Story Poster
Notre Dame Football Recruiting

Coach | 2023 DE Kaleb James One Worth Watching

May 23, 2021
2,044

When it comes to high school football, the cliché probably holds true; in Texas, it’s bigger.

It can be difficult to stand out as a player and a program in a state so football-rich, but the stage also provides tremendous opportunities to do so and over the last few years Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth and its athletes have taken advantage.

Since taking over at Nolan Catholic back in 2016, head coach David Beaudin and his staff have built the program into a successful one on the field, culminating in a state championship appearance this past season, as well as developing and promoting an array of players to go to play football at the next level, including current Notre Dame defensive lineman NaNa Osafo-Mensah.

From that perspective, Kaleb James‍ is simply one of the next men up, but Beaudin doesn’t see the 2023 Texas defensive end as just another player.

“Honestly, if we had a real spring either last spring or this one where people could come out and see him in person, he'd be a no-doubter,” Beaudin says of the 6-foot-4.5, 247-pounder.

“He'd be one of the top kids in the country. He's that good-looking, it's crazy. He looks unreal right now.”

James currently has offers from schools like Baylor, Texas Tech, SMU, Houston, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Virginia and Maryland among others.

“It's the fact that he's super versatile,” says Beaudin. “He's a guy who can play inside and out. He's a blue-collar, lunch pail kid. He leads in his own way, it's always positive leadership. He's a guy who's really athletic for his size.

“Real strong kid, huge weight room guy. He's just obviously a great kid, good grades. Again, he's developing into a leader, even for a young guy, all those things.”

When Notre Dame conducted its virtual May Evaluation Period, Irish defensive line coach Mike Elston had the chance to speak with Beaudin about James.

It’s a potential fit that Beaudin believes would be intriguing.

“He's got the academic profile,” the coach says, adding that James’ family is originally from Florida, so it may not be as difficult to get him to leave the region as other prospects with deeper state roots.

“I think he could be a fit in terms of the blue-collar kid Notre Dame typically gets, good family, faith-based, all those things I think will play a role.”

In addition to the offers James has already, he’s receiving interest from schools like Florida, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Boston College and Stanford among others.

James is in the process of putting together his own camp schedule for the month of June. That’ll likely include stops at SMU, Florida and some Big 12 schools.

Elston did invite James to camp at Notre Dame, but the defensive end hasn’t finalized his list of stops quite yet.

 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.