Transcript: Brian Kelly On The 2020 Notre Dame Recruiting Class
In the middle of College Football’s National Signing Day, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly took the podium to address the 17 high school players and one graduate transfer to sign with the class at that point in time. He touched on how important it is to verify a recruit’s speed, why Chip Long leaving didn’t have an impact on the class and the process of evaluating recruits from across the globe — from Hawai'i to Germany.
BRIAN KELLY: “Certainly excited about the signing class of 2019 here. We may have room for one more. We'll see how that plays out this afternoon. But just a great group that represents all the things that I'm looking for and our staff has been charged to find when it comes to recruiting football student athletes to Notre Dame. Number one, fit. And when we talk about fit, cultural fit, academic fit and certainly, they have got to be able to fit as it relates to the skill in the classroom and on the football field.
“All of these young men are going to develop here at Notre Dame and graduate and contribute to championships. And so that was our charge. I think we have done a great job in certainly filling potential needs that we have, but also addressing areas that I think more than anything else bring not only positional needs but personality, competitiveness, and overall football awareness and instincts into our program. Sometimes we get caught up with looking at the depth chart and saying, well, I need another cornerback here, I need another wide receiver here.
“These are football players that also have the ability to play on either side of the football as well and not that we're in here to talk about guys that could change positions, but what struck us about these guys is that they excelled both on offense and defense in high school and we love that about players that have that competitiveness.
“So the other thing that stands out, obviously, is early enrollees, the ability to want to take that next challenge. We like the fact that nine of these young men have accepted that opportunity to come here early. They have excelled in high school to the point where they can in fact graduate early, come to Notre Dame and look at the next challenge, and that being here obviously in a collegiate environment. Doesn't mean that they're better. It just means that they are accepting a challenge that is a bit different. And so those nine will get a chance to begin their college career and, obviously, get a chance to be in spring ball and get working on their academic career.
“A number of states represented. We love the fact that we have got diversity within our ranks. Great diversity throughout our student body that is reflective in this class as well. International representation with Alex Ehrensberger, obviously, from Germany. And again, this does not mean we are going to turn into an international juggernaut in the recruiting world, but it does mean that we won't have our blinders on when it comes to recruiting. We will search and find the best fits for our football program wherever they may be.
“We continue to tap into the great state of Hawaii. That has been one that we're very proud of and, in the history and tradition that we're building there from that state. With another young man in Jordan Botelho, coming from a great Catholic school in Saint Louis School.
“So some really neat pieces to it. I like the length of our corners in particular. I just think that when you look overall, offensive line, size, speed, an exceptional class when it comes to those intangibles that you're looking for. I think we did a great job in terms of the calendar. This is two years in a row now that this quote/unquote early signing day -- this is the signing day for us, so I don't know why we continue to call it an early signing day.
“It is the signing day and it will be moving forward. There are some challenges there, but nothing that has really kept us from keeping our staff out of here in July and giving them a great break. So I think it's worked out quite well to have these guys all sign here in December.
“Obviously, a great job by our recruiting office led by Aaryn Kearney. He's done an incredible job. Jazz and the entire staff, Coach Polian. Everybody that puts together our weekends, Jack Swarbrick, our entire admissions, Bob Mundy, who just retired was a big part of this class. Don Bishop. Just, there's so many people to thank. I'm sure Brian will pick up the slack for me in those areas relative to thanking all of those people.
“But I think the overall tenor here is that this is an exciting class, guys that can come in and compete for us immediately, and then having the nine early enrollees, pretty excited about the group coming in. So, with that, let's start with any questions that you folks might have about this class.”
On if it’s unusual for them to go through a recruiting class without any decommitments:
KELLY: “Did we lose any last year?”
On there being a decommit in the 2019 recruiting class:
KELLY: “That happens, right, sure.”
On if they didn’t have any commitments due to evaluating players earlier in the process:
KELLY: “I think so. I think having this process be one where you're on them earlier and have identified your prospects earlier. It feels like we have been recruiting these guys a lot longer, for me. And having a longer time in a relationship with them, that makes a bigger difference to me. I think that and feel that way over my time here that this is one where we have established, I think, a better calendar and a deeper evaluation protocol in the sense that we're on them sooner and have been able to build that relationship.”
