ND strengthens O and D Lines

[FancyFootball44]

Notre Dame Strengthens O-Line Class with Lane Clelland Commit


(UHND.com) – Notre Dame bolstered its offensive line class for 2008 with the addition of Maryland native Lane Clelland Saturday. Clelland, considered a five star recruit according to Tom Lemming, picked the Irish over Michigan, Penn State, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida.
Clelland (6’6”, 270) became the first exterior offensive lineman in this year’s class joining interior linemen Braxston Cave and Mike Golic Jr when he committed to Charlie Weis and Notre Dame this past weekend.
Despite not having ideal size for a tackle on the college level, bulking up to the 300 poind range shouldn’t be much of a problem for Clelland. During the off-season, Notre Dame’s latest commit is a star on the wrestling team and as a result, he keeps his weight down a bit. By the time he reaches Notre Dame next summer, that shouldn’t be an issue.
Clelland’s experience as a wrestler should come in handy because it will give him a pretty good understanding about needing to use leverage to his advantage. A lot of high school offensive line can flat out dominate their opposition and then need to learn technique at the college level. Clelland’s wrestling skills will help him in that department.
Lemming rates Clelland as one of the best tackles in the country, as his five star rating would suggest. Scout.com isn’t as high on Clelland, but they still rank him as a four star prospect. His list of offers should also give fans an indication of his skills.
Clelland is the 12th commitment in this year’s recruiting class for Notre Dame and was the second recruit to commit to Weis and the Irish last week along with New Jersey defensive line prospect Hafis Williams.
With Emeka Nwanko and Andrew Nuss potentially playing along the defensive line from last year’s offensive line class, the o-line became a pretty high priority for Weis in recruiting this year and so far, the early results are very positive with the trio of Clelland, Golic, and Cave.
With three offensive line commitments already look for the Irish to go hard after one or two more very highly rated prospects. Weis and Notre Dame can afford to be picky along the offensive line now that they have already landed three of their top targets.


Notre Dame Lands Second D-Linemen in Hafis Williams

(UHND.com) – A season ago Notre Dame had major issues recruiting along the defensive line. Fast forward a season and the Irish already have two after Charlie Weis secured a commitment from New Jersey native Hafis Williams – a Rivals Top 250 prospect – to go along with Sean Cwynar who committed back in March.
Williams (6’4”, 285) figures to start out on the outside as defensive tackle in Notre Dame’s 3-4 defense, but has the type of frame that could allow him to move inside and work the nose tackle position if needed. He’s got great size for a junior in high school, but has enough speed and agility to really be effective working next to the nose tackle in a 3-4 defense.
As a junior in 2006, Williams registered 106 tackles and 6 sacks for his Elizabeth High School squad.
Williams received his offer from Notre Dame in March and prior to committing to Notre Dame, he landed offers from Penn State, Maryland, and Rutgers. Williams was also a recent visitor for the Blue-Gold game.
The class of 2007 included just one true defensive lineman in Ian Williams. Andress Nuss and Emeka Nwankwo will both start off along the defensive line, but both prospects are likely better suited for offensive line at this point. Last year’s recruiting woes along the defensive line have made the position one of the most critical for the Irish in the class of 2008 and so far the Irish are off to a great start with Williams and Cwynar.
Landing one of New Jersey’s top talents is becoming par for the course for Weis – a New Jersey native himself. For years Penn State had great success in the Garden State and with the resurgence of Rutgers under Greg Schianno, the competition in the state has really heated up. To Weis’s credit, he landed Mike Ragone and Duval Kamara last and with Williams in the fold, he has the Irish off to another good start recruiting in Jersey.
With Williams and Cwynar on board, the Irish still need to address their need in the middle of the defensive line at nose tackle where Brandon Newman appears to be one of the top targets. Newman was at the Blue-Gold a few weeks back and would be a very nice compliment to Williams and Cwynar should he choose the Irish.

[FancyFootball44]

14 verbal commits so far.

OL Cave, Braxston 3*
6′4″ 290 5.0 Mishawaka, Indiana
(Penn HS)

OL Clelland, Lane 4*
6′6″ 270 N/A Orange Mills, Maryland
(Mc Donogh School)

QB Crist, Dayne 4*
6′5″ 225 4.7 Sherman Oaks, California
(Notre Dame HS)

DE Cwynar, Sean 4*
6′3″ 285 N/A Woodstock, Illinois
(Marian Central Catholic HS)

TE Fauria, Joseph 3*
6′8″ 250 4.7 Encino, California
(Crespi Carmelite HS)

OLB Fleming, Darius 4*
6′2″ 230 4.55 Chicago, Illinois
(St. Rita HS)

