Notre Dame 2021 Signing Day: Five Primary Talking Points

College football’s 2020 early signing period (Dec. 16-18) saw 24 Notre Dame verbal commits ink their letters of intent, with the possibility of more trickling in through Friday.

Collectively, the group is ranked 10th nationally by Rivals and headlined by Avon, Ind., offensive lineman and five-star prospect Blake Fisher, the nation’s No. 25-ranked player overall.

Also in the top 100 are Pickerington, Ohio wide receiver Lorenzo Styles (51st) and Clarkston, Mich., offensive lineman Rocco Spindler (67th).

Four others were classified among the top 250:

Gabriel Rubio (No. 106), St. Peters, Mo., defensive tackle.

Tyler Buchner (No. 111), La Mesa, Calif., quarterback, who had no high school season this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deion Colzie (No. 143), Athens, Ga., wide receiver.

Prince Kollie (No. 239) Jonesborough, Tenn., linebacker. He also is one of five finalists for the Butkus Award, honoring the nation’s top linebacker in the high school ranks.

Among the 24, at least 13 have indicated they will enroll early, with the second semester at Notre Dame starting the first week of February. That is the most at the school since accepting the first such class in 2006, topping the 10 from 2019 and eight last year when only 17 signed.

Overall, there are two quarterbacks, three receivers, two tight ends and five lineman on offense. Defensively there are four linemen, two linebackers, four cornerbacks and a safety, plus a kicker.

A conspicuous absence is at running back, which could be rectified later this week.

Here are five of the primary storylines from head coach Brian Kelly’s meeting with the media on Wednesday afternoon.

On July 29, Notre Dame received a pledge from 6-0, 191-pound Logan Diggs, a three-star prospect from Metairie, La. However, a recent offer from the in-state LSU Tigers has prompted some wavering on his part, and he announced on social media that he won’t make a decision until February.

From our experience, that usually is not a good sign for Notre Dame .

Thus, Kelly and his staff are now seriously vying to flip 6-0, 215-pound Audric Estime, who committed to Michigan State in September but is now reportedly leaning more toward the Fighting Irish. Estime is a four-star prospect who is ranked No. 122 overall in the 2021 class.

There was also pursuit of Michigan four-star Donavan Edwards, who ended up signing on Wednesday with the home-state Wolverines.

“We anticipate to bring in two more running backs in this class,” Kelly said. “…And we expect to sign somebody that’s going to help us on the back end of the defense as well.”

The preference would be Los Angeles, Calif., cornerback Ceyair Wright, the nation’s No. 102-ranked prospect who will announce his decision Jan. 2 and sign in February. Hometown USC might be considered the favorite there, but if it’s not Wright there might be other options to look at in a haul that already includes five defensive backs.

Notre Dame possibly could finish higher than its current No. 10 rating with the 2021 class if a few vital additions are made. It would be the first time since 2013, when the Irish were placed at No. 3, that the Irish would crack the top 10.

Most of the rankings since then have been between 11 through 15, although last year it was 22 because only 17 recruits were signed.

The usual suspects are at the top of the recruiting chart. Alabama is No. 1 with a harvest so far that includes three five-star players and 16 with four stars, while Ohio State has three and 15, respectively. The warm-weather schools also include LSU, Georgia and Clemson among the top six so far.

Kelly admitted last December that he had put too much of a cap on whether the Irish could ever be a top-5 recruiting machine again because of some institutional constraints, but is now more certain that they can push higher and not have a ceiling — even with the pandemic.

“My mind-set has changed,” Kelly said. “I don’t want to put a ceiling on where we should be in rankings. We should push to find the best players in the country, just as if we’re pushing to be the best football team in the country.

“From a recruiting standpoint, we know who we want to be and we know who fits here. If that puts us at an artificial ceiling, then so be it. But we shouldn’t create one on our own. Maybe I slipped in creating an artificial ceiling.

“We’ve taken that away and said, ‘Look, let’s try to have the No. 1 recruiting class in the country — but still going with fit, still going with those that we believe will succeed here at Notre Dame, and let it take us where it takes us.’”

