As we reported in Trail Tracks, defensive coordinator Al Golden was expected to visit McKinney (Texas) High for 2025 LB prospect Riley Pettijohn. That visit has resulted in a Notre Dame offer.

The Irish joined an offer list that also includes Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, Michigan and others.

Rivals lists Pettijohn as a safety, but the Irish are recruiting him at linebacker.

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I spoke with 2025 offensive tackle target Josh Petty today. He landed an Irish offer yesterday morning after offensive line coach Joe Rudolph visited him on the road at Roswell (Ga.) Fellowship Christian School. Rudolph gave Petty one of his first offers back in January while at Virginia Tech.

"I've always been a fan of Coach Rudolph," Petty told Inside ND Sports. "I really like him as a guy [and] getting the offer meant a lot to me being that it is such a prestigious school. My emotions were extreme happiness when finding out."

At 6-foot-5, 245-pounds, Petty said he utilizes his athleticism and length to his advantage. Before his junior season, Petty told me he's working on adding muscle mass and size. He said Rudolph believes he fits what the Irish are building in the trenches.

"He really likes my film and how I play," Petty said. "Getting to know him has been great. I can tell that he genuinely cares about the sport and his guys."

Petty has not been assigned a star rating or ranking but holds an impressive offer list. He reports 12 offers including Notre Dame, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Growing up, Petty said one of his babysitters was a Notre Dame fan and remembers stories about the school. Expect Petty to visit Notre Dame in the near future.

"I can't wait to go up to Notre Dame," Petty said. "I'm planning to sometime in the summer and I'm very excited. I'd love to see a couple [of] games just to see their environment from their fans because that's a big part of me choosing a school."

Story: https://notredame.rivals.com/news/2...n-joe-rudolph-emotions-after-notre-dame-offer

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How did Mayer not go in the first round. The guy from Utah went before him. I thought Mayer was the best available. I just hope he doesn’t go to detroit . Maybe he should have stayed in school. He got shafted by bowers for the awards now this. He got that degree though. Go Irish

Notre Dame officially announced Wednesday the additions of player development and recruiting coordinator Grady Eifert and assistant to the head coach Tre Whitted to the men's basketball staff for head coach Micah Shrewsberry.

Both Eifert and Whitted were on Shrewsberry's Penn State staff for two seasons.

Job descriptions from Notre Dame ...

For Eifert: Produce all video utilized by the coaching staff for scouting, recruiting and game prep; assist with recruiting activities

For Whitted: Manage shootarounds, practice plans and individual player workouts; assist with opponent scouts/breakdown of film, public relations and community efforts with Shrewsberry and on-campus recruiting visits.

Released statements from each ...

Eifert: “I am very grateful to continue my coaching career with Coach Shrewsberry at Notre Dame. His experience and leadership has taught me valuable lessons over the last several years. I am looking forward to being apart of the Notre Dame family!”

Whitted: “It’s an absolute honor to rejoin Coach Shrews here at Notre Dame. His core values as a person, knowledge of the game as a coach, and determination as a leader are all inspiring. The rich history and success of Notre Dame Men’s basketball speaks for itself and I’m excited to be a part of it."

Background info ...

Eifert is the younger brother of former Notre Dame All-America tight end Tyler Eifert. The younger Eifert started his college basketball career as a walk-on at Purdue in 2015 before earning a scholarship as a sophomore. As a senior in 2018-19, Eifert averaged 5.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. When Shrewsberry returned to Notre Dame in 2019, Eifert started his coaching career as a graduate assistant. Eifert then followed Shrewsberry to Penn State to serve as the program's video coordinator.

Whitted had the same title on Shrewsberry's staff at Penn State. The two were connected at Marshall when Whitted was a player and Shrewsberry was director of basketball operations (2003-05). Whitted, a product of Wilmington, N.C., finished his Marshall career (2003-07) ranked in the top five in minutes played and top 15 in 3-pointers made in program history. Whitted played in the Premier Basketball League and NBA Developmental League for four years before becoming a coach/trainer.

Whitted spent time as a basketball skills trainer with Blizzard Athletics and became president/CEO of Groundwork Player Development from 2015-20. There he worked with players from elementary school to the pros. Whitted also spent seven months as with Blue Wave Basketball Academy. Whitted became an assistant coach for the NBA G League's Maine Red Claws for the 2019-20 season and assisted with the Boston Celtics in 2019 preseason training camp.

