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I spoke with 2025 cornerback target Mark Zackery today. Notre Dame offered the 6-foot, 160-pound cornerback from Indianapolis (Ind.) Ben Davis May 5. Zackery camped at Notre Dame last summer and also visited for the Clemson game in November.

Zackery received his offer from cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens.

"I knew he was a great guy because he told my coach that he was going to come out when there wasn't going to be any more coaches but just him," Zackery told Inside ND Sports. "He wanted to see how I worked. He is a stand-up guy and actually wants to see what I'm about."

In seven games for Ben Davis last season, Zackery registered 18 tackles and four pass deflections. Zackery also averaged 6.6 points per game off the bench for the Giants varsity boys basketball team that went 34-0 and won the Class 4A IHSSA State Championship.

Zackery said he played quarterback up until eighth grade and is learning more about the cornerback position each day. Zackery believes his basketball experience and physical measurements help him excel in the secondary.

"I went to the doctor yesterday and they said my growth plates are still open so I may be getting an extra inch or two," Zackery said. "My arms are 6-foot-8. I use my length to my advantage by playing zone, cover two and baiting the quarterback into making throws where I can get interceptions or pass breakups. In man coverage, I just use my speed. I also play receiver so that helps knowing when the receivers are going to break [and] what moves their going to make."

Zackery has 24 total offers including Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Indiana, Iowa, Louisville, Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas A&M and USC. He is also receiving interest from Ohio State. He is scheduled to return to Notre Dame for camp in June and plans to see things he hasn't on his first two visits.

"I only got to see certain things," Zackery said. "Getting to see all of the athletics buildings like the indoor facility, Notre Dame Stadium and more of the academic side of things is definitely something. I also want to see how their weight room works and how their day-to-day schedule is because school plays a big part for me."

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Stephen Hrustich reached on a bases-loaded fielding error with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning, allowing Owen McElfatrick to race home with the winning run, as Big Ten doormat Northwestern upended Notre Dame, 8-7, in a non-conference baseball game Tuesday night at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

The Irish (29-20) finish the regular season Thursday through Saturday on the road against 22nd-ranked Boston College, looking to secure an NCAA Tournament bid in that ACC series.

Will Ferrer went 4-for-6 with four RBis for the Wildcats (9-38), with a double and a two-run, eighth-inning homer off Ryan Lynch that tied the game at 7-7.

Brooks Coetzee went 2-for-5 with a homer for the irish. Vinny Martinez and TJ Williams also had two hits apiece. Carter Putz had two RBIs.

Reliever Will Mercer (3-1) absorbed his first loss of the season, despite allowing only one hit in his 2 ⅔ innings of work, while striking out six.

BOX SCORE

Today I learned that one of our competing networks included Robby Carmody as a potential starting offensive guard for Notre Dame in a story that ranked the Irish offensive line as third-best in the country.

Taking inspiration from the blunder, let's brainstorm: which former Notre Dame men's basketball player would be the most effective as an offensive guard?

I'm leading off with Jack Cooley.

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From USA BASKETBALL

USA Basketball announced Monday the 2023 USA Women's U19 National Team following three days of trials in Colorado Springs. The 12-member roster, selected from 23 trials invitees, will compete at the 2023 FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup from July 15-23 in Madrid.

The team was selected by the USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee and will reconvene for training camp in Colorado Springs on July 2.

The roster includes athletes who enrolled early or were college freshman in 2022-23 and members of the high school graduating classes of 2023 or 2024. Athletes eligible for this team must be U.S. citizens, born on or after Jan. 1, 2004.

The 2023 Women’s U19 National Team includes Madison Booker, Aalyah Del Rosario, Jadyn Donovan, Joyce Edwards, Hannah Hidalgo, Londynn Jones, Chloe Kitts, Talana Lepolo, Cotie McMahon, Kiki Rice, Grace VanSlooten and Allie Ziebell.

Joni Taylor (Texas A&M University) will serve as the USA’s head coach along with assistants DeLisha Milton-Jones (Old Dominion University) and Teri Moren (Indiana University).

The 2023 FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup features 16 teams. FIBA announced that the U.S. drew Group B with Chinese Taipei, Germany and Mali. For more information, click here.

The USA has won the gold medal at the competition in eight of the last nine editions, including the last two. The event, now in its 15th staging, will be the first FIBA competition to use an innovative glass floor court.

