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Hannah Hidalgo

Disclaimer: This is not a trolling expedition. This is a legit concern based on the current circumstances. Question, what are the odds that LSU this summer will make a big move on Hannah? I have reason to believe that is could very well happen. Does coach Ivey have a good class coming in next year to support Hannah. LSU has Deep pockets and need a point guard badly.

Report: Jac Collinsworth out as Notre Dame's play-by-play announcer for NBC

A report from The Athletic's Andrew Marchand indicates that Jac Collinsworth will be replaced by Dan Hicks. Hicks previously had the job from 2013-16.

Our story:

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Recruiting Notre Dame offer has 2025 ATH Dalen Penson eager to learn more

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Notre Dame added 2025 athlete target Dalen Penson to its recruiting board on Wednesday by extending an offer.

Penson is listed as an athlete by Rivals, a designation for a multi-positional prospect, but is mostly being recruited by programs at cornerback or wide receiver. He finished with 1,052 passing yards and 814 rushing yards as a junior and recently turned heads at the Under Armour Next Camp in Atlanta last weekend.

The 5-foot-10, 160-pound prospect out of Sandy Creek (Ga.) High reports 13 offers including Notre Dame, Connecticut, Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Memphis and Vanderbilt.

Penson, who is not currently rated or ranked, took unofficial visits to Georgia Tech and Kentuck during the contact period and Vanderbilt last summer. He is also a high-level track athlete, and both of his parents competed at Georgia on the Bulldogs' track and field teams. Per Athletic.net, he ran 14.82 in the 110-meter hurdles and jumped 44'8" last weekend at the Union Grove Early Bird All-Comers.

Inside ND Sports spoke with Penson earlier this week to learn his thoughts on the offer, the Irish program and more.

On his reaction to the offer:

"Down here in Georgia, it's mainly SEC and a little bit of ACC ... it's not really Notre Dame or schools up there," Penson said. "So just I was mainly surprised from the offer. I was excited as well. It was a lot of mixed emotions of just, 'Wow, they came all the way down here and showed interest in me, just a kid in Georgia.'"

On his understanding of ND's program:

"I wouldn't say on the field, I'm new to Notre Dame. I've seen their games. They usually always play Georgia here and there like every other year. I've also seen a lot of the other games that were pretty big and televised and then when they were in the top 10 and inching for a playoff run."

"On the academic side of the university, I am a little bit new to it but I do know that they're very prestigious and they're very big academically. I wish to learn more about the academics because I know that the athletics is there."

On his athletic gifts:

"It was pretty pretty much natural. I was always a couple [of] steps ahead of my peers ... coming from [an] athletic background [and] just being an athlete coming out of the womb almost. I've tried to stay ahead by just working out in a weight room but mainly, it was all natural."

Penson said he doesn't have a preference on which position he wants to play in college, and said the experience at different positions has taken his film study to the next level in the last year.

This spring, Penson plans to visit Georgia Tech and Memphis. The plan is to camp at Notre Dame in June. He said he is in no rush to make a decision and plans to use several official visits this summer before committing.

Link to full story:


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Recruiting 2025 WR target Raiden Vines-Bright sets OV for June

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I have confirmed with 2025 wide receiver target Raiden Vines-Bright his plans for an official visit to Notre Dame this June.

Vines-Bright, a three-star per Rivals, plans to take his official visit to ND on June 14-16. He has been added to our running visitors list thread.

Vines-Bright holds 20 total offers, including Alabama, Florida, Louisville, Michigan, Texas A&M, USC, and Washington, and was offered by wide receivers coach Mike Brown eight days after he joined the Irish staff.

The 6-foot, 185-pound Vines-Bright enrolled at Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy last month after leaving Tempe (Ariz.) Corona del Sol, where he caught 12 touchdowns as a junior.

Inside ND Sports caught up with Jake Barro, Vines-Bright coach at Corona del Sol, last week. You can read that story here.

