National Signing Day: Why Brian Kelly Is a Better Recruiter Than Charlie Weis

During Charlie Weis' tenure as head football coach at the University of Notre Dame, one thing that you could not criticize about his coaching was his ability to recruit top prospects year in and year out. Based on the rankings of ESPN.com, Scout.com, & Rivals.com, Charlie Weis' recruiting classes had an average ranking of 11th. In the 2011 recruiting class — Brian Kelly's first true recruiting class as head coach at Notre Dame — Kelly built a 10th ranked recruiting class. And although there is not much difference in ranks, the difference in players is monumental.

Charlie Weis was always able to bring in elite offensive skill players like Jimmy Clausen, Michael Floyd, Kyle Rudolph, Armando Allen, Golden Tate, etc. But one thing he always struggled with was bringing in elite offensive & defensive line prospects, and it showed throughout his tenure. Against USC in the 2010 season, USC would consistently rush 3 defensive lineman and man-handle Notre Dame's offensive line. This puts Jimmy Clausen in a situation where he's not only getting pressured, but he has to make a throw with 8 defenders back in coverage.

The same type of situation happened on the defensive side of the ball. In Jon Tenuta's "Blitz, Blitz, and then Blitz some more" defense, Notre Dame would consistently send 5 to 6 guys to rush the quarterback and still couldn't get any sort of pressure on the opposing quarterback. And let's face it, any Division 1 quarterback is going to be able to make a throw to a defense with all day to throw and only 5 defenders in coverage.

In Brian Kelly's first recruiting class, Kelly's top recruits are Ben Koyack (#1 TE), Aaron Lynch (#2 DE), Ishaq Williams (#4 DE), Stephen Tuitt (#10 DE), Troy Niklas (#8 OT), and Matt Hegarty (#11 OT). 6 star recruits, 6 players that will line up in the trenches. Many spoiled Notre Dame fans have called out "Why isn't Notre Dame bringing in a 5-star Receiver?", or "Which one of these guys is the next Jimmy Clausen?" Well the answer to those questions is simple, we don't need it.

Tommy Rees is a prime example of a less-then-spectacular recruit that can succeed with an offensive line and a defense. Now, I'm not saying that Notre Dame shouldn't try to bring in those 5 star skill players, all that I'm saying is that getting those skilled players should not be at the top of our priority list. Kelly is recruiting with a style similar to the likes of Jim Tressel and Nick Saban. Get elite line prospects, and then get complimentary skilled players that fit the system.

Another problem that Charlie Weis ran into on the recruiting trail was that he was never able to sign defensive players that fit his system. Constantly his defensive philosophy was changing and the recruits that he brought in never really knew where they were going to play because of the constant switching in schemes. With Brian Kelly, he has always ran the same defense and has specifics that all prospects must comply with that narrow all the way down to height, weight, and 40 yard-dash time at each position.

As a Notre Dame fan, you have to be patient with Brian Kelly and his style of coaching. He is nearly the complete opposite of what Charlie Weis was, and maybe, that's just what we needed.