Notre Dame Football: Ranking 3 biggest recruiting misses of Brian Kelly era

1. Giovani Bernard, RB

Initially committed to Notre Dame, running back Giovani Bernard flipped to North Carolina after news broke of Charlie Weis’ firing. Brian Kelly naturally pursued the four-star running back, but his high school coach cited the Weis firing and North Carolina’s “fit” as Bernard’s reasons for flipping his commitment.

What didn’t help was that the Irish had three future NFL running backs on the roster for the 2011 season (Cierre Wood, Theo Riddick, and Jonas Gray). The depth chart was clearly clogged, but Bernard possessed the ability to serve as a three down back, a quality that none of those listed above could claim.

Bernard put his abilities on full display while at North Carolina, accruing a combined 3,333 yards and 31 scores while earning ACC Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2012. Despite suffering a torn ACL his freshman season, Bernard’s 2011 and 2012 seasons prompted the Cincinnati Bengals to select him with the 37th pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. Wood and Gray would be signed as UDFA’s while Riddick caught the eye of Detroit Lions management at pick No. 199.

All things considered, Bernard’s decommitment from Notre Dame wasn’t exactly a surprise. Nevertheless, Kelly would’ve loved to have Bernard’s services throughout his first three years as a head coach. With all of this said, Kelly has made many adjustments to his recruiting process over the years and it’s the hope of Irish fans that these misses continue their trend of becoming few and far between.