Blowout Victory Amounts to 15th Commit!

Plenty of heads turned when the Irish defeated Nevada in convincing fashion on Saturday, perhaps none more important than that of Cameron Roberson. Roberson, a four star running back from Newbury Park High School in California gave Charlie Weis his word on Monday, making him the fifteenth commitment in the class of 2010 for Notre Dame.

The Irish appeared to be the leader heading into the weekend as they were listed as Roberson's only visit to be taken in 2009. Roberson becomes the fifteenth commitment in the class and the third 4-star offensive commitment in this year's class (per Rivals.com rankings). He joins quarterback Andrew Hendrix and TE Alex Welch, both Ohio products.

Roberson rushed for 1,452 yards with 18 touchdowns as a junior in high school. He added an additional 279 yards receiving and 3 scores when getting thrown to.

Roberson is the first running back to commit to the Fighting Irish in this class, very possibly the last as well. He has an extremely impressive initial burst of speed, that's something that's tough to judge fully until he is seen against other D-1 talent.

Welcome to Notre Dame, Cameron Roberson!

Irish Land Their 14th!

The Irish recruiting class of 2010 gained another body on Tuesday as Prince Shembo of Charlotte, NC gave the University of Notre Dame his word. The 6'2''/232 pound defensive end chose Notre Dame over his other finalists of Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, and North Carolina State.

Shembo becomes the third defensive end to commit to this recuriting class and the eighth defensive commitment so far. He joins Blake Leuders and five-star prospect Chris Martin at the defensive end position in this class.

In eleven games last season Shembo racked up 86 tackles with 9 sacks. He added a pair of interceptions and fumble recoveries as well.

Rivals.com ranks Shembo as their 14th best defensive end in the class of 2010 while giving him a 4-star rating. He possesses excellent strength with his bench press max being listed at 325 pounds while he was able to put up 545 pounds on the squat rack. At this point it seems that his leg strength is far ahead that of Lueders who only maxed out 470 pounds on his squat.

The class grows to 14 with the addition of Shembo with a lot of work remaining needed to be done. With Shembo giving his word, Rivals.com now ranks Notre Dame 9th overall in the nation, just ahead of both Michigan, Stanford, and USC.

Welcome to Notre Dame, Prince Shembo!

Commitment #13, Spencer Boyd!

As was widely speculated, Spencer Boyd gave his verbal commitment to the University of Notre Dame on Friday afternoon, choosing the Fighting Irish over Michigan and Georgia. Boyd becomes the 13th commitment for the Domers and third that will make up Notre Dame's defensive backfield in the future.

Boyd is listed as a three star recruit from Cape Coral, Florida. It was there that he compiled 30 tackles and one interception as a junior in 2008. He also carried the ball 102 times for 620 yards and 6 scores but will be used only on defensive by head coach Charlie Weis.

Tight Ends coach Bernie Parmalee was responsible for the recruiting of Boyd as he continues to show his strength in recruiting the most southeastern state in the nation. Parmalee has also successfully recruited the likes of Armando Allen, Emeka Nwankwo, Ian Williams, Zeke Motta, and Jordan Cowart to the University of Notre Dame. Parmalee continues to have four more targets from the Sunshine State listed in his name on Rivals.com, all four having a four star ranking.
Back to Boyd, he brings a tad bit more size to the Irish secondary as he currently weighs 18 more pounds than counterpart Lo Wood. Although I can't guarantee it, with Boyd having a slightly quicker 40 yard dash time, I suspect the strength of Boyd is a hair greater than Wood's as well.

Boyd's commitment moves the Irish into 10th place overall in the current rankings of the class of 2010. Stanford remains the only regular on the schedule ahead of Notre Dame, coming in at 8th overall. Once again, its tough to make a whole lot of sense of where teams are ranked in these type of things until more of the "elite prospects" make their announcements.

Enjoy Spencer Boyd's highlight video from his junior season at Cape Coral High School. From all of us at Domer Sports Report, welcome to Notre Dame, Spencer!

Article Written By:
Nick Shepkowski
Bleacher Report
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Moore Makes it a Dirty-Dozen!

Notre Dame's recruiting class of 2010 grew by one more on Saturday as linebacker Kendall Moore gave word of his verbal commitment. Moore is the twelfth prospect to commit to the growing class but only the fifth to come in with a ranking greater than three stars by Rivals.com (Scout.com ranks Moore as a 3-star prospect).

Moore comes from Raleigh, NC where he is getting for his third and final season on the varsity roster at Southeast Raleigh High School. In his two previous seasons he has a combined 230 tackles and six sacks. He also caught thirty passes last season, good for seven touchdowns but he will be used exclusively on defense at Notre Dame.

