Isn't it great to hear that?
Those are the words of 2023 LB recruit Tre Edwards of Mater Dei in California, who just got an offer from Marcus Freeman.
For many decades Notre Dame was the dream school for countless kids throughout the country, especially if you were Catholic. Kids would kill to play at ND. How about it, Rudy, from Joliet Catholic? Not so much anymore, unfortunately.
Mater Dei. Our '64 Heisman winner QB, John Huarte, was from there, but so was '04 USC Heisman winner, Matt Leinhart. What happened? Why no pipeline?
Moeller and the GCL in Cincinnati, the Chicago Catholic League, St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida, De La Salle in California, etc. There are a slew of Catholic schools that play great football and have sent players to ND. But it's hit and miss now. The Catholic schools are no longer the feeders that they used to be. No more pipelines.
Reason are obvious: the Catholic faith doesn't have the hold on the young that it used to, so Notre Dame doesn't have the hold on them, like it used to; also, a lot of stars at Catholic high schools now aren't Catholic, so there is no faith connection; Notre Dame's gridiron success often hasn't measured up to the standards of the past, so kids lost interest, and connections were severed--kids want to play for winners; and the big three elite of college football now promise a greater hope for a national championship and a faster track to the NFL.
Guess where Bama's probable starting QB this year, Bryce Young, went to high school? Yep, Mater Dei.
How about Clemson? DJ Uiagalelei from St. John Bosco in California
Times have changed. The Catholic school pipeline will never be like it used to be.
But it's still great to hear that there's a kid from Mater Dei who calls Notre Dame his " dream school."
Newman in Florida. Newman had players like Craig Erickson, John Carney, Travis Rudolph, Jacoby Ford among others not to go to ND. Edit sorry Carney was a great get he did go to ND as we all know and they got Elam out of Newman (Uhum).
I personally know Erickson, his father was my dentist, wanted to go to ND but was out worked by Miami. Should have also got Steve Walsh who Miami got out of Catholic football HS St Cretin.
Should have gotten Erickson, QB coach Steven’s talked his family into Miami.
The recent worse was 6-10 John Collins who was available for ND from Newman but went to Wake Forest because ND was asleep at the switch. Danny Manning stole him away. He went on to become ACC player of the year and 1st round NBA draft choice for the Hawks.
ND doesn’t get it done for players who want a pro career. The players, high school coaches and parents know that.
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I remember this even back in the mid 90's. We were supposed to be able to snag Dan Kendra out of Bethlehem Catholic in Pennsylvania, but were unable to close the deal, and at first, he ended up committing to Penn State (before flipping to Florida State).
We still have an edge at these big name Catholic schools, but it's only a slight edge, compared to what it used to be.
Born and bred catholic. Went to catholic grade school, kicked outta catholic high school, and graduated Jesuit University of San Francisco. Back in the 80s, a lot more Catholics in the Bay Area, which was where the six religious unis in the area drew their clients.
That's all changed. Fewer children, no matter their religion, are being born, so the demographics have changed. Who's gonna spend big money to send whatever kids they have to way overpriced catholic schools? The tuition at those San Francisco institutions are ridiculous, what middle class family is gonna put out that kind of money to learn religious bullshit? Ironically, the preeminent high school football programs in CA are catholic high schools. But, a lot of other real power house catholic football teams are falling apart. The numbers ain't there anymore...
Agreed that demographics and cost are part of it, but I think it goes a little further that that. I coached youth football in the Toledo CYO league, which has produced NFL players over the years. In it's heyday, that league was crazy, several hundred kids, dozens of teams, very competitive with the league championship played at University of Toledo with thousands watching. It actually wasn't uncommon to have a college coach show up at the 8th grade championship game to identify early prospects. But along comes soccer, soccer moms, and the "everybody gets a trophy" generation and it's now barely rec-league quality. I think it's down to less than a dozen teams for all of 5th-8th grades. When I was coaching in that league, it was during this transition and we lost a lot of quality, athletic kids to the public and community leagues which were still very competitive (for example, DeVeaux Vikings, a 5th grade team at the time, had Shea Patterson at Quaterback before he moved to Texas with Deshone Kizer at Tight End!!!). The CYO leagues are what developed that youth pipeline into the Catholic High Schools and the Catholic High Schools worked with those leagues to keep that pipeline intact and help develop not only the players but also the coaching system.. Notre Dame could capitalize on that Catholic Continuity. Once the quality of CYO football dropped, the Catholic Schools more heavily recruited the public schools, regaining some of those Catholic kids, but losing most. A kid that goes to public school and/or plays in the public/community leagues and drops into a Catholic High School for a few years doesn't have that same view of the mystique of Notre Dame that kids did when you were immersed in it.
My first basketball coaching was from CYO. Several teammates ended up on San Francisco high school rosters, several went in to play college ball. When I went to research CYO athletics, resources are now used for girls and coed sports, as well as soccer. From memory, that wasn't the case 40 years ago, but it makes sense in that the number of catholic kids is dwindling, so the organization is doing as much outreach to as many remaining kids as possible to stay in business. But, it underscores the allure of catholic high school ain't what it used to be...
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Folks always screaming about recruiting rankings...here's #1 ILB in his class and he's not enough some 2,3yrs out lol
I looked at the replays and he looked small and slow compared to the other guys. I don't care if he is #1 LB if he has the tools to play.
wish more felt the same...
but we know that always isn't the case, except for Alabama.
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