Tag: Cane Berrong

Notre Dame Football: 4 commits named to SI99

Sports Illustrated is getting more involved in the college football recruiting game. See their top 99 rankings for the 2021 class here.

Sports Illustrated has gotten more involved in the recruiting game of college football and has started the SI99, where they rank the 99 top high school senior football players.

They have released the 99 names to make that list and ranked them 1-99.  Although Notre Dame doesn’t have as many commitments in those 99 like the 10 Ohio State offers, the eight from Alabama, six from Clemson or five from Georgia, the four future Fighting Irish rank the Irish high on the list for most representation.

Here is where the Notre Dame commitments were ranked:

Y-TE Cane Berrong – 44th

QB, Tyler Buchner – 55th

DT, Gabriel Rubio – 66

OL, Blake Fisher – 68

Berrong checks in as the top rated tight end, one spot above Thomas Fidone, Jr. who is yet to announce his college decision.  Tight End U continues to be loaded not just today but in the years to come.

Buchner is ranked as the seventh quarterback on the list as he checks in at 55 overall.

Rubio checks in as the seventh overall interior defensive lineman in what appears to be a very strong class nationally at that position.

And Blake Fisher, fresh off getting his fifth star from Rivals, checks in 68th overall, 50 spots lower than he appears on the overall Rivals rankings.

Notre Dame is joined by Michigan, Oklahoma and Tennessee as having four commitments on the SI99 list.

New 247Sports Recruit Rankings Sees Irish Commit Fall

With a new update to the 2021 class recruit rankings, a once highly thought of Notre Dame commit has fallen in 247Sports update.

In their newest update to their Top 247 players at 247Sports, Notre Dame commit Cane Berrong is going the wrong way in the rankings. Previously the Georgia tight end was the 218th overall player, but with another update, Berrong has dropped once again, all the way off the list.

It seems like the recruiting service is not very high on the tight end, as Berrong continues to see his ranking fall. It is unfortunate for the Irish to see this happen, but it’s hard to justify prospects moving anywhere due to the inactivity this summer with the country dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Players all across the country are being reevaluated on old tape and it doesn’t make much sense to me why we’re seeing movement in the rankings.

Looking at the rest of the class, there wasn’t as much movement. The crown jewel of the 2021 Notre Dame recruiting class is California quarterback Tyler Buchner, who went from 49th to 43rd, a move in the positive direction. Offensive tackle Blake Fisher dropped one spot to 85th, while wide receiver Lorenzo Styles Jr. moved up 3 spots to 125th. Gabriel Rubio, the defensive tackle from Missouri, once again dropped, this time from 112th to 147th while Philip Riley stayed at 216th in the country.

With this new update the Notre Dame 2021 recruiting class is currently 15th in the country, with just 11 total commits. Brian Kelly has made it known that to get to the next level, the Irish need to recruit with the elite’s like Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia. Kelly and his staff will need to step their game up in order to finish near the top of the recruiting rankings this cycle.

Notre Dame is Not named Tight End U?!?

A point system to establish Tight End U by 247Sports doesn’t have the Irish on top. Find out who was and where they placed Notre Dame.

Many of us have automatically assumed that every list that ranks collegiate tight ends always seems to have Notre Dame next to the number 1. Well, that wasn’t the case when 247Sports looked into the matter, in fact they named Iowa as Tight End U.

This is all based on what have you done for me lately, as Barton Simmons explains the timeframe is just for the last 5 years. A point system that awards a first round pick 7 points, a second rounder worth 6 and so on, saw the Irish finish with 11 points, good for a tie for 5th on their list.

With “just” 3 draftees in the last five years: Durham Smythe in the fourth round in 2018, Alize Mack in the seventh round last year, and Cole Kmet in the first round this past draft got the Irish to their somewhat disappointing ranking. The quantity is good however, as the Irish only trail Stanford with their four drafted players in the time span.

Simmons looks at this current unit and sees “some good tight ends left on the roster in Brock Wright and Tommy Tremble but true freshman Michael Mayer is the next guy that could sniff a first-round level career.” Although they weren’t named the best group in the last five years, the future looks bright when you also add in 2021 commit Cane Berrong to the lineage.

There is much debate when it comes to assembling these kinds of lists, arguments are surely to arise when trying to rank positional groups. The great news for the Irish is that these numbers should only improve within the next five years as the current and future group should continue the great tradition in South Bend.

Notre Dame commit Berrong Has Impressive Hands

The 2021 Irish tight end commit Cane Berrong has been working on his catching, it shows.

Tight End U is getting another great prospect in Georgia’s Cane Berrong and over the weekend the Berrong brothers were getting some work in preparation for this upcoming season. Cane’s younger brother Chase, a 2024 QB, are getting ready for their final high school season together.

The one-handed grab is very impressive, showing great strength along with hand eye coordination. Who wouldn’t love seeing that kind of effort on a Saturday?

