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Brian Kelly made a bold move last year for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish when he decided to make the state of Florida less of a recruiting priority than in the past — much less of a priority. Instead, the Irish were to concentrate more on Georgia and Texas.
It probably shouldn’t shock anyone that the Irish won’t sign any players from the Sunshine State in the 2019 class. Notre Dame sent out 199 offers for the ‘19 cycle, but only 9 of those were to Florida athletes. Compare that to California (33), Texas (24), and Georgia (23) and it was certainly a huge shift from the past.
Florida Recruiting
| Year | Florida Offers | Florida Commitments | 3 Star | 4 Star | 5 Star |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Florida Offers | Florida Commitments | 3 Star | 4 Star | 5 Star |
| 2014 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2015 | 33 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2016 | 36 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| 2017 | 35 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 2018 | 29 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 2019 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
We still have a few days until Signing Day, but as of right now, the commit count for those other three are Georgia 3, Texas 2, and California 1 (Isaiah Foskey would make 2).
Fast forward to the 2020 cycle, and the Irish have about 110 offers out across the country. Of that 110, there are 10 offers out to Florida athletes. While it’s safe to assume that Notre Dame will probably offer around 180-200 recruits overall, I’m not sure we can project many more Florida offers.
To be honest, of the 10 offers for 2020 in Florida, 2 are at IMG (which only counts because of geography). The other 8 don’t seem to have the Irish particularly high on their lists, but the process is still young. I do wonder if Kelly’s direct comments about Florida will play into any that Notre Dame does offer — mostly due to “negative recruiting” from competing schools and coaches.
Maybe there will be a bigger difference this cycle as opposed to last cycle because of the departure of Autry Denson. The former running backs coach was one of the primary recruiters for the state of Florida, and with the addition of Lance Taylor, maybe Notre Dame’s hit rate will increase a bit.
I don’t have many answers right now, especially in this stage of the recruiting cycle, but I do find it fascinating. Will Notre Dame change what they already changed? I’m fairly certain that at some point they will increase the offer list to Florida athletes under Kelly, but it will most likely never return to what it once was.