Welcome to the newest update to the Big Board for the offensive side of the ball.
The Irish are all set at quarterback with DeShone Kizer and as mentioned last week in the 2015 Big Board Preview appear ready to accept a commitment out of a high school junior from California if he's willing to jump on board.
Running Back | |||||||||
Score | Player | State | Ht/Wt. | Temperature | 1* | 2* | 3* | 4* | 5* |
.999 | Leonard Fournette | LA | 6-1.5/226 | Cold | |||||
.989 | Joe Mixon | CA | 6-2/195 | Cold | |||||
.948 | Derrell Scott | NC | 5-11/180 | Cold | |||||
.915 | Donte Thomas-Williams | NC | 6-0/209 | Cold | |||||
We've been waiting to see if Notre Dame offers any more running backs but it hasn't happened yet. They appear completely out of the picture for all of the players on the Big Board, however, they continue to show interest in (CO) Kalen Ballage .890 who is listed as an athlete by 247 Sports and wants to play running back in college.
Former Irish commit Elijah Hood signed his early enrollment papers with North Carolina earlier this month.
Wide Receiver | |||||||||
Score | Player | State | Ht/Wt. | Temperature | 1* | 2* | 3* | 4* | 5* |
.948 | Johnnie Dixon | FL | 5-10/187 | Cold | |||||
.990 | Malachi Dupre | LA | 6-2/187 | Cold | |||||
.978 | Josh Malone | TN | 6-2/190 | Cold | |||||
.991 | Speedy Noil | LA | 5-10/176 | Cold | |||||
.939 | Trevion Thompson | NC | 6-2/177 | Cold | |||||
The spark plug athlete Speedy Noil finally gets his fifth star and is now the 13th best prospect in the nation.
Josh Malone has officially been moved to cold giving Notre Dame nothing to work with the receivers listed above, although there are still some athletes on the Big Board that can play receiver.
Washington commit (CA) Erik Brown .934 has been looking around for a while, visited South Bend this fall, and is still involved with Notre Dame. Current Florida State commit (FL) Ryan Sousa .863 has also stated that he'll visit Notre Dame after football season.
Athlete | |||||||||
Score | Player | State | Ht/Wt. | Temperature | 1* | 2* | 3* | 4* | 5* |
.971 | Budda Baker | WA | 5-9/174 | Cold | |||||
.870 | Charles Nelson | FL | 5-8/170 | Mild | |||||
.977 | Michiah Quick | CA | 6-0/170 | Mild | |||||
.990 | Ju Ju Smith | CA | 6-1/200 | Mild | |||||
.932 | Nathan Starks | CO | 5-11/200 | Cold | |||||
Charles Nelson was offered by USC late last month and by Notre Dame last week. He's very much in the mold of Isaiah McKenzie and might have the Irish increasing their attention toward him over the coming weeks.
Mike Denbrock visited both Quick and Smith last week on a recruiting trip to California. The Irish remain firmly in the mix for Quick and Smith's recruitment appears to be coming down to Notre Dame and USC.
Tony Alford has continued to stay in contact with Nathan Starks. Admissions may still be a stumbling block but I still don't think we've heard the last from this player.
The Irish have also offered (OH) Sam Hubbard .908 who was once a commit to the Notre Dame lacrosse team but decided to take a scholarship with Ohio State football instead.
Tight End | |||||||||
Score | Player | State | Ht/Wt. | Temperature | 1* | 2* | 3* | 4* | 5* |
.941 | Tyler Luatua | CA | 6-4/230 | Hot | |||||
.950 | Dalton Schultz | UT | 6-5/215 | Cold |
Schultz has now pulled ahead of Luatua as the top tight end in the country. The latter visited Alabama last weekend and is likely to decide between the Tide and Notre Dame sooner rather than later. Most expect him to pick the Irish.
Schultz has long been considered a lean toward Stanford but may visit Notre Dame after the season is complete.
Offensive Line | |||||||||
Score | Player | State | Ht/Wt. | Temperature | 1* | 2* | 3* | 4* | 5* |
.985 | Damien Mama | CA | 6-4/370 | Cold | |||||
.989 | Damian Prince | MD | 6-6/300 | Cold | |||||
.969 | Braden Smith | KS | 6-6/290 | Cold | |||||
.959 | Casey Tucker | AZ | 6-6/270 | Cold | |||||
Andy Bauer committed to Missouri back on April 7, 2012, left the Tigers class about a year ago, and committed to Ole Miss this past March. Earlier this month he left Ole Miss' class and returned to Missouri's class.
Notre Dame didn't make Mama's top four teams and appear all done with recruiting offensive line.
Irish Commits | |||||||||
Score | Player | State | Ht/Wt. | Position | 1* | 2* | 3* | 4* | 5* |
.909 | DeShone Kizer | OH | 6-5/207 | Quarterback | |||||
.954 | Justin Brent | IN | 6-3/190 | Wideout | |||||
.923 | Corey Holmes | FL | 6-2/175 | Wideout | |||||
.868 | Isaiah McKenzie | FL | 5-9/172 | Wideout | |||||
.878 | Nic Weishar | IL | 6-5/223 | Tight End | |||||
.900 | Jimmy Byrne | OH | 6-4/290 | Offensive Line | |||||
.913 | Sam Mustipher | MD | 6-3/285 | Offensive Line | |||||
.968 | Quenton Nelson | NJ | 6-5/295 | Offensive Line | |||||
.954 | Alex Bars | TN | 6-6/287 | Offensive Line | |||||
We'll keep McKenzie a part of the commit list unless he verbals somewhere else, or ultimately signs with another school on National Signing Day.
With McKenzie there are 6 spots left in the class, without him 7 spots.
Notre Dame would probably like to take 3 more offensive players but if the recent recruiting activity during the bye week is any indication they're probably going to skew towards defense as we approach NSD. As such, I wouldn't be surprised if only 2 more offensive players are added to the class while 4 or 5 more spots are taken by the other side of the ball.