On graduate transfer, Isaiah Pryor, who is coming from Ohio State, and if it’s important that Pryor doesn’t have an injury history:
KELLY: “Certainly. And you have to have a connection and somebody very familiar. Kerry Coombs, who was on my staff, I'm very close with Kerry, and Kerry recruited him, coached him, and was a strong advocate for him. So that has to be part of that recruiting process, too, when we're talking about transfers.
“There has to be some connection there, certainly, the other things that you talked about, years of eligibility -- we would be very hesitant if we had, you know, injuries at a position that requires contact like that. If it was a shoulder at a wide receiver position, we would probably be less concerned. But a safety, if have you shoulder injuries, that would be certainly a red flag.”
On the ideal size for 2020 running back recruit Chris Tyree:
KELLY: “So a general rule for all of our guys is when they get in, they will meet with Coach Balis, they will meet with our nutritionist and we'll begin the process of developing them from where they are.
So if, whatever he is, 175 pounds, we'll then begin that process based upon when we do our testing and find out where that right number is. So it's hard to say right now what it is, but we'll develop him naturally from that number and continue to build a coat of armor on him once he gets in here.
On if it’s easier to get to Dusseldorf, Germany, than Honolulu, Hawaii:
KELLY: “Yeah, I agree. It's probably easier.”
On traits what made it worth it to travel to Germany and evaluate defensive end Alexander Ehrensberger:
KELLY: “Two things: Length, and I think just his ability to change direction. So where that end product would be. You've seen the development of our defensive line, where it came in and where it is. We want to continue to look towards that model where those guys can be looked at as elite players as they develop. We can see him as an elite player as he develops in the program.
“So for us to invest all of that time, we have to be able to see him develop in our program as an elite player down the road. And to do that you have to have elite traits early on. It can't be 6'1", you know, and somebody that can't stand out in a crowd. And 6'7" with really good foot a guilty and quickness, that stands out early on.”
On how Chip Long exiting impacted recruiting:
KELLY: “I think we have all the guys that we recruited. I think Eric answered the question. All these guys -- we had deep, long-standing relationships. Not one guy recruits here at Notre Dame. It's not your guy. It's our guy. I recruit them, Coach Polian recruits them, we team recruit. That's how we do things here at Notre Dame. And Notre Dame recruits to Notre Dame.
“So no one person is stronger than the university. And for those guys that decide to go to schools based upon one individual, then you're left up to those kinds of, you know, de-commitments based upon singular relationships. That's never how we have recruited here at Notre Dame and that's not how we'll ever recruit.”
On what on-the-field traits made Xavier Watts such a sought-after by the coaching staff:
KELLY: “Just a serious focused competitor. I mean, just everything about his demeanor. I talked a little bit about this in my opening remarks. You got to read into ball players 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, and 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.”
On why the staff was able to have such wide-spread success recruiting the offensive side of the ball in this class:
KELLY: “I don't know where to start, I mean, we began with a plan early on in terms of identifying the needs of this class, we built great relationships early on, stayed with it, have had really good success on the field over the past three years while we were recruiting, great recognition, Notre Dame, obviously, in itself has its own ability to sell itself from an academic standpoint and a community standpoint and consistency in messaging throughout that entire period of time.
“So long-standing relationships, success on the field over a long period of time, and then I think Notre Dame continuing to be who it is and who it's been has allowed us to put together an elite class.”
On if the focus on the offensive side of the ball was a response to the Clemson game:
KELLY: “We never go into a home and talk about what we can't do, it's what we can do with you and what it would look like adding you to this. So I think when it comes to each one of these guys it's picturing yourself, here's where we are, here's where we can go, adding you to the success that we have already had. So I think painting that picture is certainly important, but we certainly do it from a positive perspective and then let them take it from there.”
On why it’s harder to project wide receiver prospects:
KELLY: “Well styles of offense, quarterback, all those things. The developmental process there, it's just huge when you go from high school to college in terms of all the things that are available to you in terms of developing that position. So it makes it really difficult to clearly say, other than maybe a few players at the top, top end of that spectrum.
“A lot of those guys are in that area of developmental. And so it's been that way for awhile, we have seen that we can just use Claypool and Fuller as a couple of examples that will be elite players. So, yeah, certainly there are a few players at that top end, but that position in itself is open to so many other different variables as you go through the process.”
