Several experts have already weighed in on the impact of Notre Dame moving all of its Olympic sports to the ACC on football recruiting. The answers have ranged the entire spectrum from no impact to big impact.
In order to do make an educated call, I thought it a good idea to pull the Weis and Kelly recruiting classes (from Rivals). For reference, they can be found here.
More to come after the jump.
For visual purposes, here is the data and a map for the recruiting classes since 2005. I defined the ACC Footprint as Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts.
Charlie Weis:
Note: Hawaii was omitted for clarity on the map. Clearly, they aren't in the ACC...yet.
Recruiting Class |
Tag Color |
Total Number Signed |
Total in ACC Footprint |
Percentage in ACC |
2005 |
Green |
15 |
2 |
13% |
2006 |
Blue |
28 |
7 |
25% |
2007 |
Yellow |
18 |
6 |
33% |
2008 |
Red |
23 |
4 |
17% |
2009 |
Purple |
18 |
3 |
17% |
|
Total |
102 |
22 |
22% |
Brian Kelly:
Note: Hawaii was omitted for clarity on the map. Clearly, they aren't in the ACC...yet.
Recruiting Class |
Tag Color |
Total Number Signed |
Total in ACC Footprint |
Percentage in ACC |
2010 |
Green |
23 |
7 |
30% |
2011 |
Blue |
23 |
6 |
26% |
2012 |
Yellow |
17 |
5 |
29% |
2013 |
Red |
20 |
6 |
30% |
|
Total |
83 |
24 |
29% |
So what does it all mean?
Based on percentages alone, it is clear that Kelly has had more success both in overall number and percentage in recruiting the ACC footprint that Weis did. While it may not be fair to include the 2005 class in the stats for Weis, I think it is still applicable since the data shows that nearly two-thirds verbally committed after he was hired.
It also appears that the East Coast (along with the Midwest) has become the recruiting base under Brian Kelly. Weis spent a lot of time recruiting California with mixed results. The Kelly staff still recruits nationally, but with a different emphasis. Weis recruited the best high school players at a particular position to play the same spot in college. Kelly and his staff identify player types (skill/big skill/power) and are able to plug guys in at different positions when necessary.
By agreeing to play 5 games per season against ACC opponents in football, I think Notre Dame solidified their position with recruits in this geography while still being able to retain the national reach. In other words, they guarantee the exposure by playing coast-to-coast every single season.