Half from ND!

The ACC matters. The ACC contract with ESPN runs to 2036. The deal was done when the SEC was expanding and the ACC looked vulnerable. The contract went out too long, which is obvious today. But at the time it provided much needed stability.

Since it was signed, the SEC and Big 10 have signed deals that are so much more lucrative that the ACC is facing a financial nightmare. ESPN needs to renegotiate it just to maintain the value of its product. Within reason, the more they pay the ACC, the better and more lucrative their investment will be. That seems so obvious that the longer ESPN delays renegotiating, the more fans can wonder what their goal is.

Does ESPN want super leagues and is destroying the ACC part of their strategy to get them? Did ESPN have a hand in the Texas/OK and USC/UCLA moves to the SEC and BIG? I have no way of knowing. Do they want to force ND into a conference? Again, no clue.

Unless ESPN renegotiats a fair deal with the ACC, it seems fair to question their brains or motives.

Will have a full report later this afternoon ... ND loses 9-5 to Pitt Wednesday and is eliminated from contention to reach the tourney semifinals. Irish get 15 hits, but hit into four double plays, strike out 10 times and leave 11 on. ... Pitt hit five home runs. Both teams still have a pool play game with No. 1 Wake Forest. Irish play the Demon Deacons on Friday night at 7 EDT.

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After sending out two offers to 2025 defensive tackles Tuesday, Notre Dame offered a third Wednesday in 2025 defensive tackle Nahsir Taylor.

The 6-foot-3, 260-pound defensive prospect attends Upper Marlboro (Md.) Rock Creek Christian.

Taylor is rated as a three-star by Rivals. He reports 14 offers including Notre Dame, Georgia, Oregon, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin.

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@Charleston Bowles and I will be back for another Inside ND Sports podcast Thursday (today). Charleston is sitting in for Tyler. 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!

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I just spoke with 2024 four-star point guard Daniel Freitag. He told me Notre Dame men's basketball associate head coach Kyle Getter is communicating with him on a regular basis. Getter was a part of Virginia's staff last October when the Cavaliers extended an offer to Freitag.

This isn't Freitag's first time dealing with Notre Dame. Freitag, a four-star wide receiver, is ranked as the No. 1 player in Minnesota and reported an offer from Notre Dame football in January. However, the two sides haven't remained in much contact after Frietag's basketball recruitment took off and he transferred from Bloomington (Minn.) Jefferson to Santa Clarita (Calif.) Southern California Academy in April. Southern California Academy only offers basketball, baseball and golf, so Freitag won't play football as a senior.

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The 6-foot-2, 175-pound recruit is ranked as the No. 60 overall player in the 2024 basketball recruiting class. He said he isn't sure which sport he'll play in college but is keeping his options open to potentially play both at the next level. He told me he's appreciative of Getter for remaining interested, even though he hasn't formally received a Notre Dame men's basketball offer.

“He’s a very likable guy and I really enjoy my relationship with him,” Freitag told Inside ND Sports. “I’m happy that he still reaches out and we still talk.”

Freitag said he hasn't spoken much with head coach Micah Shrewsberry outside of brief conversations and seeing him at different spring basketball tournaments. However, Freitag said he's open to building more of a relationship with Shrewsberry this summer.

"I don't think anyone really has it all figured out," Freitag said. "I don't think any relationship is too strong. I definitely want to build on my relationship with Coach Getter and especially a little bit more with, Coach Shrewsberry. If we could continue being in contact and things of that nature, it will definitely help me see more clearly about the basketball side of Notre Dame.”

Freitag visited Notre Dame for its game against California last September and said he was blown away by their presentation and recruiting approach.

“Notre Dame is awesome,” Freitag said. “I felt very known in the building and around I feel like they really do their work before you get there. I very much felt like I wasn't just another number to them. I think Notre Dame as a whole is just an incredible program, school and university.”

Freitag plays on the grassroots basketball circuit with Howard Pulley Basketball and is teammates with Notre Dame 2024 forward target Jackson McAndrew, who confirmed with me last week he'll visit the Irish June 16-18. Both have basketball offers from Iowa and Wisconsin, and Freitag said the pair could be a package deal.

Freitag is scheduled to visit Wisconsin June 14-16, his fourth trip to the Badgers. No other visits are in place, but Freitag said he’s taking it day by day. For football, he holds offers from Notre Dame, Kansas State, Minnesota and Wisconsin. His basketball offer sheet includes Kansas State, Minnesota, Wisconsin as well as Baylor, California, Iowa, Iowa State and Nebraska.

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2024 four-star defensive tackle Owen Wafle announced he’s backing off his verbal pledge to Notre Dame Wednesday.

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The 6-foot-3, 270-pound defensive tackle from Princeton (N.J.) Hun School committed to the Irish last May. He was their only defensive tackle committed.

