Tracking The Trail | Notre Dame Offensive Targets Visiting Other Schools
The dead period, in place since mid-March 2019, is set to be lifted on June 1st, setting off a flurry of recruiting visits over the ensuing 30 days.
Notre Dame has already locked in dates with dozens of visitors to get to South Bend, but those targets will be busy making trips elsewhere as well.
Several of Notre Dame’s top offensive targets in the Class of 2022 will be hitting the road to see other schools the very first week.
RUNNING BACK RECRUITING SHOULD BE SAFE…FOR NOW
The Irish currently have one running back commit in the Class of 2022 in the form of Texas’ JD Price. Price is expected to make his first trip to South Bend this month.
But Notre Dame is still chasing a few other backs and each will be making trips elsewhere during the first week, although none are headed to the schools considered to be the greatest threats.
Tennessee’s Dallan Hayden (pictured above) will take an official visit to Illinois the weekend of June 4th. The Irish will have another chance to impress Hayden the following weekend and the weekend of June 18th will be the one Notre Dame fans should probably be most concerned about since that’s when he heads to Ohio State, the perceived frontrunner.
Pennsylvania’s Nicholas Singleton will take an official to Wisconsin the first weekend of the month, but for months, this has looked like a Notre Dame-Penn State battle. Singleton visits Penn State the second weekend of the month and South Bend a week later.
Colorado’s Gavin Sawchuk will be at USC the weekend of June 4th. Oklahoma had long been considered the favorite for Sawchuk, but that may have since shifted to Oregon. Still, he’s already taken an independent visit to USC, so there would seem to be some genuine interest there. Sawchuk has an official visit to Notre Dame set for the weekend of June 25th.
Also worth noting, Georgia running back Damari Alston will be at Florida on June 1st, but he’s not as high on the board as the other three.
OFFENSIVE LINE TARGETS WILL VISIT THREATS
While Notre Dame may not have a ton to worry about out of the gate with regard to running back recruiting, the same cannot be said along the offensive line.
Wisconsin offensive linemen Joe Brunner and Carson Hinzman will be both be in Madison for officials during Week 1. The Badgers are in solid shape for both and would love to build their offensive line class around the in-state blue-chippers. However, the Irish will be able to make their pitches both soon as they’re set to be together again in South Bend on June 18th.
Meanwhile, top offensive line targets Zach Rice and Aamil Wagner will both be in Columbus visiting Ohio State. The Buckeyes are virtually always a threat for top-tier targets and that’s the case here, especially with Wagner, who is from Ohio. Rice, a Virginia native, has kept things a little closer to the vest, but there’s little doubt that his interest in the Buckeyes is legit.
Wagner is set to be in South Bend for that June 18th weekend while Rice will be in town a week later for June 25th.
Nevada’s Jake Taylor had been pretty clear about Oklahoma and Notre Dame being at the forefront of his recruitment for months. The only school that seemed to have a real chance at busting into that top group was Alabama and that’s where Taylor will be to start the month. Taylor will follow that up with a trip to Notre Dame a week later.
WIDE RECEIVER TARGET HEADED WEST
Notre Dame looks to be in very good shape with Texas wide receiver Nicholas Anderson and the Irish will host him for an official visit the weekend of June 18th. But Anderson will start the month by heading out to USC for an official visit. Anderson also has an official planned for Oregon and has talked about taking one to Cal, so the West Coast certainly has some appeal to him.
It will be interesting to see how much Texas A&M factors into this race after the offer from the Aggies in May.