Running back was a position of need for Notre Dame in the Class of 2012. Not only did the Irish need a good one, they needed two good ones.
Notre Dame targeted several of the country’s top backs early in the process and put a great deal of effort into the position, but the Irish entered the fall without a commitment from any. And had it not been for a chance meeting between two recruits at a Penn State camp, Notre Dame might have gone even longer without a back signed up.
Ohio’s Will Mahone planned on visiting Notre Dame during a summer tour, but after driving to Michigan State and then Penn State, Mahone and his mother were exhausted and ready to cancel the stop in South Bend. Then Mahone talked with Armani Reeves.
Reeves, who would eventually commit to Penn State, had just visited Notre Dame and the Massachusetts athlete told Mahone he needed to check it out for himself. Mahone did and he fell in love.
By the time Mahone returned to South Bend on an official visit for the Michigan State game in September, the Ohio running back was already committed to Notre Dame even though it wasn’t made public until the end of the month. In the end, he picked the Irish over the Nittany Lions, Michigan State and Pittsburgh, although the Panthers weren’t as close to landing him as many speculated.
As soon as Mahone was on board, he became a recruiter. First, he formed a relationship with the nation’s top back Keith Marshall, but once the North Carolina stud picked Georgia, Mahone shifted his focus to the other coast.
It was clear KeiVarae Russell would be a great fit for Notre Dame from the start.
The high-energy, fast-talking Russell would bring the versatility to play running back or receiver, but also an attitude that included goals, which extend beyond the gridiron. The 6-foot, 175-pounder was searching for a school that would allow him to be surrounded by others with similar ideas. Still, it was going to be tough for Notre Dame to pluck the Washington State standout from the West Coast, especially with Washington, Cal, USC and Oregon also in the running.
There were some people extremely close to Russell and his recruitment who couldn't see Russell at Notre Dame, but he visited South Bend for the USC game and was blown away. Two months later, after staying in touch with Mahone, he committed to the Irish.
California running back Byron Marshall was also set to visit Notre Dame for the USC game, but that visit was cancelled when Notre Dame learned he didn’t have the foreign language courses required to get past admissions, a hurdle the Irish originally believed Marshall was in the process of clearing.
Notre Dame also offered Oklahoma’s Barry Sanders Jr. (Stanford), Tennessee’s Brian Kimbrow (Vanderbilt) and I’Tavius Mathers (Ole Miss), Dami Ayoola (Illinois) of Florida and North Carolina’s Chris Mangus (Virginia Tech). All showed varying levels of interest, but some - like Ayoola- were really Plan B guys and Mangus was the only one who ever made it to campus.
Mangus probably would have been the second running back in Notre Dame’s class, surely beating Russell to the punch and possibly Mahone too, had it not been for distance. One source told Irish Sports Daily if South Bend was in Charlotte, Mangus would have committed after his visit during the summer.
In the end, as disappointing as missing out on Keith Marshall was, Notre Dame landed exactly what it was looking for; a pair of quality, complimentary backs.