Notre Dame offered 2026 safety Blaine Bradford Wednesday night.

The 6-foot-2, 170-pound defensive back attends Baton Rouge (La.) Catholic. He reports 17 offers including Notre Dame, Baylor, Florida State, LSU, Oregon, Penn State, TCU, Tennesee and Texas A&M.

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I caught up with 2026 quarterback target Brady Smigiel this evening. The 6-foot-4, 197-pound quarterback from Newbury Park (Calif.) High reported an offer from Notre Dame last Thursday after working out for quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli.

“He seemed very cool and very intelligent with what he was doing,” Smigiel told Inside ND Sports. “He wanted me to throw a couple routes which I don’t get to see a lot. Normally, I just throw it and the coaches talk to my dad. Coach Guidugli wanted to see specific stuff, which I really liked.”

Smigiel said he’s excited about Notre Dame because they offer the complete package for student-athletes.

“What I think about when I think of Notre Dame is legacy,” Smigiel said. “When it comes to academics as well as football, they’ve always been at the top. That’s the biggest thing for me is to build the connection and really good relationship with the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator and academics.”

As a freshman, Smigiel completed 228 of 346 passes for 3479 yards. He threw 46 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He added 182 rushing yards for five touchdowns on 62 carries.

Rivals has not assigned star ratings or rankings to any prospects in the 2026 recruiting class.

Smigiel already holds 20 total offers including Florida State, Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Penn State, Utah and Virginia Tech.

He told me he’s planning to visit Notre Dame for the first time this summer.

“There’s just such a big legacy at Notre Dame and I don’t know enough about it,” Smigiel said. “I definitely want to learn about the legacy that Notre Dame has had because it’s gone so far back. To build relationships with the coaches, see the atmosphere in the stadium and how the coaches work with the players would be really awesome.”

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Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington spent time in Cleveland today and will again tomorrow. That resulted in a new offer for 2025 athlete Bo Jackson. He played running back, safety and linebacker for Villa Angela St. Joseph last season.

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Can ND win an NC during HCMF’s tenure? Anytime in the foreseeable future?

What is Notre Dame Football’s Future?

And of course, explain your thinking.

After listening to Brady Quinn, I am more confident about ND and NIL. It will not hold ND football back.

I am concerned about admissions and both the Portal and high school recruiting. Do I blame admissions? No. They are not in charge. Do I blame the administration? Damn right. But we never seem to hear talk about them. We hear about what profs in different departments demand.

First, I have quite a bit of respect for ND profs. I had a lot who were really good at their jobs and a few who changed my intellectual life. They MADE me grow intellectually and they set me up to grow even more, independently, as I got older. I am indebted to these profs, big time.

I have also been a central office administrator and a superintendent of schools. I know that you can’t leave policy decisions to individual teachers (or profs). Policy is not their wheelhouse. They aren’t trained to develop policy and their vested interests preclude sound policy decision making.

Given the chance, why should profs decide to admit any students who learn differently than their current students or who bring to their classroom learning deficits and needs they currently never have to face? Hey, you have a great job. What do you think about making it a lot harder and taking a lot longer?

The administration must make that decision and they must figure out how to help profs do what they would be asking them to do.

In 1999, I had a book published by a renowned academic publishing company. It provided a great calling card. Virtually ever GSE dean from Harvard to Stanford too my calls. ND, however, had and has no GSE, so I called the Provost. He took my call, but told me I would have to talk to individual professors. If one of them brought the book to him, he could consider talking to others about it. But he could no initiate such a conversation on his own.

The administration is not in charge of the academic programs at ND. The profs are. There is a lot that can be said for that approach, but when it extends to admission policies, it creates a huge problem for HCMF and M&WBB. Until that changes, HCMF will not win an NC unless he gets galactically lucky. Too many rules are stacked against luck.

Can anyone talk me off this discouraging ledge?

Right here:

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I just got off the phone with 2026 outside linebacker target Talanoa Ili. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound defender attends Orange (Calif.) Lutheran and landed an offer from Notre Dame last Friday.

“I was excited,” Ili told Inside ND Sports. “Notre Dame's a big-time school and that's my grandma's favorite school … I was loving it. When I was growing up, Manti Te’o was a big part of me knowing who Notre Dame was. When I saw my grandma watching Notre Dame, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is the school.’”

