Brian Kelly Busy Recruiting This Week

As we reported earlier Brian Kelly is busy on the recruiting trail this week.

Yesterday, we reported that the Notre Dame head coach would be making a pair of stops to top targets in separate regions of the country on Friday. Kelly is expected to make a trip to Virginia to check in at five-star Irish running back commit Chris Tyree’s school and he’s also slated to be in Ohio to check in on elite 2021 wide receiver commit Lorenzo Styles Jr.

Both prospects are firmly committed to Notre Dame and both were just in South Bend this past weekend for the USC game, so that says a lot about Kelly’s diligence in recruiting during this bye week. Tyree and Styles are crucial pieces to the future of the Irish, but neither requires a visit from the head coach this week.

We’ve since learned that Kelly made a stop to see another top commit who was just in South Bend this past weekend. On Thursday, Kelly was in Nebraska checking on 2020 wide receiver commit Xavier Watts‍.

Again, the Irish have no concerns about the strength of Watts’ commitment, but they do want to make sure he knows how highly-regarded he is by the guys in the Gug.

Message received.

“X loved it,” one source close to Watts said. “Head coach coming down during the middle of the season just to say hi and check on you...can’t beat that.”

The further message from Kelly and the staff in the last week to Watts has been pretty straightforward.

“Be ready to play early as they need his help at the WR spot,” the source added.

Watts is excited for that opportunity and understands the work he needs to put in to take advantage of it.

“I think him enrolling early will definitely help.”