Comments on: Recruiting — The final countdown

By: chiefagc5675

chiefagc5675 — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 00:48:34 +0000

beanspeaks
I hope you’re not a ND grad. I hope their grads have a better command of the language than you do.

By: bostonjan

bostonjan — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 23:29:59 +0000

Keith;

What’s your thoughts on essentially the remaining 2 schollies?

I tend to think that the Montanas would even decline a scholarship for the good of the team (filling other needs), building upon the high esteem for the Montana name and contribution to ND “fame”. In essence this schollie would go to Ruffer.

If recruits Huggins (RB), Niklas (OL or DL), and/or Houncell (OL or DL) would you be inclined to bring them onboard for these areas of need or bring back 5th year candidates?

Also, we have some very smart athletes that could qualify for an academic scholarship. Can any football schollies be switched to academic scholarships or is this against NCAA regs? Seems like it would be viewed as a fairly transparent move to get around the spirit of NCAA guidelines.

By: jerseyshorendfan1

jerseyshorendfan1 — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 00:51:53 +0000

I’ll try and contain myself.

By: tedlinko

tedlinko — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 20:08:09 +0000

My take is that , in the case of Ruffer, if he’s willing to forego a scholarship and come back anyway in the interest of the team being able to bring in another blue-chip prospect, that’s admirable. But the right thing for ND to do would be to offer him one. The guy set a Notre Dame school record for kicking consistency the last two years and, lets face it, when a guy is as important to the team that he’s likely to be the difference between winning and losing at least once next year, he deserves a scholarship.

Montana is another matter. He didn’t come to ND with a scholarship offer, so ND wouldn’t be renegging on anything. Last year they gave him a scholarship because they had one available and he was going to be in a position to make a significant contribution. But hopefully there wasn’t a multi-year promise given then. This year the situation is totally different. With Crist, Rees, Hendrix and Golston, he’ll likely be at least the 5th option at QB. There is no justificaiton to give him a scholarship that could be the difference in bringing in a blue chipper like Huggins, Calisle and/or Niklas or even in bringing back a guy like Nuss, Romine or Ragone, any of whom are likely to make a greater contribution next year than Nate. When scholarships are this tight, those are the kind of decisions that have to be made.

By: Keith Arnold

Keith Arnold — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 20:02:09 +0000

Wouldn’t be a column if I didn’t make a small mess up now, would it?

By: tedlinko

tedlinko — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:21:11 +0000

@whisk3yjack. The coin flip just went our way, as Ishaq just committed. Starts class on Monday.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20110114/SPORTS13/110119742/1021/Sports

By: whisk3yjack

whisk3yjack — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 16:13:48 +0000

Ha! I’m exactly the same way.

By: bradwins

bradwins — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 16:06:40 +0000

Yeah, ISD has a bit more on it, and more to come. Hopefully it will be part of their free stuff. I feel creepy enough caring so much about recruiting. I’m not going to start paying.

By: whisk3yjack

whisk3yjack — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 16:02:37 +0000

Nevermind. Should have guessed irishsportsdaily.

By: bradwins

bradwins — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 16:02:01 +0000

It is pretty much everywhere, now. But here is one place (not sure if it will link, may have to copy and paste): http://twitter.com/NYPost_Brazille

By: whisk3yjack

whisk3yjack — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 16:00:22 +0000

Yes! Where’d you read this?

By: whisk3yjack

whisk3yjack — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:59:07 +0000

What’s the practice for walk-ons who receive a scholarship? Once offered, is it assumed to be until graduation? Or is it a yearly thing?

Anyone who’s in the two-deep deserves a scholarship. Montana provided badly needed depth at QB for us this year as a walk-on, and his scholarship was well-deserved. However, I wouldn’t be scandalized if ND didn’t give him a scholarship next year.

Walk-ons aren’t like recruits; an ND commit decides to entrust his athletic future to our coaches, and that trust is violated when a coaching staff withdraws that scholarship before graduation. Conversely, a walk-on is a ND student first and foremost who also wants to play football. Walk-ons sometimes make a significant contribution to the team (see: David Ruffer) and it’s appropriate to reward such players a scholarship in recognition of their service; but walk-ons don’t turn down offers to play for other schools to come to ND, and they generally don’t have prospects for the NFL.