Berrong has been committed to the Irish since June 21st, 2019, chose Notre Dame over offers from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State and others. The older Berrong is ranked by the 247Sports composite as the 159th overall prospect and the 7th tight end in the country.

[protected-iframe id=”f01983e73520f0628eb6408be913ca60-162776928-178902091″ info=”//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/8132880/5de81c901761ea0d2498081e” width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””]

The Georgian has added a few pounds since his high school season ended, checking in currently at 6’4” and weighing 225-pounds. A reported 4.53 40 time is extremely impressive for a player his size. Brian Kelly is getting another fantastic tight end product at a position that continues to be a shinning star for the Irish.

College Football Recruiting: Five Takeaways From ESPN 300

Notre Dame landed six players on the updated ESPN 300 list for 2021. What schools are impressing and who is disappointing in ’21 recruiting?

ESPN released their “ESPN 300”, their ranking of the 300 best prospects nationally in the 2021 college football recruiting class.  Here’s what we’ll do:

Here we’ll give you where the six Notre Dame commitments that checked in rank and then we’ll share a handful of observations about national recruiting beyond that.

Deal?

Cool.

Where Notre Dame players ranked:

QB Tyler Buchner – 39
TE Cane Berrong – 51
OT Blake Fisher – 103
DT Gabriel Rubio – 163
WR Lorenzo Styles, Jr. – 243
DE David Abiara – 280

Safety Justin Walters and offensive guard Pat Coogan, both of Illinois didn’t make the ESPN 300 but are also commitments to Notre Dame’s 2021 class.

Next:  Oh my, Ohio State…

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6

Notre Dame Football: 2021 Commitment List

Bookmark this page as we’ll keep it updated and linked to everything on all of Notre Dame’s 2021 football commitments!

Notre Dame sits in a bit of an interesting spot in terms of recruiting with Brian Kelly having already been on the record about wanting to take a step in the caliber of talent the Fighting Irish bring in annually.  Kelly and his staff would probably be best described as having done a good but not great job in terms of recruiting in his decade at Notre Dame.

In Kelly’s now 11 classes he’s signed to Notre Dame, only once has a class finished in the top five of recruiting rankings (per 247Sports), that being the 2013 class that featured five-star talents Jaylon Smith and Max Redfield.  Other than that only three of the ten remaining class finished in the top ten, those coming in 2011 (ninth), 2017 (10th) and 2018 (10th).  The last two seasons have seen Notre Dame rank 16th (2019) and 17th (2020) by 247’s rankings.

So where does Notre Dame currently sit in terms of their commitments?  We’ll keep a running list for you to be able to easily use in the future.  As of posting, 247Sports ranks Notre Dame the 10th best class in 2021.  Obviously that can change relatively quickly with just one commitment or de-commitment from the class.

Here is who has committed to Notre Dame for the class of 2021 with a link to every post we’ve done that’s mentioned them in some capacity.  Bookmark it, refer back to it, do whatever it is you do because we’ll keep it updated until the class of 2021 becomes official months from now.

2021 Notre Dame Commitments:

It’s far from a complete class but clearly a lot of work remains over the next seven months or so.  Right now all eyes are on Will Shipley as Notre Dame, Clemson and perhaps North Carolina remain the front runners to land the star all-purpose back.

 

Quick Recruiting Update on the NFL’s Draft Night

A few notes on Irish recruiting prior to a few of their stars getting selected in tonight’s NFL Draft.

Notre Dame tight end commit Cane Berrong was honored by the Georgia Sports Writer Associate as they put a bow on the 2019 high school season. Berrong was named to the class AAA first-team, an honor he shares with many talented players from Georgia.

Brian Kelly and his staff also sent out an offer to Gunner Givens of Virginia. The rising junior tackle is 6’6” and weights 275-pounds also received an offer from Purdue today while he already held offers from Penn State, Florida State, Virginia and others. The 2022 class is a ways away, but by the looks of the offers Givens has, he should be a nationally recruited prospect.

With a fast start to the 2021 class, Kelly would love to get ahead of the ball in the ’22 class as well. The Irish currently do not have any commitments for that recruiting cycle.

Notre Dame TE Commit Berrong Grinding in Weight Room

Notre Dame’s 2021 commit Cane Berrong is working hard in the weight room prior to his senior season.

A huge part of football players success is being physically stronger than their opponent and 2021 Irish commit Cane Berrong has been putting the work in the weight room. Watch as Berrong does a variation of the bench press, using a multi-grip bar.

The rising senior is one of the best at his position in the country, as the 247Sports composite has the tight end as the 7th best at his position and 161st overall prospect. Berrong stands 6’4” and weighs 230-pounds, had offers from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State and others before committing to Brian Kelly and the Irish last June.

The Georgia native will continue the long line of talented Notre Dame tight ends to line up at the position and could potentially play early in his career. Berrong will surely have plenty of competition to get on the field, but if he lives up to his recruiting ranking, he should make a big time impact for the Blue and Gold.