With the Irish going down on the court, we figured it would be a good time to put out some football recruiting nuggets in an attempt to get you all in a better mood today.
Corey, David and myself have been able to gather some nuggets from talking to recruits and other sources over the last week or so.
David put out some nuggets from his trip to Florida, with updates on IMG kids on Wednesday, talented Tampa OT Nick Petit-Frere on Thursday and five-star DB Tyreke Johnson Friday. The links to those stories are attached to the day of the week just mentioned.
Here are some other nuggets:
Notre Dame hasn’t landed a commitment since Braden Lenzy jumped on board on Feb. 22, but the staff has remained active. Multiple offers have gone out and the staff has worked hard on getting top prospects scheduled for spring visits. Expect a number of players to get added to the list over the next several days.
One name to add to the list is Corona (Calif.) Roosevelt athlete Chase Williams, who plans on visiting Notre Dame on March 29. The No. 141 player in the country is listed as a receiver, but Notre Dame is recruiting him more as an athlete. Williams could end up at receiver, but if he does join the class do not be surprised if defense is ultimately where he ends up. The last part isn’t coming from sources, but our attempt at reading the situation.
Speaking of receivers, Notre Dame has offered a lot of players at the position. It’s an incredibly deep year at the position nationally, and expect the Irish staff to take advantage by taking more players at the position than one might expect based on the expected small size of the class.
With Micah Jones and Braden Lenzy already on board, adding at least two players is the goal, but if the right three players want to join the class the haul could get up to five. If junior Equanimeous St. Brown has another good season it would not surprise anyone if he left early for the NFL, which would open up another slot, and the staff will be prepared for that.
A pecking order is still being developed, but a group of “top players” has emerged. If Notre Dame could land any combination of Kevin Austin, Tommy Bush, Jaquayln Crawford, Kamryn Babb, Michael Wilson, Lawrence Keys and Isaah Crocker it would be more than happy.
Notre Dame is not backing down from the recruitment of Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei five-star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. The staff is well aware of where it stands with St. Brown, and it knows it has a lot of work to do. With such a deep class at the position it would be understandable if the staff decided to focus on other players, but it has not done so. Wide receivers coach Del Alexander and offensive coordinator Chip Long have made St. Brown a priority, and their persistence has helped so far.
With Crocker, we know that he and Braden Lenzy are good friends, and Lenzy has been in Crocker's ear about the Irish.
Sticking on the offensive side of the ball, Notre Dame is still looking to add a second back to the class. Its offer list is small because the staff will be picking about who it adds. A player it has put itself in great position with early on is Buford (Ga.) High School standout Christian Turner, who is visiting Notre Dame on April 5-6.
Turner has already started to bond with the current commits, and they are making him a priority. There is a lot of confidence surrounding his recruitment at this point. Turner and his mother will go see Wisconsin and Michigan during their Midwest swing, but a strong visit to Notre Dame could result in his recruitment ending sooner rather than later.
Notre Dame has put itself in good position with another native of the Peach State, as Suwanee (Ga.) North Gwinnett blocker Warren Ericson is quite high on the Irish. There is a lot of confidence on the Notre Dame side of things with Ericson despite the fact he has offers from every SEC school except Texas A&M.
Speaking of the offensive line, do not expect the staff to expand the offensive line board much with the 2018 class. It’s a down year nationally, and especially in the Midwest. There aren’t Joshua Lugg, Liam Eichenberg and Tommy Kraemer caliber prospects in the region. Notre Dame has identified players like Ericson, Ryan Harris, John Dirksen and Nick Petit-Frere and has made each of them a priority. If Notre Dame can get to four with some combination of that group and current commit Cole Mabry they’ll be fine, but they aren’t going to reach for numbers just to get there.
That means Notre Dame would be okay with a three-man class if it can’t hit a high percentage on the players it has already offered. A few more offers might go out here and there, but with every player from the 2014, 2015 and 2016 classes all redshirting as freshmen and the four-man 2017 class expected to do the same, Notre Dame can be a bit picky.
Another factor is the 2019 class, which is absolutely loaded with offensive linemen, especially in the North. Don’t be surprised if the staff fills up early with 2018 OL and then quickly moves onto the 2019 class.