Moore is listed at 6'3''/232 lbs with a forty time around 4.6 seconds. He has also squatted 500 pounds and bench pressed 320. Room to grow but a great starting point in his strength.

Moore chose the University of Notre Dame over several southeastern schools but Florida State and North Carolina State sound like they were the closest competitors for his commitment. As of now it is not certain whether Moore will play on the inside or outside but he will remain a linebacker when he makes his way on campus.

Notre Dame now has 12 commitments and is currently ranked as the 9th best class in the nation according to Scout.com. There is still a lot of time left on the recruiting trail for the class of 2010 and the Irish remain a player in the game for several top ranked recruits. Keep it locked on DomerSportsReport as we will break it all down for you along the way.

Welcome to Notre Dame, Kendall Moore!

Article Written By:
Nick Shepkowski
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Irish Gain 10th and 11th Commitments

Notre Dame has received their tenth commitment in a growing class as Justin Utupo has given his word to the Fighting Irish staff. Utupo doesn't come to South Bend with a ton of praise from the national recruiting sources but he did choose the Fighting Irish after getting offers from all over the land, including Oregon State, Oklahoma State, Utah, Colorado, and BYU.

Utupo becomes the third defensive end in the class, joining Chris Martin and Blake Leuders. He stands 6'2'' and weighs 240 lbs. Of the three commitments at defensive end, Utupo comes in as the lowest rated by the national sources.

Utupo may offer something that most other commitments/recruits are not able to do before they take a class at Notre Dame. Utupo is the high school teammate of both blue-chip quarterback Jesse Scroggins and 4-Star safety Dion Bailey at Lakewood HS in California.

Scroggins seems to be headed to the SEC in the form of a Gator, Vol, or to Southern Cal. Bailey on the other hand lists Notre Dame high on his list with USC, Tennessee, Washington State, and Southern Methodist all also included on that short list. I'm not saying its going to happen but it sure would be nice to see.

Utupo picked up six sacks as a junior at Lakewood High while also being responsible for 70 tackles on the year. He joins the growing list of 3-star commits for the 2010 class of Fighting Irish.

Welcome to Notre Dame, Justin Utupo!

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame can now add an eleventh name to the list of 2010 commitments as Tommy Rees of Lake Forest, Illinois gave his word to head coach Charlie Weis this week. Rees becomes the eleventh commitment as well as the second at the quarterback position for the class of 2010, joining Andrew Hendrix of Ohio.

Rees was not a highly touted recruit nationally but did receive offers from Tennessee, Stanford, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, and Miami (Ohio). As he gave his verbal commitment he stands 6'3'' while weighing in at 192 pounds.

I have doubts that Rees is ever going to be the "next great thing" amongst Irish quarterbacks. Per rivals rankings, this is the seventh of eleven verbal commitments to have a ranking of three stars. It is starting to seem that this class of new Fighting Irish may not have the same star rolls in the future but are used more to add depth to a team that loses likely 24 scholarship positions after January.

Even if Rees is able to simulate what the oposition is going to do by running scout team in the future it is good to add to the class. Don't expect him to compete for a Heisman like most quarterbacks that commit to ND but still...

Welcome to Notre Dame, Tommy Rees!

Irish Class Grows to Nine

On Monday the Fighting Irish picked up their ninth commitment in the recruiting class of 2010 when former Stanford commitment Chris Badger made a visit to campus thanks to the work of defensive line coach Randy Hart. Badger was quoted as saying he was "blown away" by what he saw on his visit to Notre Dame and was surprised how quickly he was able to change his mind on Stanford.

Credit is owed to one of the Irish who is yet to play in an actual game as Manti Te'o was very helpful in recruiting aspects. Both Te'o and Badger are Mormon and attended a church service together over the weekend, something that sold Badger on the University.

Badger becomes the second defensive back to commit to the Fighting Irish with the other being Lo Wood and occurring just days ago. After bringing in zero defensive backs in the 2009 recruiting class it is of utter importance that the Irish do well there this year. With both Lo Wood and Chris Badger now commited the Irish are off to a solid start at the postion. Both players are touted as three star recruits so adding both more numbers as well slightly more touted players would be ideal in Notre Dame's case.

Although the 2009 recruiting class failed to pick up any defensive backs the 2008 class is shaping up to be very solid at the position. Robert Blanton has shown signs of brilliance in one year on campus as he had a pick-6 against Purdue as well as what was called an "outstanding game" by Charlie Weis against USC. Dan McCarthy and Jamoris Slaughter were both also in this class but did not see any game action in 2008.

Badger has a body size of 6'0'', 178 pounds while his forty time is listed at 4.65 seconds. For comparisons sake Lo Wood checks in at 5'10'', 165 with a forty time of 4.58. Badger will be a safety for the Fighting Irish in the future. His videos show him to be outstanding against the run while be able to deliver the big hit on recievers.



