Logan Weeks

With signing day approaching (February 3rd) and still a few players in the sights of the Irish, the recruiting class has the ability to move up from their current ranking of 19th in the nation, according to espn.com. With a stellar recruit in Seantrel Henderson, a five-star recruit and ranked the 8th overall prospect in the nation, who is still undecided, will play a large part in how their class ranking will fare after signing day. Recent commitments from, Louis Nix and Tai-ler Jones have helped round out a solid recruiting class as it stands so far, and helped address a couple of important team needs.

Jones, the 68th ranked recruit in the nation, will have the tough task of filling the shoes of the big play maker Golden Tate who won the Biletnikoff trophy that goes to the nation’s most outstanding wide receiver. The underclassman, Tate (junior), declared that he will enter the 2010 NFL draft.

Nix the 64th ranked recruit in the nation will have to help a defensive line that struggled more than any position on offense in the 2009 season.

Both of these recruits will be large parts of the offense and defense in future years for the Irish, so look for these two to have an impact soon.

Joshua Shaw from Palmdale, California, committed to Florida last night. Shaw, a four star recruit, was interested in Notre Dame and made his visit to Notre Dame on 10/16/2009.

Shaw will help improve a Florida secondary and recruiting class that has already has four, four-star, and one five-star defensive back commits. Now there are two ways to look at this situation, Notre Dame fans can be upset that they didn’t get a cornerback that could help out the Irish defense that has not played this well this season, or fans of the Irish can now look at a guy like Lamarcus Joyner who is still very much on Notre Dame’s radar as much as Notre Dame is on his, as a definite possibility as a commit.

Joyner has his schools narrowed down to Notre Dame, Florida State, and Ohio State. Notre Dame and Ohio State are the two schools that he has taken visits to so far. Although Shaw did not commit to Notre Dame he still said that he seriously considered coming to play for the Irish, and that is promising (video).

Other recruits for defensive back who are being recruited heavily by the Irish are Marquis Flowers from Goodyear, Arizona, is the 87th ranked recruit in the nation and Dietrich Riley from La Canada, California, is ranked 93rd in the nation on rivals.com.

Flowers has a ton of schools that have given offers, but the only place he has visited has been Notre Dame on 11/6/2009. Flowers, at 6 foot 3 and 195 pounds, could be a great safety prospect who could potentially step in for a guy like Kyle McCarthy who will be graduating after this season.

Riley looks like a guy who could help out at either safety or cornerback. His 4.47 (40 time) shows he has the wheels to play the corner spot as well.

Look for Notre Dame to sign one of these stellar secondary recruits. If they can get a commitment from any of these three guys (Flowers, Joyner, Riley) they could really help the Irish not only in the secondary, but could bump their recruiting class into the top ten in the nation.

Losing #28 Kyle McCarthy next season will be a big hole to fill

Notre Dame has had interest coming from the top three recruits in the nation:

1. Seantrel Henderson, Offensive Lineman

2. Kyle Prater, Wide Reciever

3. Robert Woods, ATH.

They lost both Prater and Woods to USC less than a month ago, both were ranked #2 and 3 on rivals.com, but Seantrel Henderson still remains interested in Notre Dame. Henderson took his official visit to Notre Dame on 10/16/2009. According to numerous sources, the visit went well. Henderson made his visit to USC this weekend to watch the Trojans play Oregon State. The Trojans won the game 42-36. Henderson’s only other visit has been to Ohio State, which he attended 9/11/2009.

Of course the Irish will be battling with other schools to get this guy considering he is the highest touted prospect in the nation, but here are a few reasons the Irish may have the upper handing in landing, Henderson.

Notre Dame looses most of their offensive line after this year due to elegibility, including Sam Young, the right tackle who will be entering the draft this year and is a potential first round pick. Henderson will see himself in a role where he will be starting right away. And at 6 foot 8, 301 pounds, size is not an issue.

Reason #2. Henderson attends Cretin-Derham Hall in Saint Paul, Minnesota. That is the same high school that sophomore stand-out receiver Michael Floyd attended. If Floyd could convince Henderson to come to Notre Dame, it could land their second recruit in the top 100 in the nation this year.

The last #1 recruit in the nation overall that the Irish snagged, Jimmy Clausen.