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2025 four-star defensive end target Gus Ritchey has arrived at Notre Dame and plans to be at Irish Invasion Sunday. He was not expected to attend and was not listed in our Irish Invasion preview earlier today.

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The 6-foot-3, 225-pound defender attends Pittsboro (N.C.) Northwood and spoke glowingly about his Blue-Gold Game visit with Inside ND Sports in April.

Ritchey is ranked as the No. 8 strongside defensive end and No. 102 overall in the 2025 recruiting class. He holds 26 total offers including Notre Dame, Florida, Georgia, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, North Carolina, Oregon, Penn State and Texas A&M.

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Running through the notable names expected at Notre Dame tomorrow for the Irish Invasion.

The first official visitors' weekend has arrived at Notre Dame. The Irish are hosting several targets and two commits and the group arrived this morning.

2024 OL commit Anthonie Knapp

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Just wondering when the next round of updates are if any in the near future?

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Notre Dame offered 2025 offensive tackle Matt Augustine Saturday after the Lineman's Challenge.

Augustine is listed at 6-foot-7, 260-pounds. He is rated as a three-star recruit by Rivals. He attends Greenwich (Conn.) Brunswick where he plays alongside 2025 safety target Ethan Long, who landed an offer from Notre Dame earlier this week.

He reports 13 total offers including Notre Dame, Boston College, Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pittsburgh and Wisconsin.

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Notre Dame men's basketball 2024 shooting guard commit Cole Certa announced Saturday via Twitter he's transferring to IMG Academy for his senior season.

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The 6-foot-5, 185-pound recruit averaged 26.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game as a junior at Bloomington (Ill.) Central Catholic.

Certa verbally committed to the Irish in May and is the only member of Notre Dame's current 2024 recruiting class.

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Notre Dame 2025 four-star quarterback target KJ Lacey committed to Texas Saturday.

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Lacey had never visited Notre Dame but did receive an offer from the Irish on ND's annual Pot of Gold Day recruiting event in March. Lacey attends Saraland (Ala.) High and is ranked as the No. 5 quarterback and No. 66 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class.

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound signal caller was one of six quarterbacks in the 2025 class to report an offer from Notre Dame. After Lacey's commitment, there are five current quarterback targets in the 2025 class for Notre Dame.

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According to CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jon Rothstein, Notre Dame men’s basketball is scheduled to open it’s regular season against Niagara Nov 6.

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It will be head Coach Micah Shrewsberry’s Irish debut.

No official word from Notre Dame mens basketball at this time. I’m working to confirm.

A look across the country here:

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Notre Dame 2024 three-star safety target Malcolm Ziglar included Notre Dame in his top eight schools Friday. It’s worth noting he mentioned his recruitment is still open.

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The Irish join Appalachian State, Clemson, East Carolina, Kentucky, North Carolina, Penn State and South Carolina on Ziglar’s list.

Ziglar picked up an offer last month. Although listed by Rivals as a cornerback, safeties coach Chris O’Leary visited Ziglar at Fuquay-Varina (N.C.) High this spring and is his primary recruiter.

Out of all the remaining safety targets, the 6-foot-2, 185-pound recruit is the newest name on the board. His offer is the most recent and he’s never visited Notre Dame before.

He tells me he will take his official visit to Notre Dame June 16-18.

Make sure to check out The Heat Index to see where Inside ND Sports believes each remaining target stands in their recruitment with Notre Dame.
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Notre Dame men's basketball officially announced the hire of assistant coach Ryan Owens Friday.

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Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry's coaching staff now consists of Owens, associate head coach Kyle Getter, assistant coach Mike Farrelly and assistant to the head coach Tre Whitted.

Link to full story:

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Notre Dame 2024 three-star linebacker target Chris Cole informed me this evening he no longer has plans to take his official visit to Notre Dame June 9-11.

He said he plans to reschedule his official visit to Notre Dame this fall. He does not have an exact date set currently.

This means the Irish are set to host four linebacker targets this month, starting with Brian Huff and Brdley Shaw on June 9-11 and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and Keyshawn Flowers on June 16-18 Be sure to check out The Heat Index to see where Inside ND Sports believes each player stands in their recruitment and Notre Dame's current interest level.

With linebacker commits four-star Bodie Kahuon and three-star athlete Teddy Rezac in the fold, the Irish likely have one linebacker spot remaining in their class.

It seems the Irish are putting all their cards in four-star linebacker priority target Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, who is down to Notre Dame, Ohio State and USC.

For Cole, the Salem (Va.) High product is coming off unofficial visits to Virginia Tech and Georgia. He has an upcoming official visit to Penn State June 2-4 and then to Georgia (June 16-18) and Miami (June 23-25).

After visiting Notre Dame in April, Cole seemed to be a potential name to watch. However, with Kahoun's decision to commit and Cole's own recruiting rise, it's likely he is not in Notre Dame's plans moving forward.

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Notre Dame 2026 wide receiver target Madden Williams plans to visit Notre Dame for the first time June 6.

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound wide receiver landed an offer in May after performing at the Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco showcase. He holds 14 total offers including Arizona State, California, Michigan State, Oregon, Stanford, Texas and Washington, He's also receiving interest from Texas A&M and UCLA.

