that one of the main competitors (OSU) already has a QB committed, so that would be a tough sell to take him away from ND as a second QB in their class. Stranger things have happened of course, but I can't see that one.

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Researching this from a lot of sources.

First, there was a guy named Wonderful Terrific Monds.

His son was Wonderful Terrific Monds Jr. (1952) who played DB for Nebraska and then for the 49ers in the seventies.

His four sons:

Wonderful Terrific Monds III (1973), a Braves minor leaguer who got a little famous from Jon Bois' all time name HOF posts - he's got a few baseball cards in the late 90s;

Mario Monds (1976), who played DT for Cincy and then a bunch of NFL teams in the early aughts;

Devin Monds (1983) , a pitcher at Northeastern who was drafted by LA, and

Wonderful Terrific Monds II (1992) a LB who played at Buffalo and then FIU in 2011 and 2014.

Our guy is Wonderful Terrific Monds IV, 4th of his name and son of the Atlanta minor leaguer.

So, 5 guys over 4 generations, and the II was born 19 years after the III, and 40 years after the Jr.

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He gave himself the nickname "Mr. Wonderful" so it probably shouldn't count.

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97. Wonderful Diarrhea
98. Getting hit by a Wonder(ful) Bread truck
99. Kevin O'Leary

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderful_Smith

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He got the name from his prowess in the minor leagues. He parlayed it into a 9-year major league career as a utility outfielder with 6 teams, the very definition of a journeyman. But he did hit a walk off home run on opening day for the Cubs in the ill-fated year of 1969.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/smithwi02.shtml

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Non Hogan nWo Division

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

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The announcers telegraphed the turn from the opening of the match, but at the time I was as shocked as an 11 year old could be.

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

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And it may or may not involve the moment I was taught how to unhook a bra clasp.

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At night, the ice weasels come.

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I guess it's better for QBs to basically take a "reverse gap year" training at ND rather than playing their senior year in HS. It's an interesting trend. That's either quirky or innovative. Feels sort of Moneyball-y to me.

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Freeman's got so much riz they need to call him Aura Parseghian

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As Tr notes below, affect with and ability to lead peers is critical for a QB. The reclassification stuff feels like a likely shortchanging of capacity in that department.

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Although there's always a certain percentage of kids who progress at a faster level and can take on bigger challenges sooner. Teddy Jarrard started and excelled at his high school as a sophomore, then transferred to a different one with the intent of playing much tougher competition. Dude got his head kicked in for a while as a junior in the new league but eventually got on track; ultimately, he was likely better for that experience. He strikes me as the kind of player who can rise to the occasion, and ND will provide him a support system to grow as a person and leader that would be a bigger question mark at most other schools.

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For example, the popular trend of everyone looking for an older/mature guy who left college to go play professional baseball for a few years, then came back to "finish his degree."

Or the trend of parents holding their kids back in school so they would be a year older when they got to college (ie, Jimmy Clausen, and Ryan Mallett, I think).

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I'm actually curious if generally when a player "reclassifies," it either puts them back into the grade they "should" be in, or if they are still back a year.

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..in wrestling. Of course it's always driven by the parents. But I find it so counterproductive to the growth of the athlete. I guess there are times where someone's physical growth might warrant an extra year of development but you're talking about a fraction of a percentile of a common practice.

I think it's simply another artificial tactic to try to increase someone's athletic profile. And for a majority, it fails.

Too often this "gap" year involves "homeschooling" which really involves increasing practice time and stunting any kind of academic progress.

I saw it with my son (who was on the naturally older side because he just missed the September cutoff) who would be facing kids sometimes 2 years older than him in the same grade level separated competitions.

I just laugh when I see 20 YO college freshman.

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Lotta boys benefit from being on the older end when they enter school anyway. But people can go psycho with it just like everything else.

You better also be good at predicting which sport your kid is going to want to play, because cut offs vary. At least where I am, rugby is August 1, baseball is April 30 and soccer was calendar year until now.

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who had been scheduled to visit mid-week (Peter Bourque) is technically a '26 recruit based on age who was pushed back to '27. If he and Monds are anywhere close to two years apart in age, then the staff's preference is even more understandable.

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the Polo Grounds

We appear to have landed our 2027 QB

This is a huge coup.

this guy has yup tape

Already 220+ with mitts for hands.

The good thing

Insta-HOF name.

I cannot keep track of all the Wonderful Mondses

Top 10 Wonderfuls

Kevin O'Leary? Well, maybe not in the top 10

Bringing up the rear.

Wonderful Smith

No relation to Wonderful Willie Smith

Paul Orndorff

Love this one.

Greatest heel turn ever

Just watched it on youtube

I was only 15 and definitely had an "Oh Sh!t" moment.

Wonderful Tonight!

I have a story about this song.

It’s a Wonderful Life

______ World of Disney

What a Wonderful World

Some Kind Of

the reclassification trend is interesting

I don't like it

Generally speaking, I agree.

Its interesting to compare with previous QB trends

That still happens constantly

I see this happen all the time

Depending on the family, may not be any tremendous harm

The other 2027 QB we were considering