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Notre Dame 2025 defensive end target Darren Ikinnagbon named his top eight schools on Wednesday night via X/Twitter.

The Irish made the cut and join Georgia, Rutgers, Duke, Tennessee, Ohio State and Penn State as the final contenders for Ikinnagbon, who attends Hillsdale (N.J.) High.

Per Rivals, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Ikinnagbon is a three-star recruit and the No. 21 strongside defensive end in the 2025 class. Al Washington extended an offer to Ikinnagbon last December.

Ikinnagbon visited Rutgers and Georgia during the contact period. He has not visited the Irish yet in his recruitment.

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Notre Dame football has secured its first commitment at the wide receiver position in the 2025 recruiting class. Less than a month after reporting an Irish offer, Elijah Burress has committed to Notre Dame.

Story below with quotes from Rivals national recruiting analyst/rankings director Adam Friedman

“Burress is still fairly raw but he has certain traits that could make him an important part of a receiving corps. At 6-1, 190 pounds, Burress is a sudden route runner with the ability to accelerate to top speed in an instant. That explosiveness can make him a reliable target on intermediate and downfield routes."





Junior year film:

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If you want to ask a question, please include your name and hometown and submit it in the official question portal ... here >>>>

After missing last week, @Eric Hansen and I will record our Inside ND Sports podcast Thursday. Send us some questions you'd like us to discuss. We like to give priority to questions submitted on The Insider Lounge.

If you have multiple questions, try to be succinct and ask them separately. Thanks!

What RJ Oben will be tasked with doing in Notre Dame’s defense is making a similar impact as a pass rusher with an increased presence in stopping the run. Easier said than done.

“It's just obviously getting a feel for the game,” Oben said. “Being completely confident in being out there in the defense and get in a rhythm of the game and a feel. That's something I can definitely improve on and work on here.

“You gotta earn the right to rush the passer on first and second down. Just establishing that physicality.”

As of Sunday morning, John Brice of FootballScoop has reported that Notre Dame safeties coach Chris O'Leary is expected to join Jim Harbaugh's staff with the Los Angeles Chargers as their safeties coach.

Since joining the Irish in 2018, O'Leary has played a significant role in developing players like Kyle Hamilton and Xavier Watts. He's also helped the Irish get off to a fast start in the 2025 recruiting class with the commitments of four-star safeties Ivan Taylor and Ethan Long.

Inside ND Sports has confirmed the report and @Eric Hansen has the story:

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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:


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The Valentine's Day edition. No romance advice (you wouldn't want it, believe me). You can submit your questions early. Please include you name and hometown. Here's a shortcut to the question queue: https://live.jotcast.com/chat/notre-dame-football-live-chat-feb-14-2024-17629.html

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Irish open Friday night at Rice.

2024 ROSTER

2024 SCHEDULE

Notre Dame running back commit Justin Thurman competed in Under Armour's camp in Orlando on Sunday. Radi Nabulsi, the publisher of UGASports.com, was one of the folks on site for Rivals. He caught up with Thurman with the interview below.

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How is your recruitment going? Who’s still coming after you? Who are you trying to bring with you?

“My recruitment has definitely been a blessing. Last spring, about a year ago, after doing a couple of camps, I was able to receive many blessing and opportunities to play at the next level at the Power 5, Division I level. Then over the summer I went to camps, on visits to learn more about each program, to see how I fit into the program, but also the school as well and the academics. When I visited Notre Dame, it really felt like it was home for me in terms of the academics, the athletics and the coaching staff. Coach Freeman and the rest of the coaching staff are doing a very good job of recruiting and just building a culture at Notre Dame. Throughout this fall, there have been a couple of schools, like FSU, USC, Mizzou that have been still recruiting me, still showing interest. I thank them for the interest, because not a lot of people get that opportunity to have any interest like that. I remind them that I’m committed to Notre Dame, but if anything changes, I’ll let them know. In terms of recruiting others to the Notre Dame 2025 class, I’m trying to get Jerome Bettis, Jack Lange, a couple other top recruits to join this class. I feel like we’re building the best 2025 class in the country. We can put ourselves and Notre Dame in the best position for success and a national championship.”

Who’s your top priority in this class?