Welcome to Notre Dame, Chris Badger!

Irish Class Continues to Grow, Welcome Lo Wood!

In what has turned into a very good week for Notre Dame on the recruiting front, defensive back Lo Wood of Apopka, Florida took the Irish coaching staff by surprise on Friday afternoon when he showed up unexpectedly to announce his verbal commitment to the University of Notre Dame.

Wood becomes the eighth verbal commit for the Fighting Irish in the 2010 class, a class that has nearly doubled in size over the past two days. As late as the morning of this past Thursday rumors were flying that Chris Martin was not going to end up at Notre Dame after all and that many on message boards felt that this years class would be lucky to crack the top 25 when it is all said and done.

Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of work still left to do for the Irish but at least things are seeming more on track with where they need to be compared to where they seemed to be headed just a few short days ago.

So who exactly is Lo Wood and football wise what is he going to be able to do at the University of Notre Dame?

Wood comes in listed at 5'10'' and weighing 160 pounds, "room to grow" is how we will put it with him. His height is about where you expect a solid cornerback to be at this level but he will have to add some muscle before he gets any playing time for the Irish. His forty time is listed at 4.58 seconds and although there is plenty of room to improve, its a solid starting point.

Wood chose the Fighting Irish over rival Michigan with many from Michigan thinking that Wood was leaning their way until just recently. From everything I have read and heard, Corwin Brown is what made the difference in getting Wood to come to Notre Dame.

With the talent the Irish have started to bring into the secondary it is seeming more and more that all defensive backs will have to battle in order to get on the field. Wood has decent enough size and enough speed that he should be in the mix for playing time in the future, just don't expect a lot out of the gate with all the talent Notre Dame already has in the defensive backfield. Here is what I was able to find videowise on Lo:



Welcome to Notre Dame, Lo Wood!

Written By:
Nick Shepkowski
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Catching up on the Recruiting Trail

Nick Shepkowski, Domer Sports Report

Notre Dame Football
Recruiting

It's still very early in the world of college football recruiting. Early in the sense that most players are still taking their time in making a final decision as to where they will spend their time after high school, but late in a sense that if you (as a school) are not on somebody's watch list then you better get kicking.

For those who are unaware, the Fighting Irish currently have five commitments for the incoming class of 2010 . Is it loaded with talent or is it on its way to being an elite class? That part is tough to say exactly; the groundwork is there with one five star defensive player in place, but there is plenty of work to still be done.

A quick rundown of the class so far:

Bennett Jackson: 6'1'', 165 lbs. - WR, Hazlet (Raritan), NJ
Seen as a three star recruit by most, Jackson has spent time both catching and running the football in high school. He will have to get bigger to be much of an impact but from everything I have read he seems to be along the path of a George West.

Christian Lombard: 6'5'', 290 lbs. - OL, Palatine (Fremd), IL
Was the first Irish commit back in January and chose Notre Dame over such rivals as Michigan, Purdue, and Stanford as well as plenty of others. Lombard committed to Notre Dame at the Army All American Game this past January, a game he will participate in next year.


Chris Martin: 6'4'', 240 lbs. - DE, Princeton (Hun School), NJ
If Manti T'eo was the first major defensive recruit that Charlie Weis was able to bring to South Bend then consider Martin to be the second. Martin was said to be the "most physically impressive defensive player" by one scout in attendance at a recent Nike summer camp on the campus of Stanford University. From the way people talk it seems that Martin has the potential do things at defensive end that haven't been seen at Notre Dame since Justin Tuck was on campus.

Daniel Smith: 6'4'', 205 lbs. - WR, South Bend (Clay), IN
The hometown choice to fill one of the available scholarships has the size to compete at the division one level but could use to get a step or two quicker with his fastest 40 time coming in at 4.6 seconds. The Irish landed Smith who had several offers from Big Ten teams.

Alex Welch: 6'5'', 225 lbs. - TE, Cincinnati (Elder), OH
Consider to be one of the top tight ends in this years class, Welch was offered by nearly every school under the sun. Its too early to tell if he will be able to step in immediately and play a role in the fall of 2010. If he is, think back to 2005 when Anthony Fasano, John Carlson, and Marcus Freeman all earned valuable time for a Notre Dame offense that was lights out good. I'm not saying to expect Welch to be able to perform at that level right away but if he can show the ability to block when he has to and be able to catch the occassional pass or two, this may end up being the biggest offensive commitment in the 2010 class.

Hopefully, that catches you up on where the Irish sit in the recruiting world at this point of the summer. Lots of camps are coming up soon where players make unofficial visits and, in turn, many commitments come about as well. Hopefully, only more good news comes in during the next few weeks for the Irish.

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Nick Shepkowski
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