Now, Notre Dame turns it’s attention to Justin Scott and Sean Sevillano Jr. You can see where Inside ND Sports believes their recruitment stands with the Irish on The Heat Index.

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The loss of Wafle drops Notre Dame’s 2024 recruiting class to 15 players. The Irish now sit as the No. 4 ranked class in the Rivals 2024 team rankings behind Georgia, Michigan and LSU.

Wafle is ranked as the No. 15 defensive tackle in the 2024 class and reports 21 total offers including Cincinnati, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Syracuse and West Virginia.

Link to full story:

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After an official visit to Georgia last weekend, 2024 four-star tight end Jaden Reddell verbally committed to the Bulldogs Wednesday.

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Redell included Notre Dame in his top five schools last week along with Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Oregon. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound tight end visited Notre Dame in March and had scheduled an official visit for June 16-18.

Reddell is ranked as the No. 5 tight end in the 2024 recruiting class. He attends Peculiar (Mo.) Raymore-Peculiar and had 49 receptions, 1002 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns last season.

With four-star tight end Jack Larsen committed, the Irish are looking to add a second tight end in their 2024 recruiting class.

Now with Redell off the board, Notre Dame is likely to shift its focus to four-star tight end Carter Nelson. Before Redell's commitment, Georgia was emerging for Nelson and still plan on hosting him for an official visit from June 2-4. He'll also visit Notre Dame (June 9-11) and Nebraska (June 23-25).

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On Tuesday, Notre Dame offered two 2025 defensive tackles and Jarquez Carter was one of them. I spoke with the 6-foot-2, 266-pound defensive tackle about his reaction to the news, early impression of defensive line coach Al Washington and more.

Carter entered his sophomore season for Newberry (Fla.) High without any offers. He produced 78 tackles, including 23 for loss along with 10 sacks last season. He said his lack of recognition motivated him.

“Last season I was hungry,” Carter told Inside ND Sports. “My freshman year, I felt like I got overlooked. My sophomore I went kind of crazy. I dominated every team I went against.”

Washington called Carter Tuesday and extended an offer. Carter said he liked Washington's personality and his focus on academics.

“I was really excited,” Carter said. “He called and we talked, he felt like one of my coaches down here,” Carter said. “It’s like I knew him for a long time even though we talked for the first time [Tuesday]. It felt like we had a connection already. The first thing he talked about was grades before he talked about football. That's another reason why I liked talking to him."

Despite growing up in Florida, Carter said he's followed the Irish from afar and understands the importance of their brand.

"Everybody knows about Notre Dame [and] how many national championships they’ve won. When me and my family heard about it, we were just really excited because they’re Independent and they got a lot of stuff going their way.”

Rivals has not assigned a star rating or ranking to Carter. He has nine offers including Notre Dame, Connecticut, Florida A&M, Penn State, South Florida, Temple and UCF.

Carter visited Florida, Florida State, Ole Miss and UCF this spring. He told me he's very interested in Notre Dame and plans to visit for a game in the fall.

He said his biggest focus this summer is improving his agility and mobility.

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The Sept. 16 game with Central Michigan (2:30 p.m.) is a Peacock streaming exclusive. The rest of the home games are on both NBC and Peacock.

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You can submit questions early. Here's a shortcut to the question queue: https://live.jotcast.com/chat/notre-dame-football-live-chat-may-25-2023-15893.html

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With no current defensive tackles committed in the 2024 recruiting class, it seems like Notre Dame is prioritizing the position for the 2025 class in recent days. The latest prospect to report an offer from the Irish is Antonio Coleman.

The 6-foot-2, 265-pound defensive lineman from Saraland (Ala.) High had 69 tackles (20 for loss) and 3.5 sacks last season.

Coleman has 11 total offers including Notre Dame, Alabama, North Carolina State, Penn State, Texas A&M and Tennessee.

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Notre Dame softball (30-19-1) failed to keep its season alive Saturday evening after splitting games with Harvard and Arksans in the Arkansas Regional in Fayetteville, Ark.

The Irish defeated Harvard (29-17-1) 5-2 in their first elimination game Saturday.

After jumping out to a 2-0 lead, Notre Dame graduate student pitcher Payton Tidd allowed a Harvard home run to make it a one-point game. Crimson junior infielder Kendall Jean was responsible for the score. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Notre Dame scored its final three runs when junior infielder Karina Gaskins hit Notre Dame’s lone home run.

Gaskins led the Irish going 3-for-3 and adding five RBIs. Junior outfielder Carlli Kloss scored twice, while senior infielders Brooke Marquez and Joley Mitchell also scored.

Sophomore pitcher Shannon Becker relieved Tidd and earned the win on the mound, allowing three hits and zero runs. It improved her record to 8-3 for the season.

