People down by the campus, check in here and update us on how many buckeyes are in or around campus. Hoping for a real home field advantage.

The game is getting massive coverage. Big article. Many experts are picking ND to win.

Vince Vaughn.

Really enjoyed doing this one-on-one with the longtime college football analyst, who's in his first year with NBC after 29 with ABC, CBS and ESPN. ... He called OSU wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., the best college receiver he's EVER seen. ... Had great things to say and interesting insights on Sam Hartman and how he changes the dynamic of this matchup.

@Adam Gorney highlights 10 of the biggest visits across the country this weekend. Three of them are Notre Dame visitors.

For the first time since June's official visits and July's Grill & Chill recruiting event, Notre Dame football plans to host most of its commits in the 2024 and 2025 recruiting classes in the same place on Saturday for the Ohio State game.

17 of Notre Dame’s 2024 commits are expected to be on campus including four-star quarterback commit CJ Carr and all three Irish 2025 commits plan to be in attendance.

There is also a large number of 2025 targets scheduled to be returning to campus or making their first trip.

Inside ND Sports looks at which targets, commits and prospects are expected at Notre Dame on Saturday.

The running visitors thread has been fully updated to reflect which recruits plan to be there on Saturday.

@Charleston Bowles has been hard at work reaching out to recruits for weeks now to see if they're planning to visit for Saturday's Ohio State game. As always, updates are listed in our "Running visitors list" thread, but I wanted to highlight the targets and commits we've been in communication with. We still have some more to track down too.

Big week!

2024 S target Davis Andrews
2024 DT target Nnamdi Ogboko (Georgia commit)

2025 RB target Daniel Anderson
2025 OT target Matty Augustine
2025 WR target Jerome Bettis Jr.
2025 S target JaDon Blair
2025 DE target Christopher Burgess Jr.
2025 OL target Rowan Byrne
2025 S target Jayce Cora
2025 LB target Dominik Hulak
2025 LB target Christian Jones
2025 LB target Marco Jones
2025 S target Ethan Long
2025 DE target CJ May
2025 WR target Cooper Perry
2025 OT target Michael Roeske
2025 LB target Anthony Sacca
2025 OT target Owen Strebig
2025 CB target Devin Williams
2025 CB target Mark Zackery

2026 QB target Noah Grubbs

2024 S commit Taebron Bennie-Powell (OV)
2024 QB commit CJ Carr
2024 WR commit Micah Gilbert
2024 CB commit Karson Hobbs
2024 LB commit Bodie Kahoun
2024 S commit Brauntae Johnson
2024 OL commit Peter Jones
2024 CB commit Leonard Moore
2024 OL commit Styles Prescod
2024 LB commit Teddy Rezac
2024 WR commit Logan Saldate
2024 DT commit Sean Sevillano Jr
2024 S commit Kennedy Urlacher
2024 LB commit Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa
2024 RB commit Aneyas Williams
2024 WR commit Cam Williams
2024 DE commit Bryce Young

2025 DT commit Davion Dixon
2025 QB commit Deuce Knight
2025 RB commit Justin Thurman

@Eric Hansen and I make prop bets and predictions ahead of Saturday's home game for No. 9 Notre Dame (4-0) against No. 6 Ohio State (3-0) in Notre Dame Stadium (7:30 p.m. EDT on NBC).

Inside ND Sports subscribers can submit their votes prop bet predictions all season long for a chance at a free year-long subscription. Voting for ND-OSU is open here.

On this week's list:

• Over/Under 95.5 rushing yards for ND RB Audric Estimé

• More sacks: Notre Dame or Ohio State?

• Over/Under 85.5 receiving yards for OSU WR Marvin Harrison Jr.

• Which team will have the longest play from scrimmage?

• Over/Under 2.5 passing touchdowns for ND QB Sam Hartman
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I updated The Heat Index tonight with the following:

Four-star OT Guerby Lambert rounding out ND's offensive line class.

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Five-star DT Justin Scott's heat rating remaining at "Mild" while the Irish are looking into unnamed (for now) defensive tackle options.

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Four-star CB Kaleb Beasley's heat rating being downgraded from "Hot" to "Mild."

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Three-star ATH Davis Andrews' heat rating remaining at "Extremely Hot" heading into his visit for the Ohio State game.

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Let's keep the good vibes rolling on the recruiting front for Notre Dame this week.

I've submitted a FutureCast prediction in favor of Notre Dame in the recruitment of 2025 running back Daniel Anderson. The Irish have been serious contenders for Anderson since offering him following his Irish Invasion camp performance in June. The four-star running back from Bryant (Ark.) High returned to campus in July for ND's Grill & Chill event. After that visit, our intel suggested Notre Dame was the leader in his recruitment. With Anderson returning for a third visit this weekend, I'm pulling the trigger on a FutureCast.

Rivals ranks Anderson as the No. 15 running back and No. 171 overall in the 2025 class. His relatively small offer list includes Colorado, Tennessee and Mississippi State.

The Irish are looking for Anderson to join four-star recruit Justin Thurman as running backs in the class.

