The University of Texas is almost impossible to beat when it comes to recruiting in-state football talent.
But that doesn’t mean Notre Dame is going to stop trying.
Saturday’s game against Washington State at the Alamodome in San Antonio is Notre Dame’s chance to showcase the program for some of Texas’ top high school players, most of whom don’t know the Irish too well.
“I think with the amount of Texas schools you have in Texas, and with their success, you probably don’t get as many students thinking about Notre Dame,” said Irish lineman
Chris Stewart, a native of Spring, Texas. “The only time I heard about Notre Dame from a lot of people were from Notre Dame alumni or people who had played at Notre Dame and were living in Texas.”
There are only three scholarship players from Texas on the Irish roster — Stewart, defensive lineman
Kapron Lewis-Moore and kicker
Nick Tausch — but the Irish are hoping to increase that number. They’re involved with a few prospects in the class of 2010, including three-star cornerback
Toney Hurd Jr., who took an official visit to Notre Dame last month, but the focus is really on the current junior class. One of the nation’s best junior running backs,
Aaron Green, just happens to live in San Antonio and has a scholarship offer from the Irish. In all, Notre Dame is hoping 30 juniors show up to watch Saturday’s game. (Watching, by the way, is all they can do; Irish coaches can provide them with tickets, but can’t talk to them at the stadium or invite them onto the field, as they could at Notre Dame Stadium.)
Notre Dame recruiting coordinator
Rob Ianello said there are around 300 major-college recruits in Texas in any given year, and just because 20 or so sign with the Longhorns doesn’t mean all the talent in the state has been exhausted. And while it might not be realistic for the Irish to lasso five to seven players from Texas every year, one to three is an attainable goal.
“There are quality football players in that state,” Ianello said. “We just have to keep working hard and working at trying to get under some rocks to find a few guys, win a few recruiting battles and get us a few more guys that can come help us.”
Five Irish coaches will fan out across the state on Friday night to visit high schools and make some connections, but Ianello knows it’s tough to compete with UT’s recruiting machine.
“If I recruit Houston for us, and I’m going to Houston, this is my first time there, and my only time there until I get there in December potentially again,” Ianello said. “The coach that recruits Houston — they have two of them; the University of Texas divides Houston in two — he’s probably been there three times, four times, and when he goes in December to recruit, he spends all his time there, so he gets to see the guys they have in the class of 2010, then scour for the 2011s.”
Plus, UT hosts an annual “Junior Day” in February, and many of the players who are already leaning toward the Longhorns commit that weekend.
“Let’s face it,” Irish coach
Charlie Weis said. “If you like a kid and he wanted to go there and you weren’t heavily involved with him long before then, you already have no chance.”
Another big obstacle Notre Dame has to overcome in the recruiting of Texas players is peer pressure. Stewart heard it when he was going through the recruiting process from those who wondered why, with all the good schools and top-tier football programs in-state, he would ever want to leave.
“It’s not just Texas, because I grew up in A&M territory,” said Stewart, who was recruited by the Longhorns. “It’s kind of hard to put into words, to be able to play in front of family all the time, especially in Texas. I was very looked-down upon by a lot of people for leaving Texas.”
For Stewart, Notre Dame simply provided the best mix of academics and football.
“I was always one to stand above the crowd, do something different,” Stewart said.
Notre Dame is looking for a few more Texans who think like he does.