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Inside ND Sports also confirmed with 2026 cornerback prospect AJ Marks that he'll be at Notre Dame Sunday for Irish Invasion. He visited Notre Dame in April for spring practice and enjoyed his experience.

Now, he'll workout in front of cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens with an opportunity of landing an offer. He reports 14 offers including Louisville, Michigan State, Penn State, Pittsburgh and West Virginia. He's also receiving interest from Michigan, Oklahoma, USC and Wisconsin.

As Notre Dame hosts its first group of official visitors this weekend, the Irish are also staying busy with the upcoming Lineman's Challenge Saturday and Irish Invasion Camp Sunday.

Inside ND Sports has identified important names you need to know on the offensive and defensive line for Saturday. A handful of guys who have visited Notre Dame before and a few intriguing names from the west coast make up the more deep offensive line group.

Meanwhile, the defensive group is thinner but led by a rising 2026 prospect who visited the Irish in April.

We'll start with 2025 three-star OT prospect Jake Flores:

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He reports 11 offers including Florida State, Louisville, Michigan, Ole Miss, North Carolina State and Oregon.

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Notre Dame men's basketball 2024 four-star point guard target Daniel Freitag included the Irish in his top five Thursday. He also announced he'll be committing Friday at 3 p.m. CT.

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The Irish join Wisconsin, Baylor, Minnesota and Virginia as Freitag's final schools.

The two-sport star visited Notre Dame as a football recruit last September and received an offer in January. He transferred from Bloomington (Minn.) Jefferson to Santa Clarita (Calif.) Southern California Academy, a school that doesn't offer football, in April.

The 6-foot-2, 175-pound recruit went into detail with Inside ND Sports last month about his interest in Notre Dame men's basketball after picking up contact with associate head coach Kyle Getter this spring.

Freitag has an upcoming official visit to Wisconsin on June 14-16. He reports offers from the Badgers in both sports.

Freitag told me last month he was planning to visit Notre Dame this summer, but this announcement date probably puts a wrench in any of those plans.

The official visitors for the weekend have arrived:

OL commits Peter Jones and Anthonie Knapp, OT targets Styles Prescod and Guerby Lambert, S target Paul Mencke Jr., and RB target Kedren Young.

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Big fan here, this is high-floor city. Will be a fan fave as a recruit and eventually in South Bend, imo.

Official visit season starts tomorrow. Breaking down the important 2024 targets making their way to Notre Dame this weekend.

We now have the kickoff times for the first five Notre Dame games this season.

Removed Aaron Scott from the cornerbacks heat list after the four-star prospect from Springfield, Ohio, released a top five on June 1 that excluded the Irish. This was not a surprise as we had Scott at mild on The Heat Index in Notre Dame's attempt to close with a third cornerback in the 2024 class.

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I recently spoke with Notre Dame 2024 three-star safety target Paul Mencke Jr. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound defender is scheduled to take his official visit to the Irish this weekend. He visited Notre Dame in April after reporting an offer in March.

Mencke sat down with safeties coach Chris O’Leary during his first visit and went through plans for him in the secondary. Now, Mencke said O'Leary's message is clear leading up to this weekend.

"This is what you're going to do [for us]," Mencke told Inside ND Sports. "'You know I can develop. If you want to come, I will make you the best. You can be the next Kyle Hamilton,' which I really believe too. I know I can fit in. That's pretty much what he's saying at this point."

Mencke said he's looking forward to meeting with players and spending more time with them. He also wants to see more of campus and the surrounding areas after going to the bowling alley with a few Irish players in April.

Head coach Marcus Freeman doesn't have to do much more for Mencke, who said Freeman made a strong first impression in April.

"It was like, 'That's kind of like my dad how he said stuff and articulated words," Mencke said. "They went 9-3 last year, lost a couple of games off of some miscommunication ... he really doesn't have to prove anything more to me."

Mencke holds 22 total offers including Notre Dame, Duke, Houston, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Stanford, Washington and Washington State.

After his Notre Dame trip, Mencke has official visits lined up with Duke (June 16-18), Washington (June 20-22) and Stanford (June 24-25). As you can see from his visits, education is an important factor for Mencke, who told me he plans to major in engineering.

Mencke said he could make his decision after an official visit. If not, he expects to announce his commitment around July 4.

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Release from UND.com:

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame hockey team will compete in the 2026 Great Lakes Invitational at Van Andel Arena, as announced by Michigan Technological University Thursday morning. The Irish will join hosts MTU and Michigan State University, along with fellow guests Western Michigan University in the annual holiday tournament set for December 28-30, 2026.

The GLI dates back to 1965 after former Huskies’ head coach John MacInnes conceptualized the idea of a holiday tournament to take place between Christmas and New Years. The tournament moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2022, following many years having been played at various venues in Detroit as well as 2021 taking place at campus sites.

2026 will mark Notre Dame’s fifth appearance in the tournament, and first since 1993. The Irish have one GLI championship in program history, raising the banner in 1981 inside Joe Louis Arena.

Notre Dame football's coaching staff made a trip to the South Side today as head coach Marcus Freeman threw out the first pitch before the Angels handed down what is currently a 12-2 beating to my beloved White Sox.

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I updated The Heat Index today to reflect the following ...

Downgrading Mylachi Williams from hot to mild with uncertainty on an official visit date.

Details here:


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