From Recruitment To Draft Day, Brian Kelly Finding His Rhythm
Through all the chatter about academics, and atmosphere, and relationships during the recruiting process, most top high school players fail to mention what is arguably their primary motivation for choosing a school — getting to the NFL.
Developing recruits is just as important as landing recruits, and be sure that the top prep players are paying close attention to which schools are performing best each NFL Draft day. It’s an important measure to the health of a college program.
In the six drafts from 2001-06, Notre Dame produced only one first-round pick — center Jeff Faine in 2003.
And in back-to-back drafts in 2005 and 2006, just five total Irish players were selected, and only one of those — tight end Anthony Fasano — went in the first two rounds.
“Things got pretty bleak under Bob Davie and Tyrone Willingham,” said Scott Wright, draft analyst, founder and president of NFLDraftCountdown.com, of those two underachieving Irish coaches.
Highlighted by 11 total Irish taken in the 2007 and 2008 drafts — a star-studded group that included TE John Carlson, S Tom Zbikowski, C John Sullivan, DE Victor Abiamiri and OT Ryan Harris — player development began to improve under former head coach Charlie Weis, at least temporarily.
But it wasn’t until Brian Kelly took the Notre Dame job in 2010 that recruiting and development finally created an assembly line feel with success both on the field in the fall, and on the draft ticker in the spring.
According to Rivals.com, at least eight — and possibly nine depending on Wednesday’s signing day — of Kelly’s 10 recruiting classes between 2011-20 have ranked in the top 15 nationally, and the NFL Draft picks from these classes are growing in numbers and early-round interest.
“It’s been a huge improvement from where they were,” Wright said of Notre Dame’s improvement on draft day under Kelly.
The 2014 season is the best place to start when evaluating Kelly’s correlation between recruiting and draft success because his first true recruiting class — the 2011 group — were seniors in 2014.
This 2011 class produced four draft picks, including three second-rounders — DL Stephon Tuitt, TE Troy Niklas, and C Nick Martin.
The 2012 recruiting class featured four more draft picks, all chosen in the first four rounds, including OL Ronnie Stanley, the No. 6 overall pick.
Had all-American LB Jaylon Smith not dropped to the second round after a knee injury in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl, he would’ve joined WR Will Fuller and OT Mike McGlinchey as a trio of Irish first-round picks from Kelly’s 2013 recruiting class.
Notre Dame hasn’t had three first-round picks from the same recruiting haul since DT Bryant Young, OT Aaron Taylor and DB Jeff Burris went together in the 1994 draft from the Lou Holtz 1990 recruiting class.
First-round pick Quenton Nelson highlighted a three-man draft class from the 2014 Irish recruiting haul. LB Drue Tranquill, a case-study in Kelly and Co.’s ability to develop marginal recruits into NFL Draft picks, was also part of this recruiting class.
The 2015 Irish recruiting class had five more players drafted last spring, including DT Jerry Tillery in the first round and bust-out WR Miles Boykin in the third round.
That brings us to Kelly’s 2016 recruiting class and the 2020 and 2021 NFL Drafts.
With CB Julian Love already in the league — a fourth-round selection as an underclassman last year — and with DEs Julian Okwara and Khalid Kareem sure to go this year, and redshirted DE Daelin Hayes in 2021; WR Chase Claypool a potential first-round pick this year; DBs Jalen Elliott and Troy Pride expected to get called this spring; and offensive linemen Liam Eichenberg and Tommy Kraemer draft locks in either 2020 or 2021, this 2016 recruiting class should feature at least nine drafted players, the most so far from one class under Kelly’s watch.
And remember, QB Ian Book, RB Tony Jones Jr. and DE Ade Ogundeji are also future draft hopefuls from this class, be it in 2020 or 2021, which should push the number of draft picks from the 2016 recruiting class into double digits.
Probably a long-shot with Okwara’s season-ending leg injury this season, but it’s not out of the question that with Okwara, Claypool, Eichenberg and Kraemer, the Irish could feature three or more first-rounders from this 2016 class.
And looking ahead to the 2021 Draft with the 2017 recruiting class, expect another heavy Irish contingent with TE Cole Kmet a likely first-round pick, LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and DL Kurt Hinish a couple of rising defensive prospects, a bevy of draft-eligible offensive linemen and many more.
All of which illustrates terrific momentum and a healthy correlation between program recruiting and player development under Coach Kelly.
“It began to turn around under Weis,” Wright said, “but Kelly really has the program consistently producing pros again.”
RECRUIT & DEVELOP
Irish head coach Brian Kelly has had six of his own full recruiting classes move through Notre Dame that are producing a growing number of NFL Draft picks. Expect Wednesday’s signing day to welcome in plenty more.
(Rankings per Rivals.com)
Class Of 2011
Players: 23
National Class Ranking: #10
Kelly’s Class Ranking: #8
Draft Picks: 4
First-Three Rounders: TE Troy Niklas (2nd), DL Stephon Tuitt (2nd), C Nick Martin (2nd)
Class Of 2012
Players: 17
Class Ranking: #20
Kelly’s Class Ranking: #6
Draft Picks: 4
First-Three Rounders: OT Ronnie Stanley (1st)
Class Of 2013
Players: 24
Class Ranking: #3
Kelly’s Class Ranking: #1
Draft Picks: 5
First-Three Rounders: WR Will Fuller (1st), OL Mike McGlinchey (1st), LB Jaylon Smith (2nd)
Class Of 2014
Players: 23
Class Ranking: #11
Kelly’s Class Ranking: #7
Draft Picks: 3
First-Three Rounders: OG Quenton Nelson (1st)
Class Of 2015
Players: 24
Class Ranking: #11
Kelly’s Class Ranking: #5
Draft Picks: 6
First-Three Rounders: DL Jerry Tillery (1st), WR Miles Boykin (3rd)
Class Of 2016
Players: 23
Class Ranking: #13
Kelly’s Class Ranking: #3
Draft Picks: TBD: likely at least nine
First-Three Rounders: TBD: potentially WR Chase Claypool, DL Julian Okwara, DL Khalid Kareem, OL Tommy Kraemer, OL Liam Eichenberg
----
• Talk about it inside Rockne’s Roundtable
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_MikeSinger, @CoachDeDario and @AndrewMentock.
• Like us on Facebook.