"But he's a kid that, I think, would just bring a different dimension to the offense [with] some explosiveness and some athleticism that would fit really well," Barro said. "I think he would fit well in that kind of culture. A place with a lot of tradition that just traditionally has had a lot of success in football and sent student-athletes all over. I think that he would be a good fit from a cultural standpoint, even more than a football standpoint."


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Basketball MBB: Game Thread | Notre Dame 72, Louisville 50 (Final)

After a week off, Notre Dame men's basketball will finally get a chance for its first three-game winning streak of the season. The Irish (9-16, 4-10 ACC) will do so tonight against ACC cellar dweller Louisville (8-18, 3-12).

The Cardinals are coming off consecutive road losses to Boston College and Pittsburgh, but they did win their last home game against Georgia Tech, 79-67, on Feb. 10.

Louisville is led by four players averaging at least 12 points per game: Mike James (13.5), Tre White (13.2), Skyy Clark (13.1) and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (12.3).

Louisville's biggest issue is defense. The Cardinals rank No. 329 out of 351 Division I teams in scoring defense with 78.9 points allowed per game.

Tipoff: 7 p.m. EST
Watch: ESPNU
Listen: Notre Dame Radio Network

Notre Dame season stats:

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Recruiting The Heat Index: What's next for Notre Dame at wide receiver in 2025 class?

Next up in the first edition of The Heat Index for Notre Dame’s 2025 class is the wide receiver position.

Notre Dame's drought at the position ended this month with commitments from three-star recruits Elijah Burress and Shaun Terry, both of whom were offered by Notre Dame since new wide receivers coach Mike Brown joined the staff.

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The Irish have been aiming for four wide receivers in the class, and the remaining top targets at this point have become pretty clear. I assigned the following heat ratings for the four most notable targets:

Extremely Hot for Jerome Bettis Jr.
Hot for Derek Meadows and Talyn Taylor
Medium for Raiden Vines-Bright

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For more details on those four wide receiver targets, follow the link below.


Coming tomorrow (Friday): an offensive line update.

Basketball MBB: Notre Dame shows killer instinct in blowout win at Louisville

All the tough moments this season are making this Notre Dame men's basketball team better. And it showed with how the Irish picked apart an inferior Louisville team Wednesday night.

“We’re learning from them,” Micah Shrewsberry said. “We’re growing. We’re getting better. It’s built some resolve in our group.”

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Football Podcast: Evan Sharpley on Notre Dame's quarterback development and two-sport athletes

Former Notre Dame quarterback and baseball player Evan Sharpley (2005-09) discusses his expectations for Riley Leonard, how a QB competition should be handled, if he would have transferred under today's rules, football futures for Tyler Buchner and Drew Pyne, what ND should learn from Sam Hartman transfer experience, how the staff can develop Kenny Minchey and CJ Carr this spring, the challenge of being a two-sport athlete during the spring and more.

Then @Eric Hansen and I answer questions from Twitter and The Insider Lounge (33:35).

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Basketball Markus Burton shows off two-way ability in Notre Dame MBB win

"I think my confidence is starting to come along a lot due to me playing all these high-level guards," Burton said. "Seeing where I'm at when I'm playing these guards and where my competition level is. All the guards I've played ... [I'm] pretty much right there with them."

"And just the work that I'm putting in off-camera. I'm in the gym 24/7 ... it's just starting to show, and the defensive part is just me just being locked in and doing what I'm told to do."

Recruiting New 2025 ATH offer in Ga.

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Notre Dame extended an offer to 2025 athlete Dalen Penson on Wednesday.

Penson is listed as an athlete by Rivals, a designation for a multi-positional prospect, but is mostly being recruited by programs at cornerback.

The 5-foot-10, 155-pound prospect out of Sandy Creek (Ga.) High is up to 13 offers including ND, Connecticut, Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Memphis and Vanderbilt.

