We he be at the upcoming Notre Dame Junior day? Hope so

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Reunion with former Irish forward Sam Brunelle tonight ....

Notre Dame's stops today are expected to be in California, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Missouri, Virginia, New Jersey and Delaware.

@Charleston Bowles with today's Trail Tracks:

Jett Washington, a 2026 athlete from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman, reported a Notre Dame offer Thursday after Notre Dame's coaching staff visited the school.

Rivals lists Washington as a wide receiver, but he primarily played safety for Bishop Gorman last season. He recorded 37 tackles and two interceptions as a sophomore.

Notre Dame joined an offer list for Washington that includes Georgia, Washington, Arizona and Nebraska.

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Nas Newkirk, a 2025 wide receiver from Greensboro (N.C.) Dudley, reported Thursday an offer from Notre Dame. The Irish joined an offer list that also includes Georgia, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and others.

Newkirk totaled 51 catches for 1,123 yards and 16 touchdowns as a junior last fall.

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Before the women's basketball game on Sunday, I noticed the energetic and spirited Leprechaun, Kylee Kazenski, posing for a videographer. She was doing the usual boxing poses, etc., but then she started dribbling a basketball fluidly, including numerous between the legs dribbles. A little while later, while she was talking to people courtside, I told her that I had seen her dribbling between her legs and asked her if she played high school basketball? Yes. For four years? Yes. Were you a point guard? Yes. She then said that she had played basketball since the 2nd grade.
If you guys get the time, could you interview Kylee about her athletic career before she became the Leprechaun ? She is also an excellent dancer, probably the best dancing Leprechaun that I have seen over the years... ☘️ 🏀☘️

Lex Cyrus, a 2025 wide receiver from Harrisburg (Pa.) Susquehanna Township, reported a Notre Dame offer Thursday. Irish offensive line coach Joe Rudolph has been recruiting in the area this week.

Cyrus won the PIAA Class 3A state championship in the 100-meter dash in May with a 10.67. But he set a personal record the week before with a 10.45.

The 5-foot-10, 165-pound Cyrus then followed that up with a junior football season in which he totaled 67 receptions for 1,115 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

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The bulk of Notre Dame's junior day visitors list on Jan. 20 will likely be current 2025 commits.

We previously reported that the targets expected on campus that weekend include 2025 WR Daylan McCutcheon, 2025 OL Owen Strebig and 2026 QB Brady Smigiel. We're working to confirm some other targets as well.

So far, two commits have informed us they plan to be on campus that weekend: QB Deuce Knight and DE CJ May.

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We'll update this thread when we hear from the other commits expected to visit for the January junior day.

We've been continuously updating our running visitors list for Notre Dame's junior day event on Jan. 20.

The latest to confirm he will attend is 2025 WR target Jerome Bettis Jr.

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Bettis is a longtime Notre Dame target and considered by many to be a Notre Dame lean. I submitted a Notre Dame FutureCast for the son of former ND running back Jerome Bettis back in September.

@Eric Hansen and I will record our weekly 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!

Inside ND Sports gathered video Tuesday morning of Notre Dame football’s coaching staff departing South Bend to head on the recruiting trail.

Head Coach Marcus Freeman was joined by
offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens, wide receivers coach Mike Brown and quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli.

Watch below:

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Here is our Trail Tracks story for Tuesday by @Tyler James:

I updated The Heat Index tonight to reflect that Notre Dame won't be pursuing four-star CB Kevyn Humes in the 2024 class anymore. The Irish originally chose to push for Humes after he decided to reclassify from the 2025 class, but ND has since backed off. He's no longer expected to make an official visit to Notre Dame.

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That should wrap up Notre Dame's 2024 class recruiting efforts.

I was going to name everyone shown in this video, but they started going rapidfire with so many.

Maybe I'll circle back and do that if you ask nicely.

A Riley Leonard scream at :16. One of at least four grunt screams from the team.

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He was rated the top LT in the CFP this past year, started as a true freshman, and was once a ND recruit. Thoughts?

Notre Dame Sam Hartman


Transferred from: Wake Forest

2023 stats: 2,689 passing yards, 24 TD passes, 8 interceptions, 3 rushing TDs

Midseason grade: A-
Final grade B

Final analysis: Hartman's efficient start to his Notre Dame career -- he had 14 touchdowns and zero interceptions, while passing for 1,236 yards in the first five games -- had him on the early Heisman radar. But his performance fell off as Notre Dame's competition level went up midseason, and he threw seven interceptions during a four-game stretch that included road losses to both Louisville and Clemson. Much like Notre Dame's offense as a whole, Hartman feasted on weaker defenses, showcasing accuracy and production. But aside from a solid effort against Ohio State -- a game the Fighting Irish arguably should have won -- Hartman didn't help Notre Dame meet its annual goal of becoming a national contender. The Irish are looking for a bigger spark from another ACC transfer, Duke's Riley Leonard, in 2024.

They say he's Dylan Raiola's favorite target.