“For linemen, we have Owen Strebig, who just committed a couple days ago. Then we have Will Black. We’re trying to get Jack Lange from Eureko, Mo. I actually played with him in little league. Our dads were coaches and they coached us on our team. With the connection with him and the St. Louis connection, because I used to live there, I feel like he would be a great asset to the ’25 class. Jerome Bettis, the minivan as we like to call him, would be great for the receivers. We just had Elijah Buress commit. Adding more receivers will definitely boost our class even more from where it’s already at. We have a running back like Daniel Anderson, we have Deuce Knight. We got a lot of other people so we can do great things when we come into Notre Dame in 2025.”

You said you’d let the other schools know if something changed. What could change?

“The most obvious thing that could change is the coaching staff. I’ve learned that basically if any coaching staff changes, there will probably be conversations about that. How the new coaching staff is going to be introduced in, how their schemes, their mindset and their mentality is going to fit into the Notre Dame embodiment. Also, the way the running backs are being used. We got a new OC, Coach Denbrock from LSU. I believe that he’s going to do great things. He has done great things in the past jobs that he’s had. I’m looking forward to how he uses the running backs into the scheme with Coach McCullough.”

What is the style of offense that he’s selling you?

“We haven’t spoken in-depth much yet, but we are going to in the future.”

When are you going to get back up there?

“I’m planning to get back up there definitely for the spring game, if not earlier for a practice or some type of other visit.”

How did you junior season go?

“It went great. With the opportunities I was able to get, I capitalized them to help put my team in the best position for success. I had 17 touchdowns, 812 rushing yards, 145 receiving yards. I was on kickoff, kick return, punt return.”

Wait, you’re a running back playing special teams? That’s pretty selfless.

“Special teams is the third aspect and probably the most important aspect of the game. It can really change how a game goes. So I believe contributing my skill set and my abilities to the special teams can help the team. There’s no “I” in team. I’m not going to be a selfish player. It’s about the team. It’s about winning together as a team. If special teams is a major focus just like offense and defense, teams can be put into great success.”

What’s your favorite part of playing on kick coverage?

“Being able to run all the way down there. I’m basically the contain guy that runs all the way down and tries to tackle the guy first.”

You’re between the numbers and the sideline?

“Yes sir. Utilize my speed, stay in my lane and make sure I can make that tackle or allow my teammates to have the best position to tackle. Then for return, I’m the kick returner. So a lot of times they don’t kick to me, because they know I’m fast. So they either try to kick it out of bounds or they kick it over us. Whenever I do get the ball, I follow my blockers, utilize my speed but also my patience, because you can’t just run up in there, to make the most out of that each return.”

Which do you like better: blowing up a returner or returning the ball to midfield?

“Returning the ball. They’re both important, but returning the ball is showcasing my skills.”

Some people like to hit, though?

“I can hit on the return, too. Kind of setting the tone as I’d like to. If you’re all the way to the center of the field, that can really scare the other team.”

What other sports do you play?

“I run track. Currently we’re in a season right. We started official practice a week ago. We’re just ramping up. We’ve been conditioning since basically mid-December, but we’ve been out there practicing now. I’m going to be running the 100, 200, the 4x100 and the 400, possibly. To be honest with you, I’m fine with it, because if you can run the 400, you can probably run anything.”

But the 400 is a torture race. You know it’s awful.

“When people don’t want to do things, you have to step up and do it.”

Even 400 runners don’t like the 400.

“Yeah. My 100 time was 10.84 last year at the FSU Relays. I’m planning to set a goal of raising that time down to 10.6-10.5. I believe in doing the same thing as football: being a team player, help any way I can and contribute to the team so that we can get ourselves a state championship as a whole team, not just individually.”

What is your No. 1 sales pitch to the other recruits you’re trying to convince?

“One is Notre Dame’s academics. Its academics are known throughout the country and even throughout the world. The prestigious education and diploma that you get out of it. No. 2, the connections. The alumni network that’s an opportunity to use. Let’s just say that football and the NFL may not be your career path, you have other career paths and opportunities to connect with alumni that can help you put yourself in the best position for success. And then the coaching staff. I believe Coach Freeman, Coach McCullough, all the other coaches are doing a great job of pitching why Notre Dame is such a great place. It’s the history and the prestige after its name is true and valid. The way that they coach and take care of their players and treat them like family. Coach Freeman is definitely a family guy. He has six kids and a great wife. I believe that he likes to be around the guys and likes to connect with them. They’re not just players. They’re also people too. So you have to be able to connect well with them. But also, he’s a great coach with his schemes and everything. He’s putting Notre Dame in a great place.”

What’s your favorite football moment from last year?

“Against Tampa Catholic, I ran a 60, almost 65-70-yard touchdown against them on the first play of the drive. We blew them out that game.”

