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Right, and that gap is getting wider, not narrower. by bleedsgreen04

But DL isn't even close to where ND needs to focus on improving right now. In fact, all things being equal, I'd say ND could add in just one or two elite level DL recruits and it would be a NC caliber unit.

Contrast that with the rest of the position groups on the team where significant talent upgrades would be required across the board.

Clemson was winning at a very high level under Dabo while recruiting at clips slightly above where ND is at right now, in fact when they won it all and kicked ND's asses a year and a half ago, they were pretty much even with ND in terms of overall talent. But the difference was that Clemson had 5 star guys sprinkled in throughout their roster.

Right now ND is doing fine in terms of overall numbers, and taking project guys like the one mentioned in this post is just fine... MTA is turning into a really good DL player, for example, and he was near the bottom edge of top 500 as well.

The problem is that they need to get those 5 star guys added into the mix too, and that's just a start. To recruit at Clemson's level, especially on the defensive line is borderline unthinkable, IMO, which is certainly sad.

But at the same time, I can't help but wonder if this is very, very close to ND's ceiling at DL. There needs to be a better focus at getting elite skill talent, LB's, corners and safeties. IMO, defensive line is one of the last spots ND needs to be worried about with respect to recruiting at higher levels. Should they aspire to taking top 50 prospects at the position? Of course, but I think it's also one of the last areas to criticize in the program right now.