Irish Sports Daily

With 12 commitments already in the stable, Notre Dame is in a strong position to focus on needs, and focus on the very top prospects left on their board they'd like to sign in 2013.  The early start is a surprise to me, but so far Notre Dame seems to be recruiting well in 2013.  At this point, I think Notre Dame will take at least 10 more prospects and could end up taking as many as 12, but 11 is the most likely number.  

How would I break those 11 down?  

1 wide receiver

3 defensive linemen

3 linebackers

2 defensive backs

2 wild card players who would be the best get at defensive line, linebacker, running back or defensive back.  

So far the Irish coaching staff has done a nice job addressing important needs for the 2013 recruiting season.  Nobody, other than the coaches themselves, is as excited about the five offensive line prospects already committed than me.  Anyone who has followed my recruiting mantras over the years would know I'm a big fan of linemen.  In fact, I'd rather have elite line prospects, offense and defense, than a stable of skill players any day.  Linemen win games, and most important, they win the close games.

I will always get excited about the "big uglies," and the Irish have done an excellent job landing both athletic bodies with good size, and most important to me, tough guys, in these five offensive line commitments.  This is the best group of "tough guys" Notre Dame has had in many years in my opinion.  

Now they need to focus on defensive line…….but we'll get to that.  

Quarterback----Check

Offensive line---Check

Tight end----Check

The Notre Dame staff appears done at all three positions, and they should be satisfied with those committed.  I think all committed in this group are very good prospects, and I'm very pleased with where they're at here.  

With the commitment of Ty Isaac to USC this past week, some Irish fans are in panic mode that Notre Dame might miss out on running back again this year.  However, I think the Irish are in great position at running back right now.  Cierre Wood has another year next year.  It is possible, with a 2012 season, he could leave early, but I think Wood has the potential to climb into the first two rounds if he shows better vision, patience, toughness and better inside running over the next two years.  Nobody questions his speed and play-making ability, but you have to be a physical, inside runner at the next level, and Wood needs to show that moving forward.  

The Irish have George Atkinson, III for at least two more years, and probably three.  Amir Carlisle has at least two more years after this season, and with his injury, he may not be needed in 2012, which would give him three years.  Will Mahone has plenty of eligibility.  KeiVarae Russell also has four years if he ends up at running back.  Notre Dame has options, so running back isn't as big of a need this year as in some years past.  Also, 2013 commitment James Onwulua can play the position if need be.   

If the Irish run as well as I believe they will this season, and they don't take a running back this recruiting cycle, they'll be primed for some excellent prospects in the 2014 class.  If I were making the decision, I'd have a cutoff point and say "I'm only taking one of these 4-5 running back prospects.  If I don't land one of them, I wait for next year."  Obviously, Ryan Green would be one of those 4-5.  After Ryan Green, I'm not sure who else would make this cut.  

At wide receiver, Notre Dame has two impressive prospects in Onwulua and Corey Robinson.  I, personally, think both are underrated by the "experts."  Robinson is just growing into both his body size and his athleticism.  While Robinson will never have blazing speed, I do think he can be a great receiver prospect down the line.  He can jump, and he moves very well for his body size.  He's not stiff in his hips and knees like a lot of other tall receivers.  I also think Onwulua is  underrated by some of the services.  He's a highly focused, committed kid, and he'll get stronger and faster as the years go by.  He's very versatile and can do so many things on the football field.  I really like both prospects, but I'd love to see Notre Dame add another speedy receiver in this class.  2012 commitment DaVonte Neal adds speed to the ND roster, but they need to find another fast, shifty wide receiver in the 2013 class to go with Neal.  The Irish have numerous offers out there right now to wide receiver prospects, but I wouldn't say many of these speed guys are leaning towards the Irish at this point.  But there's plenty of time to focus on them moving forward with likely only one receiver slot left in this class.    

