After making some calls today, I’m ready to share what I’ve learned about the recruits who visited Notre Dame the last few days.
Let me start with four-star DE Elijah Rushing, since he’s already been a hot topic since I shared quotes from him this morning. Similarly to how many of you reacted to his quotes, Notre Dame doesn’t feel very confident in its chances with Rushing following the visit. I’d been hearing for months that it was a longshot, but the fact that he followed through on the official visit was a glimmer of hope. Rushing’s worth continuing to fight for in case ND has a bad read on the situation, but it’s not looking good for now.
Now, let’s get to the more positive updates.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend, from my perspective, is how much Notre Dame resonated with three-star LB Bradley Shaw. The Irish truly believe they can pull the Hoover (Ala.) High linebacker out of the South. So much so that there have to be discussions about finding room for potentially two linebacker additions in the class if both Shaw and four-star recruit Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa both want to join. Notre Dame certainly won’t turn down Viliamu-Asa. Now it might not with Shaw either. Auburn and Georgia are the teams I’m monitoring with Shaw.
What shouldn’t be surprising is that Notre Dame hit the right notes with four-star tight end Carter Nelson. Word was Georgia really impressed Nelson last weekend, and the Irish seem to have done the same thing. This is going to be interesting recruitment moving forward with the Irish, Bulldogs and home-state Nebraska.
Notre Dame continued to build momentum with unrated safety target Oliver Miles III. The Irish coaching staff likes him a lot and the feeling appears to be mutual. However, Notre Dame hasn’t closed out the competition for Miles yet. The Texas Tech official visit scheduled for this coming weekend looms large. Pulling Miles away from his home state has been a concern.
Referring to The Heat Index, we had Shaw and Nelson at medium and Miles at hot coming into the visits. I’m considering bumping Shaw and Nelson both up to hot but I want to do some more digging first. As of right now, Notre Dame has a legitimate shot at landing all three of them at some point.
Let’s not forget the nine verbal commits who also made their official visits this past weekend. I was told everything with the committed recruits went “incredible.”
Some bonus notes here on a couple of 2025 targets who were on campus for unofficial visits:
LB Madden Faraimo blew Notre Dame’s staff away. He’s quickly rising to the top of the linebacker wish list for the 2025 class. A little bit like Viliamu-Asa has been for the 2024 class. Faraimo spent time connecting with Irish linebacker Marist Liufau while on campus Friday.
QB Blake Hebert became Notre Dame’s latest quarterback offer during his visit Saturday. I was told he’s definitely a ND-type of kid and would be a program fit. I’m not sure that he’s the most coveted target at the position in 2025 right now, but he’s certainly a name to keep in mind.
Speaking of 2025 quarterbacks, I was also told ND expects Deuce Knight to reschedule his second ND visit after visiting Alabama on Saturday instead of ND.
Let me start with four-star DE Elijah Rushing, since he’s already been a hot topic since I shared quotes from him this morning. Similarly to how many of you reacted to his quotes, Notre Dame doesn’t feel very confident in its chances with Rushing following the visit. I’d been hearing for months that it was a longshot, but the fact that he followed through on the official visit was a glimmer of hope. Rushing’s worth continuing to fight for in case ND has a bad read on the situation, but it’s not looking good for now.
Now, let’s get to the more positive updates.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend, from my perspective, is how much Notre Dame resonated with three-star LB Bradley Shaw. The Irish truly believe they can pull the Hoover (Ala.) High linebacker out of the South. So much so that there have to be discussions about finding room for potentially two linebacker additions in the class if both Shaw and four-star recruit Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa both want to join. Notre Dame certainly won’t turn down Viliamu-Asa. Now it might not with Shaw either. Auburn and Georgia are the teams I’m monitoring with Shaw.
What shouldn’t be surprising is that Notre Dame hit the right notes with four-star tight end Carter Nelson. Word was Georgia really impressed Nelson last weekend, and the Irish seem to have done the same thing. This is going to be interesting recruitment moving forward with the Irish, Bulldogs and home-state Nebraska.
Notre Dame continued to build momentum with unrated safety target Oliver Miles III. The Irish coaching staff likes him a lot and the feeling appears to be mutual. However, Notre Dame hasn’t closed out the competition for Miles yet. The Texas Tech official visit scheduled for this coming weekend looms large. Pulling Miles away from his home state has been a concern.
Referring to The Heat Index, we had Shaw and Nelson at medium and Miles at hot coming into the visits. I’m considering bumping Shaw and Nelson both up to hot but I want to do some more digging first. As of right now, Notre Dame has a legitimate shot at landing all three of them at some point.
Let’s not forget the nine verbal commits who also made their official visits this past weekend. I was told everything with the committed recruits went “incredible.”
Some bonus notes here on a couple of 2025 targets who were on campus for unofficial visits:
LB Madden Faraimo blew Notre Dame’s staff away. He’s quickly rising to the top of the linebacker wish list for the 2025 class. A little bit like Viliamu-Asa has been for the 2024 class. Faraimo spent time connecting with Irish linebacker Marist Liufau while on campus Friday.
QB Blake Hebert became Notre Dame’s latest quarterback offer during his visit Saturday. I was told he’s definitely a ND-type of kid and would be a program fit. I’m not sure that he’s the most coveted target at the position in 2025 right now, but he’s certainly a name to keep in mind.
Speaking of 2025 quarterbacks, I was also told ND expects Deuce Knight to reschedule his second ND visit after visiting Alabama on Saturday instead of ND.
