With National Signing Day 2012 behind us and spring practice just around the corner it is time to get ourselves squared away to start discussing the next recruiting cycle in earnest. Over the course of the next couple of days we are going to publish a short series of posts that will provide the basic framework for our Recruiting Central widget in the left sidebar. We will have that overhauled for the next class by the end of the week.
Our resident recruitnik Miesle will continue to run point and the rest of us will chime in with supporting posts when and where appropriate.
Murtaugh kicked things off last week with the March Big Board, and you can expect us to post an updated version of that every month throughout this recruiting cycle. That just gives us a quick and easy place to keep the conversation about the recruits themselves going.
This will be the first iteration of the numbers post for this cycle. You all are familiar with our eligibility chart so I will get right to it. I left the Blue (2 deep) and Red (Injured) font as it was when the 2011 season wrapped up. I won't update that for 2012 until we get a better feel for the 2 deep during spring practice. I also want to get some confirmation that those players that were injured are good to go. If you have any questions about that or anything else don't hesitate to bring them up in the comments.
2012 ND Roster Breakdown (4 March)
Details after the jump.
So how many scholarships do we have to work with in this cycle? Let's take a look.
18 Freshmen
25 Sophomores
19 Juniors
9 Seniors that will be eligible to apply for a 5th year
71 Total
14 Total scholarships available for new recruits if all 9 of the 5th year options are utilized. Thus far we have a single verbal from OT Steve Elmer.
9 Additional spots available as a 1 for 1 replacement of a 5th year option.
23 Absolute max number of schollies available if no 5th year options are exercised.
This obviously doesn't forecast for attrition but it is very possible that another couple of spots could become available for one reason or another.
In my opinion we most likely end up with a class just over 20 a year from now. I only see the staff bringing 2-3 of those players that will be eligible for a 5th season in 2013.
Tyler Eifert is a lock to leave for the NFL but Cierre Wood, Chris Watt and Zack Martin could be hot on his trail. I am sure that the staff would love to keep these guys but they will be winning if any of them stick around.
I think Carlo Calabrese and Dan Fox both have a very good chance of coming back.
Jake Golic and Tyler Stockton are most likely gone.
I see Nick Tausch as a total wildcard.
So that's our starting point in terms of numbers. Miesle will follow this one up tomorrow by talking about the needs in this cycle by position group.
What do you think?