(UPDATE: Notre Dame signing days news and notes, nuggets and tidbits)
It was a very disappointing Notre Dame football season in 2014. The bowl win over a very good LSU team brought in some positive vibes after the dramatic second half of the season slide. The era of good feelings continues on national signing day as Notre Dame football looks pretty good in team recruiting standings right now.
24/7 Sports has ND #11, Scout has the Irish #6, Rivals has them #9. ESPNU ranks the Fighting Irish #9.
Here, courtesy of ESPN PR, are some of the highest rated recruits that will announce on signing day. Notre Dame football is still in the mix for a few of the big undecideds below:
|
Time (ET)* |
Rank and Player |
Position (Pos. Rank) |
Hometown |
Final Schools |
|
8:30 a.m. |
No. 111 Chris Clark |
TE (4) |
Avon, Conn. |
Michigan & UCLA |
|
9 a.m. |
No. 1 Byron Cowart |
DE (1) |
Seffner, Fla. |
Auburn & Florida |
|
No. 28 SoSo Jamabo |
ATH (4) |
Plano, Texas |
Texas & UCLA |
|
|
10 a.m. |
No. 46 Jeffery Holland |
OLB (4) |
Jacksonville, Fla. |
Auburn, Florida & UCLA |
|
No. 2 Terry Beckner Jr. |
DT (1) |
St. Louis, Ill. |
Auburn, Florida State, Missouri & Ohio State |
|
|
11 a.m. |
No. 105 Josh Wariboko |
OG (8) |
Oklahoma City, Okla. |
Oklahoma, Ohio State & UCLA |
|
No. 29 Roquan Smith |
OLB (2) |
Montezuma, Ga. |
Georgia, Michigan, Texas A&M & UCLA |
|
|
No. 5 Martez Ivey |
OT (1) |
Apopka, Fla. |
Auburn & Florida |
|
|
12 p.m. |
No. 57 DaMarkus Lodge |
WR (7) |
Cedar Hill, Texas |
Ole Miss, Texas & Texas A&M |
|
No. 6 Daylon Mack |
DT (3) |
Gladewater, Texas |
Texas, Texas A&M & TCU |
|
|
2 p.m. |
No. 9 CeCe Jefferson*** |
DE (2) |
Glen St Mary, Fla. |
Alabama, Auburn Florida, Florida State, LSU & Ole Miss |
|
No. 41 Rasheem Green*** |
DT (8) |
Gardena, Calif. |
Arizona State, Miami (Fla), Oregon & USC |
|
|
No. 56 John Houston, Jr.*** |
ILB (1) |
Gardena, Calif. |
Arizona State, Miami (Fla), Oklahoma, Oregon & USC |
|
|
No. 130 Cordell Broadus*** |
WR (14) |
Las Vegas, Nev. |
Arizona State, LSU, UCLA & USC |
|
|
3 p.m. |
No. 63 Equanimeous St. Brown |
WR (9) |
Anaheim, Calif. |
Notre Dame, Stanford, UCLA & USC |
|
4 p.m. |
No. 4 Iman Marshall |
CB (1) |
Long Beach, Calif. |
Florida State, LSU, Notre Dame, Michigan, UCLA & USC |
|
No. 172 Joseph Wicker |
DT (19) |
Long Beach, Calif. |
Arizona State, Texas Tech & UCLA. |
The 24/7 Crystal Ball for Chris Clark is 67% Michigan 13% Ohio State 7% Notre Dame
Iman Marshall is not coming to Michigan or Notre Dame, so I really don’t know why ESPN PR bother listing both of those schools are even listed. His ball reads 98% USC 2% FSU
Equainaemous St. Brown, who had been heavily linked to Northwestern is showing 82% Notre Dame %12 UCLA
Of course, all this needs to be taken with not just a grain of salt, but a whole salt shaker. The Notre Dame football fan knows all too well the Charlie Weiss era. He was Ron Zookesque in being great recruiter, but not developing/maximizing that blue chip talent.
Also national signing day itself is the second dumbest day on the sports calendar. It’s the second most overrated, overblown, over-covered day of non-news behind Super Bowl Media Day.
Yes, these two news days are even worse than those days in July when no sports are scheduled. At least those summer dog days don’t dumb you down the way signing day and Super Bowl Media Day do.
Coming up third might be the night that features the Pro Bowl/NHL All-Star game/Royal Rumble. It’s pretty bad too.
Nevertheless, on paper, this is a very good haul for Brian Kelly and Notre Dame football.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive Inc.
You can read Banks’ feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)