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Notre Dame 2025 running back commit Justin Thurman was one of the most frequent visitors on game-days last season. He visited the Irish four times, including for October's win vs. USC and November's win against Wake Forest.

The Tampa (Fla.) Jesuit running back is expected back at ND this weekend for junior day, where he plans on developing his relationship with the staff and pitching visiting targets on joining ND's top-ranked 2025 recruiting class.

Per Rivals, Thurman is a four-star recruit and the No. 20 running back in the 2025 class. He is not ranked inside the Rivals250, but his 5.8 rating means he's among the top 300-325 prospects in the class according to the Rivals recruiting rankings formula. As a junior, he received 169 carries for 812 yards and 14 touchdowns.

I spoke with Thurman this weekend to discuss his excitement for this weekend, thoughts on his junior season, running backs coach Deland McCullough and more.

On what he liked from watching Notre Dame's running backs:

"All the running backs played a key role in the success that Notre Dame had this season," Thurman told Inside ND Sports. "I know Jeremiyah [Love] pretty well. He really showed out this year [and] showcased what he can do. He's already a great player and proved that to the whole world. I liked the way that coach McCullough coaches, teaches and his whole coaching style is something I'm looking forward to being part of."

On his bond with ND's recruiting staff:

"I think they have a very electric energy, I mean, even after you commit, that energy is still ongoing and going to always stay in contact. They frequently call us, they frequently text us asking how we were doing, ask how school was, any other parts of life ... they really stay in contact with us and I really like that. They treat us like family."

On his recruitment of 2025 four-star OT target Jack Lange:

"I had a great conversation with him about explaining how the process was for me and how basically Notre Dame was the right decision for me, and it was. It's just great being able to showcase why I chose my decision to commit to Notre Dame firsthand to the recruits is amazing."

The 6-foot, 183-pound Thurman is gearing up for track season where he said he'll work on perfecting his running technique and footspeed.

Link to full story:


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Please include your name and hometown with your questions ... here's a shortcut to the question queue: https://live.jotcast.com/chat/notre-dame-football-live-chat-jan-17-2024-17434.html

Houston Texans 45, Cleveland Browns 14

Active for Houston ...
DT Kurt Hinish: 3 tackles and 1 sack.

Inactive for Houston ...
Practice squad: CB Troy Pride Jr.
Reserve/Injured: OL Jarrett Patterson

Active for Cleveland ...
LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah: 9 tackles and 4 tackles for loss (both team highs)

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@Tyler James with the story:

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When Inside ND Sports spoke with Notre Dame 2025 offensive tackle target Jack Lange in October, he was an unrated and unranked prospect out of Eureka (Mo.) High with nine offers. His offer sheet has since grown to 18 offers, including a Notre Dame offer, and he is expected to visit this weekend for Notre Dame's junior day.

The 6-foot-8, 275-pound Lange is coming off visits to Arkansas and Missouri and was most recently offered by a pair of Big Ten programs, Penn State and Wisconsin, on Tuesday. Per Rivals, Lange is the No. 164 overall player and No. 19 offensive tackle in the 2025 class. ND has one offensive tackle currently committed in its 2025 class with three-star Will Black.

I connected with Lange to learn about his current thoughts on Notre Dame, offensive line coach Joe Rudolph, recruitment priorities and more.

On his upcoming visit:

"I definitely want to learn more about the culture and [how] they operate as an offense. My relationship with the staff is coming along nicely. I like how coach Rudolph operates and he seems great to play for."

On his biggest takeaway from his October game-day visit:

"My favorite part from the game was the prayer from the team in the locker room after and actual play wise, the offensive line was dominant the whole time. It was very fun to watch."

On deciding factors in his recruitment:

"Academics are very important to me. I also think that roster and staff is a big part of it."

Some schools to monitor in Lange's recruitment are Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Michigan and Ole Miss. He also said he plans to schedule visits to Penn State and Wisconsin, the two new schools on his radar.

Link to full story:


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I'll need to update the beginning of our daily trail tracks story to reflect the current rules.

Previously, contact periods only allowed off-campus contact between coaching staffs and senior recruits. But a rules change last year has allowed juniors to be contact. So ND's coaching staff can have conversations with 2025 recruits while making these visits right now. ND can even make in-home visits.

Here are the highlights of the rule changes:

• Off-campus recruiting contacts can not be made with an individual (or the individual's family members) before Jan. 1 of the individual's junior year in high school.

• A school is limited to eight off-campus, in-person contacts with a prospective student-athlete and the prospect's family members for the prospect's junior and senior years combined.

• Contact can occur only one time per week.

• Contacts that occur during the prospective student-athlete's junior year in high school can occur only at the prospective student-athlete's educational institution.

• Schools are allowed up to two off-campus contacts during the January contact period of a prospective student-athlete's junior year of high school. A school is also allowed one off-campus contact during the spring contact period of a prospective student-athlete's junior year of high school.

• The head football coach can make only one off-campus contact during the prospective student-athlete's junior year and one off-campus contact during the prospective student-athlete's senior year in high school with a prospect or their family members.