It was a quick turnaround for the Irish who matched up with Arkansas (40-18) a little over 30 minutes after defeating Harvard.

Freshman pitcher Micaela Kastor started for Notre Dame. She entered the game with a 7-4 record.

Arkansas found success early and captured a 2-0 lead after the first two innings. Sophomore outfielder Raigan Kramer recorded a RBI-single in the second inning.

The score kept even for the next few innings until the Razorbacks began the seventh inning. Redshirt utility Rylin Hedgecock homered to left field and gave Arkansas three runs scored as Kramer and freshman outfielder Regan Johnson were already on base. That sealed the Razorbacks' 5-0 victory.

In 24 at-bats, the Irish registered three hits. Graduate student infielder Lexi Orozco went 2-of-3 and hit singles in the bottom of the second and fourth innings, respectively. Mitchell also connected on a single in the bottom of the sixth inning and went 1-of-3.

Harvard BOX SCORE

Arkansas BOX SCORE

Thoughts?

1. Baker Mayfield
2. Cam Newton
3. Vince Young
4. Tim Tebow
5. Joe Burrow
6. Deshaun Watson
7. Kyler Murray
8. Lamar Jackson
9. Marcus Mariota
10. Robert Griffin III
11. Trevor Lawrence
12. Colt McCoy
13. Johnny Manziel
14. Kellen Moore
15. Sam Bradford
16. Jameis Winston
17. Matt Leinart
18. Andrew Luck
19. Bryce Young
20. CJ Stroud
21. Tua Tagovailoa
22. Phillip Rivers
23. Carson Palmer
24. Case Keenum
25. Jalen Hurts
26. Russell Wilson
27. Pat White
28. Ben Roethlisberger
29. Justin Fields
30. Rex Grossman
31. Colin Kaepernick
32. Jason White
33. Troy Smith
34. Graham Herrell
35. Chase Daniel
36. Ken Dorsey
37. Stetson Bennett
38. Mac Jones
39. Landy Jones
40. Alex Smith
41. Collin Klein
42. Colt Brennan
43. Aaron Murray
44. Byron Leftwich
45. Eric Crouch
46. Brady Quinn
47. Eli Manning
48. Kyle Trask
49. Jordan Lynch
50. Denard Robinson
51. Dan LeFevour
52. David Carr
53. Brad Banks
54. Keenan Reynolds
55. Joey Harrington
56. Mason Rudolph
57. Patrick Mahomes
58. Todd Reesing
59. Aaron Rodgers
60. Kenny Pickett
61. Matt Barkley
62. Max Duggan
63. Zach Wilson
64. Andy Dalton
65. Kevin Kolb
66. JT Barrett
67. AJ McCarron
68. Brad Smith
69. Davie Greene
70. Geno Smith
71. Brandon Weeden
72. Dak Prescott
73. Timmy Chang
74. Teddy Bridgewater
75. Matt Ryan

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Notre Dame offered 2025 defensive tackle Jarquez Carter Tuesday night.

The 6-foot-2, 266-pound defensive lineman attends Newberry (Fla.) High and had 78 tackles (23 for loss) and 10 sacks last season.

Carter is not yet rated or ranked by Rivals. He holds six offers including Notre Dame, Connecticut, Florida A&M, Penn State, South Florida and UCF.

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I'll have a complete writeup coming up in a bit.

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Notre Dame extended an offer to 2025 defensive tackle Christopher Isaiah Campbell Tuesday.

He attends Snow Hill (N.C.) Greene Central. Had 61 tackles including 17 for loss and five sacks last season.

The 6-foot-5, 265-pound recruit is rated as a four-star prospect in the 2025 recruiting class. He is ranked as the No. 11 defensive tackle in the class.

Campbell reports 12 offers including Notre Dame, Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Rutgers, South Carolina and Virginia.

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Just got off a Zoom with Notre Dame baseball coach Shawn Stiffler. Will share a few quick notes now, then have a full-blown notebook later today. The ACC Tourney got underway this morning (Tuesday) with Virginia Tech taking on Boston College in pool play. No. 8 seed Notre Dame plays its first pool-play game Wednesday at 11 a.m. EDT, against No. 12 Pitt. Lefty Aidan Tyrell gets the start on the mound for the Irish. ND plays No. 1 Wake Forest in pool play Friday night at 7. Blake Hely or Jackson Dennies will draw that start.

Third baseman Jack Penney will miss the ACC Tourney with a shoulder injury. He has begun fielding ground balls and taking batting practice, but the medical staff is optimistic he would be able to play in the NCAA Tournament the following weekend should the Irish make the 64-team field.

You will not see freshman linebacker/outfielder Drayk Bowen play in an ND game this season. The coaching staff decided to redshirt him, and he is already playing summer ball in the Midwest between now and when the Irish football team reports for summer workouts and summer school (June 12).

