When Robert Hainsey signed with Notre Dame in February of 2017, little about the Irish resembled the team he committed to six months earlier. But the recruits he committed alongside remained as he signed.
They stuck through a 4-8 season. They hung around as Brian Kelly hired six new assistant coaches. They kept each other committed when cries for Kelly’s job rang louder than their phones did as National Signing Day approached.
A total of 15 recruits committed in the 2016 calendar year, 14 of them coming before the debacle of a season began, the 15th being four-star offensive lineman Aaron Banks in early December.