Rockne's Roundtable

Breneman is a PSU lock. If ND was his choice, he would've waited until after the March 24th junior day to announce. Without that, I don't see how we have a chance.

That being the case, do we push Matuska to commit soon as the TE in this class? We can't afford to miss on him too.

Looks like some legit UM guys TomVH, who's probably the best in the business covering UM recruiting, said that Pocic called UM Coach Franks and asked if they still had a spot for him. This is not good news, if true. Anyone know when Pocic is suppose to get back to campus?

Bivin is not visiting because of his HS basketball, but I still feel good about him.

Matuska hopefully is Irish before long at whatever position he's being recruited at..

Any other guys y'all feel could commit before long?

Thank you Star. That's great news for the Irish. I think our OL spots could fill quickly as well. Elmer, hopefully Bivin soon, with guys like Porter, Pocic, McGlinchey, Cochran, and McGovern all very high on ND.

That sucks really liked Ford, not surprised though.

Added:

NR/#36 OT Dorian Johnson -- OT -- 6'6"/270 -- Belle Vernon, PA -- Offered

-Dorian is an athlete of a lineman. He has a number of offers right now, but we seem to have a bit of an advantage if for no other reason than Coach Booker is his first cousin. While there are other OL I would prefer currently, Dorian is a talent and could make a nice addition to our class. He is on the up.

Without having any type of knowledge into the situation, I would assume Alabama and ND would just to the forefront of that group. Hopefully he has a good, close relationship with Coach because Alabama never makes it easy on anyone.

In other news, it seems we will have the same battle on our hands with CB Mackensie Alexander; despite being committed to Tennessee, it seems both Alabama and ND lead over them for his signature.

"I'm No. 1 on (Alabama's) board," Alexander said. "That tells you everything. It tells you a lot when you can talk to Nick Saban and he's got you No. 1 on the board. He picked me out specifically and said, 'This is the guy we want. We're gonna go after him and we want him.' It makes it that much better to know he's sending guys to the league."

He also said, "Academics are gonna be important for me. I'm trying to go to the best place that's gonna fit me right as far as football and academically. Getting a degree at Notre Dame is overachieving for me. It's great."

What shape are we in with Anzalone and Chans Cox? Those are to LBs I really want.

This my blatant attempt at pandering to NDG who now holds the responsibility of choosing next weeks POTW. I agree with every one of your points and in addition, I feel we should sign every 5 and 4 star prospect on our wishlist who are not already committed elsewhere, and even some who are. Well, I think that about covers it.

Better be prepared for a long haul..

There is no reason to be discouraged; it was only our first Junior Day and it was the small one. There is plenty of time to secure commitments from very talented prospects and we will do exactly that. While 6 commitments seems close to what I am expecting to have after the B&G Game, I can assure you that won't mean we are headed to the #1 class or the #50 class just based off our number of commitments at that point. Our staff has shown tenacity and perserverance and I whole heartedly believe we are going to put together a monster class. If we can land the likes of Jaylon Smith, Hunter Bivin, Jacob Matuska, and maybe Ty Isaac by the end of March, we are off to the races. If we don't, we are still doing just fine.. We are making better progress with better players than I remember us doing last March, and we still pulled some serious talent. Head up homeboy.

Added:

#46 -- Michael Hutchings -- OLB -- 6'2"/220 -- Concord, CA -- Offered

-Very talented OLB. He would be the perfect compliment to Jaylon Smith for us. He has recently said that he is very impressed with ND and what they have to offer. While I do not think we are the current 'favorite', we are right there in the running and I believe with visit and a good relationship with the staff and some of our current players he could be Irish.

4-star QB prospect Cody Thomas seems to have some interest in the Irish based on his comments about his offer, "Getting the offer was a big deal," Thomas told BlueandGold.com after first reporting to 247Sports national recruiting analyst Gerry Hamilton that he had one in hand just 10 minutes prior. "Notre Dame is legendary in college football."

He is currently a top-100 prospect, but I am hesitant to put him on the list as of now partly because I don't know much about him yet and partly because he's very similiar to QB prospect Bubba Starling from last year; he is a talented player who also happens to be a top baseball prospect and I'm afraid that signing bonus will win out. More to come..