Notre Dame Football Recruiting: Brian Kelly's Biggest Signing-Day Victories

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame football is hoping to close out its 2015 recruiting class with three more commitments on or before national signing day.

"

7 days till signing day. Early flight, off to another city. #ShamrockSoldiers15

— Brian Kelly (@CoachBrianKelly) January 28, 2015"

With that in mind, let’s analyze how Irish head coach Brian Kelly has fared down the stretch in the past few full recruiting cycles since he arrived in South Bend in December 2009.

Not all of these victories were commitments actually on national signing day. In some cases, Kelly and his staff earned late pledges and held strong through the finish line, garnering actual signings in February.

In determining the biggest victories, we’ll consider the timing of the commitments and the prospects’ rankings.

Class of 2011

Credit: 247Sports

Aaron Lynch

In one of the most impressive week-long surges in Kelly’s recruiting history at Notre Dame, the Irish landed defensive ends Ishaq Williams, Aaron Lynch and Stephon Tuitt in a span of six days in mid-January.

Lynch was slotted as the No. 9 overall player in the country, per 247Sports’ composite rankings, while Williams was 26th and Tuitt followed closely at No. 32.

As Kelly said during a press conference on national signing day in 2011, “The focus of our recruiting efforts was the defensive line position.” To land Williams and Lynch so late in the process and to re-land Tuitt after his short-lived commitment to Georgia Tech was a major boon for Kelly in his first full recruiting cycle.

Notre Dame also inked 4-star prospect Troy Niklas, originally a defensive end and linebacker before he eventually moved to tight end, on signing day.

Lynch, Tuitt and Niklas are currently playing in the NFL, while Kelly said in October that Williams told him he would like to return to the Irish in 2015.

Class of 2012

Credit: 247Sports

Gunner Kiel in high school

Kelly and the Irish made two major moves late in the recruiting process with the Class of 2012.

With second-semester classes set to begin in January 2012, quarterback Gunner Kiel committed and enrolled early in South Bend on Jan. 17, just weeks after giving his verbal pledge to LSU. The No. 1 pro-style quarterback in his class, Kiel checked in as a 5-star quarterback and the No. 27 overall player.

“I think everybody has heard about his process,” Kelly told the media on signing day in 2012. “Really what you’re looking for as a coach is that somebody is happy where he is. You can see that Gunner is happy at Notre Dame.”

Kiel transferred two months later and is now quarterbacking Cincinnati.

Nearly three weeks after signing day, Notre Dame added the No. 54 player in the country in athlete Davonte’ Neal.

“As I said almost three weeks ago, we wanted to add more skill players to our team and we did a nice job of doing that,” Kelly said at the time, via UND.com.

Neal, like Kiel, eventually transferred from the Irish.

Class of 2013

Credit: 247Sports

Eddie Vanderdoes

Notre Dame made late-cycle moves on the defensive side of the ball in 2013, with the Irish garnering pledges from safety Max Redfield in January and defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes on signing day.

A 5-star prospect from Mission Viejo, California, Redfield was the No. 3 safety in the country and chose the Irish after decommiting from USC in November.

“I remember when he decided to come to Notre Dame and made that decision, it was a fairly lengthy process where he wanted to really take time to make that decision,” Kelly said on signing day. “We’re not getting these quick, knee-jerk reaction kind of decisions. These are kids that really took their time to make the right decision.”

Vanderdoes, meanwhile, signed as the No. 7 overall player and a 5-star recruit from Auburn, California. While it was a massive victory at the time, Vanderdoes never played a snap at Notre Dame, as he enrolled at UCLA in the summer.

Class of 2014

Credit: 247Sports

Nyles Morgan

This time last year, Notre Dame’s defensive recruiting was in flux following the hiring of new defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder.

But the Irish were still able to add a top defensive playmaker in 4-star inside linebacker Nyles Morgan, the No. 53 player in the Class of 2014, in early January. With coordinators Chuck Martin and Bob Diaco leaving for head-coaching jobs, Kelly stepped up and made a last-ditch effort for the Illinois native.

“That was the only way to get the ball rolling was for me to go in there and develop a relationship with him, and then as we got Coach VanGorder back on staff and we got it rolling, we were able to kind of tag-team approach that,” Kelly said on signing day.

Morgan made four starts this season after senior middle linebacker Joe Schmidt suffered an ankle injury in November. Morgan finished with 47 tackles and was named a Freshman All-American by the FWAA.

Defensive tackle Daniel Cage pledged to the Irish on signing day after only landing a scholarship offer from Notre Dame in January.

“We told Daniel, the circumstances, because of losing a player and then having a couple of guys go early [to the NFL draft], we had to recruit him in a shorter window, but we were able to show him why we thought Notre Dame was the right fit for him,” Kelly said.

Cage saw limited action as a reserve lineman in his rookie campaign, tallying four tackles in 11 games.

Unless otherwise noted, all recruiting stats and information courtesy of 247Sports.com and all quotes obtained firsthand. Star ratings reflect 247Sports composite rankings. 

Mike Monaco is a lead Notre Dame writer for Bleacher Report. Follow @MikeMonaco_ on Twitter.