For you lucky souls that don’t brave the hellholes that are Notre Dame Football Message Boards and don’t follow my ranting on twitter (sidenote: and you really should be following me, DMQ (f that real name bs) & Biscuit), the boards exploded today with the news that Tommy Schutt, a consensus 4* NG from Chicago, was told by the ND coaches to cancel his planned visit in the upcoming days. Essentially, it was a thanks but no thanks. After the commitment last night of Sheldon Day, a DE/DT that is a 5* on Scout.com and a 4* on every other service, the Coaches decided that they were done recruiting interior defense lineman.

Well, that caused the boards to start freaking out. When does Notre Dame ever turn away talented DLs? Doesn’t BK remember what happened with Omar Hunter?!?

Then, rumors started to fly that Schutt was going to visit Michigan instead, and if you were to believe some posters, commit there immediately and become a 4-time All-American while single-handily beating the Irish the next 4 years.

When that news hit, my word, I haven’t seen a freak out like this in awhile.

“STUPID!!! Learn from Alabama, LSU, etc. and TAKE THE ELITE LINEMEN and DEAL WITH THE NUMBERS LATER!”

(Screw the 85 limit, let’s just cut players!)

“That just sucks all the air out of the balloon that the Day committment brought.”

(Yes, turning away a 4* star DL because we just got a 4/5* star DL apparently ruins everything!)

“but this, truly reeks of “small-timey” in terms of not realizing that these types of opportunities don’t come around every year”

(found out later this was somewhat tongue-in-cheek but others agreed with the sentiment)

“Just when I start having faith in Kelly–crap like this happens.”

(………………..)

“Why dont they hatch a plan to find a long snapper and be able to not put a scholarship there and instead get another 4 star NG prospect.”

(Schutt was not rejected because we offered the LS, that is just flat-out wrong)

“The reaches from Kelly’s 1st Recruiting Class just came back to haunt us. If we don’t get Jarron Jones, then knowing our Karma, my guess is that Schutt becomes our next Mike Martin.”

“My Michigan buddy just text me that visit to Michigan is now in the works for Schutt. Genius Kelly, sheer genius.”

(remember those last two)
and my favorite:

“But most of us recliner-chair coaches would know to use our All-American Kicker to win a game with a FG, rather than rely on a true Frosh QB to win it with a wing and a prayer.”

(Yes, someone shoe-horned the Tulsa loss into this…that’s just impressive)
Not 15 minutes after every single one of those quotes, this popped up on twitter:

Link (Steve Wiltfong used to work for ISD and is now a National Analyst for 24/7.)

and the freak out stopped.

Apparently, either the fact that Brady Hoke didn’t like Schutt enough or that we didn’t have to fear Schutt owning us every year allowed everyone to relax.

So, why would the ND coaches turn down a fairly elite recruit at a position that ND historically struggles recruiting?

There are a couple of reasons:

• From the beginning, the ND coaches have clearly indicated that the position is not a priority this recruiting cycle. The lack of offers makes that fairly clear. It’s similar to QB and TE recruiting this year. We offered the elite guys, once they passed, we moved on to other positions were we have greater needs.
• They are fairly confident with who they have on campus (LNIII, Tuitt, Kona, Springman, Niklas, Hounshell at a minimum)
• Schutt is much more of a pure NG in our defense while Day can play DE or DT, giving him the positional flexibility that BK loves in his recruits
• Given the numbers on campus and the lack of available spots in this class, the coaches are going to be extremely picky and not load up at DT. There are other positions that they want to load up on in this class. From everything I’ve heard, the coaches want to load up at the “Skill” group this cycle. That means: DBs, WRs, & RBs

Finally, the most common question I’ve seen and been asked is “What does this say about the recruitment of Jarron Jones and Arik Armstead?”

While neither is ready to make a final decision (and Armstead is actually a USC commit at this point), as far as I know, ND will find room for either player if either/both decide to come to ND.