COVID-19 dramatically altered the recruiting landscape for everybody, especially in the way of obtaining verifiable information, having face-to-face, personal contact and hosting on campus either on game day or on other occasions.

For Notre Dame it might have hit a little harder because it recruits nationally and also heavily relies on feedback from the players already on the team on whether someone “fits” the profile of the university and the football team.

Far more digging and investigation had to be done to cross-check everything.

“We are geographically in an area where it makes it more difficult,” Kelly said. “You want to use those opportunities to get them to game-day and things of that nature because it is so dynamic here. We have a great story to tell … but did digitally.”

Kelly found a bright spot too with the adjustments.

“One thing we did pick up that I think might still be part of the process: I can be much more available to the recruits through Zoom, and I think it creates a better relationship than just text messaging — at least I feel that way, and I know our coaches do,” Kelly said.

“I really think that’s not going to go away. Certainly we want them on campus, certainly we want that ability to have them on campus. But I have felt so much better in this recruiting process because I can talk to the parents more, I can talk to the recruits more through Zoom than at any other time in my recruiting process.”

Recruiting coordinator Brian Polian indicated there was immense elation by the entire coaching staff and players for the Fighting defensive coordinator when it was announced on Monday that he would be the new head coach at his alma mater Vanderbilt, in his hometown. There was only one misgiving.

“I would have preferred it be announced 48 hours later,” Polian chuckled.

With 11 defensive recruits in this class, it was important to be transparent and nip and potential concerns in the bud.

“We identified two or three players that we knew had very, very strong personal connections with Coach Lea,” Polian said. “We were very proactive about, ‘Hey, Coach Lea’s done a phenomenal job. He’s going to be a [head coaching] candidate at some point — especially when Vanderbilt became open.

“When it became official and we had it announced it to our own team, we got on the phone with every commit on defense: ‘Are you okay? What are you concerned about?’ And then the guys that expressed to us a little bit of hesitation, we got them on the phone immediately with Coach Kelly.”

All 11 ended up signing, demonstrating again that part of “fit” is foremost buying into the school.

In a pandemic year where deeper insight and evaluation was so crucial, the value of director of scouting Bill Rees, one of college football’s most respected talent evaluators for the better part of four decades, increased even more.

Polian describes how Rees’ “patient and discerning set of eyes,” also create what is described as a Point-Of-Attack tape of prospects. These are not about showing top highlights but compiling the good, the bad and the ugly in order to better grasp an individual’s ceiling or floor. In other words, going beyond the obvious, particularly in a pandemic year where not all high schools were able to have a full season, if any at all.

“If there was ever a year where the ‘star system’ may not be the be-all, end-all — I don’t know how you can accurately rank a class when some of the top players in the class haven’t played their senior year, some eight, some six…” Polian said.

Noting that his own evaluations are subjective, Polian noted some of the following players who might have been underrecruited.

• Cornerback JoJo Johnson, “a feisty competitor, physical and can run,” having seen him earlier in his career at camp.

• Linebacker Kahanu Kia, who Polian believes would have received much more attention had he been able to play his senior year in Hawaii

• Defensive ends Devin Aupiu and Will Schweitzer, who provide exceptional length while growing into their bodies — much like current fifth-year senior Ade Ogundeji has after originally committing to Western Michigan.

• Offensive tackle Joe Alt, son of a 13-year NFL veteran who made two Pro Bowls. He’s already developed from a 240-pound tight end to a 280-pound offensive tackle with exceptional feet.

An 11th-hour surprise was the addition of Ron Powlus III as the second quarterback. The local product and son of 1994-97 Fighting Irish starting signalcaller Ron Powlus, Notre Dame’s associate athletics director in football, provides an “ideal second quarterback in this class.” With QB transfers inevitable, Powlus might be able to provide the safety blanket that Nolan Henry did from 2015-19. The candidates to start next year are sophomore Brendon Clark, freshman Drew Pyne and the incoming Buchner, one of the early entrants.

“We could not go into next season with three scholarship quarterbacks,” Polian said. “That’s just irresponsible. To set your roster up the right way you’ve got to have at least four scholarship guys.”

Slowed by an injury his junior year at nearby Penn, Powlus did receive interest from Yale, MAC schools and even Kentucky.

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