Notre Dame Football: Recruiting Class Fills Needs, but Not Lofty Expectations

National Signing Day is behind us, and the 2012 incoming classes are set.

Thanks be to the Lord.

I for one have grown quite sick of the annual feeding frenzy that ensues as the first Wednesday in February approaches. I can't fully understand how so many get so wrapped up in star values and ratings assigned based purely on potential.

Truth be told, there is no guarantee of accuracy or that any prospect will translate into production on the field. Like I.Q., all you can really gauge is potential, which carries no warranty or certainty.

Yet like the NFL Draft, some make their living evaluating and rating kids who've proven only that they can be a big fish in their local small pond. And we all know that they are never wrong. (See Courtney Brown, Ryan Leaf, David Carr, Tim Couch...really any Cleveland Browns first-round draft pick not named Joe Thomas.)

All too often, classes are evaluated only on the weight of the "star" values attached to their players and not for the needs that those classes fill.

For top-level programs, often, it truly becomes easy. Perennial contenders like Alabama and LSU find players lining up and talent buried on their two-deep that would be starting nearly everywhere else on the planet.

For everyone else, most notably those trying to build their program up toward the championship levels, the incoming players must fill a need and contribute quickly.

Notre Dame, by anyone's estimation, is solidly seated in the latter category.

Charlie Weis learned the hard way that filling out a recruiting list of 5-star skilled players would not alone secure wins when you failed to address the defense or the offensive line.

Brian Kelly seems to be taking a decidedly different approach.

Kelly seeks out his kind of player, what he calls the "right kind of guy." They may not always carry the highest star rating, but they are solid football players that can either step in or provide depth at a position of need.

Last year, the primary area of concern was the defensive front seven.

The class included Aaron Lynch, Ishaq Williams, Stephon Tuitt, Anthony Rabasa, Ben Councell, Troy Niklas and Chase Hounshell, who all contributed last year.

This year, Notre Dame found a few more areas of concern. The defensive secondary needed a full-out overhaul, the quarterback position is in need of an upgrade and the receiving corps are thin at best.

Kelly aimed high at receiver and seemed to have a solid class entering, with Chris Brown and Justin Ferguson being dwarfed by longtime commit Deontay Greenberry.

Greenberry's head-scratching signing day defection to Houston has left Notre Dame hoping that DeVaris Daniels (a 2011 recruit) will emerge as a deep threat to fill the hole that Michael Floyd's departure has created.

It is also possible that Everett, Wash. product KeiVarae Russell (signed as an athlete) could emerge as a wide out, although at only six feet tall, he would more than likely be a better slot receiver than a sideline burner that could stretch the field.

In the secondary, Kelly's efforts were obvious.

Tee Shepard, Elijah Shumante, CJ Prosise and John Turner are all signed.

Highly-regarded Crete, Ill. corner Anthony Standifer wants to sign; however, a lacking Spanish credit has as of yet blocked his enrollment.

Notre Dame is also being made to wait on highly-touted Arizona product Davonte Neal, who had previously leaned Irish, but has been pulled late by Oklahoma and Ohio State.

Neither Standifer or Neal has yet committed, and Notre Dame is very much in the hunt to add either of them to the very thin defensive backfield.

Kelly has maintained that he tries to sign a quarterback every year, and the 2012 signee made a bit of a splash.

Ending one of the more public and lengthy recruiting commitment sagas of all time, Columbus, Ind. Notre Dame legacy Gunner Kiel enrolled at Notre Dame without ever publicly committing to the Irish.

He had previously committed to Indiana, decommitted, then verbally committed to LSU just after Christmas before showing up in South Bend to start the spring semester at Notre Dame.

Most likely, Kiel will battle last year's recruit, Everett Golson, and Andrew Hendrix for the starting QB job.

While this year's recruiting cycle lacked the sizzle of last year's, it is still a solid crew.

Positions of need received help, along with the needed depth at running back, on the offensive line and another pair of 4-star defensive linemen.

The class may not fulfill the expectations that last year's coup set; however, it leaves Notre Dame in a better position to compete for the immediate future.