On if they could add any additional players on between no and the February signing date:
KELLY: “Probably just be on the offensive side of the ball, yeah.”
On which recruits are the best Notre Dame fit:
KELLY: “Here's the great thing about Notre Dame. If you talk about its history and tradition, it was the ability to attract those that could come from tough backgrounds, all over. We had become homogenized a little bit maybe in our student body, but our football, the cross-section of the players that we have in this program, it's pretty, it's pretty amazing in terms of the diversity of the group. But they all have one common thread and that is they want to be challenged in the classroom and they want to be challenged on the football field.
“That's the common denominator that keeps these kids coming from all over the country from the West Coast to the East Coast. And, look, and that has to be part of the recruiting process and the transparency within has to be that. Look, you're going to get challenged here and if you're not up for that challenge, we're not the right place for you. And that transparency really has been effective for us in the recruiting process.”
On which players they really had to convince was a fit at Notre Dame:
KELLY: “I think there's several of those guys that take germinating, if you will, that you have to stay with it. Look, I believe that we have done a great job identifying who those players are and that we believe that they fit. They may not believe that they fit early on. And so it's that process of us staying with them and continuously showing them who we are and what our distinctions are and staying with that and not falling off and saying, again, here's why we believe this is the right place for you.
“I think there were several of those guys that we had to stay with and continue to show that. Chris Tyree I think is a great example of that. That we needed to stay in there with him and continue to show the reasons why Notre Dame was the right place for him. And I don't think he's the only one, I think there are others that I could look down on this list that are part of that. So as much as we see it in them, sometimes they don't see it and we have to be diligent and not be afraid of sticking with it and making sure they get that message.”
On if the three defensive back commits fit in at a certain position:
KELLY: “No, we're not talking about field and boundary, because that's always open to the ability to change from year to year, right and left. What we're talking about are two things, makeup speed, the ability to run and length. The third is to have the ability to play the ball in the air. That's three. But first and foremost length and speed are the two most important attributes at the position that, in which we were seeking this year. But we didn't get into the specifics as to whether you're a field corner or wide corner, we wanted those two things and then we'll kind of sort it out from there.
On if any of the first three defensive back commits project as a safety:
KELLY: “No. I mean it's just Pryor. Pryor's the only guy. I mean we really were -- unless you were what we felt was an elite, elite safety player that could come down and play without hesitation, a slot receiver man-to-man, or, i.e., you know, a true third corner that could play safety, we were looking for corners.”
On managing the recruiting calendar better so they didn’t have to scramble to find guys:
KELLY: “I don't know that we were ever scrambling, per se, as much as it's allowed us to plan out or plan further ahead. I think everybody was kind of seeing, two years ago when we went to the early signing day, how would this play out moving forward, especially in the summer months, in terms of who is going to take visits, things of that nature.
“I think we were a bit reactive, grant you that. But I think now that we have established a pretty good calendar it's allowed us to plan accordingly a couple years out in terms of what this looks like. So as I said earlier, I think this is the established signing day for us and we'll continue to operate accordingly moving a lot of the things that we do around this signing day.”
On the process of evaluating speed in this recruiting cycle:
KELLY: Internal conversations, obviously, routinely occur when it comes to speed. We wanted verifiable speed other than he's running a 4.4. Okay, you're going to have to prove it. Show me you're running a 4.4. Give me verifiable times. We need, we can't, we can no longer move forward on, this is what he runs. So we have to see it in person, we have to get verifiable speed numbers on these guys or we're not moving forward. So it was, I think, just more intentional in terms of getting verifiable numbers.”
On the impact winning 32 games over that last three season had on convincing players with Chris Tyree’s speed to come to Notre Dame:
KELLY: “Yes, but that's not it. It just gets you, it gets your foot in the door, you still have to build relationships. There were other relationships that Chris had with other coaches that were deeper, you still have to be able to build those relationships and then still paint the picture as to, why here. So, yeah, no doubt 32 and 6 gets you in the door. You didn't get in the door if you weren't 32 and 6, it gets you in the door, but like anything else, you still got to sell a vacuum cleaner.
“Not that that's what we're doing, but the reality is that you get in the door, but you got to sell it. And I think we did a great job of selling who we are and why it was right for him and great student, AP classes, all those things lined up. If those things don't line up, he's not buying. So 32 and 6 only gets you so far, all those other things have to line up too.”
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