Therefore, ND could fairly decide not to award Nate Montana a scholarship next year.

By: bradwins

bradwins — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:52:13 +0000

Ishaq William is IRISH! Verballed this morning, according to people who know these types of things.

Awesome.

By: bradwins

bradwins — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 04:47:07 +0000

Its not like his father can’t afford tuition, either.

By: cameronemclaughlin

cameronemclaughlin — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 04:16:49 +0000

And less reason to put it on Montana’s, was my opinion at time time.

By: papadec

papadec — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 04:13:14 +0000

Keith, thank you for clarifying the scholarship numbers. I hope that ND honors scholarships already given, & not play the SEC game of dumping scholarship players in favor of more highly regarded recruits.

By: beanspeaks

beanspeaks — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 04:03:50 +0000

Not giving him a scholarship does not mean he can’t come back. He was a walk-on before and he can be a walk-on again. He has already said both that he would like to come back for MBA school and that he understands that a scholarship might not be forthcoming with a shortage of them available. So don’t freak out if he doesn’t get a scholarship.

By: beanspeaks

beanspeaks — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 04:00:40 +0000

We don’t, and Keith said as much when he said, “the assumption that just because Nate Montana was on scholarship last season…means he’ll be back on scholarship this year shouldn’t be taken as fact.”

By: whisk3yjack

whisk3yjack — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:27:21 +0000

It’s easy to say that in retrospect, now that we know what Rees is capable of; at the time, he looked like a baby-faced 17-year-old that was in over his head, and there was no reason to put a still winnable game on his shoulders.

By: cameronemclaughlin

cameronemclaughlin — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:01:49 +0000

Is the Nate Montana scholarship necessary? We’ll have Rees and Crist (hopefully healed), and if Hendrix isn’t better than Montana by now he might never be. Dual threat Golson will make it interesting as well.
Montana is probably a fine individual, but from outside the program I can be objective and say that it’s a wasted scholarship.
I’m still suffering from Kelly’s decision to remove Rees from the Michigan game after throwing that pick. If Kelly lets Rees work through that, we have a better chance to win that game.

By: frustratedirishfootballfan

frustratedirishfootballfan — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 23:45:55 +0000

Seeing the breakdown of scholarships, I think it stinks we have to waste one on Nate Montana just for his legacy at Notre Dame.

By: borromini

borromini — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 23:34:31 +0000

Golic is our other scholarship center.

By: whisk3yjack

whisk3yjack — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:51:02 +0000

I’m not surprised that Scarlett committed to Cal, and somewhat relieved. He suffered serious season-ending injuries in his last three seasons.

We’re likely to land Lynch and Carlisle, while Williams seems to be a coin-flip at the moment. I don’t see Niklas, Hounshell, Huggins or Richardson happening. Let’s be optimistic and assume we get Williams.

Of the potential 5th years, I agree that Smith, Gray, Dever, and Ruffer are all coming back. That leaves two more scholarships: Do we offer both Nuss and Romine for extra depth on the line? Ragone for two-TE sets? Some combination of the 3?

Assuming Wenger is granted a 6th year of eligibility, I think he has to have priority; Cave is our only other Center on scholarship, no?

By: jerseyshorendfan1

jerseyshorendfan1 — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:10:11 +0000

Hey tedlinko…….great minds think alike!

By: jerseyshorendfan1

jerseyshorendfan1 — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:07:58 +0000

Keith, do you mean you’d be shocked it ND didn’t give a scholarship to Ruffer? If not, I don’t understand why they wouldn’t want him back. In any event, we are finally in an enviable position re: scholarships in the greater scheme of things. Another promising sign of what’s to come.

By: tedlinko

tedlinko — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:06:53 +0000

Keith,
Were you saying you’d be shocked if ND DID give Ruffer a scholarship or shocked if they DIDN’T? a word or two seems to be missing there.