Lost amidst the news of the Blue-Gold game, head coach Brian Kelly received the pledge of three more recruits yesterday: Conor Hanratty, Tony Springmann, and Jarrett Grace.
Hanratty, an offensive lineman from Connecticut, is the son of former Irish quarterback Terry Hanratty. He had offers from Boston College, Iowa, Maryland, and Wisconsin, but the draw of the Irish was just too much.
“I kind of put Notre Dame on a pedestal and my main goal was to size everyone up to Notre Dame,” Hanratty told IrishSportsDaily.com. “Nothing against those other schools or coaches I met, but Notre Dame just pulled out ahead.”
Springmann is another lineman with ties to the Irish. A gigantic prospect, Springmann is a legitimate 6-foot-6, 260-pound lineman who is surprisingly light on his feet. While he was mulling over offers from Stanford, Boston College, Wake Forest and Michigan State, the offer to play with former Bishop Dwenger stars John Goodman and Tyler Eifert and for his favorite team growing up was too good to turn down.
“Growing up a Notre Dame fan, always going to the games and seeing the whole thing, it was just a dream to play there,” Spring told Tony Krausz of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.
Grace adds a much needed linebacker to the recruiting class, and has been a target of Kelly’s since his days with the Bearcats. A Cincinnati product, Grace profiles as either an inside or outside linebacker, at 6-foot-4, he’s big enough to play on the edge of needed. He had offers from Stanford, Colorado, Wisconsin, and Vanderbilt to name just a few, but committed to Kelly amongst a group of family members before the Blue-Gold Game.
“I’ve known them since they started recruiting me at Cincinnati and under coach Kelly Notre Dame is going to win a lot of games,” Grace said.
The three commitments make a total of seven for the 2011 signing class.