OL/DL Golic Jr., Mike 3*
6′5″ 265 5.1 West Hartford, Connecticut
(Northwest Catholic HS)

WR Goodman, John 4*
6′4″ 190 4.5 Fort Wayne, Indiana
(Bishop Dwenger HS)

LB McDonald, Anthony 4*
6′3″ 220 4.55 Sherman Oaks, California
(Notre Dame HS)

NT Newman, Brandon 4*
6′1″ 300 5.05 Loisville, Kentucky
(Pleasure Ridge Park HS)

LB Posluszny, David 3*
6′2″ 214 4.6 Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
(Hopewell HS)

TE Rudolph, Kyle 5*
6′7″ 222 4.7 Cincinnati, Ohio
(Elder HS)

DT Williams, Hafis 3*
6′4″ 295 N/A Elizabeth, NJ
(Elizabeth HS)

DT Hunter, Omar 3*
6'2" 297 4.9 Buford, GA
(Buford HS)


Hoping for:
DT Marcus Forston 5*
SF Terrelle Pryor 4*
WR Kenny Tate 4*

[FancyFootball44]

DB Jamoris Slaughter 4*6’0” 185 4.5 Georgia
(Tucker HS)

Another guy who was heavily recruited by Michigan [as well as Alabama, Georgia and LSU] coming to ND. Crazy thing is, this guy Slaughter (love the name) grew up a Michigan fan but was so overly impressed with Corwin Brown & his aggressive defensive system that he chose ND. Nice.

Out of the 10 commits that held scholarship offers from both ND and Michigan - how many verbally have chose ND you ask? 10 out of 10.

All I have to say is "keep 'em comin'!" This is their 16th commit already and there's rumors about the 17th swirling about at this moment. I'll wait to post when confirmed though.

[y2joey]

I'm really tired of Maryland recruits not going to Maryland but if its to help my No.1 college team then so be it though I still love the Terps and the better defensive recruits and O-line recruits the more we'll fix the mistakes in the 2006 season the annoyed me(slow defenders and lack of protection for Brady Quinn and holes for Darius Walker).

[FancyFootball44]

That was one long sentence Joey!

Well, they've already got 16 (possibly 19) out of 22 verbal commitments and the football season hasn't even started yet. I predict recruiting will be wrapped up for the most part by game 1.
Weis was not kidding when he said he is taking Recruiting by the horns this year. I wish he had done it last year. This time last year we had 8 verbal commitments, if that tell you anything about the difference (1 of them changing to FL anyway.)

[FancyFootball44]

DE Ethan Johnson 5*
6'4.5" 265 4.9 Portland, OR
(Lincoln HS)

I probably don't have to tell anyone how important this recruit was for ND defense. He is said to have verbally committed to ND over Oregon, USC and Michigan. I just can't believe how well they're recruiting defense. Thank goodness.


also committed:

CB Robert Blanton 4*
6-1 177 4.5 Williams, NC
(Butler HS)

[BigdaddyQH]

This is all very interesting, but it's like reading what an 8-8 NFL team is doing to get themselves into playoff contention. Notre Dame is still not even close to the recruiting success that USC and Florida have had. Players like those that Notre Dame recruited would sit for two years at USC. I guess this is how desperate the Irish are. Add on the fact that Weiss does no know how to coach them, and I see many more years of disappointment for you people who still think that Notre Dame is a viable national championship contender year after year.

[FancyFootball44]

You are funny.
No, ND cannot afford to let 4 & 5-star defensive recruits sit the bench for 2 yrs when their defense is terrible. They need the players now. It's funny tho that you are knocking a team for recruiting well.

And you ARE such a Homer! lol

[BigdaddyQH]

Funny how I did not see any of those recruits being on anyone 4 or 5 star list except for the clown you refered to. Obviously Notre Dame lacks in the recruiting wars because they can not spot decent talent. After all, this is Fat Charlie's 3rd year now, and his team is going to regress. Notre Dame will not be in a BCS game this year. What happened? Fat Charlie has had two years to recruit now and has regressed. Funny how that did not happen to Pete Carroll in his 3rd year, or Bob Stoops, or Jim Tressel, or...Never mind. You get the picture.

[FancyFootball44]

You are still comparing him to coaches that have been head coaching for YEARS. Just b/c it was Pete the Cheat's 3rd Yr at SC, it was not his 3rd yr of head coaching PERIOD. Same with Tressel. Apples & oranges...



http://rivals100.rivals.com/commitli...2008&School=55

Scout.com: Football Recruiting

[FancyFootball44]

Originally Posted by BigdaddyQH

Obviously Notre Dame lacks in the recruiting wars because they can not spot decent talent.

If that's true then how come USC and FLorida are looking at & offering the same guys that ND is?