Part I: Kelly, Polian Discuss Modern Recruiting, Evaluation Process, More

The only change to Notre Dame's 2020 recruiting class since the first national signing day on Dec. 18 was the loss of three-star cornerback Landen Bartleson, who was released from his national letter of intent for an alleged off-the-field issue.

Given the lack of new editions, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly and his staff decided to postpone his usual signing day press conference until he has announced who will replace former assistant coaches Chip Long and Todd Lyght.

Instead, Kelly and recruiting coordinator Brian Polian went on Podward Notre Dame, a mostly defunct podcast, produced inhouse by Fighting Irish Media, that was brought back for one episode. On the podcast, Kelly and Polian discussed a variety of topics related to recruiting, such as how the December signing period has benefited Notre Dame, if the coaching staff looks at recruiting rankings and their process for evaluating recruits.

Until recently, Kelly was often somewhat dismissive of recruiting rankings, which is fair. Any coach worth his salt shouldn't grade a prospect based on how the various recruiting services rate him, but more recently Kelly has expressed interest in having a recruiting class ranked in the top five.

On Podward Notre Dame, Kelly also explained how he and his staff can use recruiting rankings as a list players to evaluate based on their own standards, which includes both on and off-the-field criteria.

"We'd rather start with more information and more potential players, so we're not going to say we're not going take the ESPN top 300 because we don't see it through the same prism. We'll take all that information, and then we'll begin our own evaluation of those players."

Of course, the Notre Dame coaches are also looking for talented under-the-radar players, A perfect example of this is safety Kyle Hamilton, who was ranked outside of the Rivals250 until August of his senior year, before shooting up to No. 75 by the national signing day. But not every player the staff covets will end up a highly ranked player.

At the end of the day, Notre Dame has a rigorous evaluation process that determines if a player is a fit or not, whereas recruiting rankings base their assessment on different criteria.

As Polian stated in December, the Notre Dame coaching staff needs to know a player can cut it on the field, in the classroom and in the locker room. They determine this by looking at transcripts, watching film and meeting with them in person, but it goes much deeper than that.

The coaches spend time evaluating how a player performs at sports other than football. For instance, Polian said what drew former defensive coordinator Mike Elko to three-star cornerback TaRiq Bracy were his skills as centerfield on the baseball diamond.

"He was used to running and tracking the ball as it was coming," Polian said. "Those things matter and learn those things through experience."

The same goes for rising senior linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. The Notre Dame coaching staff realized by watching him on the basketball court that he had the speed and explosiveness necessary to develop into a productive Rover in college.

When evaluating recruits, they must also work closely with the admissions department to make sure the coaches do not waste time recruiting a player without the scholastic resume needed to get into Notre Dame, but there are a few instances where the coaching staff was able to get a player accepted that the admissions department didn't think could cut it.

But in order to do that, the coaching staff must have a good relationship with the admission department and show they have a grasp of the characteristics a player needs to succeed as a student-athlete at Notre Dame.

"Jaylon Smith is a great example out of Fort Wayne," Kelly said. "He did not have the highest score on the ACT coming out, but has his degree and he's obviously one of the strongest brands in the NFL and playing in the Pro Bowl."

It also probably doesn't hurt that Smith was the No. 3 overall recruit in the class of 2013.

There have been significant changes to the recruiting process since Kelly first became a collegiate football coach in the 1980s. Some of these changes stem from adjustments to legislation, while others come technological advancements.

In 2020, a Notre Dame coach can pull up a prospects Hudl account and watch and their film in a matter of seconds.

"When I started in this business, it would not be uncommon to have hundreds of VHS tapes sitting on your desk and in your office," Kelly said. "Even before that, I'm really dating myself, 16-millimeter film. [We had] cans of film when I started in my office evaluating. That is now at the point where you're going to online, pulling up video and evaluating.

"One part of our recruiting office is strictly evaluating prospects based upon their physical ability and their fit from that standpoint."

A more recent change is the December signing period, which allowed Notre Dame to wrap up its 2020 recruiting class a month and a half earlier than in the past. Kelly sees this as a huge benefit for Notre Dame.

First of all, he says this significantly limits the amount of time another program can try to steal a player committed to Notre Dame, which can be especially trying for a small Catholic school in northern Indiana.

Kelly says this was an issue in the past with players like defensive tackle Jerry Tillery, who is from Louisiana and went on to be a first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. He committed to Notre Dame prior to his senior year, but in the month before he signed in February of 2015, a school from the south sent Tillery a South Bend weather report every day, hoping he'd be scared off by Indiana's frigid winter months.

Now that prospects are locked up in December, Kelly and his coaching staff can spend more time in January on the road recruiting players for the next class.

"We'd always have to go around the country and quote-unquote reaffirm their commitment," Kelly said. "By having this early signing day, we don't have to worry about weather reports."

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