In the latest DI Baseball bracketology, the Irish are in the field as one of the last four teams in. They need to at least beat Pitt and probably Wake too to earn a bid.

Again, more later.

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FROM UND.COM

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The 2023 Aer Lingus College Football Classic featuring Notre Dame and Navy on August 26, 2023, at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, has officially sold out. Over 40,000 international fans are expected to make the trip for the event, including over 39,000 fans directly from the United States which represents a new world record for the largest number of Americans to travel internationally for a single sporting event.

The game between the Fighting Irish and Midshipmen will be the third meeting between the two historical college football teams in Ireland. The first was held November 2, 1996, at Croke Park in Dublin, a 52-27 Notre Dame victory. The most recent was September 1, 2012, when the Irish defeated the Midshipmen 50-10 at Aviva Stadium. The 2023 meeting will be the first Notre Dame home game played in Ireland, as the previous two meetings were Navy home game designations in the series.

The 2023 College Football Classic has been valued in an independent report from Fáilte Ireland and Grant Thornton to be worth in excess of €147 million to the Irish economy. Based on previous college football events held in Ireland, data indicates that American visitors for the game will stay an average of seven nights in Ireland and visit three different destinations. The most popular of those destinations include Dublin, Galway, Belfast, Killarney and Cork.

“The Aer Lingus College Football Classic Series is a really important event for the tourism and hospitality sector in Dublin and all across the island and I am pleased to support the series via funding from Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland,” said Minister for Tourism, Catherin Martin T.D.

“The game in August will also provide opportunities for business, education and other sectoral exchanges between Ireland and US and will further strengthen the cultural, sporting and affinity links between our two countries.”

“The demand for tickets for the 2023 Aer Lingus College Football Classic proves that Ireland is the home of College Football outside of the United States,” said Padriac O’Kane, the Co-Founder and Director of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic.

“This year’s event in Dublin will see the largest movement of Americans into Europe in peace time with the game set to provide a huge boost to the Irish economy and hospitality sector.”

The game will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. Dublin time on August 26th, with additional events such as pep rallies, pregame tailgate parties, medical summits, business networking opportunities and academic events planned in and around Dublin. The details will be announced in the lead up to the game.

The game will be televised live on NBC and Peacock in the United States while Sky Sports will also broadcast the game live to Irish and United Kingdom audiences.

The official game week app will go live at the start of July when the full official events program will be released. The app will be pushed out to all ticket holders, including the 40,354 international fans with a focus on recommendations for destinations, attractions, restaurants and bars across Dublin and Ireland. Businesses that want to leverage commercial opportunities on the game app can visit, www.collegefootballireland.com for more information.

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I talked with 2025 offensive line prospect Jake Cook Monday evening. The 6-foot-5, 290-pound offensive lineman has visited Notre Dame three times in the last year and is scheduled to camp at Notre Dame June 3.

Throughout the spring, Cook said he’s been exclusively working on speed and explosiveness with Eric Lichter of Plus 2 University in Columbus, Ohio.

Lichter was Ohio State’s director of strength and conditioning during head coach Marcus Freeman’s college career.

“I played around 315 and right now I'm about 291,” Cook said. “I'm trying to lean out before camp so I'm going in looking bigger, stronger and faster. My goal is to go in there [and] show these guys that I've changed my body a lot since the season. I'm a new guy.”

Cook said Notre Dame and offensive line coach Joe Rudolph had positive things to say about his weight loss during his April visit.

“They just say it shows discipline,” Cook said. “They know they have a guy that if they need him to lose weight, he can do it. If they need a guy to come in and put on weight, he can do it. I feel a lot faster [and] more mobile.”

Cook knew Rudolph from Virginia Tech and said he was excited when he joined Notre Dame’s staff.

“He has a great personality,” Cook said. I love his coaching style [and he] has a lot of passion for the game.”

Cook reports 12 offers including Akron, Central Michigan, Miami (Ohio), Toledo and UNLV.

He’s also speaking with schools like Illinois, Penn State, Pittsburgh and West Virginia. He told me he’s planning to camp at Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Ohio State this summer.

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Several Notre Dame mentions from this group in this report from Adam Friedman and Clint Cosgrove.

Notre Dame 2024 four-star defensive end target Loghan Thomas announced he’ll make his college commitment Wednesday.

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The 6-foot-4, 210-pound weakside defensive end from Katy (Tex.) Paetow High School visited the Irish last weekend and detailed his trip with Inside ND Sports.

Thomas is scheduled to make an official visit to Notre Dame on June 9-11. He doesn't have any other visits scheduled.

He is ranked as the No. 9 weakside defensive end in the 2024 recruiting class.

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