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On Wednesday, I put in a Notre Dame FutureCast prediction for 2025 running back Daniel Anderson, a four-star recruit who will visit Notre Dame this weekend.

I'm ready to put in another FutureCast prediction in favor of Notre Dame for a recruit visiting Notre Dame this weekend. This time it's 2025 wide receiver Jerome Bettis Jr., a three-star recruit. Bettis is expected back in town for his fourth visit of the year. His last visit was for the Tennessee State game earlier this season.

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Notre Dame offered the son of legendary Irish running back Jerome Bettis back on St. Patrick's Day during the Pot of Gold Day recruiting event. Wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey has made Bettis a priority since then.

I probably could have put this prediction in sooner, but I've been waiting to see if anyone else emerged as a serious contender for Bettis. At this time, I don't think anyone else is a real threat against the Irish. So I'm putting this pick in now.

Will he make a commitment this weekend? It wouldn't be surprising, though I don't have any indication that's necessarily in the works. But I like where Notre Dame stands in this recruitment. His sister is also a freshman at Notre Dame.

Bettis has reported 15 scholarship offers including Texas A&M, Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Duke and NC State. Rivals ranks Bettis as the No. 34 prospect in Georgia for the 2025 class.

Below are highlights from Bettis' sophomore season at Atlanta Westminster. He's playing his junior season at Woodward Academy in College Park, Ga., where he's been credited with 11 catches for 144 yards and two touchdowns in four games.

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I'll officially submit the prediction on Friday, but I wanted to share my decision with our subscribers today.

ND Coaches, 5 Games In, Year 2

Of ND’s previous 14 coaches, two were undefeated after 5 games of their second year while 8 were 4-1. Freeman will either join Rockne and Layden as the only two undefeated at that point or the 8 who had won 4 and lost 1. The other one game loser was Leahy who also had a tie.

Harper

4-1

Final record: 6-2

Rockne

5-0

Final record: 9-0

Layden

5-0

Final record: 7-1-1 (beat OSU 18-13)

Leahy

3-1-1

Final record: 7-2-2

Brennan

4-1

Final record: 8-2

Kuharich

1-4

Final record : 2-8

Parseghian

4-1

Final record: 7-2-1

Devine

4-1

Final record: 9-3

Faust

4-1

Final record: 6-4-1

Holtz

4-1

Final record: 8-4

Davie

4-1

Final record: 9-3

Willingham

2-3

Final reord: 5-7

Weis

4-1

Final record: 10-3

Kelly

3-2

Final record: 8-5

According to Reel Analytics, Notre Dame wide receiver Tobias Merriweather hit a max speed of 21.4 MPH on his 75-yard touchdown from quarterback Sam Hartman during the first quarter of Notre Dame's 41-17 win against Central Michigan on Saturday.

This is slightly faster than Audric Estimé's 80-yard rushing touchdown against NC State, which Reel Analytics calculated at 20.9 MPH. I know there was some discussion about Merriweather's speed after he was caught by NC State linebacker Payton Wilson on his 45-yard catch against the Wolfpack.

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As I mentioned in last week's thread about Estimé, Reel Analytics is "an AI-powered sports tech & data company analyzing video to measure athleticism so coaches can evaluate talent more accurately.

The company has tracked the speed of three Notre Dame 2024 commits with wide receiver Cam Williams owning the fastest time at 22.0 MPH.

Please email sgibbons123456@gmail.com. thanks.

I’m excited/ curious to see what he comes up with against Osu. We have enough weapons, and a QB to make plays. However imo he will have to show new formations, and wrinkles to keep the Osu defense off balanced and not “ teeing off” on us.

The first 2 drives he needs to script something to have the team settle in; and avoid a early 3rd and long obvious passing situation like against NC St, because against Osu that will be a scoop n score. I say all of this out of optimism, I think we have the better team at home and can wear them down, if we settle in. Thoughts?

Login to view embedded media While Reel Analytics has been tracking the fastest college football players each week, they’ve also monitored speed in high school football.
According to an X (Twitter) post on Thursday, Notre Dame 2024 wide receiver Cam Williams is tied for the fastest player they’ve tracked this season.

The 6-foot-2, 180-pound wide receiver has hit a max speed of 22.6 MPH in one of his games this season. The only other player to reach that speed is LSU 2025 wide receiver commit Dakorien Moore.

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Williams is one of many names confirmed by Inside ND Sports that expect to be on campus Saturday for Ohio State.

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Before Notre Dame hosts most of its 2024 and 2025 commits and several targets from both recruiting classes on Saturday for Ohio State, the Irish had multiple 2026 offensive linemen on campus for their matchup with Central Michigan last weekend.

Offensive line coach Joe Rudolph has identified multiple prospects in the 2026 recruiting class early on but has only extended one offer to 2026 four-star offensive tackle Samuelu Utu out of Orange (Calif.) Orange Lutheran.

Lucas Tielsch, a sophomore offensive tackle at Copley (Ohio) High, visited the Irish on Saturday for the first time in his recruitment. He did not camp at Notre Dame this summer.