What was the play?

“It was basically inside zone. I gave them a little bit of a [hesitation], and then I was just gone out of the gate.”

A dead leg maybe?

“Yeah, a little dead leg. I was able to utilize my speed to the fullest and basically just run.”

What’s your worst moment from last year?

“Probably when I may have fumbled the ball once, but I recovered it. I pride myself on ball security and making sure that the ball is high and tight. I know I’m not going to be perfect, but all the times I have the ball in my hands, I make sure that it’s high and tight, have two hands on the ball in traffic and making sure that if it happens, it doesn’t happen again.”

How many points of contact?

“Three points of contact. You got the chest, you got the arm and then you have the hand over the arm. Making sure that you have it locked tight.”

What did you measure in at today?

“6-foot, 180 pounds.”

Live Stats: LINK

The 2024 NFL Scouting Combine released today its list of 321 invitations for this year's event in Indianapolis, which is scheduled for Feb. 26-March 4.

Eight Notre Dame players made the list: QB Sam Hartman, RB Audric Estimé, OT Joe Alt, OT Blake Fisher, DE Javontae Jean-Baptiste, LB JD Bertrand, LB Marist Liufau and CB Cam Hart.

It's the most NFL Combine invites for Notre Dame since 11 were invited to the 2021 event, which did not include in-person workouts due to COVID-19. Notre Dame had nine total invitees the past two years: five in 2022 and four in 2023.

Bettis, Burris, Clark and Taylor? that’s a lot…..
Seems like lots of NFL pedigree on the team over the years

In the past, I've shared some stuff from Brandon Thorn, who I think covers line play as good as anyone on the college and NFL levels. He just released his 2024 NFL Draft Film Room with Joe Alt. You have to subscribe to his Substack to watch the whole thing, but he put a long clip up on Twitter. Enjoy.

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Notre Dame showed some interest in 2025 safety CJ Jimcoily during the contact period. Now he's considering a visit to Notre Dame, as he mentioned in this story with @Sean_Williams.


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Notre Dame makes the list:

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From the X/Twitter account of 2025 four-star QB commit Deuce Knight, who also tagged a few targets.

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2025 four-star S commit Ethan Long also posted the graphic.

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@Eric Hansen and I will go live on YouTube at 7 p.m. EST for the next weekly edition of "Football Never Sleeps."

We'll discuss the loss of safeties coach Chris O'Leary, what the Irish may do next, and their interviews with Notre Dame's defensive newcomers, including defensive ends RJ Oben and Bryce Young and linebackers Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and Kahanu Kia, while answering questions from viewers.

Football Never Sleeps is sponsored by Legacy Heating & Air.

We hope you join us live with questions or submit some ahead of time. Hit the bell to set a reminder to get notified when we go live.

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If you'd like to submit questions, make sure you click through so you're watching on YouTube's site or in the YouTube app if you're on mobile. You can do so by clicking the headline at the top of the embedded video above. So where it says "Football Never Sleeps: ..." Or there should be spot that says "Watch on YouTube" in the bottom left.

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Just studied there CFB career stats posted on ESPN

Angeli 6' 2" at 206 with no football injuries. Leonard 6' 4" at 212 who missed 5 games last year. (ND & DUKE websites)

2023 Angeli played in 7 games completing 77%, longest 55 yards, 7 TDs & 1 INT, QB Rating 95.3

2023 Leonard played 7 games completing 58%, long of 47 yards, 3TDs & 3 INT, QB Rating 72.1.

Remember all the gushing over Hartman.? How about the coach who was familiar with him saying that he is what he is - why did ND expect he'd be different?

My problem with starting Leonard is the impact in the QB room. With Carr onboard and Knight coming next year it's quite possible we could lose both Angeli & Minchey. Competition in Spring is good, just don't let the Leonard hype blind you to the facts - Leonard is a middling QB, Don't forget the lesson Hartman taught us.

A couple of @Adam Gorney's national stories today included Notre Dame.

He included Notre Dame as one of the best five 2024 quarterback classes with CJ Carr:


Notre Dame also received four mentions in his Recruiting Rumor Mill, highlighted by 2025 QB commit Deuce Knight not really listening to the schools trying to flip him.

Louisville also fell with its 1-1 week as did NC State, which comes to Purcell Pavilion Thursday night as the nation's No. 6 team for a 6 EST tipoff.

This is Burton’s second time taking home ACC Rookie of the Week honors (also won on Jan. 2).

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