Tommy Rees Can Change The Recruiting Narrative For The Notre Dame Offense

There are so many narratives surrounding Notre Dame football that were created largely due to Brian Kelly's actions, and at times lack thereof. One of those narratives is about how difficult it is to recruit at Notre Dame, with Kelly talking about the need to "shop down a different aisle."

From the moment he arrived on campus just over a year ago, then defensive coordinator and now head coach Marcus Freeman has finally destroyed that narrative, which was always more about Kelly's recruiting strategy and questionable coaching hires than it was about Notre Dame not being able to go after the nation's best players.

Freeman and the defensive staff landed an outstanding defensive class in the 2022 class and the 2023 class is off to an epic start.

Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees didn't get enough credit for his role in putting together the 2022 class, which was the program's highest ranked since the 2013 season.

Part of the reason was the shortcomings of the class, which was due mainly to falling woefully short at wide receiver and not getting a top-ranked quarterback. Rees, as the leader of the offense, ultimately gets a knock on his reputation due to those shortcomings.

If you talk to sources and follow things closely, you'll quickly come to the realization that it was mostly Rees' work on the recruiting trail that led to the quality aspects of the offensive class, and has Notre Dame poised for one of its best recruiting hauls in a very long time.

SUPPORTING CAST IS MUCH BETTER

Recruiting at a championship level is never about one coach. Yes, Freeman did a tremendous job over the last 13 months, but part of that success was also due to the presence of a quality recruiting staff, mainly Mike Elston, Mike Mickens and Chad Bowden.

Rees didn't have that kind of supporting cast. As good as Lance Taylor and John McNulty were as coaches they were not top-notch recruiters. Jeff Quinn did some good work on the trail, but even then Notre Dame missed on its top line targets more than it won.

In 2022 the best lineman to sign with Notre Dame was guard Billy Schrauth, and it was Rees that was the driving force behind that signature.

The wide receiver recruiting .... well, don't get me started on that.

In a recent podcast I used one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies to explain what recruiting was like for Rees in recent seasons and what it will be like for him moving forward.

I'm talking about Avengers: End Game, and the scene I'm referring to is in the final fight scene. Captain America is battered, bruised, his shield is busted and he's standing all alone against a huge army. Far too often that is what it was like for Rees when he was going against the nation's best programs, he was all alone against very powerful forces.

Before he's about to start fighting a battle he is certainly going to lose, and lose badly, Captain America hears the voice of Sam Wilson. The next thing you know Black Panther and the army of Wakanda arrive, followed by Doctor Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spiderman and many, many more heroes.

All of a sudden Captain America has his own army, and the Avengers were assembled.

Yeah, it's corny, but it's a great movie and it provides great symbolism. The hiring of Deland McCullough, Harry Hiestand, Chansi Stuckey and Gerad Parker is like the Avengers assembling, and Rees now has the kind of supporting cast any coach needs to recruit at an elite level.

With that kind of support cast Rees has a chance to show that he is emerging as one of the game's best recruiters. That is exactly what Notre Dame needs to truly land the kind of gap closing class on both sides of the ball that will put it on the same level as programs like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and Clemson.

QUARTERBACK HAS TAKEN A DRAMATIC TURN

At the heart of that is the quarterback position. Notre Dame failed to sign one of the top quarterbacks in the 2022 class, and not being able to play as a senior sapped much of the buzz from Tyler Buchner's recruitment. Buchner, if you'll remember, was a Top 100 quarterback coming out of high school.

Quarterback play and quarterback recruiting is still perceived as one of the program's biggest issues.

Rees has a chance in the 2023 class to change that narrative in a big, big way. Right now there are two players on the board that would largely do that, and one erases that narrative.

Of course, that player is Detroit (Mich.) King five-star Dante Moore. Rees has done a tremendous job with Moore, and for months I've stated that Notre Dame was going to be a serious player for the talented signal caller. Moore is a special talent, and he is the kind of prospect that not only changes the future of the quarterback position, he's the kind of prospect that serves as a pied piper for other top recruits.

The other quarterback on the board is Birmingham (Ala.) Briarwood Christian standout Christopher Vizzina, a consensus Top 100 recruit. Vizzina is still a bit on the raw side but he has a very high ceiling and he would add a great deal of value as a quarterback prospect for the team and he's highly ranked enough to have some impact on the rest of the class.

I've made my opinion clear, I would be all in on Moore. Whether or not the staff shares my view is another story. What we can all agree on, however, is that Notre Dame absolutely must hit a home run at quarterback in the 2023 class.

NOW IT'S TIME TO CLOSE

The issue for Rees in the past is he and the offensive staff haven't been able to close on enough big-time players. They've landed very good players, but more often than not they didn't land their top of the board players. Even the vaunted 2022 offensive line class had more big-time misses than hits, and if not for Rees being able to land Schrauth late it would have been an even bigger issue.

With Rees now having a supporting cast it's time for his hard work on the trail to turn into greater success when it comes to closing on the best players.

Rees and Stuckey need to land an elite class, which means landing at least three prospects from the group of Carnell Tate, Braylon James, Rodney Gallagher, Jalen Brown, Tyler Williams, Jaden Greathouse and Kyler Kasper.

Rees and Hiestand have a chance to combine to land an elite line haul, and if they are able to get Samson Okunlola, Monroe Freeling and Charles Jagusah that's exactly what the line class would be.

For Rees, McCullough and Parker it's about getting an early head start on the best 2024 players at running back and tight end.

Freeman has already shown that he can lead a group that will bring in elite defensive players and defensive classes.

If Rees is as good as I think he can be, the improved staff around him should combine together to land the same kind of class on offense. With just two commits on the board the staff has a lot of work to do, but Rees and the offensive staff have a chance to do something very, very special over the next 10 months.

This would allow Rees to immediately put himself into the conversation as a rising recruiting star on the coaching ranks. That not only changes the narrative about recruiting on offense at Notre Dame, something that is desperately needed, it gives Notre Dame the talent boost the program desperately needs.

Be sure to check out the Irish Breakdown message board, the Champions Lounge

Irish Breakdown Content

Notre Dame 2021 Roster
Notre Dame 2021 Schedule

Ranking The 2022 Signees - Offense
Ranking The 2022 Signees - Defense

Notre Dame 2023 Class Big Board

———————

Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content and our premium message board! Click on the link below for more.

BECOME A MEMBER

Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter