For the Notre Dame coaching staff, it takes a lot more than a high Rivals Recruiting ranking for a prospect to receive a scholarship offer.
A high school player — or graduate transfer — must meet a high standard throughout the evaluation process, which will determine if they are a program fit as it pertains to their athleticism on the field, aptitude in the classroom and personality in the locker room and on campus.
A lot goes into that process. Take 2020 wide receiver Xavier Watts, widely considered a three-star recruit by Rivals and other services. Yet he was one of the most sought-after recruits in the 2020 class by the Notre Dame staff.
They determined he met the academic and athletic profile, but it was another trait that put them over the edge.
“[He's] a serious focused competitor, just everything about his demeanor. I talked a little bit about this in my opening remarks," said Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly. "You got to read into ballplayers a little bit more when it comes to their demeanor and how they can impact others. This is a serious individual that takes his craft, that takes being a competitor and a winner to the next level. He's going to influence others around him. That's really what stood out.
"Certainly, he's got all the skills, but everybody's got the ability to play at this level. We just love those other things about him.”
But what goes into actually discovering why Watts and the 18 other 2020 signees will fit into life as Notre Dame scholarship athlete?
Athletic Profile
A priority on the recruiting trail for the Fighting Irish on both sides of the ball is length and speed.
As Blue and Gold Illustrated senior editor Lou Somogyi mentioned, lots of high school football prospects claim to have a 4.4 second 40-times. That's why Notre Dame went through extraordinary efforts to verify a recruit's speed by flying all over the country to see them in person.
“God bless the high school coaches. We love them and they're always trying to help their kids," recruiting coordinator Brian Polian said. "I always point this out, my experience with my dad in the NFL. If you look at how many guys go to the combine and can actually run in the low 4.4's, there's not very many of them. But when we talk to high school coaches, there's millions across the country."
Polian and the Irish staff did their due diligence and know more about this current crop of recruits than they did in the past few cycles.
For instance, Notre Dame offered 2020 cornerback recruit Lovie Jenkins but later slowed on him because the staff was unable to verify certain information, including his speed. He eventually committed to Louisville and signed with the Cardinals yesterday.
Another big part of this process was evaluating track times, even if the prospect didn't run the 60-meter or 100-meter dash.
“What if a guy only runs a 200 meter? What if he's a distance guy? How do we translate a split in a 4 by 1 to a verified speed?" Polian said. "We literally did some research on that in the winter into the spring in terms of, is he really fast? What if does a really good 110 high hurdle? How does that equate to football speed? You know it when you see it on film, but [we had] the discipline to walk away if we did not have a verified speed."
This also prompted recruits to do their own work and send the staff videos of them running 40-yard dashes timed by their coaches or go to certain camps approved by the Notre Dame staff.
Length is a little easier to evaluate in person, but that doesn't make it any less coveted. To understand this, look no further than a certain 6-4 safety, who was able to make a significant contribution to the Irish in 2019 as a true freshman.
“From a football point of view, I think for me personally, a great reminder of the power of length was Kyle Hamilton this year," Polian said. "If you can get a really good athlete who has got length, that's better than just a really good athlete that doesn't. [Isaiah] Foskey is the same way. [Mike] McGlinchey before that."
In addition to verifiable speed, Notre Dame targeted length for the defensive backfield in the 2020 recruiting class. 6-1 Caleb Offord and 6-3 Ramon Henderson are both long and rangy athletes, even if they are three-star recruits.
While cornerback recruits Landen Bartleson and Clarence Lewis may be listed at around six feet, both still have long arms and also fit the athletic profile the staff is looking for.
"I think there was a concerted effort this year to, if we have two equal grades on a guy, let's go with the guy that's got a little bit more length," Polian said. "I know there was some consternation earlier in the year about the defensive back board and defensive back situation."
Scholastic Aptitude
Everyone knows Notre Dame is a well-respected academic institution that holds even its athletes to a high standard.
But determining who will be up for that challenge is about much more than looking at a prospect's GPA and the number of AP classes they've taken.
“We have some serious conversations. I think the biggest thing here is the ability to communicate," Polian said. "There are guys here that succeed because they can have a conversation and communicate with a professor. If a guy will come here and may have good grades, but we got to work really hard for them to get them to communicate with us, there's a hunch that, hey, that guy might have a hard time."
There may not a specific 2020 recruit that comes to mind, but 2021 Rivals100 player Gabriel Rubio earned his Notre Dame offer by showing a commitment to the classroom.
His GPA was below a 3.0 in the middle of his sophomore year of high school, so defensive line coach Mike Elston made a deal with him. If he got his GPA up, then Elston would offer. In the last semester of his sophomore year, he earned over a 3.7 GPA, and Elston knew Rubio had the scholastic aptitude necessary to thrive at Notre Dame.
It wasn't simply that his GPA was higher. Rubio showed he was willing to accept a difficult academic challenge and exceed expectations.
“I think Dave Peloquin, specifically, on our staff working in conjunction with our admissions office, I think they do a really good job of where might there be a concern, let's address it now, let's have some honest conversations," Polian said. "I would tell you eight and a half to nine times out of ten we get the answer we're looking for.
"Sometimes you don't, but that's the nature of being at a high-level place. But you got to ask real questions. You got to engage in conversations. I think that we have done that.”
Cultural Fit
In addition to academics, there are many other aspects of being a Notre Dame scholarship athlete that are different compared to a significant portion of the other major college football programs.
They must attend class in a traditional brick-and-mortar building (no online classes), live in a dorm room built for the everyday student and have a team-first attitude.
While the coaches may attempt to gather if a recruit will be a cultural fit by spending time with them and talking to their coaches and teachers, it still may be hard to get a sense of the prospect's true colors.
That's why, when a prospect visits campus, the coaching staff seeks input from Notre Dame's current roster.
“Oh, that's invaluable feedback and that comes from our head coach," Polian said. "If there's ever a doubt in our mind about whether a guy fits, we will immediately go to the host. And Coach Kelly will do that. And he'll ask, 'do you want this guy on your team?' That has worked in both directions.
"There has been times when we felt like a guy might fit and our players came back and said, 'Hey, when he's out in a social setting, it does not fit our mission here. It does not fit our culture.'"
Other bits of information could come from the recruiting staff, including student ambassadors from Notre Dame, Saint Mary's and Holy Cross, who spend time with the recruit and help set up events for unofficial and official visitors.
“Our ambassadors will give us feedback in terms of when they're with a prospect and the family, say, for a home game and spend a great deal of time with them, more than we will, for an unofficial or official visit on a home game and come back and say, 'Hey, I don't know. There's some things that they were talking about that don't necessarily jive.'"
"It's not the decider, but it's a big piece of information as we're trying to put the puzzle together."
Prioritizing culture in the recruiting process will not only help the Irish on the field, but it can also be used as a tool to attract like-minded prospects in the future.
Both of Notre Dame's 2020 offensive line commits Tosh Baker and Michael Carmody have raved about the culture that their future position coach Jeff Quinn has cultivated, which is a major reason why they were so attracted to the program after visiting.
"Our recruits felt how much our team enjoys being around one another," Polian said. "That is just a reminder of how valuable fit is. Because when you get guys that pick your place for the right reasons and want to be here and want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, it creates a really cool culture within the building.
"Hopefully, we're building on that. We believe that we are."
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