Notre Dame had high hopes coming into National Signing Day 2016 with a pair of 5-star linebackers – Caleb Kelly and Ben Davis – in their sights. Neither would end up selecting the Irish, however, and Notre Dame’s only addition to the class of 2016 ended up being Florida linebacker Jonathan Jones.
A month ago hearing that Notre Dame missed out on Caleb Kelly and Ben Davis wouldn’t have been too surprising, but the Notre Dame coaching staff did a good job of getting and keeping Notre Dame in the race up until the end. Unfortunately for Notre Dame, the Irish were unable to close on either of them in another all too familiar story of Notre Dame coming up just short in a heated recruiting battle for an elite prospect on Signing Day.