ND Offense Recruiting Big Board- 12.10.13

STILL WAITING ON A TIGHT END FROM CALIFORNIA

Welcome to the newest update to the Big Board for the offensive side of the ball.

The update has been the same at the quarterback position for months now. The Irish have DeShone Kizer in the fold for 2014, recently added a rising star in Blake Barnett for 2015, and have no more quarterbacks offered for this cycle who are not a current verbal to another school.

I would like to point out that in Kelly's recent media session he mentioned that he's fine with 3 scholarship quarterbacks with a preferred walk-on adding some depth. If you can pull this off--and Kelly has done a very good job improving the preferred walk-on program--I really like this approach for the near future. Just looking at it from a perspective for next season there has to be some reasonably athletic, tall, and smart quarterback who is willing to be a member of the Red Hat Army and who would be able to do better than what we saw from Hendrix against USC this past year if God forbid Golson and Zaire get hurt.

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
.945	Derrell Scott	NC	5-11/180	Cold
.911	Donte Thomas-Williams	NC	6-0/220	Cold

I won't say the Irish are done recruiting at running back but it's been trending that way for quite some time now. Fournette is now the Composite top player in the country and is coming off an official visit to LSU this past weekend while taking another official to Alabama this upcoming weekend. Whichever team wins that battle is going to get one bad mofo at running back.

A lot of teams are still after Mixon but he's in no hurry to pare down his list of top teams. I have a feeling UCLA strikes late in the process and signs him but we'll see. Elsewhere, Scott remains a South Carolina lean and Thomas-Williams a West Virginia lean.

Tony Alford remains in constant contact with (CO) ATH Kalen Ballage .890 but they've still not offered. He might be someone who sneaks into the class in late January as a targeted running back but the coaches are obviously playing a waiting game with very few spots left to work with.

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
.992	Speedy Noil	LA	5-10/176	Cold
.938	Trevion Thompson	NC	6-3/188	Cold

Our lone verbal on offense since our last update was (TN) WR Josh Malone .979 who stayed in-state and picked the Tennessee Volunteers 6 days ago.

Dixon to Miami, Dupre to LSU, Noil to LSU, and Thompson to Clemson are the consensus picks by the recruiting experts.

In a (somewhat) curious decision it seems the Notre Dame staff is very intent on signing 3 receivers for this class. With the numbers crunch I'd be more interested in finding some more defenders but I don't get paid to make these decisions. Kind of sort of verbal Isaiah McKenzie re-took his SAT this past Saturday and if his score improves he should officially become a real verbal at which point I think the staff will sit tight at receiver.

But until that score is improved Notre Dame is still looking around. They are still in contact with (CA) WR Erik Brown .933 who switched from Washington to California last month as well as (FL) WR Ryan Sousa .868 who recently flipped from Florida State to Florida. Sousa was supposed to take an official visit to Notre Dame so we'll see if that still happens. Notre Dame has also been out to visit (CA) WR Donovan Walker .790 who is a very under the radar prospect with zero offers right now. The definitely are not slacking off on receiver recruiting this cycle.

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
.976	Michiah Quick	CA	6-0/170	Mild
.991	Ju Ju Smith	CA	6-1/200	Mild
.930	Nathan Starks	CO	5-11/200	Cold

Baker is trending hard toward Oregon but he will officially visit his hometown Washington Huskies this weekend and UCLA in January.

Nelson was offered by Notre Dame in mid-November and will be coming to South Bend for the awards banquet. He could very well be the third receiver of this class if things don't work out with McKenzie.

The Irish still remain in decent shape with Quick who visited Alabama and USC last month but it's still looking like a battle between Oklahoma and Notre Dame.

The Irish are also still hanging in there with John "JuJu" Smith but the hometown USC Trojans are slowly grabbing some momentum. Smith has an official visit to USC planned for mid-January.

Starks remains a long-shot, unless a miracle from Admissions occurs over the next two months.

Bo Scarborough, a verbal to Alabama who visited and the Irish were hard after, has officially eliminated the Irish.

Tight End
Score	Player	State	Ht/Wt.	Temperature	1*	2*	3*	4*	5*
.933	Tyler Luatua	CA	6-4/230	Hot
.950	Dalton Schultz	UT	6-5/215	Mild

Luatua is deciding at the UnderArmour Game and is expected to pick Notre Dame. He's been down to the Irish and Alabama for quite a while.

Schultz is coming off a visit to campus and he absolutely loved it. Notre Dame probably won't have room for him---especially if Luatua verbals later this month---but he remains a great option waiting in the wings if the Irish need to really turn up the pressure.

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	6-5/295	Cold
.968	Braden Smith	KS	6-6/290	Cold
.960	Casey Tucker	AZ	6-6/270	Cold

O-line recruiting looks to be finished for the cycle, especially with 2 linemen already in the fold for 2015.

Mama has set an official visit to USC and is expected to sign with the Trojans. Prince visited Florida State last month and has the Seminoles coming on strong but has set officials to South Carolina, Florida, and Miami.

Curiously, Braden Smith has set an official visit to Notre Dame for January 17th. He visited South Bend way back in March but things went ice cold from the summer until now. That's the Irish just doing diligent work, I suppose.

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
.921	Corey Holmes	FL	6-2/175	Wideout
.873	Isaiah McKenzie	FL	5-9/172	Wideout
.886	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	6-6/309	Offensive Line

The strategy on this side of the ball a couple months from NSD seems to be: Grab another tight end and then secure a third receiver for the class. As such, I doubt we'll be signing more than 11 offensive recruits.

In my opinion, everyone on this list will redshirt except Brent. Well, I guess you could count McKenzie too if he ends up part of the class because he'll be the punt returner. That says a lot about the depth on the team right now---especially on the line---but also that this class is missing a few studs. In total, I love the depth of this class and that counts for a lot yet I'll be surprised if we see anything close to the impact the 2013 freshmen are making this year.