Penson, who is not currently rated or ranked, made unofficial visits to Georgia Tech and Kentucky earlier this year during the contact period.

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Recruiting 2025 three-star WR Shaun Terry commits to Notre Dame

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Notre Dame football has received good news this Sunday afternoon.

Shaun Terry, a three-star wide receiver out of Ironton (Ohio) High, has committed to Notre Dame's top-ranked 2025 recruiting class.

Terry reported 27 total offers including Michigan, Oklahoma, Penn State, Oregon, Tennessee, Wisconsin and USC but has committed to the Irish after just one campus visit, which occurred last month for junior day. He was offered by wide receivers coach Mike Brown during that visit.

The Irish class now sits at 16 commitments and has a 1,828-point total in the Rivals 2025 recruiting team rankings.

Story from @Tyler James:


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Recruiting New 2026 QB offer in Calif.

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2026 quarterback Troy Huhn reported an offer from Notre Dame on Wednesday.

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound quarterback out of San Marcos (Calif.) Mission Hills received his offer from quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli. Huhn threw for Guidugli last month when the Irish staff was out in Califronia.

Huhn, who is not yet rated or ranked by Rivals, reports 15 total offers including Arizona, LSU, Nebraska, Oregon, Penn State, Texas, Texas A&M and UCLA.

Per MaxPreps, Huhn completed 133-of-233 passes for 1,623 yards, 16 touchdowns and six interceptions as a sophomore.

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Recruiting East Coast Spotlight: Prospects to watch during camp season

@RivalsFriedman's latest includes some thoughts on Notre Dame DL target Darren Ikinnagbon. He's a name to watch as a potential defensive tackle option.


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Football Notre Dame Football Live Chat is rolling ... until 3 p.m.-ish ET. Come join us.


Here's a shortcut to the question queue. Shoes required, sort of. But name and hometown with your questions is appreciated.

Recruiting The Heat Index: One more name to watch at running back in 2025 class

Next up in the first edition of The Heat Index for Notre Dame’s 2025 class is the running back position.

The Irish got an early start with commitments from four-star running backs Justin Thurman and Daniel Anderson in August and September, respectively, of last year. Running backs coach Deland McCullough’s insistence on pursuing relatively unproven backs paid off in both recruitments.

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But the Irish aren’t necessarily done at running back. They continue to pursue four-star recruit James Simon out of Shreveport, La. Simon seems likely to end up at LSU, so I’ve put a Mild rating on him.

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For more details on Simon and the Irish running back commits, follow the link below.


Coming tomorrow (Thursday): a wide receivers update.

Recruiting Friedman's Takeaways: Next Level Greats 7-on-7

Rivals national recruiting analyst Adam Friedman included 2025 wide receiver commit Elijah Burress in his takeaways from The Next Level Greats 7-on-7 tournament in Myrtle Beach (S.C.) last weekend.

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“Recent Notre Dame commit Elijah Burress made sure defensive backs were at their best on every play,” Friedman said. “The son of Plaxico Burress may not be the tallest, strongest, or fastest receiver but he is a good route runner, has good hands, and is very slippery when he has the ball in his hands.”

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2026 wide receiver Brody Keefe, a prospect out of Charlotte (N.C.) Myers Park, was also mentioned as a standout by Friedman in the story.

Keefe, who is friends with 2024 TE signee Jack Larsen, visited Notre Dame for the Pittsburgh game last October and could be an offer candidate this spring and summer. He reports 12 early offers including Georgia, North Carolina, NC State and Ohio State.

Link to full story:

Recruiting Starting The Heat Index for the 2025 class with QB and TE positions

We're rolling out The Heat Index for the 2025 class this week and next week on The Insider Lounge.

Like we did with the 2024 class, we will keep The Heat Index pinned in the sticky threads at the top of the board and we’ll post updates to it for the remainder of the 2025 recruiting cycle. That way Inside ND Sports subscribers should always have a clear picture of the top candidates to be future Notre Dame commitments.

