Rockne's Roundtable

I know that as fanatic Notre Dame fans we are all supposed to be VERY excited over this new class of incoming unstoppable athletes that are going to lead us to our next National Championship with their hard work, swagger, commitment, and the tight bond they are already forging as a group of recruits, but please allow me to introduce a little rain on our premature celebration with some reality.

These kids that are giving us their verbal commitments right now, and saying all the right things, lack a very crucial piece of information that will play a part in their decision before signing day in February: They haven't seen us play this year.

Right now, they are buying hype, hope, faith, tradition, and the excellent sales tactics of coaches trained to recruit players just like this annually. But once the Fall rolls around the hyperbole slows down and the on the field evidence shows up once again. When the losses come (and they will come) against one of the dumbest schedules I have seen assembled in recent years, some of these kids saying all of the right things, are going to start listening to the talking heads at ESPN, and the coaches of other schools pointing out that while we may have ancient history and tradition on our side, our recent history is one of pure mediocrity, and then we will find out who really wants to be Irish. Brian Kelly and staff have shown they fight till the bitter end when it comes to recruiting, and they always go down swinging, which I love, but it doesn't make them immune from losing some key prospects. So before any of you get too excited over these guys giving their non-binding verbal approval of the Notre Dame program, I would recommend you keep in mind that recruiting is 24/7 battle and we will likely lose some of these kids, before we even have them.
So far the class shows great promise of being a good one, but we have a long way to go in the process.
IrishWon