Heading into this weekend's three-game home series with NC State, Notre Dame is one of 10 ACC teams D1 Baseball projects into the NCAA Tourney Field of 64. Here's a link to the entire 64-team projection, including the first few teams not to make the cut: https://d1baseball.com/projections/d1baseball-field-of-64-projections-week-12/

It's the first of a three-game ACC series with NC State. Both teams are projected to be in the field of 64 for the NCAA Baseball Tournament at the moment, but this is a critical series for both to stay in the field. Admission for ND home games is free.

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@Tyler James has been all over this since last month. Notre Dame officially offered Anthony Robinson III this morning.

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Former Notre Dame signee Brady Dunlap, a 6-foot-7 shooting guard from Los Angeles, committed to play for Rick Pitino at St. John's. There didn't seem to be much mutual traction between Dunlap and the new ND staff after Dunlap was released from his NLI following the Mike Brey news.

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For roughly five months after commencement on May 21, the Golden Dome of Notre Dame's Main Building will be regilded. The dome was last regilded in 2005.

So if you want a picture of the Golden Dome between May 22 and mid-October, you're probably going to have some scaffolding in the photo.

@Clint Cosgrove picked three college football players originally from the Midwest who have first-round NFL Draft potential. I think you know who one of them is.

Barret Liebentritt is a 6-foot, 235-pound junior from Omaha, Neb. He played in all 13 games last season on Notre Dame's kickoff return team.

Commitment No. 13 for Notre Dame's 2024 class in three-star safety Kennedy Urlacher. He's the second son of a Pro Football Hall of Famer to commit to the Irish in the last three days.


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After one season as LSU's special teams coordinator under Brian Kelly, Polian was moved to a role as the program's general manager. That stint will be short-lived as Polian has now been named the next athletic director at John Carroll University. Polian is a 1997 graduate of John Carroll.

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Notre Dame extended an offer to 2026 safety Jireh Edwards last Thursday. I had a phone call with Edwards tonight to discuss his offer, his relationship with defensive coordinator Al Golden and more.

The 6-foot-2, 192-pound defender is transferring to Baltimore (Md.) St. Frances for his sophomore year after playing for Upper Marlboro (Md.) Rock Creek Christian last season. He met with Golden on a school visit last Thursday and received the news of his offer.

"Coach Golden had wanted me to come up to Notre Dame [and] wanted to offer me," Edwards told Inside ND Sports. "He said [head coach] Marcus Freeman basically liked me and the type of guy I am [and] my type of work ethic.

"For Coach Golden to even contact me and let me know how of a good player I am, it's amazing [and] I'm extremely blessed," Edwards said. "In the future, hopefully, I can learn from him and with him."

Although Rivals has not assigned star ratings or rankings to prospects in the 2026 recruiting class, Edwards already reports 18 offers including Nore Dame, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Tennessee and Texas A&M.

Edwards said education will be an important factor in his decision but doesn't have any other top priorities at the moment. Instead of concentrating on offers, Edwards said he's focused on improving his coverage skills and getting better each day.

Edwards told me he's planning two visits to Notre Dame, one this summer and one for a game in the fall.

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Now that we're back from the Cincinnati Rivals Camp, @Charleston Bowles and I are getting a chance to get on the phone with some of the recruits who visited Notre Dame for the Blue-Gold Game and earlier in the week.

We'll post some notes on those recruits in this thread.

I just got off the phone four-star DE TJ Lindsey. The 2024 target from Arkansas made his return to Notre Dame late Friday night for the first time since July.

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The highlight of his visit was getting to see defensive line coach Al Washington in action.

"Me and Coach Wash, we've been talking for almost a year now," Lindsey said. "Our relationship is way deeper than football. I just feel like we have that type of bond. That's somebody you'd definitely want to play for. He's just a legendary coach as is. He's a really good D-line coach, one of the best in the game."

Lindsey was impressed by the defensive line performance during the scrimmage. Vyper end Jordan Botelho stuck out to him especially.

"I liked what I saw," Lindsey said. "They were definitely physical, fitting gaps, making plays, causing plays."

Notre Dame is recruiting Lindsey as a field end early in his career with the potential to move inside to defensive tackle sooner rather than later.

Lindsey has been busy on the recruiting trail and that will continue. He plans to visit Oregon this week and has visits scheduled to Auburn, Georgia and Miami in the first couple weeks of May.

He plans to take five official visits in June. So far he's picked Auburn (2-4), Texas A&M (16-18) and Texas (23-25). He said there's about four or five schools in contention for those other two official visits, but he didn't want to name them.

What was his feeling about Notre Dame after leaving campus?

"It's still good. They're still on my list right now. I'm going to cut it to a top 10, and I have a couple more visits. It's getting tougher as I go on. They definitely have a chance to still be on the list, but we'll see though."