The pinned thread will remain locked initially, but each update will have an unlocked thread like this one highlighting the debut for each position.

A reminder on how The Heat Index works: Each remaining target will be assigned a heat rating spanning from plain to extremely hot to reflect a combination of how much Notre Dame is prioritizing the recruit and how much interest the recruit is showing in return.

We're starting tonight with quarterback and tight end. That might be an odd pairing, and that's because the two share something in common: the Irish aren't pursuing targets at either position anymore. So there won't be any heat ratings to share.

With one four-star recruit committed at each position — Deuce Knight at quarterback and James Flanigan at tight end — Notre Dame is comfortable with signing those players to represent their positions.

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Of course that can change, and if it does, we will update The Heat Index to reflect that.

"The Heat Index: 2025 class" thread includes details of the recruitments of Knight and Flanigan and the previous targets Notre Dame had traction with at some point.

Follow the link below to read the quarterback and tight end updates.


Coming tomorrow (Wednesday) morning: running back.

Football 5-7 format has been approved for the first 12-team College Football Playoff

An extra at-large spot is now available to Notre Dame football due to the ruination of the Pac-12 Conference.

Here's the full release:

5-7 FORMAT CONFIRMED FOR 12-TEAM PLAYOFF​

IRVING, Texas – The College Football Playoff (CFP) Board of Managers today unanimously revised the qualifying criteria for the 12-team event to now include the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams as determined by the CFP Selection Committee.

“This is a very logical adjustment for the College Football Playoff based on the evolution of our conference structures since the board first adopted this new format in September 2022,” said Dr. Mark Keenum, President of Mississippi State University and Chair of the CFP Board of Managers. “I know this change will also be well received by student-athletes, coaches and fans. We all will be pleased to see this new format come to life on the field this postseason.”

This change modifies the original plan, which called for the bracket each year to include the six highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next six highest-ranked teams.

Under the 12-team playoff format that begins this fall, the four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and each will receive a first-round bye, while teams seeded five through 12 will play each other in the first round on the home field of the higher-ranked team. (The team ranked #5 will host #12; team #6 will meet team #11; team #7 will play team #10; and team #8 will meet #9.) The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in the New Year’s Six bowl games, the national championship game will continue to be at a neutral site. No conference will qualify automatically and there will be no limit on the number of participants from a conference.

Members of the CFP board of managers include Neeli Bendapudi – Big Ten Conference (President, Penn State); Tim Caboni – Conference USA (President, Western Kentucky); Jim Clements – Atlantic Coast Conference (President, Clemson); Michael Fitts – American Athletic Conference (President, Tulane); Gordon Gee – Big 12 Conference (President, West Virginia); Jack Hawkins – Sun Belt Conference (President, Troy); Rev. John Jenkins – President, Notre Dame (Independent); Mark Keenum (chair) – Southeastern Conference (President, Mississippi State); Kirk Schulz – Pacific-12 Conference (President, Washington State); Satish Tripathi – Mid-American Conference (President, Buffalo); and Keith Whitfield – Mountain West Conference (President, UNLV).​

-#CFBPlayoff-​

About the College Football Playoff
The College Football Playoff (CFP) is the event that crowns the national champion in college football. The CFP Selection Committee ranks the top 25 teams at the end of the season, and the 12 playoff participants consist of the six highest ranked conference champions, plus the next six highest ranked teams. The four highest ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and receive a first-round bye. The schools seeded five through eight will host those seeded nine through 12 in first-round games. The quarterfinals and semifinals rotate annually among six bowl games – the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl. This year’s quarterfinals will take place on Dec. 31, 2024 and January 1, 2025, while the semifinals will be January 9-10, 2025. The College Football Playoff National Championship will be Monday, January 20, 2025, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. For additional information on the College Football Playoff, visit CollegeFootballPlayoff.com.​
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