Notre Dame Football: Too early to gauge merit of early enrollment

The Gunner Kiel drama Tuesday sort of turned Sheldon Day into an afterthought on his first day as a University of Notre Dame student.

Not that he didn?t welcome the relative quiet.

In the days leading up to the freshman defensive lineman?s early enrollment, the Day home in Indianapolis was emotional, which translated into volume.

?I?m not the first one to leave home, but I?m the first one to go this far,? Day said. ?I think my family was kind of on edge, not sure how to act. It got a little crazy.?

So initially was the mental taffy-pull of deciding to leave Warren Central High School a semester early. His list of pros was similar to that of the 21 Notre Dame players that had gone before him since early enrollment for football was introduced in the modern era of ND football in January of 2006.

?Just wanted to get a head start on academics and the spring ball part to it,? Day said. ?I must have been ready to take the next step, I guess.?

So apparently was cornerback and fellow early enrollee Tee Shepard, Day?s new roommate, and Kiel, whose 11th-hour switch from LSU to ND had the quarterback from Columbus, Ind., trending on Twitter for the better part of two days.

They represent early enrollees Nos. 22-24 since former Irish head coach Charlie Weis helped put the template in place. Defensive end Arik Armstead, of Elk Grove, Calif., may become No. 25 later this week.

Of the initial 21, a third of them ended up redshirting as freshmen. Two ? cornerbacks Spencer Boyd (South Florida) and E.J. Banks (Pitt) ? ended up transferring, one (safety Chris Badger) took a nearly two-year Mormon Mission that has about six weeks left on it, one (quarterback Jimmy Clausen) left early for the NFL but still came back to get his degree, and one (defensive end-turned-offensive lineman Brad Carrico) switched positions.

The most popular positions, including this year?s crop, have been cornerbacks and defensive linemen ? with five early enrollees each.

Notre Dame associate vice president for undergraduate enrollment Don Bishop, who came to the school after early enrollment had already been established, watches the trends, too.

?We?ve looked at the outcomes,? he said. ?We?ve looked at how has it affected their athletic careers here. How has it affected their academic and social experience here? What percentage stay? Things like that.?

One thing Bishop and his staff have found is that early enrollment isn?t just for players who project as stars or prodigies.

?Sometimes they?re supporting players who are just ready to come to college,? he said.

But are they really ready?

Bishop, a statistician by trade, is trying to crunch and dissect the numbers, even though they?re limited at this point.

?The reason we do this is we want to see if we have any alarm bells, any concerns,? Bishop said. ?Right now we have not felt the early enrollment has hurt the players? athletic or academic success at Notre Dame.

?What we?re trying to establish is how much of a help it is. But right now I would say there has not been enough duration and data to comment on.?

What is known is that Notre Dame freshman All-America defensive end Aaron Lynch achieved a 3.0 grade-point average this past semester after getting an early jump on academics last winter/spring.

Source: http://www.southbendtribune.com/sports/collegesports/notredame/sbt-notre-dame-football-too-early-to-gauge-merit-of-early-enrollment-20120117,0,2101029.story?track=rss

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