“The visit went great,” Tielsch told Inside ND Sports. “I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and I felt very welcome by the staff. One of my favorite things was walking on the field and seeing the stadium from the field point of view. Also watching the players walk in the stadium behind the bagpipes and seeing all the fans cheering them on was really great.”

Tielsch said he met and spoke with director of recruiting Chad Bowden and offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Gerad Parker down on the field pregame. He mentioned the atmosphere as electric and thought Notre Dame's offensive line imposed its will starting in the second half.

At 6-foot-6, 270-pounds, Tilesch said his two strongest traits are his aggression and competitiveness. He also mentioned being a team leader and communicating as parts of football he loves.

Tielsch holds three offers from Akron, Kent State and Toledo. He's also receiving interest from Ohio State. He camped with the Buckeyes this summer.

"It would be an absolute privilege and honor to receive an offer from Notre Dame," Tielsch said. "It would mean a lot knowing the history and the academic and athletic standards that Notre Dame has."

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Thanks to all who submitted questions for me and @Eric Hansen on our latest podcast. These are the questions we answered with timestamps.

30:01 | @Bob_Oxnard: What % of the stadium on Saturday will be filled with an ugly color (scarlet and gray)?

31:43 | @sjb75: 5 days out, and you have watched Notre Dame play 4 games. If Notre Dame is to win, what concerns you most, regarding Notre Dame's 11 against the Ohio St. 11 on both sides of the football, going into this game?

33:14 | @CharlesWWolfe: What position group vs position group battle do you think is the key to victory this week?

34:18 | Jack Quinn - @jq6008: How concerned are you about the D line’s rush defense given that they got gashed right up the middle by CMU?

36:42 | Marie Biafore - @biafore_marie: What can be done in practice to improve tackling for Saturday? Do you think sometimes simplifying the scheme would help players to tackle better? Less to worry/think about. I’m all for scheming up a defense, but feel like mixing in some vanilla defensive play might be helpful.

39:19 | Sammy Kranz - @skranzam: Will Al Golden let his DL eat on Saturday?? Or will he try to be the smartest coach on the field and scheme his way into pressure??

42:03 | @Dbl_Domer_Scott: Let’s talk about ND’s defense. Other than corners, is Al Golden and his scheme getting the most out of any of our players? If so, who? Does our defense accentuate any of the players’ talents and maximize their abilities? Why isn’t ND getting more tackles for loss and more sacks?

46:57 | @MikeDevoy1: With the Deuce Knight commitment, does ND continue recruiting Bear Bachmeier, given his connections to ND? It would be nice to have two highly ranked QBs in the class

49:27 | @drewbrennan77: Would a win this weekend by Notre Dame move Marcus Freeman up on the OSU future coaching list? Additionally, where would you have him slotted right now on that list?

53:33 | Olivier Daoust - @OliDaoust: Who should be the guest picker at College GameDay? Any clue? I’ll put Sean Astin for 30 years of Rudy!

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Rivals basketball recruiting director Rob Cassidy highlights Notre Dame men's basketball pledge Garrett Sundra as an under-the-radar commitment.

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@RivalsFriedman says Notre Dame DE commit Bryce Young has raised his play.


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Notre Dame is gearing up for its biggest recruiting weekend of the season on Saturday against Ohio State. Inside ND Sports will continue to have updates on the running visitors list thread and have a full visitors preview later this week.

Last Saturday, the Irish didn’t host many big names from the 2025 recruiting class for their win against Central Michigan but did welcome some noteworthy prospects in the 2026 class that could receive offers next spring. One of those prospects was 2026 offensive lineman Gregory Patrick, who visited Notre Dame in April.

"It was super fun," Patrick said. "I was able to eat before and talk with some of the recruiting assistants then went to the game. My favorite moment was seeing the team run out of the tunnel and the opening kickoff. I was able to talk to [recruiting associate] Caleb [Davis] for a while when I was there. I also talked to [offensive line] coach [Joe] Rudolph quickly after the game. I felt it was super welcoming, especially after being there in the spring."

The 6-foot-4, 255-pound recruit attends Portage (Mich.) Northern and already reports seven total offers including Central Michigan, Miami (Ohio), Michigan State, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Toledo and Western Michigan.

Patrick isn’t currently rated or ranked. He visited Michigan State earlier this month. He said an offer from Notre Dame would mean a lot because he's looked up to the program growing up because of its academics and tradition.

The Irish have only offered one offensive lineman in the 2026 recruiting class, four-star offensive tackle Samuelu Utu.

Despite a few holding penalties, Notre Dame's offensive line didn't allow a sack and helped pave the way for running back Audric Estimé's career-high 176 rushing yards.

"I thought it was a great game for the Irish and an impressive offensive performance," Patrick said, "I thought the stadium and crowd was something that I never expected to be so great there."

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And people thought he was gonna be an NFL coach

100 yards in the first half.
2/8 on 3rd down
3 points
Vs USF