Rockne's Roundtable

13? How horrible for ND standards.

As a voice of reason, we still have a top ten class in front of the likes of LSU and company, we still signed Ferguson (who ESPN had ranked in front of DG) and Brown who should both be able to contribute immediately, and he was a great thought but we still filled all positions of need (except maybe a CB spot).. Add Ferg and CB to 2011 WR Davaris Daniels and we'll be just fine this year. Then on NSD we can make sure we lock up elite WR's like Treadwell, Quick, Fulwood, etc. and we have another spot for a 2013 signee.

Yes, I'm pissed like the rest of you but life will go on post-Greenberry. I hope he schedule Houston and Tee works his @$$. Haha.

Seems to be The ND Standard, at least for this year.

This entire season and recruiting cycle have been a failure regardless of what anyone tells you.

8-5 with another bowl loss, failure to address depth chart concerns in recruiting, and inability to keep a kid whose cousin committed and stuck with ND because of the chance to play together.

We had 16 and don't forget we only had room for about 20. This just helps with numbers for next year. The class is solid. We missed on a couple but there isn't much more you can do when someone who has been solid from day one flips his commit at the last minute. Can't blame the staff on that one.

At which point can you blame the staff?

I've been viewing for a couple months and posting occassionally and I always feel like it has to be a negative spin on Kelly because there is not enough accountability being placed on him.

Sure there are far greater factors working against him, like 2 decades of mediocre football that these kids only know.

And yes, ultimately you're looking at 18 year old KIDS.

And everyones excuse will be - who cares how these sites rank them, it's about player development. Which if anyone saw a recent yahoo article where NFL scouts think the guys on these sites are clueless, and it showed (either last season or projected this season) 1st rounder that were 1 & 2 star kids or unranked even on the espn/rivals/etc. But kids and their friends/families aren't the NFL scouts, and they only have wins or these sites to influence them, outside of the coaching staff.

You can't not blame recruiting when you see what this Tosh guy did for Cal, then immediately for Wash. Why wasn't ND looking to get this guy? I'm in sales, if someone at a competitor is great and at a lesser company, they go for you!

Or when you see Darby bolt because of what he was sold. Part of that is the product, which no one wants to acknowledge ND's lacking end and part is the recruiting.

This happened because of the pathetic losses to USF and Michigan. That falls on Kelly. Guys like Darby, Greenberry i believe, and others committed based off Kelly's first season and the promise it showed. As evident by early committments of these kids. They completely dropped the ball during the season and we can blame individual players but Kelly has to take their brunt of it. We played horrible, next year no one can do anything but hope it goes better against much a tougher schedule but this isnt how programs are built, by missing out. 16 committs? Pathetic.

And everyone from ND to its fans, we all just sit back and play optimist. Which is how we got into the mess we are in. It's no different then the Cubs & their fans. Until you make some real hardcore changes, this will continue.

I hate to be the negative nancy but some of you are far too optimistic for your own good. And I ask you, you've probably been optimistic every year about the recruits and team, right? How has that panned out? So criticize me for having to vent and be negative but I've been negative all but 3 of their recruiting classes this decade and all but 3 seasons. None have accomplished what we all want to and the other seasons have been dead on as bad.

Lets wake up.

NDMizzou, i have to disagree with you completely. If you think ND losing to USF and Michigan in close games that they could've easily won you're caused recruits to walk away from ND you're wrong. Everybody keeps saying last year was disappointment let's think people 2 years ago if ND would've played against FSU in a bowl game with the coaching staff that we had would the game have even close!? no it wouldn't have. Complain about 16 recruits all you want when next year we take 20+ you won't say anything. The 16 we got are the 16 that WANT to be apart of ND. I can't stress that enough! Why do we want guys that don't wanna be here that's why we less transfers than other programs these days, MOST recruits love ND for ND not some asst coach or because they think they'll start from day 1. Blame Charlie Weis and Ty for bringing this program to where it is now. Weis couldn't coach'em and TY didn't wanna recruit them. I swear we have the most diehard fans in college football but sometimes poeple's optimism goes in toilet because of a recruit or a close loss. If you want to cheat, lie and do whatever it takes to win a national championship please by all means go cheer for Alabama, LSU, OSU, UF, USC. I prefer trying to win it the right way so it'll never get taken away from us.

OK, so Greenberry is really a Redberry. The last time I checked Notre Dame is still 0-0. What counts is what happens on the field. One or two of these receivers will step up. I'm sure!

I couldn't agree with you more irish4life2800. ND needs to recruit more players like Mahone and Elmer who really want to be at ND. The roster over the last decade hasn't had enough of these players. Has there ever been a 10 yr period where ND averaged 2 home losses per season? IMO, that says alot about the players and there pride towards themselves and the school.

I like this recruiting class, yes we fell short with a couple "studs" but there are alot of quality players that committed to ND. Also remember that we have some atheletes on the current roster that can fill void or two, ie., George Atkinson III at CB - nice size and he's pretty fast.

Not to take anything away from Teo and others on the team who have the right attitude and drive to win but when I look at Kelly's recruiting classes I have more of a feeling that theses players want to be at ND and seem hungry to to win.

GO IRISH!!!!

We could get Payton! He just committed to his 4th school in UCLA? Cali kids sure know how to live out a soap opera.

We will have a better and more experienced team next year in spite of the losses of Floyd, Gray and some defensive backs.

Tommy Rees, although at his limit of skill, will have two years of playing experience and a solid resume. But wait, if he is beat out by Hendrix, Golson or Kiel the QB position will necessarily sky rocket to a level not seen in five years because we will be able to stretch the defenses.

The new and improved QB position will become the key that makes us a top ten team, a team that can stand toe-to-toe with any team on the schedule.

Inexperience is just a word. Some players are ready to go from day one (Rees, for example, reached his ceiling after a few games), some take 2-3 years and others never show up.

I predict if Rees gets beat out, the new QB will obviously be the real deal, good enough to challenge the defenses and give us a great chance to win every game.

As expected, Ronald Darby makes it official and goes with Florida State. Seminoles continue to add speed after having Marvin Bracy on board as well.

I'm not all gloom and doom like some of you are but I see where your argument comes from. Thinking back over the last six recruiting classes that I've watched roll into ND, I can't remember one that was as disappointing as this one. Not that the kids we brought in aren't any good, but that the potential ceiling was so much higher and has fallen so short.

It'll all work itself out in the end and in another year it won't really matter much but whatever the reason, this certainly doesn't impress me like last year's class did.