Brian Kelly's first recruiting class ended up in the Top Twenty according to Sporting News, not a bad start at all for the new Irish coach. "It's a good start for us said Kelly." I think you'll see a growth in the recruiting process for us next year"
He said next year will be even better ."You need time to recruit, you need success if you want to be able to recruit the very best.Clearly we did not have either on our side this time. We will"
Spoken like a true coach who is used to proving his critics wrong. Kelly can afford to be relaxed. In Cincinnati he took a bunch of castoffs from other programs and created a power house.
Even with the restrictions on him this year he will still be very happy.
Matt James and Christian Lombard are ready to play immediately. Hawaiian defensive linesman Kona Schwenks also has a great shot at being an immediate starter.Running back Camron Roberson may be the biggest surprise of all. Kelly fought off three other programs for his signature.
Now comes the hard part, integrating those players into the team for 2010. At least Kelly now knows what he has to work with. Given where he started from, taking over a disillusioned program with fans screaming for change, he has already come a long way.
Me, I think Roberson may be the surprise in this bunch. Mark my words.