Recruiting Week In Review
Written by Joe Bradshaw
Notre Dame finished the 2020 season with a 10-2 record with both of their losses coming to College Football Playoff teams, Clemson and Alabama. In addition to both defeating the Irish, they also had something else in common, two of the best quarterbacks in college football. In Clemson’s victory over Notre Dame, All-American quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw for 322 yards. In the loss to Alabama, Tide quarterback Mac Jones threw for 297 yards and four touchdowns en route to a 4,500-yard passing season. If Notre Dame hopes to take the next step from playoff team to national champion, it’s clear that getting more production out of their cornerbacks is an absolute must.
The Irish signed a trio of cornerbacks in the 2021 class and are looking to add even more playmakers at that position in the Class of 2022. Last week Irish Sports Daily reported on two prospects, on in the Class of 2022 and one in the Class of 2023 who could be major contributors to a reinvigorated Notre Dame defensive backfield. What have you been missing by not being a member of Irish Sports Daily?
Numerous recruits have taken self-guided tours of universities. Notre Dame has received some of those visits, but it’s not the same as a full-fledged official visit. Notre Dame recruit Khamauri Rogers plans to do both. Rogers, CB, 6-0, 170, Holmes County Central High School, Lexington, MS is coached by his father, Marcus Rogers who talked about their visit plans.
“We’re going to do an unofficial and we’re going to do an official,” the elder Rogers explained. “We just want to see, does Notre Dame fit my son.”
While the Rogers’ wait to see if the NCAA is going to finally lift the dead period at the end of May, they plan to take the unofficial. They’re not exactly sure when they will travel to South Bend, though. That will depend upon Khamauri’s track schedule.
“We’ve been getting a lot of bad weather so a lot of track meets have been rescheduled,” said the head coach. “We want to come April 19th through the 21st , but we don’t know exactly yet.”
The Rogers plan to take the official for an Irish home game in the fall. They will be looking at a number of things but one stands out.
“It’s all about comfort level,” Marcus Rogers shared. “When we get up there we want to see the atmosphere, the player environment, how the players are socially and how comfortable he is with being about eleven hours away from home. That has something to do with future teammates, whether he’s bouncing ideas off of them or asking them questions about how it is in South Bend, Indiana, just see if he’s able to adapt being from down South.”
Coach Rogers credits new Notre Dame Defensive Coordinator Marcus Freeman for them considering the Irish so seriously.
“Marcus Freeman is just doing a great job of recruiting him,” Marcus Rogers said. “I like the in-your-face defense. He lets his defensive backs play football. He plays a lot of man-to-man coverage and that’s a skillset that my son possesses.”
The elder Rogers has also been very impressed with Freeman’s personality.
“His recruiting style is great, man,” he said. “Ever since the day we first talked on the Zoom, he just had that infectious personality and his IQ for the game is second to none. I enjoyed talking with him about defense. I enjoy the way my son and him interact as coach/player. We’re just very impressed with Coach Freeman.”
Notre Dame is staying down South in their pursuit of another outstanding cornerback, this one in the Class of 2023. Malik Muhammad, CB, 6-0, 170, IMG Academy, Bradenton, FL heard from a Notre Dame staff member a few days before St. Patrick’s Day that he should expect a St. Patrick Day’s surprise. When he later spoke to Irish Defensive Backs Coach, Mike Mickens, he got the same message.
“He was like, ‘Wednesday is St. Patrick’s Day, we’re going to have a little something for you. It’s going to be a pot of gold. I called them Wednesday. I was doing a little photo shoot for Under Armour and called them at 11 and they told me I had the offer.”
Muhammad was excited for the offer, but with his list of suitors, he can be forgiven for not being terribly surprised. In addition to Notre Dame, he currently holds scholarship offers from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oregon and numerous others.
“The same reaction as every other offer,” he shared. “I worked hard for it and I earned it.”
He did go into a bit more detail on the Notre Dame offer.
“Obviously, they were a top four school in the nation, so that was pretty big,” Muhammad said. “I was excited, but you know, I stay humble and I’m blessed.”
He knows a bit about the Irish.
“It’s a Catholic school,” he said. “I know they’ve been a Top 25 team for the last four or five years.”
He’s spoken to Coach Mickens and would like to get to know him better. His first impression was good, though.
“He really kept it real with me,” Muhammad shared. “He told me that I am one of their top recruits and things like that.”
Muhammad has been to South Bend for a game. He was there in 2017 for Nevada and he would like to return.
“It was a loud atmosphere,” he recalled. “It was loud, like loud. So I’ve seen what the field looks like. I want to see the locker room and the campus, how live the atmosphere is, you know, obviously look at things of that nature.”
While Muhammad may be quite a ways from making a decision, he already knows what he will be looking for when he does.
“The relationship, the love, coaches that can fit my scheme and how I play, coaches that get players like me drafted, the atmosphere of the school.”
These two summaries represent just a sample of the Notre Dame football recruiting information available each week on Irish Sports Daily.