National Signing Day So Far: The Irish at 24

Well, it’s been a good day, so far, for the Notre Dame Figthing Irish, with twenty-four recruits, including early-enrollees, in the bag. Once again, Coach Kelly and his staff trolled far and wide to land this class, pulling athletes from what appear to be thirteen (13) states, giving Brian Kelly 224 votes in the Electoral College.

But the biggest troll of the day, so far, was the (tragically-incorrect) news that Brady Hoke had joined the Irish coaching staff as a defensive coach. This would have been so fantastic on dozens of levels, such as cronut, but also because Hoke was responsible for one of Notre Dame’s more impressive defensive performances last year.

Author’s Note: apparently, as I understand from the multiple tweets and reports this morning about the Hoke non-hire, Brady was “in for a penny, in for twelve hundred pounds,” as it were, until he learned that the Irish signed “Nicco Fertitta” and not, as Hoke believed, “heaps o’ fritattas.”

As of this writing (1234 CST), the Irish received NLI’s or early-enrollments from the following student-athletes: Equanimeous St. Brown, Alize Jones, Dexter Williams, C.J. Sanders, Nicco Fertitta, Shaun Crawford, Brandon Wimbush, Bo Wallace, Nick Coleman, Ashton White, Brandon Tiassum, Miles Boykin, Josh Barajas, Trevor Ruhland, Jalen Guyton, Justin Yoon, Elijah Taylor, Mykelti Williams, Josh Adams, Asmar Bilal, Te’von Coney, Micah Dew-Treadway, Tristan Hoge, and Jerry Tillery. All of their bios and video highlights can be found here, which is just a fantastic effort from the folks at und.com.

Thirteen defensive players, ten offensive players (at least one of whom is TRI-LINGUAL), and a magnificent kicker should see the Irish with significant depth at all positions, something Coach Brian Kelly emphasized in his mid-morning interview with a man who always seems to “got it,” the incomparable Mr. Jack Nolan. You can watch that interview here. Coach Kelly’s end-of-the-day presser, scheduled for 3:15 p.m. EST, can be watched here, which is just a fantastic effort from the folks at WatchND.

The day has not been without its losses, too, as QB coach Matt LaFleur has seemingly signed on with the Falcons of the NFL. This lead to cryptic/sad tweets from Irish players, to include Malik Zaire. LaFleur, it should be noted, recruited Brandon Wimbush, so we’ll see.

In any event, it’s been overall a very good day for the Irish. Stay tuned for actual analysis and stuff later today and during the week. In the meantime, bid these young men wilkommen, bienvenue, and welcome.

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Bayou Irish

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Hating Hurricanes Since 1990.

Bayou Irish is a Jersey boy and Double Domer who fell under New Orleans' spell in 1995. He's been through Katrina and fourteen years in the Coast Guard, so we cut him some slack, mostly in the form of HLS-subsidized sazeracs. But, when he's not face down on the bar and communing with the ghosts of Faulkner and Capote at the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone, he's our man in SEC-land, doing his best to convince everyone around him that Graduation Success Rate is a better indicator of success than the number of MNC's won in the last five years.