When Tre Bell was in San Antonio for the U.S. Army All-American Underclassmen Combine last month, the 5-foot-11, 170-pound junior cornerback from St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, N.J., had one clear goal in mind.
“I just want to show everybody that I can be one of the best DBs in the nation,” said Bell.
Bell, who received early attention from Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Rutgers, South Carolina, Florida, Miami, Alabama, Virginia Tech and Maryland, believed he had the opportunity to do so and that would help lead him to his first scholarship offer.
“I’m just patiently waiting for that first offer,” Bell said at the time. “Even though I know it’s coming soon. It’s a little stressful.”
The wait and the stress ended less than two weeks later as the junior landed his first offer, a big one, from South Carolina. Dominoes started to fall from there and by the end of January, he was up to five offers as Wisconsin, West Virginia, Vanderbilt and Central Florida have all followed suit.
Bell is hoping to land an offer from the Irish eventually. He is close with 2012 Notre Dame signee Elijah Shumate while his teammate and classmate, Charlie Callinan, made the trip to South Bend for a game this past fall. The Irish have shown significant interest.
“They invited me to the USC game, but I couldn’t make it,” said Bell. “They just stay in touch with me every other week. It’s pretty good. I’m liking it. I know they have a real great tradition. I don’t really know anything else besides that, but Charlie said it was great. I also talk to Elijah Shumate and he said it was really good. I actually want to get down there.”
It’s still early in the process for Bell, but he has identified a couple key factors in his ultimate decision.
“The stability with the coach,” said Bell. “I want to know if these coaches are going to be there my whole four years. Graduation rate. I want to do stuff after college, business and things like that. Early playing time, I want to see how I would do with that.”
KELLY REACHES OUT: On National Signing Day last year, Brian Kelly made a pair of phone calls to 2012 quarterbacks to offer scholarships and ended up landing one of them.
While we have yet to hear of any prospects being offered scholarships by Notre Dame on National Signing Day 2012, the Irish staff did reach out to several prospects. Kelly himself said he had talked to at least 15 prospects in the 2013 class on Wednesday.
Irish Sports Daily has been able to confirm that Kelly or other members of the Notre Dame staff reached out to quarterback Matt Alviti, running back Ryan Green, tight end Adam Breneman, defensive end Taco Charlton, defensive end Alquadin Muhammad and cornerback Eli Woodard.
JUNIORS SCHEDULED FOR JUNIOR DAY: It isn’t completely clear whether Notre Dame is planning a pair of Junior Days in the coming weeks or just one, but 2013 prospects from across the country are already making reservations.
Green, who already has a Notre Dame offer, will be on campus again. Green visited South Bend for the Air Force game last year with his teammate, 2014 tight end Reilly Gibbons. The friends will return to campus together again.
2013 Dallas linebacker Jordan Mastrogiovanni has confirmed with Irish Sports Daily that he’ll be making the trip up from Texas as will junior wide receiver Jalyn Judkins (Manvel, Texas/Manvel) and junior running back Keith Ford (Houston/Cypress Ranch).
We’ll report more names as they become available.
BIVIN BLOWING UP: 2013 offensive lineman Hunter Bivin (Owensboro, Ky./Apollo) had one offer – from in-state Kentucky – as he packed his bags for the Underclassmen Combine in Texas last month. Before he even got to work out at the Alamodome, the 6-foot-7, 290-pounder had added an offer from Vanderbilt.
Bivin would add offers from Miami and Tennessee upon his return before the offers started flying in at a dizzying pace, similar to the way 2013 Illinois offensive tackle Logan Tuley-Tillman blew up a month earlier. By the end of January, he also had offers from Ohio State, Auburn, Wisconsin, Indiana, Mississippi State and Notre Dame.
The offer from the Irish was a big one for Bivin, who attended three games at Notre Dame Stadium last fall. He grew up a Notre Dame fan, but will be evaluating his comfort level with each coaching staff carefully before making a decision. He’s hoping to announce a commitment before his senior season, but won’t force it if he isn’t ready. Either way, Notre Dame will be in the hunt until the end.
BCS TAKES NOTICE OF DILLARD: Cameron Dillard (Canton, Mich./Canton) held offers from Buffalo, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, East Michigan and Western Michigan for some time now, but the 6-foot-3, 296-pounder is starting to attract attention from the big boys now.
He collected his first BCS offer from Oregon last month and has followed with offers from Missouri, Indiana and Arizona since. He’s also had plenty of contact with coaches at Clemson, Michigan, Michigan State, Syracuse Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Notre Dame among others.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Irish handle Dillard’s recruitment moving forward. The junior got the feeling that Chuck Martin really likes him, but prior to Martin taking over as offensive coordinator, Dillard was told he needed to grow another inch because Notre Dame was, “looking for the long and tall.”
Since Martin has taken over as offensive coordinator, Notre Dame has extended offers to prospects that didn’t fit former offensive coordinator Charley Molnar’s profile. Could Dillard be the next?
Either way, Dillard feels like he’s improved dramatically through working with multiple former NFL linemen and former college strength coach Mike Barwis.
“I’ve improved my pass blocking from working with Lomas (Brown) and Damion Cook at Mike Barwis’,” Dillard said. “I’ve worked with Dan Mozes and a bunch of guys on my pass protection. I really think my pass protection has improved tremendously.”
FULWOOD’S FIVE-PLUS: 2013 wide receiver Ahmad Fulwood (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Kenny) is one of Notre Dame’s top junior targets and the future Army All-American is interested in the Irish as well.
Fulwood tweeted a top five of Arkansas, Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and Ohio State this week, but added, “Florida and Notre Dame are on the bubble.”
Fulwood’s teammate, 2014 quarterback John Wolford, is a big Irish fan and attended Notre Dame’s camp this summer. It wouldn’t be a shock to see the two prospects in South Bend again at some point in the coming months.
