Irish Gather Top 10 Recruiting Class

Brian Kelly discussing class on Signing Day - February 2nd, 2011. (Picture courtesy of nbcsports.msnbc.com)

On February 2nd, 2011, Notre Dame Head Coach, Brian Kelly, waited anxiously to receive Letters of Intent (LOI) from the recruits in the 2011 class. The Fighting Irish recruiting class was ranked 9th by ESPN, 10th by Rivals.com, and 8th overall by Scout.com. With the exception of a one player, Notre Dame received LOI's from every recruit they expected. The only real surprise of the day was DL Troy Niklas from the Southern California region. Niklas was choosing between USC and Notre Dame before finally deciding on Notre Dame. With this class, the Fighting Irish pulled in one the of the best defensive classes in the country. The most anticipated defensive players coming in are Aaron Lynch, Ishaq Williams, Stephon Tuitt, Ben Councell, all of which were highly sought after by top BCS programs. Along with those elite guys, throw in a handful of other Linebackers, D-Linemen, and D-Backs, and he Irish defense should have some play-makers for years to come. Here's the official list of the 2011 Notre Dame recruiting class.

• Aaron Lynch - 6-5, 250 lb - DE
• Anthony Rabassa - 6-3, 230 lb - DE
• Ben Councell - 6-4, 225 lb - OLB
• Ben Koyack - 6-5, 228 lb - TE
• Brad Carrico - 6-5, 260 lb - DE
• Cam McDaniel - 5-10, 190 lb - RB
• Chase Hounshell - 6-5, 243 lb - DL
• Conor Hanratty - 6-4, 300 lb - OG
• DaVaris Daniels - 6-2, 175 lb - WR
• Eilar Hardy - 6-0, 175 lb - S
• Everett Golson - 6-0, 172 lb - QB
• George Atkinson Jr. - 6-2, 195 lb - ATH
• Ishaq Williams - 6-5, 225 lb - DE
• Jalen Brown - 6-0, 180 lb - CB
• Jarrett Grace - 6-3, 230 lb - OLB
• Josh Aktinson - 6-0, 180 lb - CB
• Kyle Brindza - 6-1, 198 lb - K
• Matt Hagarty - 6-5, 265 lb - OT
• Matthias Farley - 6-0, 185 lb - CB
• Nick Martin - 6-4, 260 lb - OT
• Stephen Tuitt - 6-5, 255 lb - DE
• Tony Springmann - 6-5, 255 lb - OT
• Troy Niklas - 6-7, 243lb - DL

5 players out of the 23 have enrolled early at ND (Ishaq Williams, Aaron Lynch, Kyle Brindza, Everett Golson, Brad Carrico) and will participate in spring practices starting on March 23rd, as well as the Blue and Gold Game on April 16th. The other 18 players will join the team for the summer workouts and fall practices. Although the 2011 recruiting class is now fully intact, Brian Kelly and staff have no time to rest, he must quickly go back to work on putting together the 2012 class, recruiting truly never sleeps.