Notre Dame assistant Mike Denbrock has been working his way up and down the West Coast during the May evaluation period. Last week, Denbrock was in Puyallup, Wash., to check in on Puyallup High School offensive lineman Josh Garnett.
Denbrock didn’t have any conversations with Garnett, but spent plenty of time with Garnett’s head coach, Gary Jeffers.
“I had a great visit with him,” Jeffers said of Denbrock. “He did a nice job sharing with me what Notre Dame and Coach Kelly’s vision is for that place and how they’re going about their business. I think I’ve visited with Coach Denbrock two or three times and I’ve really enjoyed my visits with him.”
Garnett has a host of offers, including Notre Dame, Washington, Oregon, USC, UCLA, Auburn, Michigan and Nebraska. Jeffers has sat down with plenty of coaches already, including Oregon and Auburn this week. After each visit, Jeffers shares the conversations with Garnett.
“Josh and I talk often about all of his different options,” the head coach said. “Josh is a very academic kid as well as being a great football player. Honestly, just the prestige and academic offerings at Notre Dame are things that I think have caught his eye.”
Few programs have decided exactly what position they see the 6-foot-5, 275-pounder playing.
“I think Josh would see himself as an offensive tackle,” Jeffers said. “I think some guys see him more as an offensive guard. I think guys are kind of leaving that open right now…He’s kind of right on the edge there height-wise for what most guys would speculate at the tackle spot, but I think he’s got good enough feet and a good wingspan to leave that open.”
The evaluation period can be a stressful one with school after school coming in, according to Jeffers.
“I think it gets a little taxing for everybody,” he said. “It gets taxing for the coaches, it gets taxing for the high school coaches and I think it gets taxing for the kids. Josh is a bright kid and I think he’s got a well-articulated plan for what he’d like to see his future be. He understands the importance of this decision as it applies to his future.
“He’s not a real ego guy, he’s not an I guy, he’s a team guy. I think he’s really just trying to make the best decision for what fits him academically and for his football future. I think he’ll investigate that thoroughly before he makes any commitments to people.”
Jeffers ends up telling all of the coaches the same thing when it comes to Garnett’s recruitment.
“I think right now, Josh is probably going to continue to investigate his options,” said Jeffers. “I don’t foresee him being an early-commit guy, although sometimes I would like that to be the case. I think it’s in his best interest to enjoy the visit opportunities that will come to him this fall and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Notre Dame was one of those.”
Jeffers expects his star to use his official visits to see schools away from the West Coast.
“I think those are places he doesn’t have familiarity with," said Jeffers. "I don’t think he’s a kid that’s afraid of going away from home. I think it kind of excites him a little bit, but I don’t think he’ll really know much until he gets a chance to step foot on some of those campuses.”
Garnett has already hit most of the Pac-12’s California schools and also took visits to Washington and Oregon.
“They’re going to kind of hit the local stuff here and I assume they’ll use their NCAA visits to visit the places that are kind of across the country,” Jeffers said.
