Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Friday the 13th | by Pat

For the second time this summer, a cornerback from Florida made the trip to South Bend to announce his public commitment to Notre Dame. This time it was Cape Coral native Spencer Boyd who on Friday announced his intentions to become the 13th member of the 2010 recruiting class.

“The people and the coaching staff definitely think I can compete and play early,” said Boyd, a 5-foot-10, 178-pound defensive back, who chose the Fighting Irish over Michigan and Georgia. “No matter what happens, having a degree from Notre Dame will make me successful.”
You can see a brief clip of his announcement here.

Boyd follows a similar script as other ND recruits this year; he's a three star recruit with some quality offers. Both Rivals and Scout list Boyd as a 3-star guy. Rivals has him as the #26 overall corner and Scout has him as the #28 corner. His 79 grade on ESPN puts him in the middle of the recruiting class pack. Finalists Michigan and Georgia, as well as Miami, North Carolina, Ole Miss, Duke, and Stanford all tried to woo Boyd but fell short

Youtube has highlights of his injury-shortened junior year as well as some clips of him playing running back his sophomore year. Showing off his running back skills and continuing the trend in this year's recruiting class, Boyd won MVP honors at a National Underclassmen Combine in Miami, Florida in 2oo8.

Like Lo Wood and possibly Chris Badger, Boyd is planning on enrolling early, meaning all three curent DB recruits could be on campus for spring practice in 2010. Speaking of 2010, here's the 2010 cornerback position depth chart. Wood and Boyd solidify the corner position with ND looking to perhaps land one more in this class.


Fifth Year
Senior Junior Sophomore Freshman
Darrin Walls
Gary Gray*
Robert Blanton
E.J. Banks
Lo Wood


J. Slaughter *

Spencer Boyd


Now that there are 13 recruits in this class, perhaps it's time to look at the overall numbers. This table will include all 5th year players eligible (Ryan Burkhart, Barry Gallup, Leonard Gordon, Paddy Mullen, Chris Stewart, Kallen Wade, Darrin Walls, and Dan Wenger) even though not all of them will likely wind up back on campus.

Fifth Year
Senior Junior Sophomore Freshman
8
17
22
18
13

With 78 scholarships accounted for and the limit still set at 85, that leaves 7 more available scholarships in this recruiting class for a grand total of 20. When additional attrition inevitably strikes, be it injury, ResLife, or transfer, there will be room for a few more. Odds are, by the time Signing Day rolls around, ND will have room for 23-25 players in the 2010 recruiting class, giving ND around 10-12 more open slots. With Boyd looking to join a few classmates in early enrollment, then he would technically count towards last year's class and ND could go over the 25-man limit in this class should there be a hefty amount of attrition. Either way, look for ND to have room for at least 10 more recruits in the 2010 recruiting class.