Football Recruiting Class of '09: The Final Week...

Nick Shepkowski, Domer Sports Report

Notre Dame Football
2009 Recruiting

Notre Dame enters the final week of recruiting for the 2009 high school seniors as the Irish continue to fall down the ranks of both Rivals and Scout.Com's lists. The Irish have lost a verbal commitment by Nyshier Oliver, the 3/4 star athlete from New Jersey who seems to be headed to Tennessee now. Not only have the Irish lost a potential future star, but they haven't added any for quite some time now.

Currently, the Irish sit just inside the top 25 in rankings for recruiting this offseason. Sure, when you lose a borderline 3/4 star player decommit the rankings go down, but how at this point can the overall talent pool of the Fighting Irish move up?

Two Words: Manti Te'o

Commonly reffered to as the top high school linebacker in the country, Manti Te'o has listed Notre Dame as a finalist to attend next year. Along with Notre Dame, the rumors have Te'o also flirting with both USC and UCLA. If the Irish are able to land Te'o they will have an immediate answer to the departure of Maurice Crum, Jr. who leaves Notre Dame after four seasons (five, if you count the one redshirt season) in the blue and gold.

Te'o would be able to fill the middle linebacker void and with the Irish not being primed for a title run in 2009, he could add valuable experience in 2010, a year Notre Dame will have enough talent to make a serious BCS run.

Sadly for Notre Dame fans there are a few things that remain an obstacle in order for the Irish to pull in Te'o and the biggest one would have to be those three dreaded letters, U-S-C. Te'o is expected on making one more visit to Pete Carroll and the USC campus before February 4th.

I was excited about learning Te'o had not eliminated ND from contention, I have to admit a commitment from him would mean more to me than the Jimmy Clausen commitment did. Te'o would come in not wearing four state title rings and the punchline of many college football blogs. Te'o is more NCAA ready at his position coming out high school than Jimmy was. Te'o can be an instant contributor for whichever school he chooses.

Sadly, in my eyes, I feel the fact he's taking another look at USC before signing day (in which he plans to have decided by) makes me feel the Irish and Bruins are just being dragged around for the rest of his high school ride and that he will choose to be a Trojan.

However, as most of you know I am nearly never right so let's hope that is the case again!

Irish Battle Trojans...Before the Trip to LA

This weekend may prove to be a very important one when it comes down to the Notre Dame/USC rivalry in the next few years. Sure the teams do not play for another week but this weekend features an opportunity to take dead aim at the Trojans recruiting class of 2009 with both linebacker Manti Te'o and safety Byron Moore making official visits to South Bend this afternoon.

Manti Te'o is amongst the most highly sought after defensive recruits in the nation, earning a five star rating from both Rivals and Scout at the middle linebacker position. Te'o is being recruited by nearly every college in the nation and has taken a visit to UCLA and has also attended two of USC's summer camps. Besides Notre Dame this weekend, Te'o is expected to visit the likes of Stanford and BYU as well as USC before he chooses a school so unless he is overly wowed by South Bend in the middle of November, don't expect a commit here this weekend. The Irish have been able to land some of the biggest names on the offensive side of the ball in recruiting wars the past few years but Te'o would be the first 5 Star recruit Charlie Weis will have been able to bring in on the defensive side of the football.

Byron Moore, a former UCLA commit and current commit to USC will be on Notre Dame's campus this weekend as well as he has recently sought after the Irish instead of the Irish going after him. Moore plays in the same district as Irish WR Commit Shaquelle Evans and the two sound like decent friends. After Evans committed to Notre Dame it was Moore who actually called Notre Dame, hoping to get noticed by the Irish. It payed off as Evans will also be on campus this weekend and don't think Charlie Weis wouldn't like to steal one of USC's charmed recruits right out from under him. To me Moore seems to have a real interest in Notre Dame and if the Irish are to see a commit this weekend it would most likely be from him.

The third and final high school senior visiting the Golden Dome this weekend is Tyler Gaffney, one of the most highly touted fullbacks in the nation. Gaffney also lists Stanford and USC as schools he is considering to attend. The Irish have been somewhat disappointing in what Asaph Schwap has brought to the table after playing now in his fourth year and would definitely like to get a fullback in whom they may have more confidence in to do a bit more. Gaffney is averaging over 10 yards a carry for Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego this year as he has scored 30 touchdowns. With a visit already set for Stanford in January I feel it will likely go very close to National Signing Day before Gaffney decides where he will call home the next four seasons.

Also on campus will be juniors Corey Cooper (ATH), Kyle Prater (LB), and Chandler Whitmer (QB).

GO IRISH, BEAT ORANGE