Lindsey hopes to make a commitment decision by sometime early in his senior season.

Photo credit: Jeff Douglas, Inside ND Sports

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I caught up with 2025 power forward target Trent Sisley this evening. The 6-foot-7, 200-pound recruit attends Santa Claus (Ind.) Heritage Hills and plays for Indy Heat Gym Rats on the Nike EYBL Circuit. Sisley received an offer from head coach Micah Shrewsberry over the phone last Wednesday after Notre Dame's coaching staff watched him in Atlanta April 21-23.

“I liked how he explained how he wants to play and kind of how I would fit that,” Sisley told Inside ND Sports. “He said that he likes the way I play the right way.”

As a sophomore, Sisley was named 1st Team Pocket Athletic Conference (PAC) All-Conference after averaging 26.3 points and 10.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game. He scored 30 or more points seven times and registered 13 double-doubles. He was also selected to the IBCA Underclass All-State Supreme 15 team in March.

Although listed as a power forward, Sisley routinely handles the ball on the perimeter and shoots 3-pointers. He said his ability to peform multiple things on the court is one of his strengths.

“I think I can bring my versatility and toughness to the college game,” Sisley said. “I can shoot the ball and also play in transition. I enjoy pushing myself and learning new things along the way.”

Sisley is rated as a four-star prospect and is ranked No. 37 in the 2025 recruiting class. As he experiences increased competition in the Nike EYBL, Sisley remains motivated.

“My biggest goals for this summer are to showcase my strengths and continue to improve my game,” Sisley said. “For my workouts, I just try to keep improving my shooting and continue to add new moves to my game. My motivation comes from just wanting to get better each and every day.”

Sisley holds nine offers including Notre Dame, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State and Purdue, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Sisley told me program culture will be important as his recruitment ramps up. He also said he wants to find a coach that runs a play style that fits his game. He said Notre Dame is in strong consideration moving forward and plans to visit campus soon.

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Rivals national recruiting director @Adam Gorney discusses how much activity he saw nationally in the transfer portal's April window, QB Tyler Buchner's decision to transfer from Notre Dame to Alabama, how the transfer portal is impacting recruiting, if the Irish can find success in the portal with mostly graduate transfers and freshmen, the future at quarterback for Notre Dame with Kenny Minchey and CJ Carr, new Notre Dame safety commit Kennedy Urlacher's talent, what the Irish are pursuing in four-star WR Jason Robinson and four-star LB Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and more.

Then @Eric Hansen and I answer questions from Twitter and The Insider Lounge (29:34).

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Rivals national analyst @Nick Harris just shared a story with us about 2024 ATH Anthony Robinson III from Louisiana. Robinson has started to hear from Notre Dame lately and plans to visit the Irish on June 4. The Irish are evaluating him as a safety.


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Notre Dame decided to cancel today's home game against Bowling Green due to inclement weather. It's basically been raining on and off for the last two days.

Keep in mind, if ND finishes anywhere between 1 and 8 in the final CFP rankings, they'll host a first-round game. BRRRRRRR. The highest the Irish can be seeded is 5th, but rule since they can't be a conference champ. ... They'll also have to figure out an alternative plan with final exams, since exam dates in 2024 are Dec. 16-20 and in 2025 Dec, 15-19.

2024 Season
First Round (On-Campus)

• Friday, December 20, 2024: One Game (evening)
• Saturday, December 21, 2024: Three Games (early afternoon, late afternoon and evening)

Quarterfinals

• Tuesday, December 31, 2024: Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (evening)
• Wednesday, January 1, 2025: Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (early afternoon), Rose Bowl Game (late afternoon) and Allstate Sugar Bowl (evening)

Semifinals

• Thursday, January 9, 2025: Capital One Orange Bowl (evening)
• Friday, January 10, 2025: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (evening)

CFP National Championship

• Monday, January 20, 2025: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia

2025 Season
First Round (On-Campus)

• Friday, December 19, 2025: One Game (evening)
• Saturday, December 20, 2025: Three Games (early afternoon, late afternoon and evening)

Quarterfinals

• Wednesday, December 31, 2025: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (evening)
• Thursday, January 1, 2026: Capital One Orange Bowl (early afternoon), Rose Bowl Game (late afternoon) and Allstate Sugar Bowl (evening)

Semifinals

• Thursday, January 8, 2026: Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (evening)
• Friday, January 9, 2026: Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (evening)

CFP National Championship

• Monday, January 19, 2026: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida

Exact kickoff times for each game will be announced later.