Ili said defensive coordinator Al Golden liked his film and versatility at the linebacker position.

“I'm able to cover, play off the ball and rush the passer,” Ili said. "There's always room for improvement, and if I want to go to the next level I got to keep improving."

After having 70 tackles including 15 for loss as a freshman, Ili reports 11 offers including Michigan State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon, USC, Utah and Washington.

Ili said atmosphere, education, relationship with coaches and his fit in the program's defensive scheme are important factors in his recruitment.

Rivals has not assigned any star ratings or rankings to prospects in the 2026 recruiting class.

Ili doesn’t have any set dates for visits this summer or fall but said the Irish are in strong consideration moving forward.

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Report via Tyler James.

Rhode Island graduate transfer Antonio Carter II discusses his decision to play safety at Notre Dame, the difficulty of informing LSU and Florida of his decision, who helped guide him through the transfer process, his future role in ND's defense, why he decided to enter the portal in the first place, the interest he received from so many programs, what role NIL played in his process and more.

Then @Eric Hansen and I answer questions from Twitter and The Insider Lounge (20:02).

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Story by Tyler James

Bryce Young's personal-best 22.99-second clocking Saturday in Charlotte, N.C., in the 200-,meter dash, impressive when you consider he's 6-foot-5, 240.

It came during the prelims at the Conference of Independent Schools Athletic Association (CISAA) championships, Young finished fifth in the finals. He also ran 11.46 in the 100.and threw the shot put 44 feet 6.25 inches, another personal best. Young, the son of former Notre Dame All-American Bryant Young, is one of 16 committed recruits in Notre Dame football's 2024 class.

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His picture on his Rivals ID is the GOAT.

Similar to 2024 linebacker target Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa last week, 2025 linebacker target Kamar Archie is in the weight room and hit 225 pounds on the bench press for 20 reps.

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The 6-foot-3, 200-pound inside linebacker landed an offer from Notre Dame on ND’s annual Pot Of Gold Day recruiting event in March.

Archie is rated as a four-star prospect in the 2025 recruiting class. He is ranked as the No. 190 overall player in the 2025 class and No. 8 inside linebacker.

He attends Princeton (N.J.) Hun School and reports 18 offers including Notre Dame, Georgia, Iowa, Oklahoma, Penn State, Rutgers, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

He visited Oklahoma, Penn State and Rutgers this spring,

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One of the 2024 prospects Notre Dame evaluated earlier this month has reported a Notre Dame offer: DB Malcolm Ziglar. Notre Dame's looking at him more as a safety than cornerback but he can play both.

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@RivalsFriedman is traveling all over the East Coast this month to evaluate the top recruits in the region. Because Rivals has 2024 linebacker target Chris Cole as a three-star recruit, I wanted to get his thoughts on him as Cole's offer list continues to grow with the likes of Alabama and USC joining the race.

Friedman saw Cole in action Sunday at the Baltimore stop of the Under Armour Next Football Camp Series. Cole was named MVP of the linebacker group.

"Chris Cole is a very good outside linebacker prospect. When I first saw him a couple months back, I put that high three-star rating on him. He's even developed a lot since then. He's gotten a little bit thicker in the lower half. He does a really good job covering in the first 15-20 yards. But on downfield routes, he could end up being more of a liability. But in game scenarios, it's very unlikely that he'll be put in that situation like he is in a camp.

"Length is definitely a plus for him. It's an asset he relies on. I like him as a player. I'm excited to see what translates on the field in the fall."

Cole is scheduled to make an official visit to Notre Dame on June 9-11.

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The Irish (29-17-1) made the NCAA Tournament field for the 24th consecutive time -- the third-longest streak nationally.

ND is in the four-team Fayetteville Regional hosted by national 11 seed Arkansas (38-17).

The Razorbacks open the double-elimination reginal against Harvard (29-15-1), while the Irish face Oregon (35-15). The ND game is set for 5 p.m. EDT on Friday and aired on ESPN2.

COMPLETE NCAA BRACKET

The FUND collective for which former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn has been a major driving force dropped a press release this evening announcing a collaboration with Notre Dame Global Partnerships, its newly elected board members and its day-to-day staff.

@Eric Hansen will be working on getting some more details on what this means in practical terms rather than public relations terms. Here's the release:

SOUTH BEND, Ind., May 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Friends of the University of Notre Dame, Inc., a collective working to bring NIL opportunities to Notre Dame student-athletes, is announcing its collaboration with Notre Dame Global Partnerships.

