Posted on February 5th, 2010 by Erin McLaughlin

It is that time of year again. The time when so called experts put out so called rankings as to how good the recruiting classes are. The reality is we never really know how good the class is until three or four years.

So for what it is worth, Brian Kelly’s first recruiting class landed him at #14 according to rivals.com. At the head of the class is OT Matt James and DT Louis Nix. They also got a QB named Andrew Hendrix and a bruising runner in Cameron Roberson.

These guys are all four and five star recruits. Notre Dame has had their share of them the past few years. Unfortunately, it hasn’t gotten them very far. So how is this year different?

The answer is quite simple. The four and five star recruits are not the ones that will win you games. It is the guys that are ranked below them that will really build depth for the positions. That is where Weis missed alot.

The difference is that Kelly has a proven record of finding players that slipped under the radar and turning them into great players. A perfect example of that would be Dan Lefevour. Lefevour was not even recruited by any major university. Yet, Kelly saw something in him.

Lefevour went on to be the best player in Central Michigan history. That is definitely  a reason for Irish fans to be optimistic.

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