Radley-Hiles Ready To Visit ND

“I am definitely excited for my visit next weekend,” Radley-Hiles told Irish Sports Daily.

One big part of the reason the 5-foot-10, 180-pounder is making the trip to see Notre Dame is defensive backs coach Todd Lyght. The two have developed a solid relationship over his recruitment and Lyght returned the favor by stopping to check on him this week.

“Coach Lyght was out here on Wednesday,” stated Radley-Hiles. “We have been speaking about the academic portion at Notre Dame and how academics are taken very seriously there. We have also spoken about the possible time I could get on the field if I were to go there.

“He has told me about the package deal of playing with the different defenses and how I could make an impact in those different defense.”

The relationship goes much deeper than just Radley-Hiles is high on the Notre Dame recruiting board. While he is one of the top targets for the Irish in 2018, Radley-Hiles see’s Lyght in a different light than some of the other coaches recruiting him. They have much in common, including both had stop at Bishop Gorman.

“He’s the man,” Radley-Hiles said. “I always love talking to Coach Lyght. When we talk, he’s a cool person and he’s more than a coach. I just tell he’s a guy that you’ll want to be coached by. He’s a different because he can relate to you on the field and off the field. He knows what he is talking about and you understand the things he is talking about.

“It’s a little bit different and it’s funny he came from Bishop Gorman too. We know a lot of the same people. With him I relate differently than any other coach in the country. There are different levels of relationships you get with different coaches, but its different with Coach Lyght because he’s been there.”

As he looks forward to the visit, the California native knows exactly what he is looking to see when he arrives in South Bend.

“I basically want to see the atmosphere and what it is like during a game in South Bend,” explained Radley-Hiles. “I want to see if I would like the city. I want to see how I would interact with the fellow commits and the coaching staff.

“I want to see if they are trying to recruit me as a football player or are they trying to recruit me as a young man. Do they really want to see me progress? I just want to see what they are really about. I want to see what the University of Notre Dame is about as a whole.”

Another big reason Radley-Hiles is making the trip across the country to see the Irish is 2018 Notre Dame commit Markese Stepp. Stepp is no stranger to recruiting Notre Dame’s top targets, but he has come hard after his good friend.

“That’s my boy,” laughed Radley-Hiles. “He’s hilarious. He texted me, TJ (Pledger) and Brian (Hightower) on Wednesday. He said, ‘I saw you guys tweeting about the Irish. What’s up and when are ya’ll coming?’ We’re trying to get TJ to come up there with me during the Miami game, but it hasn’t been set up yet. If that happens, then we will both be at the Miami game.

“Markese texts me every day now. It’s always like, ‘C’mon man. Come be part of the family. Come be part of the new DBU. Bring DBU to Notre Dame.’ He has texted me, ‘You like tradition, right? Well, this is the best tradition school you can get in the nation.’”

Notre Dame, Alabama, Arizona State, Florida, Houston, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Tennessee, UCLA and USC are just a few of the teams that have offered Radley-Hiles, as he is a one of the top of the top prospects in the nation.

The Irish are sitting at 2-5 on the year and the Irish are recruiting against the nation’s elite, but does the record mean much to Radley-Hiles?

“It doesn’t impact me at all,” stated Radley-Hiles. “People talk about how like a school’s record is so big in today’s world. It’s more about your future as a person. It’s not about – people will be like ‘Notre Dame has this many losses right now.’ If you look at it, they could have won those games if they made one or two plays. It’s not like they are getting blown out completely. It’s not like that.

“It’s like Nebraska last year, I think they have like five losses and all of them are within seven points. They are all mental errors and people judge the team by how many losses and wins they have. I don’t really see into that.”

It’s clear he is looking deeper into the program than just the record on paper and it will be curious to see what he thinks of the Notre Dame program in just over a week.

“I want to go behind the scenes and see how the coaches teach their players,” Radley-Hiles said.

“A lot of teams get bad coaching where their guys are being coached horribly. On the flipside, great coaching and then one slip up and a receiver beats a guy deep. You have to really look into the play and watch them to see what all is involved more than going off the record as an outsider.”