It’s easy to point to cornerback as a position of need for the Irish. After losing Tee Shepard before making it to spring practice, turning away talented cornerbacks Yuri Wright and Anthony Standifer, and losing long-time Irish commitment Ronald Darby, Notre Dame needs to make sure they add some cornerback depth in the 2013 recruiting class.
They’ve already done that with recruits Devin Butler and Rashad Kinlaw, two important early grabs at the position. With the Irish also among 40-plus schools chasing Tampa cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III (the Irish are in good position, but Hargreaves is in no hurry to narrow his list), Notre Dame is also taking dead aim at another one of Florida’s best cover-men, Immokalee’s Mackensie Alexander.
Alexander, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound cornerback has offers from an elite list of schools: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC among others. Yet for the first-team All-State Florida selection it’s a five-day jaunt to South Bend, with Alexander set to arrive tonight and stay through the weekend, that has some feeling the Irish have the inside track to one of the nation’s best cover corner prospects.
“Mackensie doesn’t go on trips,” Immokalee High School head coach Jerrod Ackley told IrishSportsDaily.com, putting into context just how impressive this visit is for the Irish.
“I think he wants to get the whole Notre Dame experience; see what South Bend is like, be able to get to know some of the players, get to know more the staff than the two he’s met so far and really use this to evaluate Notre Dame,” Ackley told ISD.
The Irish are recruiting Alexander hard with both recruiting coordinator Tony Alford and co-defensive coordinator Kerry Cooks, who would also coach Alexander’s position group. At Wisconsin, Cooks was responsible for bringing another Immokalee talent into the fold, recruiting Aaron Henry, a standout performer for the Badgers who signed a free agent contract with the Oakland Raiders.
Alexander committed to Tennessee way back in January, making an early decision before stepping away from that choice. After impressing at the US Army All-American combine, Alexander’s star rose considerably, turning his recruitment into a full court press that was likely overwhelming. That the Irish could get their message through a ton of static says a lot about the work Alford and Cooks have been doing.
Jake Brown at IrishIllustrated.com got a nice coach out of Ackley hitting on this:
“For Mackensie to go anywhere is a step closer than most anyone else has gotten with him,” Immokalee head coach Ackley told IrishIllustrated.com. “Mackensie, even though he initially committed to Tennessee and backed off, he hasn’t gone on any things like a lot of kids do that are national recruits. This will be a good experience for him. It’s gonna be a different world for him but I’m excited that he’s going to check it out because I think it’s a place he could be successful.”
Taking a look from a broader perspective, the Irish have focused (or at least been much more successful) getting recruits on campus much earlier this year than last recruiting cycle. With a wide footprint last season, the Irish relied on official visits to be the main on-campus sales tool. For some elite recruits, that meant Notre Dame got sometimes as little as 24 to 36 hours to make a lasting impression, with the coaching staff’s attention also diverted to game preparation as well as other recruits. With first impressions being so important in a recruiting game that continues to push earlier and earlier, getting a talented corner from South Florida like Mackenzie on campus for five days will be key. We’ll likely have a much better idea of where the Irish stand after this weekend, but they’re certainly off to a good start.