"We are so proud to be able to work with a tremendous organization and board of directors at Friends of the University of Notre Dame," said University of Notre Dame Vice President and James E. Rohr Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick. "The work of this organization is critical to our pursuit of national championships and we couldn't have found a better supporter of that vision. Lastly, a tremendous thank you to Brady Quinn for his dedication to this endeavor to create opportunities for our student-athletes."

Founded in 2022, Friends of the University of Notre Dame is a stand-alone 501(c)(3) registered non-profit and its vision is to provide NIL opportunities for Notre Dame student-athletes while advocating for and advancing charitable endeavors on a local, national and international level.

"We are proud to work with Notre Dame Athletics through Friends of the University of Notre Dame to further advance, empower and enrich Notre Dame student-athletes to be a 'force for good' by promoting charitable causes they are passionate about," said Friends of the University of Notre Dame founder, Brady Quinn.

Recently, Friends of the University of Notre Dame elected new board members to join its efforts in providing an enhanced breadth of leadership, fundraising expertise, operational excellence and deep engagement with the University of Notre Dame. The Board of Directors includes:

• Jordan Cornette, former Notre Dame men's basketball player and current ACC + ESPN media personality
• Greg Dugard, former AVP of Principal Gifts at Notre Dame and current partner, Sator Grove (newly elected chair of Friends of Notre Dame)
• Jimmy Dunne, vice chair and senior managing principal, Piper Sandler (newly elected vice chair of Friends of Notre Dame)
• Pat Eilers, former Notre Dame football player and current founder, managing partner, Transition Equity Partners
• Jay Flaherty, founder and managing partner, Corby 2.0, LLC
• Tracy Graham, former Notre Dame football player and current founder, managing partner, Graham-Allen Partners
• Karen Keyes, former Notre Dame women's basketball player and current Notre Dame women's basketball color commentator
• Chris Reyes, chair, Reyes Holdings
• Brady Quinn, former Notre Dame football player and current FOX sports media personality

In addition to a revamped Board of Directors, Friends of the University of Notre Dame has recently invested in a dynamic day-to-day staff led by Executive Director Kevin Klau. Klau spent the past two decades at Danaher Corporation, including several senior leadership roles, helping drive one of the great compounding stories in the last 50 years. In his role as Executive Director, Klau will ensure that Notre Dame student-athletes have the resources necessary to enable NIL participation in a manner compliant with applicable laws and regulations, including those set forth by the State of Indiana, the NCAA and the University of Notre Dame. In addition to Klau, Megan Whitt continues to lead operations for Friends of the University of Notre Dame.

"I want to thank the past and present Board members for their work, and the University for their tremendous collaboration. This is an exciting day for Notre Dame and will set the stage for its student-athletes to continue to compete for championships for years to come," Brady Quinn further remarked.

About Friends of Notre Dame
The mission of Friends of the University of Notre Dame (www.fundfoundation.org) is to enable University of Notre Dame student-athletes to advocate for and amplify the work of nonprofits to help fulfill their respective charitable missions by doing in-person appearances and social media promotion. The Notre Dame student-athlete will receive payment for their work, while Friends of the University of Notre Dame will also provide donations to the non-profits. Through its first year of existence, the efforts of over 150 Notre Dame student-athletes have served 10 charities and generated hundreds of thousands of dollars of verified impact to the partner organizations.

About Notre Dame Global Partnerships

Notre Dame Global Partnerships (NGDP)(https://www.jmisports.com/our-partners/notre-dame-global-partnerships/) manages the sales, marketing, sponsorship, multimedia rights, and branding services for the University of Notre Dame's Athletics (www.und.com) programs. Founded in 2018, NDGP is a joint venture between JMI Sports and Legends, formed to build integrated partnerships with industry-leading partners that share the University's commitment to both academic and athletic excellence. Notre Dame's status as one of the most recognizable and iconic institutions in collegiate athletics offers brands a unique opportunity to connect with fans, students, and alumni globally. NDGP is creating new and innovative partnerships that contribute to the University's mission while also upholding its storied history and tradition.

Contact: Friends of the University of Notre Dame info@fundfoundation.org

Much more here:

@Eric Hansen and I will be back for another Inside ND Sports podcast Tuesday. 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!