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.

The recruiting class for next football season looks solid and could potentially get a whole lot better. With guys like Anthony Barr and Seantrel Henderson (both I have wrote about in previous posts) still undecided, it could really pump this recruiting class to the top five in the nation.

So far the Irish have reached verbal commitments from one five star, eight four star, and nine three star recruits. This ranks them right behind USC who ranks 10th. Despite not having signed one five star recruit the nation, Texas leads the country largely by receiving commitments from 17 four star recruits.

The Irish will have the opportunity to sign more five and four star recruits in up coming months, but so far an 11th ranked recruiting class looks promising even though the Irish have lost two straight games to Navy and Pittsburgh.

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.