Notre Dame’s defensive tackle board is also starting to take shape. The Irish already have a commitment from Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peter’s Prep standout Jayson Ademilola, who is quite talented. The staff thinks very highly of Ademilola and his twin brother – defensive end Justin Ademilola. Ohio State and Clemson are both coming HARD after the twins, especially Jayson.
Talking to a source close to the brothers, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer and defensive line coach Larry Johnson contact Jayson on a daily basis, but the same source told me that there is nothing to worry about, as the entire Ademilola family is quite enamored with Notre Dame. Only a head coaching change would seem to cause them to rethink their decision at this point.
I had a chance to speak with Owings Mills (Md.) McDonough four-star defensive tackle P.J. Mustipher this week, and I’ll have a story up on him on Monday. Mustipher is going to start taking spring visits this weekend, and he’s coming to Notre Dame for four days for the Blue-Gold Game. Mustipher’s family is not pushing him to Notre Dame, as everyone – including his brother Sam, Notre Dame’s starting center – wants P.J. to do what he truly wants to do.
Having said that, P.J. holds Notre Dame in high regard because it has a lot of what he wants. Notre Dame is making him a priority and would like to add him to the class. Mustipher said he has no timetable for a decision. He’ll make his decision when he knows where he wants to go. If that happens this spring or summer then he’ll announce, but if he isn’t sure expect him to take visits in the fall and then decide. My gut feeling from the conversation is that he’d like to get a decision made sooner rather than later.
Another Maryland lineman is also high on Notre Dame’s board. Ridgely (Md.) North Caroline three-star defensive tackle Ja’mion Franklin is visiting Notre Dame on March 24 despite not having an offer, which says a lot about his interest level in the Irish program. It would be a shocker if Notre Dame does not offer Franklin during his visit, and if that happens, Notre Dame will be in excellent position with him.
Adding Mustipher and Franklin to go with Ademilola would be an ideal scenario for the Irish. Cincinnati (Ohio) Moeller defensive tackle Aeneas Hawkins is ranked higher than Franklin, but he’s not quite as high on Notre Dame’s board as the three players already discussed, despite having legit interest in the Irish program.
That's all for now.
Corey, David and myself have been able to gather some nuggets from talking to recruits and other sources over the last week or so.
David put out some nuggets from his trip to Florida, with updates on IMG kids on Wednesday, talented Tampa OT Nick Petit-Frere on Thursday and five-star DB Tyreke Johnson Friday. The links to those stories are attached to the day of the week just mentioned.
Here are some other nuggets:
Notre Dame hasn’t landed a commitment since Braden Lenzy jumped on board on Feb. 22, but the staff has remained active. Multiple offers have gone out and the staff has worked hard on getting top prospects scheduled for spring visits. Expect a number of players to get added to the list over the next several days.
One name to add to the list is Corona (Calif.) Roosevelt athlete Chase Williams, who plans on visiting Notre Dame on March 29. The No. 141 player in the country is listed as a receiver, but Notre Dame is recruiting him more as an athlete. Williams could end up at receiver, but if he does join the class do not be surprised if defense is ultimately where he ends up. The last part isn’t coming from sources, but our attempt at reading the situation.
Speaking of receivers, Notre Dame has offered a lot of players at the position. It’s an incredibly deep year at the position nationally, and expect the Irish staff to take advantage by taking more players at the position than one might expect based on the expected small size of the class.
With Micah Jones and Braden Lenzy already on board, adding at least two players is the goal, but if the right three players want to join the class the haul could get up to five. If junior Equanimeous St. Brown has another good season it would not surprise anyone if he left early for the NFL, which would open up another slot, and the staff will be prepared for that.
A pecking order is still being developed, but a group of “top players” has emerged. If Notre Dame could land any combination of Kevin Austin, Tommy Bush, Jaquayln Crawford, Kamryn Babb, Michael Wilson, Lawrence Keys and Isaah Crocker it would be more than happy.
Notre Dame is not backing down from the recruitment of Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei five-star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. The staff is well aware of where it stands with St. Brown, and it knows it has a lot of work to do. With such a deep class at the position it would be understandable if the staff decided to focus on other players, but it has not done so. Wide receivers coach Del Alexander and offensive coordinator Chip Long have made St. Brown a priority, and their persistence has helped so far.
