Home › Sideline Forums › Notre Dame Football › The 2011 NDFB Season › Weis and Kelly Recruiting Philosophies
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| Author | Posts |
| January 17, 2012 at 11:29 am #10005 | |
 NDtex
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With the Kiel news breaking yesterday and with all the craziness that happened last season with Lynch, Tuitt and others, to me it seems like there is a very different philosophy in how Weis’ and Kelly’s staffs have approached the recruiting game. With Weis, the thing that always stuck out with me was “If you are still looking, we are still looking”; however, Kelly’s mindsight seems to be “If you’re still looking, we are going to tell you why you shouldn’t be.” Kelly has been far more aggressive in going after his targets, getting them, and even getting them back into the fold once they have changed their minds. With Weis, it was always the other way around, the guys that left the fold never came back in, so much so that I never had any hope of a ND decommit ever changing their minds. With Kelly, I never count anyone out. It’s quite a refreshing change to me. It seems that Kelly really has an understanding of the recruiting game and how it is never over ’till it’s over. |
| January 17, 2012 at 1:09 pm #10008 | |
 SDI
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Good observation. I think that rejection in life is hard to deal with and a natural reaction to it is, “well you know what, we don’t need you, there are other fish in the sea”. It’s not easy to push your pride out of the way. But in college football recruiting, there very often aren’t other fish in the sea. There was no other Aaron Lynch waiting to jump aboard the ND express–that caliber of player is in very short supply. The same thing goes for very highly rated QBs like Kiel. There might be a Golson lurking out there (last year), but not always. Kelly is wise to realize that with some of these kids you have to keep trying to virtually the last minute of the recruiting cycle. I think Weis was often too proud and it was a shortcoming of his–Kelly is like that guy that will keep asking the same girl out over and over and doesn’t get his feelings hurt if she keeps saying no. |
| January 17, 2012 at 2:13 pm #10010 | |
 Erik 04
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Are you comparing Coach Kelly to this guy?? http://tinyurl.com/Screech-Lisa I don’t disagree, though. I never really understood why CW gave up on recruits so easily. As a coach, you invest so much time in recruiting a guy, that to throw all that away seems like a waste. I know he got burned by a couple of soft commits (Benn, Hunter, et al.), but that should have stiffened his resolve to recruit BETTER not blow them off. I think you’re right that it was a sign of his arrogance, especially to believe that he could strike up a relationship with some other 5* players at the last minute and think they would come begging to play for ND. |
| January 19, 2012 at 12:52 am #10014 | |
 PAK
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I agree, it is very refreshing to feel like we still have a shot no matter how late in the game it is. However, there’s a bigger difference between Weis and Kelly. Kelly has a plan. Weis landed a lot of talented recruits, no doubt, but it was just a grab bag of people who he could get in with, trying to fix any and all problems with the team in one fell swoop. Our classes were solid star-wise, but they weren’t DEEP at any position. As a result, one or two busts here or there and all of a sudden we are really weak in a position. Kelly, instead, is laser focused on areas of need. Last year, it was D-line – wait, sorry, “Power”. This year, the focus has been on skill guys, with an emphasis on the defensive side of the ball. The strength of this approach is that, even with some attrition or recruits that don’t live up to billing, you can exit a recruiting year knowing that in a few years, you will have something to hang your hat on. In 2013, when Lynch/Tuitt/Williams/Hounshell/Nix are Juniors, we can be sure to have a defensive line to build around – actually, looking at the sheer numbers, OL will have a number of upperclassmen that year as well. In 2014, when THIS class are Juniors, we will have a very solid secondary and WR corps. His recruiting style really lets Kelly gameplan the team’s approach to an entire season. |
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