Defensive line is my biggest concern right now.  Jacob Matuska is a nice start.  Is he a defensive end?  I'm not sure.  We don't see enough defensive film to really know.  He reminds me a lot of fellow Ohioan Chase Hounshell.  He's a tough guy who has some athleticism.  He definitely shows a nasty streak on film, and that's a good start.  He also has a big frame to add weight.  He's a nice start, but Notre Dame needs some true pass rushers, and some athletic bodies to restock the defensive line.  Unfortunately, I can't name too many currently offered who I would say have the Irish out front other than elite prospect Isaac Rochell.  Rochell would be a huge get, but Notre Dame needs at least two, if not three defensive linemen, and they really need to add a bigger interior player.  At this point, I couldn't name one interior nose guard candidate I feel the Irish have a good shot at landing.  This will obviously have to change, and I expect more names to surface once the Irish staff gets back from May evaluations.  

On a side note:  I'd love to see Notre Dame use players like Matuska and Hounshell as big tight ends like Stanford has done in the recent past.  Both players show a real nasty streak when blocking on the offensive side, and I'd love to see them put that to good use in short yardage situations.  

Earlier, I was a bit concerned about linebacker recruiting.  Notre Dame still doesn't have a single linebacker committed, so maybe I should worry, but they do appear to be in good shape with a number of their top targets.  Fort Wayne, Ind. linebacker Jaylon Smith can be the pied piper for the Irish in regards to their 2013 linebacker recruiting class.  Smith is the key, in my opinion.  If the Irish staff can land Smith soon, I expect a great linebacker recruiting class moving forward.  There is speculation that Smith plans to visit Notre Dame again in June, when a number of Notre Dame's current committed prospects will visit Notre Dame again, and that would be a very good sign.  Outside linebacker prospect Alex Anzalone also plans to visit during the same time.  Could Notre Dame land two great prospects in one important weekend?  

Stanford commitment Doug Randolph also is another prospect showing strong interest in Notre Dame.  And finally, a personal favorite of mine, Jordan Mastrogiovanni, also plans to visit Notre Dame again in June.  If Notre Dame could land three out of these four, that would be an outstanding linebacker class.  But I wouldn't stop there if other elite players want to come.  Notre Dame has struggled to land elite linebackers for quite some time.  If you can load up, you have to make room.  Jaylon Smith is the key, however.  They must land him soon.  

Defensive back recruiting is also off to another solid start.  Notre Dame already has commitments from big, physical corner prospects Rashad Kinlaw and Devin Butler.  Kinlaw hasn't played a lot of defense, and was hurt some of last season, but the Irish staff love his potential as a corner.  And at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, he's run a 4.41 electronically-timed 40-yard dash.  

Butler is also 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds.  He's played a lot of defense, as well as offense, and he's been outstanding on both sides of the ball.  He's a very athletic, lanky player with long arms.  He's also not afraid to hit anyone.  What's most impressive is his hips.  You can see he can turn laterally well and shows this on both offense and defense.  Butler is an underrated athlete in the C.J. Prosise mold.  

Overall, I'm real pleased with both commitments.  Both fit perfectly in Notre Dame's system. Some rankings might not have either ranked high, but for Notre Dame's system, they're definitely four-star prospects.  Both are excellent additions to this class.  

Now the Irish need to land two more defensive backs in my ideal result.  The two most likely candidates are two Arizona natives.  Cole Luke is widely considered one of the top corner prospects in the country.  He'll be visiting Notre Dame this June and will be in South Bend for more than the usual one-day trip.  He'll get a good look at Notre Dame then, and we should have a good idea where Notre Dame stands after that visit.  Priest Willis is another big corner prospect, listed at 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, who plans to at least take an official visit, and may take an unofficial visit this summer.  Willis seemed very excited about the Notre Dame offer.  Is he a corner?  He reminds me a lot of a Jamoris Slaughter type of player.  He's a big body who can play corner, but may be a better safety prospect.  Landing these two to go along with Kinlaw and Butler would go a long way in replenishing a shortage of corner prospects for Notre Dame, but also allow some flexibility in size to move to safety if corner does not work out.  

Right now, I'm pretty pleased with where Notre Dame stands in regards to recruiting.  I am concerned about defensive line recruiting.  This position has been a trouble area for Notre Dame in regards to recruiting for many years.  If the Irish ever plan to compete with the BCS teams, they'll need both talent and depth along the defensive line.  How they finish in this area will likely be the difference between a good and great 2013 recruiting class.