With Crocker, we know that he and Braden Lenzy are good friends, and Lenzy has been in Crocker's ear about the Irish.
Sticking on the offensive side of the ball, Notre Dame is still looking to add a second back to the class. Its offer list is small because the staff will be picking about who it adds. A player it has put itself in great position with early on is Buford (Ga.) High School standout Christian Turner, who is visiting Notre Dame on April 5-6.
Turner has already started to bond with the current commits, and they are making him a priority. There is a lot of confidence surrounding his recruitment at this point. Turner and his mother will go see Wisconsin and Michigan during their Midwest swing, but a strong visit to Notre Dame could result in his recruitment ending sooner rather than later.
Notre Dame has put itself in good position with another native of the Peach State, as Suwanee (Ga.) North Gwinnett blocker Warren Ericson is quite high on the Irish. There is a lot of confidence on the Notre Dame side of things with Ericson despite the fact he has offers from every SEC school except Texas A&M.
Speaking of the offensive line, do not expect the staff to expand the offensive line board much with the 2018 class. It’s a down year nationally, and especially in the Midwest. There aren’t Joshua Lugg, Liam Eichenberg and Tommy Kraemer caliber prospects in the region. Notre Dame has identified players like Ericson, Ryan Harris, John Dirksen and Nick Petit-Frere and has made each of them a priority. If Notre Dame can get to four with some combination of that group and current commit Cole Mabry they’ll be fine, but they aren’t going to reach for numbers just to get there.
That means Notre Dame would be okay with a three-man class if it can’t hit a high percentage on the players it has already offered. A few more offers might go out here and there, but with every player from the 2014, 2015 and 2016 classes all redshirting as freshmen and the four-man 2017 class expected to do the same, Notre Dame can be a bit picky.
Another factor is the 2019 class, which is absolutely loaded with offensive linemen, especially in the North. Don’t be surprised if the staff fills up early with 2018 OL and then quickly moves onto the 2019 class.
Notre Dame’s defensive tackle board is also starting to take shape. The Irish already have a commitment from Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peter’s Prep standout Jayson Ademilola, who is quite talented. The staff thinks very highly of Ademilola and his twin brother – defensive end Justin Ademilola. Ohio State and Clemson are both coming HARD after the twins, especially Jayson.
Talking to a source close to the brothers, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer and defensive line coach Larry Johnson contact Jayson on a daily basis, but the same source told me that there is nothing to worry about, as the entire Ademilola family is quite enamored with Notre Dame. Only a head coaching change would seem to cause them to rethink their decision at this point.
I had a chance to speak with Owings Mills (Md.) McDonough four-star defensive tackle P.J. Mustipher this week, and I’ll have a story up on him on Monday. Mustipher is going to start taking spring visits this weekend, and he’s coming to Notre Dame for four days for the Blue-Gold Game. Mustipher’s family is not pushing him to Notre Dame, as everyone – including his brother Sam, Notre Dame’s starting center – wants P.J. to do what he truly wants to do.
Having said that, P.J. holds Notre Dame in high regard because it has a lot of what he wants. Notre Dame is making him a priority and would like to add him to the class. Mustipher said he has no timetable for a decision. He’ll make his decision when he knows where he wants to go. If that happens this spring or summer then he’ll announce, but if he isn’t sure expect him to take visits in the fall and then decide. My gut feeling from the conversation is that he’d like to get a decision made sooner rather than later.
Another Maryland lineman is also high on Notre Dame’s board. Ridgely (Md.) North Caroline three-star defensive tackle Ja’mion Franklin is visiting Notre Dame on March 24 despite not having an offer, which says a lot about his interest level in the Irish program. It would be a shocker if Notre Dame does not offer Franklin during his visit, and if that happens, Notre Dame will be in excellent position with him.
Adding Mustipher and Franklin to go with Ademilola would be an ideal scenario for the Irish. Cincinnati (Ohio) Moeller defensive tackle Aeneas Hawkins is ranked higher than Franklin, but he’s not quite as high on Notre Dame’s board as the three players already discussed, despite having legit interest in the Irish program.
That's all for now.
