After Notre Dame football's loss of safeties coach Chris O'Leary over the weekend, 2025 safety commit Ivan Taylor said he didn't see it coming.
Taylor, a four-star recruit out of Winter Garden (Fla.) West Orange, committed to the Irish last November in large part due to head coach Marcus Freeman, the 4-for-40 and degree he could earn at Notre Dame and O'Leary's coaching style and personality. Taylor received a visit from O'Leary last month at school during the open period and caught up with him again at junior day in South Bend.
Per Rivals, Taylor is the No. 11 safety and No. 90 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class. I spoke with the 5-foot-11, 170-pound Taylor on Tuesday afternoon to get a better sense of his thought process and where his commitment stands after ND's loss of O'Leary.
"My initial reaction [was] just surprised and happy for him at the same time," Taylor told Inside ND Sports. "I just want to slowly but surely keep having a good relationship with coach [Mike] Mickens and coach [Al] Golden."
Taylor said he's grown a relationship with both Golden and Mickens since meeting last summer at Irish Invasion, but it wasn't to the level of comfortability he had with O'Leary and director of recruiting Chad Bowden. Taylor said O'Leary was always personable each time they saw one another and also said he had a lot of football knowledge to offer about the safety position.
Taylor said he believes in ND's plan to replace O'Leary and thinks Mickens can get the best out of him at safety but wants to learn more about Mickens on a personal level, as well as his coaching philosophies and plans to use him.
Taylor, who reported 15 offers including Florida, Florida State and Miami (Fla.) at the time of his commitment, received visits at West Orange from all three in-state programs and Ole Miss last month during the contact period but said he's remaining firm in his commitment to the Irish right now.
"I’m relying on God just to point me in the right direction," Taylor said. "Coach Freeman, Chad and the coaches are great people and have always been very welcoming ... we just have to build a better connection now."
As a junior, Taylor had 50 tackles including 24 solo and six for loss. He also hauled in one interception and recorded a pass breakup.
Taylor told me he hopes to visit campus in the spring, possibly for the Blue-Gold Game, before his official visit. It would be Taylor's sixth visit to campus as a recruit and second as a commit. Taylor is one of four Irish commits ranked inside the Rivals100 (Deuce Knight, Chrisopher Burgess Jr. and Owen Strebig).
Link to full story:
InsideNDSports - 2025 Rivals100 S Ivan Taylor provides update on Notre Dame commitment
An update on Notre Dame's top 2025 safety commit after the departure of safeties coach Chris O'Leary.
notredame.rivals.com
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