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Notre Dame Recruiting Becomes More Active In Prime Areas

Louisiana native Jerry Tillery (99) played along the Notre Dame defensive line right away in 2015.

In football recruiting at Notre Dame, there is no single “right answer” on the staff’s preferred geograpical breakdown of the 21 to 25 prospects generally signed each season. One goes wherever the talent and academic qualification are a match. However, the breakdown most years is fairly standard:

First, at least eight to a little more half (12 or so) of the class will be comprised of the Midwest/Northeast base states where Notre Dame always should excel. So far eight of the 17 verbal pledges for the Irish in 2017 hail from those locales, as do all five in the 2018 class.

Second is the “Big 3” football states of Florida, Texas and California, which in any given year is expected to reap at least five players, and maybe even up to eight (Notre Dame had seven this February).

Finally, the last five or so can be mined from wherever, from Las Vegas’ superpower Bishop Gorman to a location as seculded as Idaho (sophomore center Tristen Hoge), to snatching one from South Carolina every four-year cycle or so (receiver Chris Brown in 2012, cornerback Troy Pride in 2016).

There are three states/regions especially where Notre Dame wants to make more inroads: Georgia, Louisiana and the mid-Atlantic.

Joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013 was expected to buoy the latter, and the results are beginning to be reaped, including signing Virginia safety Jalen Elliott this past cycle and reently picking up a huge (literally and figuratively) 2017 commit in 6-4, 295-pound Virginia defensive tackle Darnell Ewell.

Georgia has produced some more consistent results recently with All-American defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt (2011), senior defensive lineman Isaac Rochell (2013), junior punter Tyler Newsome (2014) and freshman safety Spencer Perry.

Meanwhile, Louisiana has come to the forefront a bit, including the verbal commitment this week from Destrehan, La., native/receiver Michael Young.

From 2000-14, Notre Dame did not sign one scholarship player from the Bayou State, where LSU is king. In 2015, though, Notre Dame inked defensive linemen Jerry Tillery from Shreveport and Bo Wallace from New Orleans, although the latter never made it into school and is now at Arizona State.

Last year Tillery took 351 snaps as a freshman nose guard (about 30 per game before being suspended for the Fiesta Bowl) to become, by our count, only the 30th native from Louisiana to play for Notre Dame.


Top 10 Notre Dame Players From Louisiana

1. Joe Heap (Abita Springs, 1952-54) — The lone three-time first-team Academic All-American at Notre Dame, Heap saw all three of his Irish teams finish no lower than No. 4 in the final AP poll. He was the No. 8 overall pick in the 1955 NFL Draft after eclipsing 1,000 yards rushing (1,447) and 1,000 yards receiving (1,137) during a three-year varsity career. No one else did that until Raghib "Rocket" Ismail in 1988-90.

2. Michael Stonebreaker (River Ridge, 1986, 1988, 1990) — Two-time consensus All-America linebacker was second in tackles with 104 for the 1988 national champs and first in 1990 (95).

3. Al Ecuyer (New Orleans, 1956-58) — Three-year starter on both sides of the ball was the top tackler in 1957-58 ), earning consensus All-America notice as a junior and first-team UP and Sporting News as a co-captain in 1958.

4. Jerry Petitbon (New Orleans, 1949-51) — A sophomore starter (at safety) for Frank Leahy’s 1949 national champs, Petitbon excelled on offense and defense each his last two seasons while totaling 1,432 all-purpose yards and 10 TDs.

5. Arnaz Battle (Shreveport, 1998-2002 — The starting quarterback before getting injured in 2000, Battle’s 58 receptions for the 10-3 team in 2002 were the most in one season at Notre Dame in 32 years. He played nine years in the NFL.

6. Cedric Figaro (Lafayette, 1984-87) — Recorded 204 career tackles while starting 29 times as an outside linebacker. Football News recognized him as a third-team All-American each of his last two seasons.

7. Paul Limont (New Orleans, 1942-43, 1946) — A starting end both ways on the 1943 national champs, Limont couldn’t break the two-deep on the supremely talented Notre Dame teams after he returned from World War II service.

8. Brock Williams (Hammond, 1997-98, 2000) — Starting cornerback on the 9-3 teams in both 1998 and 2000, he developed into a fourth-round draft pick and won a Super Bowl ring at New England in 2002.

9. Benny Guilbeaux (Opelousas, 1995-98) — Now the athletics director and head football coach at Donaldson High in Opelousas, the safety Guilbeaux led the Irish in interceptions in 1996 and 1997, four apiece, and recorded 173 career tackles.

10. Norb Roy (Baton Rouge, 1959-61) — A co-captain his senior year with Nick Buoniconti, Roy started at right guard on offense and also started on defense.

We would be remiss not to include from Stonebreaker’s class another New Orleans native, Rod West (1986-89), whose Brother Martin High School teammate Warde Manuel received much more ink but opted for Michigan — where he is now the athletics director. West became a strong niche player as a blocking tight end and in 1996 became the youngest person and first African-American to be voted president of Notre Dame's National Alumni Board. He has been the Chief Administrative Officer and Executive Vice President at New Orleans’ Entergy Corporation since June 7, 2010.

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