It might not be game coaching as much as

It might not be game coaching as much as
by DBCooper (2020-12-23 18:44:34)
Edited on 2020-12-23 18:47:30

In reply to: Two takeaways... posted by NYC_Domer

Good at identifying 3 or low 4 stars who should be rated much higher and possibly their development. Kyle Hamilton was a weak 3 star rated in the 600s when he committed and north of 1000 when offered. JOK was a 3 star. Julian Okwara was a low 4 star and I believe a 3 star when offered. Ade Ogundeji was a 3 star. Will Fuller was a low 4 star and 46th WR. C Lewis, who looks like he could be a talented CB, was a 3 star.

Outside of OL and TE, coupled with the occasional WR or DL, Kelly does not produce a lot of early round (first 3 rounds) NFL prospects who were highly regarded (5 or strong 4 star) out of high school. It seems he is weak in gaining the amount of 5 and 4 stars you would expect him to get with all of these 10 win seasons but makes up for it a little bit with a good eye for middle ground talent.

In a perfect world he would keep finding those diamonds in the rough while also finding players who are highly regarded by the big programs (outside of OL and TE).

Even now the best young prospect we have, that everyone identified early, is a TE, and arguably 2 of the top 3 players (Fisher and Rocco, with Kollie the LB)coming in for 2021 are OL (Buchner did not play this fall and did not look good in recent QB camps, so we will see with him).

I will add 2021 at least has some other strong talent at WR and DT, but 2021 should be the floor for a strong ND program (it is frustrating because without Covid ND probably would have had a top 5 class, but everyone dealt with it, so you can’t use that too much as an excuse),