Notre Dame Signs 24 Prospects, Roster Not Final
By Andrew Hall
Brian Kelly welcomed 24 new prospects yesterday on National Signing Day. Despite signing 24 new players, Kelly noted that the roster is not final.
Scholarship Numbers
Notre Dame currently sits with 87 scholarship players. Kelly announced that the Irish legacy Conor Hanratty will retire due to concussions. The 6th year Notre Dame Head Coach declined to announce who would return for 5th years. However, he did say that the Irish would need every day until the beginning of the fall semester to get down to the NCAA mandated 85 scholarships.
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If Notre Dame welcomes transfers, as Kelly discussed during his Signing Day press conference, the Irish will need to several players to move on to reach 85. The Irish can do this by cutting down on the number of 5th year Seniors. Also, the Irish may have players transfer out of the program.
Additionally, it is probable that Quarterback Montgomery VanGorder, son of Defensive Coordinator Brian VanGorder, will likely go off scholarship. This would give Notre Dame 86 scholarship players.
5th Year Players
There are 12 possible 5th year players but only 8 are real possibilities. The possibilities are Everett Golson, Amir Carlisle, Matt Hegarty, Nick Martin, Ishaq Williams, Jarrett Grace, Joe Schmidt and Matthias Farley.
Although Grace is still recovering from an injury, Kelly praised the player on his physical tools yesterday. Based on Kelly’s comments, it seems like Grace will return. However, time will tell if he can really do it.
Everett Golson departing from Notre Dame is another possibility. If he fails to win the job in the spring, it definitely possible that Golson would transfer.
The remaining names on the list are all believable. The Irish probably need Farley for position flexibility in the Defensive backfield. Kelly and the staff will undoubtedly welcome back Nick Martin and Joe Schmidt for their leadership qualities. Ishaq Williams still has work to do to regain admission at Notre Dame. But, how needed are Hegarty and Carlisle? They are solid players but Notre Dame is deep at their spots.
It seems logical that Notre Dame would only offer 5th year spots to Nick Martin, Joe Schmidt, Matthias Farley and Everett Golson (depending the Quarterback situation). This would leave the Irish with 83 scholarship players, allowing them to welcome transfers.
Possible Transfers
The Irish could welcome transfers in as well as have players transfer out of the program. Notre Dame is a difficult place to predict who will transfer out because many of the student-athletes attend Notre Dame to land that coveted degree. Therefore, players are unwilling to transfer out of the program until they graduate.
However, players who are buried on the depth chart may want to move to a school where they can play. Players like John Turner, Mark Harrell, Michael Deeb, Doug Randolph and Mike Heuerman fit this description.
According to reports, Notre Dame reached out to Cal Safety Avery Sebastian. Sebastian played at the same high, Eagles Landing Christian Academy, as Notre Dame Defensive Linemen Issac Rochell. In 2014, Sebastian tallied 21 total tackles and 1 interception.